You have been my friend. That in itself is a tremendous thing. (Charlotte/E.B. White)

But in a moment he returned.

“I’ve never been to the library.”

“Never?”

“Never.”

“Do you have a lot of books at home?”

“None, I don’t know how to read.”

“Wow,” she gasped. “So your mom always has to read to you?”

“I don’t have a mom.”

Penny’s heart broke.

“Wait, one second.” She promised, “I’ll be right back.”

She ran into the house and he sat on the hot concrete sidewalk. He leaned against the fence and chips of white paint parted with the old wood and attached to his brother’s shirt.

Penny returned with a stack of books beneath her arm and sat beside him. But for the old wooden fence their backs were touching as she read to him the titles: The Family Under the Bridge, The Hundred Dresses, and Charlotte’s Web. The latter was her favourite but she didn’t voice her bias.

“All of them.”

“All of them,” Penny repeated. “That will take a long time.”

“I can come back.”

Penny smiled.

She cleared her throat and began.

Chapter One – Before Breakfast:

“Where’s Papa going with that ax?” Fern said to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.

“Out to the hoghouse,” replied Mrs. Arable. “Some pigs were born last night.”

“I don’t see why he needs an ax,” said Fern, who was only eight.

“Well,” said her mother, “one of the pigs is a runt. It’s very small and weak, and it will never amount to anything. So your father has decided to do away with it.”

“Do away with it?” shrieked Fern. “You mean kill it? Just because it’s smaller than the others?”

Mrs. Arable put a pitcher of cream on the table. “Don’t yell, Fern! Your father is right. The pig would probably die anyway.”

Fern pushed a chair out of the way and ran outdoors. The grass was wet and the earth smelled of springtime. Fern’s sneakers were sopping by the time she caught up with her father.

“Penny,” called her father from the porch door, “do you want to come out back and help me for a second?”

Penny pursed her lips and like a ventriloquist she murmured, “I’ll be right back.”

She left her pile of books on the uncut grass and ran toward her house. She didn’t like to leave Tommy there like that and even more she didn’t like leaving with Wilbur about to be chopped up by Mr. Arable. Every time she read the book it was as if it were the first time.