Rascal

Sterling North is an 11-year-old boy growing up in small-town Wisconsin in the year 1918. He goes around accompanied by Wowser, his 170-pound St. Bernard dog. Wowser is kind and will never start a fight, but he’s fiercely protective of Sterling and Sterling’s various other pets, so he will leap to their defense when necessary, defeating other dogs and animals with ease.

One spring day, Sterling and Wowser are taking in the fine weather as they walk to the woods, where there are ample opportunities for recreation. They pass the house of Sterling’s friend Oscar Sunderland. Oscar’s father Herman is a Swiss-German immigrant and a cruel misanthrope, whom Oscar fears, but his mother is a kindly Norwegian woman. Oscar’s mother typically gives Sterling Norwegian pastries around Christmas, a show of affection that brings tears to Sterling’s eyes, as he understands why she’s so kind to him: Sterling’s mother died when he was seven years old.

Sterling now lives at home with just his father, a real estate speculator and attempted novelist who has little interest in supervising Sterling and essentially lets him come and go as he pleases. This arrangement is agreeable for both of them.

As he passes Oscar’s house, Sterling gets Oscar to join him in an expedition to the woods, even though Oscar is risking a scolding from his father Herman when he returns. They make their way into the woods, chasing fish and wild animals. Suddenly, Wowser stops before a tree, sensing that something lives in its roots, and starts frantically digging it up. It turns out to be an enraged mother raccoon, who darts up the tree. Left behind in the root bed are four baby raccoons.

Sterling and Oscar want to take the raccoons home, but they can’t separate them from their mother, so they decide to catch her too. Although Oscar resists the idea, Sterling pressures him into agreeing to draw straws for who has to climb the tree and get her down, and Sterling loses. As night falls, Sterling shimmies up and decides to saw off the branch the mother is sitting on with his pocketknife, a laborious task that gives him blisters. Oscar fails to grab hold of her when she falls, and three of the babies join her as she runs off, but Oscar does manage to snag one of the babies.

The baby is very cute. Oscar laments that his father would never let him keep a raccoon. The sound of thunder reminds Sterling of the ongoing war in Europe, where his brother Herschel is fighting. Sterling reflects on the difference between his small-time concerns and the violent chaos overseas.

Back at Oscar’s, Oscar makes Sterling go to the door while he hides in a bush, as he’s too afraid to face his father. Herman furiously demands to know where his son has been, and Sterling starts explaining that they found a baby raccoon, which only angers Herman further. Suddenly, Oscar’s mother comes and calms Herman down, sending him to bed. She welcomes the boys in and then demonstrates to them how to feed the baby raccoon, by taking a mouthful of milk and then passing it down a straw into the raccoon’s mouth.