Ice (3 page)

“I can’
t,” was all I would say.

“Oh, right,” she said lik
e she suddenly understood. “Your uncle’s gone all day. Yeah, that would suck if I were stuck in the middle of nowhere. At least you have your computer, right?”

“Yeah, but after being on it everyda
y when I was sick, I’m tired of it now. It was about the only thing I could do when I was bedridden.”

“You poor thing,” she whined in a sympathetic tone, like she was feeling my pain.

I just blinked. I didn’t feel like I was in pain anymore. In fact, I couldn’t feel anything at all. My mind was completely blank. It was like I had become emotionally numb. I was as bland as the gray sky here, just like I had feared. I was just listening to the silence on the other end of the phone, watching the dog that looked like the very thing I was afraid of.

Finally, a thought did enter my head: how did Justin get Big John? If Big John was a wolf, which I was pretty sure of, how did he come to own him? Did Big John wander out of the woods one day and befriend him? If wolves were that nice, why was I so afraid then? Or, was Big John just an exception to the typical behavior of the wild wolf? I figured it was the latter, but I couldn’t be sure because of my extreme lack of knowledge on dogs, especially wolves.

“Hey,” Charlotte said, suddenly thinking of something to talk about. “I talked to Marcus yesterday.”

I was only slightly curious to know
what was said. Most of me didn’t want to hear about him. It was too depressing to handle with everything else that had happened recently. I was afraid I might start feeling again. Maybe bland wasn’t so bad.

As
Charlotte started telling me about how she ran into him at the supermarket (which was the same one I used to always go to with my parents), I saw Big John suddenly stiffen for a second, staring at the tree line. A second later he darted into the woods.

“Oh my God!” I gasped, suddenly sitting upright. As I ran into my room fo
r my coat, I said hurriedly, “I’m sorry, Charlotte, but I have to let you go!”

“Uh, okay,” she said in an uncertain voice. “Are you okay?”

“I have to go now. Sorry!” I hit the hang up button and tossed the cordless phone onto my bed. I tried to slide my arms into my coat, but for some reason I was having trouble getting my arms in. My haste only seemed to be slowing me down. As soon as I had it on, I ran out of the house, not bothering to zip it up since it was just 65 outside. I jumped down from the porch so that I would miss the steps. As soon as I landed, one hand down and the other stretched out to steady me, I ran toward the trees where Big John had disappeared. I pulled my hood over my head as I ran, because the cold wind was hitting my ears.

I started calling his name as I slid between two pine trees. “Big John! Come here, boy! Come!”

I clapped my hands, whistled, snapped, I did everything I could remember Uncle Justin ever doing to get a response out of him. I kept running through the trees because I couldn’t see him anywhere.

I started to panic more. My breath kept getting caught in my chest like I was crying, but I wasn’t. The tears were fo
rming in my eyes, but they hadn’t fallen. My eyes were wet, not just because of the fear that I had lost Uncle Justin’s dog and best friend, but also because of the wind stinging my eyes.

“Big John! Come back! Please! Come here, boy!” I cried out more desperately. My voice was starting to sound hoarse and I was starting to get tired.

It was eerie and strange in the forest. The grass wasn’t as thick, and there were occasional patches of dirt that were dark like mud, but it didn’t give under my feet. A sheer layer of pine needles coated everything. The light that seeped through the trees looked gray, making the forest feel mysterious.

And maze-like. How would I ever find John in
there? How would anyone ever find me? How far had I gone?

Finally, I stopped and relief flooded me; I could see Big John in the distance.

“Oh, thank God!” I gasped out loud. I gulped in some air and felt it scratch my throat. My heart was pounding like I was having a heart attack.

“Come here, boy,” I called sweetly. I bent over and patted my knees, waiting for him to come to me. But when he turned around,
he just stared at me. He wouldn’t come.

“Come on, boy
. Let’s go back to Uncle Justin’s house.”

I dropped to my knees, I was so tired. I patted my thighs and then he was suddenly beside me, licking my hands and wagging his tail.

My whole body jumped and I fell on my rump. I stared at his open mouth that always looked like a smile to me. He had the familiar blue collar around his neck. I warily looked over at the giant gray wolf in the distance I had been calling all that time and I realized it was a
wild
wolf. It was then I noticed the wolf had a bit more color to its fur, having a slight reddish-brown that faded into the gray. And the wolf was slowly coming towards me, like it was curious, despite the wolf by my side.

I slowly stood up, having to touch the ground because I was shaking. My legs felt li
ke jelly. “Okay, Big John...let’s go home...very slowly and respectfully.”

I tried not to look the wolf in the eyes, but it was staring me down with that unnerving yellow gaze, still slowly coming towards me. Big John continu
ed to wag his tail, not bothered by the wolf’s presence, and then a second later he froze and looked over at it, as if the wild wolf was now too close for his comfort. He stiffened, staring at the wolf the same way it was staring at me.

“No, boy. Don’
t…”

“Woof!”

I winced, afraid that would instigate an attack from the wolf. The wolf stopped and looked directly at Big John for the first time. The wolf was just as still as him now, staring back at him. He let out a low growl and then released another deep, “woof”.

I heard a rustlin
g in the trees nearby, and yet another wolf appeared to my left. I felt like I was going to faint. I couldn’t believe what was happening to me.

This one was black and white, walking onto the scene
halfway between the Big John look-a-like and me. I took a few steps back, holding my hand out in front of Big John to try to get him to fall back with me, but he didn’t. He was still locked on the big gray wolf, but I wasn’t worried about that one now; now I was worried about the big, black and white one that was much closer to me. Unable to keep my eyes off of the black and white wolf, I realized that it might actually be a Husky. My knowledge of dogs didn’t go much further than the miniature Chihuahuas I was used to seeing women carrying in bags when I was in California.

