Harvey Hippo's Arc

Chapter 5 of 5

The next morning Harvey walked into town with the sketchbook open on his palm, the way the clerk had asked. He drew a fresh line at the first cart clatter, then a second when a door slammed. Three lines by the time he reached the feed stall. His hoof was steady. The stone rode warm in his pocket. He thought the hard part was behind him. He did not notice the badger at first. She stood two stalls back, small and quick-footed, craning her neck each time he lifted the pencil. When he stopped at the water trough she edged closer. "What are you drawing?" she said. "Is it me? Let me see." She reached for the page. Harvey pulled the book against his chest. The cruel voice climbed before he could set his teeth. Tell her to crawl, it said. Break her paw. His mouth opened and a word came out sharp. "Back off." It was too loud. The badger stopped. Two other shoppers turned. Harvey felt his hooves lock to the dirt. He forced his hand to the pencil. He drew a line. The badger was still watching. He drew another. The voice kept talking, but his hoof kept moving. Four lines, five. He looked up. "I'm sorry," he said. His voice was flat but his own. "I didn't mean the tone. I have a rule. No one sees the pages except the clerk." The badger frowned. "You yelled." "I know," Harvey said. "That was the thing I'm trying not to do." He turned the book so she could see the cover but not the inside. "The clerk knows about the book. You can ask her. I can't show you the drawings." He kept his eyes on the elastic band, not on her face. It was easier. The badger looked at him a long moment. Then she shrugged and went back to her basket. The other shoppers turned away. Harvey walked to the clerk's window with his feed sack and showed the page. Eight lines now. The clerk counted them without a word and nodded him through. Back at the clinic Harvey went straight to the reading nook and sat between the two cushions. He drew a ninth line, slow. Valerie brought him a cup of water and waited. "I snapped at someone," he said. "In the market. A badger who wanted to look." Valerie sat on the arm of the bench. "Did the ban hold?" "It held. I said sorry. She left." He pressed the elastic flat. "But the voice got out first. Before the stone. Before the line." Valerie set the water down. "Then that's the next thing," she said. "We work on the gap." Harvey closed the book. The lever still worked. The voice had found a crack in it.