“No, of course not,” Mister said. “But it’s nice if he is. Why? Do you have something against perfect?”
“No, I just have something against having to be perfect.”
“Angus knows he doesn’t have to be perfect.”
“Do you really think so?” Missus asked.
“Besides, you’re perfect, too,” Mister said. “Perfect for me, I mean.”
“Oh, you mean that kind of perfect? Well, yes, of course I am!” Missus said, and they laughed.
They could laugh, but Angus planned to be perfect, absolutely perfect all of the time, and better than Sadie, too. He was looking forward to the trials. He was looking forward to how proud Mister would be when Angus had earned a leg. He didn’t know what he was going to have to do to get it, but he did remember that a leg was the prize you won. When he thought about it, he understood that he didn’t really know what a leg was—except, since Lucy hadn’t had any more legs than he did, he figured it couldn’t be a real leg. Maybe it was a cast? No, Lucy didn’t have a cast. He didn’t know what a leg was, but he wanted it. He hoped it wasn’t a cast.
Earning a leg was much harder than bringing a sheep home in a snowstorm, Angus was sure. He could barely wait for the day of the trials to come, and when it did, he jumped up into the cab of the truck so eagerly that Missus said, “I guess he really does want to compete.”
“Of course,” Mister said. “He’s been working hard. He’s ready to show off.”
After Mister and Angus drove away, Missus and Sadie went back inside to finish cleaning up after breakfast, to put the laundry into the dryer, and to make the bed, before starting on the garden. Starting on the garden meant putting pairs of stakes into the ground and tying string between them. The seeds would be planted in straight lines right under those strings. Starting on the garden meant cutting up the seedling potatoes and planting them in the ground, and then mounding the dirt up over them into tiny hills. It was also supposed to mean getting the tomato seedlings planted, but by then it had started to rain, so Missus and Sadie went back inside the house.
Missus washed up and had lunch. She folded laundry and then she sat to sew her quilt, while Sadie had a nap. Later, they raced together through the rain down to the barn to milk the cows and give them fresh water. Then they raced together back to the house, Missus splashing up the path and Sadie splashing right beside her. On the porch, Missus took off her boots and then dried off all four of Sadie’s paws on a towel before either one of them went into the warm kitchen.
That night, Sadie stayed in the house with Missus. While Missus had a long hot bath, Sadie had a nap in the steamy warm bathroom, right beside the tub. Sadie slept upstairs that night on the rug beside Missus’s bed. She and Missus listened to the rain while Missus read her book. At last Missus said, “I hope it’s not raining like this in Massachusetts. The news says it isn’t, and I hope it’s right for once. Good night, Sadie.”
Sadie wagged her tail, a soft thump-thump on the floor.
It was raining when they woke up, so after the cows were taken care of and the ironing was done, and the bed was made and the house vacuumed, they still couldn’t plant tomatoes. Instead, “Come on, Sadie,” Missus said, and she went upstairs again. “I don’t know. I just don’t know, so I need your help.”
Sadie followed, ready to help.
The job was: to sit quietly for a long time in every spare room. There were three spare rooms that needed sitting in. “Let’s get the feel of this room,” Missus said at the door of the first as they went in.
Sadie didn’t know what getting the feel was, but she was happy to go along. It turned out that getting the feel of a room meant sitting on the bed for a while, and then lying down on it to look up at the ceiling. It meant sitting in the chair and looking at the floor and the walls, and then getting up to look in the closet. Getting the feel meant looking out the windows for a while, opening them to smell the air, and closing them before too much rain could get in.
“If you were a baby, would you want a room that faced east for the sunrise?” Missus asked. “Or west for the sunset?”
Sadie didn’t know, but she remembered, The baby at Thanksgiving just wanted to sleep.
“If you were a baby, would you want a big room with lots of space in it? Or a small, cozy one?” Missus asked, and Sadie didn’t know that either. How long will the baby be staying?
