Looking back on lessons learned from ordinary folks doing extraordinary work

'Old Yeller' is about a boy and his dog. I'd never (and perhaps still haven't) read a story that could make me feel so happy, then sad, then really sad, and at the end, sad and happy at the same time. I desperately wanted to keep it for myself. So, on its due-back day, I told Bookmobile Lady: 'It got lost.' She knew better. I fessed up and cried; nevertheless, to teach me a lesson she banned me from checking it out again — until the bookmobile's last run in late August, when she handed me 'Old Yeller' and said, 'This time don't lose it. See you next summer.'