Summer of the Wolves (12 page)

“Doc,” Nick said in a low, questioning voice. “Uh, Stephanie stepped into a trap. Could you take a look?”

“Sure,” Doc said. “We might need to go down the mountain to the emergency room.”

While Doc looked at Stephanie’s leg, I stroked Waya’s head as gently as I could, with only the backs of my fingertips, and talked softly to her. I had wanted freedom for Waya. Instead I landed her in this cage, barely able to move.

“You’re lucky,” Doc said while holding Stephanie’s foot. “You’re able to put weight on it, so I’m pretty sure it’s just a bad bruise. Definitely have it checked out, though.” He lowered her foot and reached into his pocket. “By the way, Diana,” he added. “Here’s a souvenir for you.” He placed the small, misshapen bullet into my waiting palm.

“W
hat were you
thinking
?” Daddy yelled.

I scooted closer to Diana on the couch. Now that it was us against Daddy and Lynn, all of a sudden all those things we’d said to each other earlier tonight didn’t seem so important.

It was way past midnight. Diana and I had mud caked around the calves of our jeans, leaves in our hair, and blood smeared all over our T-shirts.

Dad’s ears were as red as a neon Bojangles sign. Lynn’s lips were a thin line and her arms were crossed
tightly across her chest, almost as if she had to hold them there.

“You know,” said Lynn in a measured tone, “I can understand your humanitarian interest in freeing the wolves. I can see how you’d truly be thinking you were doing a good thing. But lying about it for three days!”

“Out there wandering around the woods in the dead of night! Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?” Daddy yelled. “One or both of you could’ve fallen halfway down the mountain and been seriously injured! Stephanie, what if that trap had been a different kind?”

“Norm, you’re yelling,” Lynn said.

“Of course I’m yelling!” Daddy yelled. “That’s what people do when they get angry!” But then he took a deep, slow breath and walked in a circle around the room with his hands in his pockets.

“It was my fault,” Diana said in a quiet, even voice. “It was my idea, and Stephanie followed me. So you can blame me.”

My heart went crazy and I got this big old lump in my throat. Diana was taking the blame!

“Don’t worry, young lady!” Lynn said. “I’ve lived with you for fourteen years. This little scheme has
Diana
written all over it! And I even covered for you without knowing it!”

There was no way I was going to let Diana do this.

“I made my own choice to go,” I said. I cut my eyes over to Diana. “And we did our best to fix what we’d done.”

There was a dark sort of silence, since nobody had seen hide nor hair of Oginali since the wolves had been let go. We all took a minute to think about where Oginali might be now. Maybe lying injured somewhere. Maybe dead.

“What were you
thinking
?” Daddy said again, but a little bit more quietly this time. He sat down in an easy chair and stared first at me, then at Diana. “I guess I can give you credit for trying to make things right once you realized that what you did was wrong,” he said. “There are lots of consequences to this. When I talked to Mr. Morgan, he said you had agreed to pay for Waya’s surgery. I can’t argue with him. You are responsible. Mr. Morgan will most likely want to be compensated for the loss of that other wolf. How do you girls plan to come up with that money?” He exchanged a look with Lynn.

“I have two hundred dollars saved,” said Diana. “The money I was going to use to buy a horse.”

“I have a hundred,” I said. I’d planned on buying art supplies and speakers for my room, but it looked like that would have to wait.

“If it’s more, we could pay Doc from our allowance,” Diana suggested. “Until it’s paid.”

“All right then.” Daddy let out a long exhale. “On our way out of town Saturday, we’ll stop by Doc’s office, and you two can talk to him about paying for the surgery.” He took another deep breath and slapped his knees like he just realized something. He turned to Lynn and asked, “What exactly did you mean when you said you covered for Diana?”

Lynn didn’t look so good. I felt real sorry for her. She had been trying to help Diana. I held my breath. Would she tell Daddy about the lie she told?

“I lied to you, Norm. About Diana. She’d gone riding the morning after you grounded her from the barn. I knew it, and I didn’t tell you.”

Dad’s face was suddenly sad. “You lied to me? How can you yell at the kids for lying when you lied to
me
?”

“Listen, I know it was wrong. I know Diana was disrespectful. She was. But you were out of line, too, disciplining her like that without talking to me first.” Lynn watched her own hands as she twisted her new wedding ring around her finger. “I love you, Norm, but Diana is my only child. No one will ever, ever take her place.”

