Cutcheon

In bad weather, Miss Cutcheon and Velma stayed inside, breathing the asthmadora, feeling warm and comfortable, thinking about the children at the playground.

Every Living Thing Cynthia Rylant 1985

Miss Cutcheon and Velma spent several months together like this: eating breakfast together, walking the block, sitting on the front porch, going to bed early.

Every Living Thing Cynthia Rylant 1985

Why Miss Cutcheon decided one day to walk Velma a few blocks farther, and to the west, is a puzzle.

Every Living Thing Cynthia Rylant 1985

Miss Cutcheon was a very early riser a habit that could not be broken after forty-three years of meeting children at the schoolhouse door, and she enjoyed big breakfasts.

Every Living Thing Cynthia Rylant 1985

The children learned their names, and Miss Cutcheon soon knew the children who stroked Velma the way she had known her own fourth-graders years ago.

Every Living Thing Cynthia Rylant 1985

During the day Miss Cutcheon took Velma for walks up and down the block.

Every Living Thing Cynthia Rylant 1985

Each day Miss Cutcheon would creak out of her bed like a mummy rising from its tomb, then shuffle into the kitchen, straight for the coffee pot.

Every Living Thing Cynthia Rylant 1985

Miss Cutcheon sat at her dinette table, eating her bacon and eggs and biscuits, sipping her coffee, while Velma lay under the table at her feet.

Every Living Thing Cynthia Rylant 1985

It took Princess several days to figure out what Miss Cutcheon meant when she called out for someone named Velma.

Every Living Thing Cynthia Rylant 1985

Miss Cutcheon, however, thought the name much too delicate for a dog as old and bony as Miss Cutcheon herself, and she changed it to Velma.

Every Living Thing Cynthia Rylant 1985