Missus didn’t know at first, but she knew by the end of the morning for sure. She asked Sadie next about what color walls the baby would want, or if a baby preferred wallpaper.
Color? Wallpaper?
“Thanks, Sadie,” Missus said. “You’ve been a big, big help. And look, the rain is stopping.”
After lunch they could go back to the garden to plant the seedling tomatoes and peppers.
“Tomorrow we’ll plant peas and carrots,” Missus said. “I wonder how Angus is getting on. Do you think he’ll do all right?”
Of course! He’ll be perfect!
“They’ll be home tonight,” Missus said, “so we’ll find out then.”
It was late, long after supper, when Angus and Mister returned. Missus and Sadie were waiting for them in the kitchen. Mister and Missus were so glad to see each other that they both talked at the same time. “Is everything okay? How are you three?” “How did Angus like it? What about you, how did you like the trials?”
Sadie forgot that Angus didn’t want to talk to her. You’re back! I’m glad you’re back!
And Angus had forgotten that he was angry. I was good! I was perfect at standing for exam! The judge said I was a rare one. But sometimes I couldn’t remember, he told her. Sometimes I got distracted. Like you.
But you never get distracted.
When I heeled on the leash, I was perfect! And a lot of people watched, and they applauded. Sometimes they made me do it wrong and that felt bad. It’s all right when you do it wrong, but not me.
Mister was telling Missus, “I hadn’t trained him to finish properly, so of course he couldn’t do it. It was my fault. But you should have heard the judge, he was really impressed with Angus. A whole lot of the dogs were disqualified from the long sit and down because they got into a fight. But Angus held it perfectly, no matter what the others did. He was the only one to get an excellent score on that one, weren’t you, boy?”
I was the only one! And it was hard! They all growled and snarled and bit. You would have been frightened, Sadie, at all the barking, all the noise, and all those strangers.
Sadie disagreed. Maybe not.
When Sadie argued with him about something she didn’t know anything about, Angus tasted angry again, in his mouth. But he wanted to talk about the trial, to remember it again, and Sadie was the only one who could listen to him. He wanted to tell Sadie about it more than he wanted to be angry with her so he let the anger go away. Maybe not. But probably. But I had to do everything, like when we do training here, only there was a whole row of us doing it at the same time. You know what was the hardest?
The long down? Sadie guessed. That would have been the hardest for her.
Heel off the leash, Angus told her.
But you’re really good at heel, Sadie told him. You like heel.
I know. It was still the hardest. He tried to explain. I didn’t know I shouldn’t listen when the judge talked.
But you had Mister there, to help you.
But Mister wasn’t the one who had to do it. It was all up to only me. It was sort of lonely, and— Angus was trying to figure out what he wanted to say.
I think I know, Sadie said.
When I got it right it was sort of exciting, but—
Like that sheep this winter in the woods, Sadie said.
Frightening. Because it was all up to me, he remembered.
I know.
You know because of that sheep this winter. Angus was really glad Sadie could understand how hard it had been to be in a trial. He guessed that sometimes it might be all right for her not to obey—but he di
dn’t think he could ever learn that. He didn’t think he wanted to learn that, either. It was like the way Sadie couldn’t learn to fetch, he realized. Then he realized something else. We’re not the same! he said. We’re different!
I know.
Missus called Angus over, to pet and praise him. “He says you’ll probably get a leg next time. Good for you, Angus.” Mister called Sadie over to pet her, too, and to praise her for being good company for Missus. “I hear you were a big help with planting, or at least with the digging. Good dog, Sadie.”
All of the attention, added to being home together, made Angus and Sadie more and more excited, until Mister stood up, opened the door, and said, “Outside, both of you. Go burn off some of that energy while I finish telling your mistress about the trial and the herding dog exhibition. You should have seen them, honey,” he said.