I felt movement beside me and saw Diana duck her head and scrub tears from her cheeks with the end of her sweatshirt. I felt so emotional. I wanted to give her a big old hug, and I knew she didn’t like hugging
all that much, but I decided to anyway. But then she leaned toward me and grabbed my shoulders with this really tight grip that surprised tears into my eyes. And then we all started bawling like little babies.

“Well,” said Lynn, blowing her nose. “I guess we’re really a family now, since we’re all crying!”

The next morning I put on my crummiest clothes and went down to the barn by myself. I found Maggie there in the office and I said, “I feel really bad for what we did. Can I help out in the barn, like you said?”

Maggie looked at me with flat-looking eyes, and at first I thought she was going to send me away. But then she led me to the tack room. She handed me a pair of heavy gloves and a shovel and put me to work mucking stalls. Honestly, it was disgusting. It got all over my clothes, it smelled awful, and flies crawled on me and buzzed around my ears. My leg was killing me. After about an hour of scooping poop, the morning trail ride came in and Maggie handed me a curry brush and introduced me to Sam. I spent another hour currying Sam and cleaning his hooves. At first my hands shook, my leg ached, and my heart was just pounding. But the minutes went by, and Sam’s tail swished in a real contented rhythm, like the metronome when I practiced
my piano. I got more used to Sam, and Sam got more used to me, and bit by bit I calmed down.

I was determined not to quit the barn chores until Maggie said I was done. By late afternoon I pretty much thought I would be sleeping in the barn that night, but Maggie finally appeared.

“Hey, Sam, Stephanie’s got you looking pretty good, hasn’t she?” Maggie smacked Sam’s butt and smoothed her hand over his neck. “Miss Stephanie, you done good. I happen to know a lot of wolf stories. I told Diana one. How would you like to hear one about a maiden who went out into the woods and met a wolf with his leg in a trap?”

My calf flinched just at the mention of a trap. “Sure,” I said, pushing my hair out of my eyes with the back of my hand.

“The wolf said to the maiden, ‘Please let me go.’

And she said, ‘If I release you, how do I know you won’t kill me?’

And the wolf said, ‘You’ll just have to trust me.’

So the maiden released the wolf
.

Afterward, he said, ‘Thank you, kind maiden.’ He plucked a lash from his eye, gave it to her, and He said, ‘Use this, and be wise. From now on you will look through my eyes, and you will see clearly.”’

On the way back to the lodge I thought about what
the story meant. Nick was playing basketball by himself at the half-court across from the lodge.

“Hey,” he said. He wiped his forehead with his shirttail. His T-shirt was drenched with sweat. He stepped closer, arms open. “Want a hug?” he asked.

I laughed and opened my arms. “Sure. I’ve been at the barn mucking stalls.”

Nick stepped away. “Maybe we can hug … after respective showers, if you know what I mean. How’s the leg?”

“Just bruised. Doc and Lynn both looked at it and said nothing’s broken or sprained. I should be okay in a few days.”

“That’s a relief.” He picked up the basketball, bounced it twice, then looked away. “Hey, last night was pretty wild, huh? I can’t say I ever expected to be watching surgery in the middle of the night. It was cool.”

“Yeah. I was surprised myself.” Surprised
at
myself, I thought.

“I have your number so we can text. And this fall when we play you guys in soccer, maybe you could come over to my side of the field and say hey.”

“Sounds good to me.” I smiled. “Hey, let’s hug now. I can handle it if you can.”

And so we did. He felt warm and kind of damp, and my ear was right against his heart and it was beating really hard. So was mine.

I pulled myself up onto the top rung of the barn fence beside Diana. I waved at Nick, who was leaning against the fence a few feet down. He looked cute. His hair was slicked back, and he was wearing brand new cowboy boots. I could have told him that old grubby ones were better.

The sun was coming up, chasing away the puffs of morning fog hugging the mountain slopes around us. Inside the barn, a horse whinnied in what I now knew was a friendly way.

“You lost another rhinestone,” Diana said, pointing to my jeans.

“Oh well.” I watched the barn hands bring out the horses. “Are you ridin’ Copper in the rodeo?”

“I better be.” But Diana grinned when she said it.

“I’m riding Sam.”

“He’s a good horse for you. He’s big but very gentle.” Diana pulled something out of her pocket and held it out for me. “Here. Give this to Sam and he’ll love you forever.”

I held out my palm, and Diana gave me a sugar cube.

“Thanks,” I said.

“How’s your leg?” Diana asked.

“It hurts, but not as much as yesterday. What about yours?”

“It hurts, but not as much as yesterday.”

We both kind of laughed. I blinked and scanned the mountain ridge behind the barn. “Wonder where Oginali is right now,” I said. “I wish we could have found her.”

