Rascal

It was a long time ago...

here in the Wisconsin of my boyhood...

that a new friend came into my life...

and stole my heart away.

I often think of him now, a half a century later...

and I relive in memory the good times we had together.

He was a member of our family almost...

for a while anyway...

and I shall never forget him.

I wonder if I can make it as real for you...

as it is for me still.

I wonder if you can remember the excitement...

of that last day of school...

when everybody could hardly wait to get out...

and enjoy the long, lazy summer ahead.

And also this summer...

my mother's going to teach me how to use the sewing machine...

and to make upside-down cake.

That sounds like a very interesting summer, Sarah.

Now, let me see...

whom have I overlooked?

Of course, Lucy.

For my vacation, we're going to New York City.

Well...

And my Aunt Elizabeth is going to take us to the top...

of the Wool worth Building, sixty stories high!

And then we're going to Central Park and Grant's Tomb...

and the Metropolitan Museum!

That's very exciting, Lucy. Now--

And then we're going to Boston and Bunker Hill...

and Paul Revere's house.

Lucy, if you tell us everything now...

there won't be anything left to tell us next fall.

Yes, Miss Whalen.

And how about you, Sterling?

Hey...come to the party.

Sorry, Miss Whalen.

And what kind of excitement...

are you going to stir up this summer, Sterling?

Well, mostly I'm going to be working on my canoe.

Canoe? Is that what this is?

Yes, ma'am. It's a design my Pa worked out.

From the kind the Indians used.

I'm very impressed.

Well, we have only a few moments more...

so I'd like to wish you all a very pleasant summer.

Be sure that you don't have any books with you...

that should be left behind.

Bye! I'll send you a postcard!

Sterling, what else will you be doing this summer...

besides working on your canoe?

Will you be going with your father on one of his trips?

Well, he goes by himself.

You see, he sells real estate all over the place.

Well, you don't want a kid hanging around...

when you're doing that.

I see.

Well, you won't be alone.

Your sister Theo has been taking care of things...

since your mother passed away, hasn't she?

Yes, ma'am.

But she has to go back to Chicago tomorrow.

Bye, Miss Whalen. Have a nice summer.

Sterling, I'll be working at the library this summer...

and you can stop by.

Wowser, how are you, boy? Huh? Ha ha!

Come on, get in there.

Pa! Hi, Pa!

Sterling!

How are you, boy? Ha ha ha!

Fine. Theo was afraid you wouldn't get home in time.

Well, now, she ought to know better than that.

I always get home, don't it?

- Come on, jump in! - How about my bike?

We'll pick it up later. I've got something to show you.

- Hmm? - Out at Lake Koshkonong.

Well, what do you think it is?

A bobcat?

You're getting warm.

You got a rough idea, haven't you, boy?

A panther?

A lynx.

They live in Canada.

This one lives right here. At the moment, anyway.

Hasn't been four hours since he put those tracks there...

and a good size cat it is from the looks of them.

There he is.

Well, you want to remember that, son.

He's probably the first lynx in these woods in forty years.

What's he doing so far from home?

Oh, he's a rambler, I guess. Like me.

Wowser!

Mmm.

Who made it?

Farmer's wife in Minnesota.

I told her I had a boy who liked apple pie.

Good, isn't it?

Mmm.

Nighthawks.

Mmm. They're awful busy.

Whippoorwill?

Yes. Special kind of bird.

To me, anyway.

Your mother and I used to sit here and listen...

to the whippoorwills a long time ago.

I thought we had all the time in the world then.

If I'd only known how short it would be...

I might have listened to her more.

She always wished I'd settle down...

and stop chasing after farm auctions...

all over the country and...

rent that little office over Pringle's store...

come home for supper every night...

instead of every other week.

I always figured I would... someday.

You know, Sterling...

it's awfully hard for the female of the species...

to understand how some men are.

I'll bet that lynx has a wife...

up in the Canadian woods somewhere...

with supper on the table right now...

wondering why he can't come home every night at 6:00...

like the other lynxes.

Pa?

Yeah?

Don't you ever get lonesome?

No. I got a million things on my mind.

Miles of country to look at, people to talk to.

A little fishing on Sunday afternoon now and then.

The only man who gets lonesome...

is a man who can't live with himself.

It's a big, wonderful world, Sterling.

You only walk through it once.

Wouldn't it be a terrible mistake...

to come to the end of the line...

and realize you haven't stopped along the way...

to smell the flowers?

The lynx!

What's he after?

A woodchuck or something.

Wowser!

Wowser!

Wowser, get off him!

Wowser!

Now, I said quit and I mean quit!

Now you know what she was fighting for.

Serves you right, you big bully.

I don't know why he's got such a thing about raccoons.

He gets along with a skunk even...

but there's something about a raccoon.

Well, it's time we got on home anyway.

Come on, Wowser.

Wowser, it's all over. There's nothing we can do.

Wowser, what's eating you?

Well... look what got left behind.

Ha ha ha!

Ah! Ha ha!

Why did the mother leave him?

She probably doesn't know she has.

She won't find out till she gets a chance to stop and count.

Well, then this one's sort of lost.

Yeah. Looks like it.

Almost without needing to say it...

Pa and I agreed we couldn't leave the little fellow...

to fend for himself, not at his age...

and not with the lynx in the neighborhood.

Besides, we kind of felt responsible for him.

After all, it was my dog that had chased his mother away.

I guess Wowser didn't realize it...

but from then on he was going to have to share my affections.

So, that's how it happened...

on that special day in June...

a helpless little orphan came into my life.

I didn't know then how much he'd come to mean to me...

or the troubles he'd bring.

As it turned out, I had met a character...

a personality, and a ring-tailed wonder.

I called him...

Rascal.

That day we came home with Rascal...

I remember Walt Dabbett went sailing by...

in his Stanley Steamer.

Pa said he was a bit of a blowhard...

but not a bad fellow at heart.

Cy Jenkins was our neighbor on the back...

and I swear he spent more time in his corn patch...

than in his drugstore downtown.

Anybody home?

This was my sister Theo as she looked then.

She'd come home on her vacation to take care of us...

and for some reason, she seemed to feel...

one of her duties was worrying about me--

more than I thought necessary.

Our other neighbor, Garth Shadwick...

was a horse lover.

I guess it went with his owning the town's harness shop.

Afternoon, Garth.

Afternoon!

Settle down, blast you!

Come on, boy! Come on!