The dogs ran through the door and down the porch stairs. They ran down the path to the barn and back to the garden and then a little way down the driveway. The night was dark, but not at all cold. They ran up and down the driveway, first Angus chasing Sadie and then Sadie chasing Angus. Then they ran in circles around the grassy field behind the garden until they were tired enough to stop.
While they rested in the grass, Angus told Sadie, It’s a bad feeling, feeling frightened. It’s … uncomfortable.
I remember, Sadie said.
Like you and the cats, Angus said. Actually, now that he was used to it, he thought maybe he liked Sadie being brave enough to chase after the barn cats. He even liked her brave and clever enough to rescue the sheep from the storm. It could actually be more fun for him that way, and for her, too, even though she could probably never be well enough trained to earn a leg in a trial.
Do you know what I saw? he asked.
No, what?
There were dogs that herded sheep. Really, they did, they really herded them, and the sheep went where the dogs wanted them to.
I can do that, Sadie said. I did that.
Angus wanted to object, because it wasn’t the same as the dogs at the trials. It couldn’t have been. But he couldn’t object because it really had happened, and he knew that. Mister should teach me how, and you, too. Because dogs can herd the sheep together. With two of us, we would never lose any, not ever.
Maybe Sadie already understood something about sheep that Angus didn’t know. He wasn’t sure about that, but he knew that if she did, she would want to show him.
Sadie remembered that she had news of her own to tell. They’re having a baby. I know what room the baby will sleep in. Then she also remembered, I was a big help!
I thought you didn’t like children.
Sadie explained, This isn’t children. This is a baby.
Some things Sadie might know about, but others she didn’t, so Angus explained it to her. Babies grow, and when they do they turn into children.
I don’t believe that, Sadie said, but she knew that while Angus didn’t know everything, he knew a lot, so she guessed she should believe it. Maybe, if it started out only a baby, I could still like it when it was a child. Do you think I could?
It’s going to be a lot of responsibility, Angus said. And work.
It’s going to be a lot of fun, said Sadie.
Angus guessed Sadie was right, but he knew he was righter. Let’s go back to the house. But not a race, he said. Because we’re not racing against each other, are we?
Sadie didn’t get it. I’m racing with you, and you’re racing with me, she said. She barked for the excitement of it all and turned to run. Let’s go!
The two dogs ran back across the field toward the house, with Angus ahead and Sadie catching up.
About the Author and Illustrator
CYNTHIA VOIGT is a former teacher and the author of more than twenty books, including the Newbery Medal winner DICEY’S SONG and A SOLITARY BLUE, a Newbery Honor Book. The mother of two grown children, she lives with her husband in Maine.
TOM LEIGH is the illustrator of BONE POEMS, a collaboration with Emmy Award–winning writer Jeff Moss. He lives with his wife, a couple of bossy cats, and five rescued border collies on an island off the coast of Maine.
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Credits
Cover art © 2005 by Tom Leigh
Cover design by Amy Ryan
Cover © 2005 by HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
Copyright
Angus and Sadie
Text copyright © 2005 by Cynthia Voigt
Illustrations copyright © 2005 by Tom Leigh
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, 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 e-books.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Voigt, Cynthia.
Angus and Sadie / Cynthia Voigt ; drawings by Tom Leigh.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Angus and Sadie, two siblings that are mostly border collie heritage, are adopted by a young couple and start living on a Maine farm, where they begin to learn sheep herding and come to appreciate how they are different from each other.
ISBN 0-06-074582-7—ISBN 0-06-074583-5 (lib. bdg.)
EPub Edition © MAY 2012 ISBN 9780062029706
1. Border collie—Juvenile fiction. [1. Border collie—Fiction. 2. Dogs—Fiction. 3. Farm life—Maine—Fiction. 4. Sheep herding—Fiction. 5. Maine—Fiction.] I. Leigh, Tom, ill. II. Title.
PZ10.3.V928An 2005
2004018285
[Fic]—dc22
CIP
AC
First Edition
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Cynthia Voigt, Angus and Sadie
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