In the evenings, Kelly often heard her mother complaining about Dr. Carl’s new wife. “She thinks she’s better than us,” Nella said to her husband. “We invited her to a potluck and she said she couldn’t imagine eating food made in a private kitchen. She said, ‘What if it wasn’t clean?’ We told her—” She cut off when she saw Kelly in the doorway, a puppy in her arms.

“What’s the new boy like?” Mac asked his daughter.

“He’s very quiet,” Kelly said. “He won’t talk to anybody, so we leave him alone.”

“Good idea!” Nella snapped.

Mac, who was kind to everyone, said to his daughter, “Be nice to him. Everything’s new and strange to him.”

With a nod, Kelly went to the barn to give the puppy to its mother.

The next day at school, she tried to be nice to Paul, but he just looked at her in silence. He was a pretty boy, with dark lashes and a small mouth, and he was never dirty like the other boys. Kelly tried for a week to draw Paul out but she could get nothing from him, so she, too, left him alone. Besides, Kelly was a very popular child. She had lots of friends and invitations to join everything.

When Paul had been there three months, everything changed. Their teacher had to leave the room and she threatened them with death if they so much as moved while she was out. Then she’d run out, slamming the door behind her. The kids looked at each other. All their mothers had told them that Mrs. Wilson was expecting a baby.

The room was quiet for about three minutes. Then Susie Brown let out a scream. She jumped up so fast her desk fell over. She was staring at the back of Paul’s neck. Sticking out of his jacket was the head of a large brown snake.

In seconds, the room was in chaos. Children leaped up; desks fell. There were whispers of fear and a few screams.

All of the children were slammed against the walls, scared, or trying to pretend they weren’t.

Except Kelly. She hadn’t moved out of her desk, and her eyes were as wide as theirs, but in wonder.

As for Paul, he was just sitting there, not moving, and his eyes were beginning to fill with tears. Kelly got up, went to Paul and gently pulled the long snake out of the boy’s jacket.

“He was cold,” Paul whispered. “He didn’t move. I thought he might die.”

Kelly had never held a snake before and she was fascinated with how smooth it was. Its eyes were bright, its tongue flicked in and out, and it had a beautiful white underside. “He’s beautiful,” she whispered.

“Dr. Carl—I mean, Dad—says he’s good for a garden,” Paul said.