“Reach into my right ear,” the donkey said.
And so the poor man reached into the donkey’s right ear and pulled out a loaf of bread, a pot of butter, and a meat pie.
Joe went on like this, spinning out the tale, with the poor man pulling all sorts of things out of the donkey’s ears: a stool, a pillow, a blanket, and, finally, a sack of gold.
I loved this story, but I always listened uneasily, fearing that something bad would be pulled from the donkey’s ears. Even after I’d heard the tale many times, always the same, I still worried that the poor man might reach in and pull out a snapping turtle or an alligator or something equally unpleasant and unexpected.
Sensing my fear, Joe would say, “It’s only a story, Naomi, only a story.” He suggested that I say to myself, “I’m not in the story, I’m not in the story”—a refrain I could repeat so that I would feel less anxious.
And so each time the poor man would reach into the donkey’s ears, I would tell myself, I’m not in the story, I’m not in the story, but it didn’t help because a story was only interesting if I was in the story.
CHAPTER 1
A BODY FALLS FROM A TREE
If you have never had a body fall out of a tree and knock you over, let me tell you what a surprising thing that is. I have had nuts fall out of a tree and conk my head. Leaves have fallen on me, and twigs, and a branch during a storm. Bird slop, of course, everyone gets that. But a body? That is not your usual thing dropping out of a tree.
It was a boy, close about my age, maybe twelve. Shaggy hair the color of dry dirt. Brown pants. Blue T-shirt. Bare feet. Dead.
Didn’t recognize him. My first thought was, Is this my fault? I bet this is my fault. Nula once said I had a knack for being around when trouble happened. She had not been around other kids much, though, and maybe did not know that most kids had a knack for being around when trouble happened.
All I really wanted to do that hot day was go on down to the creek and hunt for clay in the cool, cool water. I was wondering if maybe I could deal with the body later, when the body said, “Am I dead?”
I looked at the body’s head. Its eyes were closed.
“If you can talk, I guess you’re not dead.”
The body said, “When I open my eyes, how will I know if I’m dead or alive?”
“Well, now, you’ll see me, you’ll see the meadow, you’ll see the tree you fell out of, so I guess you’ll know you’re alive.”
“But how will I know if I’m here or if I’m at Rooks Orchard?”
“I don’t know anything about any rook or any orchard, so I can pretty much guarantee that you are here and not there. Why don’t you open your eyes and have a look around?”
And so the body opened his eyes and slowly sat up and looked all around—at the green meadow, at the cows in the distance, at the tree out of which he had fallen, and at me, and then he yelled, “Oh no!” and fell back on the ground and his eyes closed and he was dead again.
BACK AD
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lyle Rigg
SHARON CREECH is the author of the Newbery Medal winner WALK TWO MOONS and the Newbery Honor Book THE WANDERER. Her other work includes the novels THE GREAT UNEXPECTED, THE UNFINISHED ANGEL, HATE THAT CAT, THE CASTLE CORONA, REPLAY, HEARTBEAT, RUBY HOLLER, LOVE THAT DOG, BLOOMABILITY, ABSOLUTELY NORMAL CHAOS, CHASING REDBIRD, and PLEASING THE GHOST, as well as three picture books: A FINE, FINE SCHOOL; FISHING IN THE AIR; and WHO’S THAT BABY? Ms. Creech and her husband live in upstate New York. You can visit her online at www.sharoncreech.com.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.
OTHER BOOKS BY SHARON CREECH
Walk Two Moons
Absolutely Normal Chaos
Pleasing the Ghost
Chasing Redbird
Bloomability
The Wanderer
Fishing in the Air
A Fine, Fine School
Ruby Holler
Granny Torrelli Makes Soup
Who’s That Baby?
Replay
The Castle Corona
Hate That Cat
The Unfinished Angel
The Great Unexpected
CREDITS
Cover art © 2013 by Zdenko Basic
COPYRIGHT
HEARTBEAT
Copyright © 2004 by Sharon Creech
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
* * *
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Creech, Sharon.
Heartbeat / by Sharon Creech. — First edition.
p. cm.
“Joanna Cotler Books.”
Summary: Twelve-year-old Annie ponders the many rhythms of life the year that her mother becomes pregnant, her grandfather begins faltering, and her best friend (and running partner) becomes distant.
ISBN 978-0-06-054024-1
[1. Best friends—Fiction. 2. Friendship—Fiction. 3. Running—Fiction. 4. Pregnancy—Fiction. 5. Grandfathers—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.C8615He 2004
2003007832
[Fic]—dc21
CIP
AC
* * *
Version 03272013
12 13 14 15 16 CG/BR 23 22 21 20 19 18 17
Revised paperback edition, 2012
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1 Like this.
2 To show where we found information, or sometimes to explain something further.
4 An extremely frightening-looking baby.
5 Yellow, green, orange, brown.
6 Tall and thin.
7 Faded red.
8 My mother does not like hospitals.
9 I am not wanting to think about problems.
10 I hope.
11 I know this sounds peculiar.
12 Which will probably already have vanished into my grandpa anyway.
13 A very very very lot.
14 Very very very much.
15 I want to slug her very very much.
16 And maybe I wouldn’t.
17 Forbidden word.
18 Forbidden words.
19 Who does not lose or melt the baby.
20 But also a little annoyed that he hasn’t even mentioned the anonymous donor.
21 Courtes
y of the thesaurus.
22 Very very very tightly.
23 Tall and thin, bursting with leaves.
24 Newly painted, bright red!
25 Casually.
26 Forbidden word.
27 Ditto.
28 Ditto.
29 Ditto.