My name is Jimmy and I am five years old, and my friend Bobby is fiveyears old too but he says he thinks he's really more than five years oldbecause he's already grown up and I'm just a little boy. We live out inthe country because that's where mommy and daddy live, and every morningdaddy takes the car out of the barn and rides into the city to work, andevery night he comes back to eat supper and to see mommy and Bobby andme. One time I asked daddy why we don't live in the city like somepeople do and he laughed and said you wouldn't really want to live inthe city would you? After all he said you couldn't have Bobby in thecity, so I guess it's better to live in the country after all.Anyway daddy says that the city is no place to raise kids these days. Iasked Bobby if I am a kid and he said he guessed so but I don't think hereally knows because Bobby isn't very smart. But Bobby is my friend evenif he doesn't know much and I like him more than anybody else.Mommy doesn't like Bobby very much and when I am bad she makes Bobby gooutdoors even when it's cold outside. Mommy says I shouldn't play withBobby so much because after all Bobby is only a dog but I like Bobby.Everyone else is so big, and when mommy and daddy are home all I can seeis their legs unless I look way up high, and when I do something bad I'mscared because they're so big and strong. Bobby is strong too but heisn't any bigger than I am, and he is always nice to me. He has a longshaggy brown coat and a long pointed nose, and a nice collar of whitefur and people sometimes say to daddy what a nice collie that is anddaddy says yes isn't he and he takes to the boy so. I don't know what acollie is but I have fun with Bobby all the time. Sometimes he lets meride on his back and we talk to each other and have secrets even thoughI don't think he is very smart. I don't know why mommy and daddy don'tunderstand me when I talk to them the way I talk to Bobby but maybe theyjust pretend they can't hear me talk that way.