Finding Out about Old Yeller

You know you're an English literature major when this first-time moment in parenting is so meaningful and poignant . . . 

All the children were in Quiet Time, John (7) in his bedroom listening to an audio CD of "Old Yeller." I was working at my computer when I heard urgent feet running on the wood floors, all the way down the stairs at the front of the house, across the house to the rear, and up the back stairs to the bonus room.

John stood before me, panting, barely able to gasp out the words:

"Mama, Mama! He had to shoot Old Yeller because he was bitten by a hydrophobic wolf!"

And I held out my arms to embrace my boy . . .