“She must be so scared,” said Diana. “I feel so sorry for her.”

“Me, too.” I looked at Diana and realized that the wolves were almost like people to her.

“I heard Russell went out looking for her again last night, back around where we found Waya.” Diana picked at a splinter on top of the rail fence and wouldn’t meet my eyes. “You know, when I first saw the wolves, I thought I was more like Waya, and I hated Oginali.”

“Hated her?”

“I thought she was weak. But I don’t know. She may not be as brave as Waya, but she’s so loyal it really touches me.”

To me, they were just two wild animals. But it felt good that Diana was talking to me like this.

“Listen,” I said. “I’m real sorry about what I said about your dad. I shouldn’t have said that.”

Diana watched the horses for a minute. “It’s okay.”

“But your dad
should
write or call you back.”

“My brain knows that. My heart is having a little more trouble with it. But at least I’ll always have Mom.”

Daddy and Lynn came and leaned against the fence beside us. Lynn climbed up on the fence, giving Diana’s neck a squeeze. Diana leaned close to her.

“Hey, Steph, since you hurt your leg, don’t worry about riding,” Daddy said.

I smiled. “I’m goin’ to. I want to.”

“Are you sure?”

“Only if you promise not to act like a total geek, Dad.”

“Oh, you mean act like I’m Clint Eastwood or something?” Daddy acted like he was drawing pistols from a holster. “‘Tell me, do you feel lucky?’”

“That’s what I mean,” I said.

“Exactly,” Diana said about one second later, rolling her eyes at me.

“What was that line? ‘C’mon, make my day!’”

“That was from
Dirty Harry
, Norm,” said Lynn. “That wasn’t a Western.”

“Oh, right. My bad.” Daddy grinned. “Just call me the Norminator.”

“Stop it, Daddy!”

Maggie came out of the barn leading Copper. Diana jumped from the fence and ran over to him. He lowered his head and poked her gently, right in the chest.

“Don’t let him get out of line,” Maggie said. “I know you’re capable of keeping him in his place, and I expect you to do it.” She gave Diana a pointed look.

“I will,” Diana said. She started adjusting her own stirrups, and Maggie went back in the barn. A minute later she came back leading Sam. “Here’s your buddy, Stephanie.”

I looked at Sam’s gigantic head, and my heart gave a little flutter despite the time we’d been spending together in the barn. His brown eyes looked nearly as big as softballs. And those long, square teeth. And omigosh, his hooves were the size of buckets. But then he swung his head around and nuzzled Maggie like a great big dog, and Maggie bumped heads with him, stroking his muzzle. “He is a very sweet fella.”

I turned the sugar cube over in my hand and slid down from the fence. When I put weight on my foot my leg hurt pretty bad, but I ignored it and crossed the ring to Sam’s side. I didn’t like all that dust I was scuffing up, but I just took deep breaths and got to Sam and ran my hand slowly down the smooth bony surface of his big, trusting face, the way Maggie showed me yesterday.

“Thanks,” I said to Maggie. Mama would poke fun at her long braid and her ancient jeans made soft with horse dirt. But not me.

Sam blinked and nudged me, which knocked me off-kilter, but I caught myself. I held out the sugar cube with my palm flat the way I’d seen Diana do it. The skin of Sam’s muzzle, soft as fuzz on a baby’s head, tickled me. I glanced at Diana. Hot liquid sugar dripped onto my palm.

“Oooh.” I quickly wiped my hand off on the back of my jeans.

“I knew the slobber would get you,” Diana said, laughing.

“Can you reach the stirrups?” Maggie asked. “Do you want help getting on?”

Daddy started across the ring, but I shook my head.

“I’ll try by myself.” I reached up and grasped the saddle horn, the way I’d seen Diana and Maggie do it, and raised my right foot way up to put it into the stirrup.

“Up and over!” Maggie said.

I pulled myself up, up, up Sam’s huge round side until I was hanging there, one foot dangling.

“Throw your other leg over!” Diana said.

I did, even though it hurt like crazy. And in a minute I was sitting on top of Sam, my legs around his enormous sides.

Sam shifted his weight under me. I tightened my grip on the reins. Then Sam gave one ear a twitch, and it dawned on me that he might be saying “Hello.” I patted his smooth, muscular neck, grinning at Diana, who was giving me a thumbs-up sign. Daddy and Lynn were smiling at me and so was Nick. A little knot inside me relaxed.

In the last two days, I had been brave. Time and again I had found courage that I didn’t usually have. Aunt Lana, my youth group teacher, might tell me that courage came from God. If that was the case, I was grateful for it.