Frightful's Mountain, Chapter 16

In Chapter Sixteen, Frightful and Chup feed Oski as Oski grows. June finally starts to warm up, and Sam decides to sleep outside at night with Jessie the raccoon. Jessie tries to eat Oski, but Oski fights back, and slashes Jessie’s shoulder open. Sam bandages Jessie up, and tells Jessie that she must be friends with Oksi, as she was with Frightful. Sam also decides he has to rework the box that Oski is now living in, to make it impossible for anyone to climb up into it by using a metal pole. Sam realizes, as time goes on, that the bond between he and Frightful is breaking. He finds it good for her, and sad for him. Bando helps Sam to fix the box up, and sticks around a little while. He explains that he has a cell phone in his pocket that Zella will call him on if she goes into labor, and can leave right away.

Frightful continues to feed Oski as she gets older, and also spends time in town killing diseased pigeons so the disease will not spread among them. Leon, Molly, Jose, and Hughie watch Frightful, and Leon explains that the kids can visit Perry Knowlton’s to see the chicks in a few weeks. The children decide to focus their efforts on getting the utility poles fixed in the meantime. Oski begins to jump and fly very short distances. Sam watches, worriedly. When Mole investigates, Frightful knocks him into the millpond. Sam rescues Mole. They decide to stay out of the way until Oski can fly. Sam reads to Mole about Thomas Paine.