The narrator, Billy, is coming home from work, in a good mood. Suddenly some dogs roar up the street, fighting. They are picking on a redbone hound. Billy goes in and saves it and cares for it through the
The narrator, Billy, is coming home from work, in a good mood. Suddenly some dogs roar up the street, fighting. They are picking on a redbone hound. Billy goes in and saves it and cares for it through the night. It reminds him of his childhood.
Billy lives on a farm in the Ozark Mountains of northeastern Oklahoma; he is ten years old. He wants two good coonhounds very badly; he calls this "puppy love." But his Papa cannot afford to buy him the dogs. For many months, Billy tries to content himself with some rodent traps his papa gives him, but he still wants a dog. Then one day he finds a sportsman's catalog in an abandoned camp. In it he sees an ad for good hounds, at $25 each. He resolves to save $50 and order two hounds. He finds a K.C. Baking Powder can to put his money in. Billy works hard, selling fruit and bait to fishermen, and gathering fruit that he sells to his grandfather at his store.
He gives the money to his grandfather, who orders the dogs for him, although Billy asks him to keep it 