My heart was racing even faster as I tried to create the “respectful distance” I had read about on the
Internet, but I kept staring at the animal’s pretty blue eyes. I couldn’t help myself. They were mesmeric. They were the most hypnotizing and beautiful eyes I had ever seen. They were an icy, light blue, yet they were also vibrant. They stood out against his white face, almost as if they glowed. This wolf, Husky—whatever it was—was the most beautiful animal I had ever seen.

“Respect...” I whispered to myself, lowering my head a
little like a bow, but I wouldn’t take my eyes off of him. I kept slowly inching back, petting Big John’s back to try to get him to step away with me. “I appreciate you protecting me boy, but we really need to leave now.”

Suddenly the calm, black and white wolf turned defensive. A growl ripped out of his throat and he bared his teeth at me.

I stopped where I was, one foot almost to the ground behind me. My eyes were wide and stinging, and I held my breath.

The timber wolf in the distance turned around and darted out of sight. The black and white one kept growling, though. I was about to run for it, even if I had to carry Big John to do it, but then I noticed Big John had turned around at some point
and was still growling. He wasn’t growling at the black and white wolf.

I felt my mouth drop open in horror at that realization, still unable to breathe. I could feel my whole
body trembling in fear. I didn’t want to take my eyes off of the animal in front of me, but I had my doubts now that he was growling at me.

I slowly turned around, afraid I would find another wolf.

But I didn’t. What I found was an enormous brown bear creeping up behind me.

The big furry beast was slowly coming towards us, moving its head around in our direction. I wondered what it found so interesting about us, and then I finally took a breath.

I knew what it was then; the rich vanilla and oatmeal scent of Big John’s dog shampoo and the stronger, much sweeter honey cologne.

I had given him a bath this morning in an attempt to stave off my boredom and discovered a bottle of “Doggy Cologne” next to the shampoo that looked like it had never been touched. Big John was like a walking air freshener now. The sweet scent was incredibly strong because I had used almost half the bottle of shampoo to get through all of his thick fur and my hands were still wet when I opened the bottle of cologne
, making it slip out of my grip, and poured all over Big John. The bottle of cologne was nearly empty when I was finally able to retrieve it. Big John wasn’t hurt when the bottle fell on him; in fact he didn’t seem to have felt it at all because he was too busy licking his paws. He had, however, noticed the scent, because he immediately sneezed. He had been doing that a lot since the bath.

Now I was stepping away from the bear, even though it put me closer to the black and white wolf behind me. I had taken a few steps back when the bear continued to walk slowly towards us, putting him dangerously close to me and Big John. I could picture it lurching forward and attacking us at any moment, closing the distance. In that second, I feared Big John was going to jump forward and attack.

Instead, the black and white wolf launched forward and ran behind the bear in an instant.

I gasped, startled by the sudden movement. The bear was slow to react to the black and white animal because Big John was still
growling loudly. In a second’s time the wolf had jumped up onto the back of the bear and had started sinking his teeth into the brown bear’s neck. For a moment I was in disbelief of what I was seeing, just watching the scene unfold before my eyes.

Big John started to move forward then. I got a hold of myself and slipped a finger behind his collar, trying to tug him away.

“Big John,” I said as firmly as I could, “get back! Big John! Back!”

Big John wouldn’t move. I didn’
t want to tug too hard for fear of hurting him, so I wasn’t making him budge any. I watched as the bear swiped angrily at the wolf attacking its back, growling and wailing in pain and fury. It tried to shake the wolf off, even standing up tall on its back legs. The wolf continued to cling until the bear landed a hard swipe. The wolf dropped from it with a quick, piercing whine. He landed with a loud thump, and then quickly scrambled to his feet.

Big John lurched forward t
o attack the bear, but I wouldn’t let go of his collar.

“NO!” I shrieked, afrai
d he would end up like the black and white wolf that was standing before us. I could see a crimson patch on the wolf’s side, quickly growing in size amidst its fur. My feet moved a little, but Big John couldn’t get close enough to attack with me holding him back.

The wolf attacked the bear again, biting one of the arms that were coming to tear him up some more. The other paw landed another attack, though. There was another loud whine and the wolf fell to the ground, right in front of the bear.

I panicked, afraid the bear was going to kill the wolf. I looked around and found a spiky pinecone next to my feet. I picked it up and tossed it at the bear, not thinking it would do much damage, but it surprisingly hit one of its eyes.

It growled
loudly again and grumbled a deep kind of whine as it rubbed its eye. The bear started backing away, unable to see well enough to attack, I guess. It retreated out of sight into the maze of trees, first slowly, and then running on all fours. I couldn’t believe it had run away, when I had been so certain that I was going to be mauled to death. I quickly came to the conclusion that I had just experienced a miracle.

I looked down in horror at the poor wolf that had protected Big John and me. One of his white front legs was stained in the same bright crimson that streaked across his side. He tried to stand up, but then he would drop to the ground again, whimpering. He kept trying, relentless and stubborn, reminding me of myself a little, but would then fall again.

I tried to think of something to do. I had to help him.

Then it suddenly dawned
on me: I could use Uncle Justin’s sled that I had seen in the shed when I had gotten the mower out.

“Stop trying to stand up,” I said in a shaky voice to the wolf. I removed my hands from Big John's collar and started walking away. “Sta
y here. I’ll be back to help you.”

I felt stupid talking to it, but I prayed it somehow got the gist of my message. It was habit from having only Big John to talk to while Justin was gone.

I then whistled at John as I started running back to the house. Big John ran after me back through the woods and to the house.