Samantha's Talent by Darrell Bain, Robyn Pass

scared sometimes when someone is so different from themselves. That's why you have to be careful."
    "Alright, Dad. I'll try."
    ***
    Samantha's first year in Middle School was exciting even if it was sometimes intimidating. Before, she had been older than most of her school mates. Now the sixth grade class had all the youngest students, including her. Nevertheless, she enjoyed it and began making friends, although she was slow and careful about it. One girl in particular she liked was Betty Orleans. Betty was small for her age and had curly taffy-colored hair. She was quiet and thoughtful, the same as she was herself, and liked to read just as she did. They gradually became good friends. She knew they must live close together because their bus stops were only a few blocks apart.
    The school wasn't near enough to walk to class in the morning so she had to take the bus or one of her parents had to drive her. She liked to take the bus sometimes so she could talk to the other students about teachers and homework on the way. And sometimes she and her girlfriends talked about boys and how strange they were. The subject made her feel funny inside but it wasn't an unpleasant feeling.
    During the summer her mother had taken her aside for a long talk about how her body was changing and how it would change more in the future. Even before school opened the changes were already becoming noticeable, with a good start to what promised to be a nicely sized bosom, along with an already apparent widening of her hips.
    A few weeks after the school year began the bus slowed down for Betty to get out at her usual stop. She lived in the center home of a cluster of three on a short paved street named Rucker Road. The homes were all red brick and fenced in back but the front yards were not.
    "Oh, no!" Betty exclaimed, hurrying to gather her backpack. "Tuffy is out again!"
    "Tuffy?" Samantha asked but Betty was already gone from the bus and running fast to capture a dark brown Dachshund that was moving amazingly fast for having such short little legs. As the bus pulled away she looked out the window and saw Betty corral the little dog and swat it several times. She saw it crouch down in fear then roll over onto its back in the surrender reflex, the one that dogs assume when a more powerful dog is beating it up, or sometimes when humans are being forcefully dominant as she had just seen with Betty. Samantha cringed. She had never hit an animal. She had never even thought of hitting one.
    All that evening she was quiet, thinking about what she had seen. It was obvious that Betty couldn't talk to her dog in order to discipline it, but no one else other than herself could either, so that was nothing new.
    Elaine finally noticed that Samantha wasn't talking much and was paying even more attention than usual to Shufus.
    "Is something the matter, Sammie?" she asked. "You're being awfully quiet."
    "I was just wondering why people have to hit animals in order to make them behave. I saw my friend Betty slap her dog for getting out of the yard. I think I ought to talk to her and her dog, too. I heard her call his name. It's Tuffy."
    "Now, Samantha, I've told you I don't want you to begin with that kind of thing here. You are not to tell that girl you can talk to her dog. You hear?" Elaine said sternly.
    "Yes, ma'am. I won't let on. But I think maybe I can help her."
    Elaine shook her head apprehensively. She didn't like the sound of that but she couldn't bring herself to forbid her daughter from seeing her friends.
    The next morning as she and Betty rode the bus on the way to school, sitting together as they usually did, Samantha noticed that her friend appeared almost ready to cry.
    "What's wrong, Betty?" she asked.
    "It... it's Tuffy," she sniffed. "My Dad says we're probably going to have to get rid of him because he won't stay home. He finds a way to get out of the yard about once a week and Dad says we can't afford to pay the pound to let him go like we did