Sometimes that made things harder because people didn’t understand why she got so anxious about some things like school presentations Of course that might have had nothing to do with autism Abby’s friend Miriam didn’t have autism and she was even more nervous about presentations than Abby was Earlier that year Miriam had had to read her book report on Charlotte’s Web in front of the class When she’d opened her mouth to begin her voice had come out as a little squeak like a mouse It had been really funny but Abby hadn’t laughed because she’d known Miriam hadn’t thought it was funny at all Back in first grade or maybe even second Abby probably would have laughed But she’d learned a lot since then If Amigo was beside her now Abby would have imagined that everyone was admiring him instead of looking at her And Amigo was such a handsome dog that it probably would have been true Since he wasn’t there Abby decided to imagine that she was already grown up and a famous scientist giving a lecture to her colleagues This is Dr Abby Ramirez she began The class rippled with laughter Abby blushed She hadn’t meant to share what she was imagining with the class Mr Timothy put a finger to his lips and then to his ear telling the class to be quiet and listen
I mean this is Abby Ramirez she corrected My report is on the training of sled dogs for the Iditarod The Iditarod is a one-thousand mile race from Settler’s Bay to Nome in Alaska In 1925 there was an outbreak of diphtheria in Nome but bad weather prevented trains ships and airplanes from delivering the serum that cured the disease Relay teams of sled dogs however were able to cover the distance and deliver the medicine to Nome The modern Iditarod is run in commemoration of that event As Abby went on she felt her tense muscles relax She realized that she’d been flapping her left hand in rhythm with her speech which she
sometimes did when she was nervous If Amigo had been there he would have given her a gentle nudge with his nose to let her know what she was doing Abby was proud of herself for noticing it on her own She took her notes in both hands and continued Each team consists of sixteen sled dogs and one musher or driver Alaskan huskies are the most popular sled dog breed Sled dogs usually begin their training at around nine months old When Abby reached the end of her report everyone in the class clapped without being told Nice job Abby said Mr Timothy That was a very thorough report As Abby headed back to her desk Miriam gave her a thumbs-up Was it overkill Abby asked her after class pushing Miriam’s wheelchair as they headed to the cafeteria for lunch Miriam’s wheelchair had a remote control that allowed her to go wherever she wanted on her own but Abby liked pushing it and Miriam let her No I don’t think it was overkill said Miriam to Abby’s relief Sometimes Abby got so interested in topics that she kept talking about them long after other people’s attention started to wander But Miriam loved dogs nearly as much as Abby so she didn’t mind long conversations about them In fact that was how they’d become friends Abby hadn’t made any friends at all in kindergarten Mostly she’d played by herself with her favorite toy puppies and hadn’t paid much attention to the other kids who’d made up games with rules that Abby hadn’t been able to understand But in first grade she’d gotten Amigo and kids in her class had
started paying a lot more attention to her Mostly they had asked about Amigo which had been Abby’s favorite thing to talk about anyway Miriam had been one of those kids She’d told Abby that she wanted a dog but she couldn’t have one because her father was allergic Because Amigo was a service dog other people weren’t supposed to touch him or distract him while he was on the job But Abby had made an exception for Miriam and said that she could pet Amigo whenever she wanted Abby had been a little worried that when she stopped bringing Amigo to class she and Miriam would stop being friends But so far Miriam seemed to like hanging out with Abby even when Amigo wasn’t around It was a long report but it was interesting Miriam continued I didn’t realize the Iditarod was such a difficult race I can’t imagine spending eight whole days out in the Alaskan wilderness I know right said Abby And I was surprised by how much the dogs have to eat more than ten thousand calories per day That’s the equivalent of twenty-four Big Macs There was so much information that Abby hadn’t been able to include in her report and she wanted to share it with Miriam After a few minutes though she stopped herself and let Miriam talk That was something she’d had to learn on her own Amigo was a smart dog but even he didn’t have an alert for when she was oversharing Today Miriam had something on her mind that seemed to be even more important than dogs My brother got home from the army this
