{"content":"

One day when I was 12uff0cmy mother gave me an orderuff1aI was to walk to the public libraryuff0cand borrow at least one book for the summeruff0eThis was one more weapon for her to defeat my strange problem-inability to readuff0e

In the libraryuff0cI found my way into theu201cChildrenu2019s Roomuff0eu201dI sat down on the floor and pulled a few books off the shelf at randomuff0eThe cover of a book caught my eyeuff0eIt presented a picture of a beagleuff0eI had recently had a beagleuff0cthe first and only animal companion I ever had as a childuff0eHe was my secret shareruff0cbut one morninguff0che was goneuff0cgiven away to someone who had the space and the money to care for himuff0eI never forgot my beagleuff0e

There on the booku2019s cover was a beagle which looked identical to my doguff0eI ran my fingers over the picture of the dog on the coveruff0eMy eyes ran across the titleuff0cAmosuff0cthe Beagle with a Planuff0eUnknowinglyuff0cI had read the titleuff0eWithout opening the bookuff0cI borrowed it from the library for the summeruff0e

Under the shade of a bushuff0cI started to read about Amosuff0eI read veryuff0cvery slowly with difficultyuff0eThough pages were turned slowlyuff0cI got the main idea of the story about a dog whouff0clike mineuff0chad been separated from his family and who finally found his way back homeuff0eThat dog was my doguff0cand I was the little boy in the bookuff0eAt the end of the storyuff0cmy mind continued the final scene of reunionuff0con and onuff0cuntil my own lost dog and I wereuff0cin my minduff0crunning togetheruff0e

My motheru2019s call returned me to the real worlduff0eI suddenly realized somethinguff1aI had read a bookuff0cand I had loved reading that bookuff0eEveryone knew I could not readuff0eBut I had read ituff0eBooks could be incredibly wonderful and I was going to read themuff0e

I never told my mother about myu201cmiraculousu201duff08u5947u8ff9u822cu5730u