Why a Wolf Cries, Julie Steimle [ebook reader macos TXT] 📗

Audry felt the color wash out of her face. She knew right away that she had been doing exactly that. She didn’t like catching herself at it, but it was often knee-jerk. She felt ashamed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I was doing it.”

He shot her a side look, one that said he knew she wasn’t being intentionally judgmental, but that did not excuse her. It wasn’t the intention that bothered him. It was her actions. She lowered her eyes more.

“I’ll try to be nicer,” Audry mumbled.

Doug patted her on the head, whispering close. “I just want you to remember that we all are fighting a hard battle. Not everybody’s choices are going to be the same. Veganism just did not work for us.”

Audry sighed. “I know. I’m just disappointed.”

“Because you promote it everywhere as a great lifestyle,” Doug muttered. He shook his head, chuckling. “But you need to take into account that most mammals are omnivores, and liking meat is not a sin.”

This time she gave him a dirty look.

“And if you continue to huff whenever meat comes out, making yourself unpleasant—”

Audry drew in a breath, hearing him say that.

“—then I am going to have to remind you of your own hypocrisy, each time.” He folded his arms. “Until you stop.”

She colored.

“Besides, the fact that you prefer carnivores out of all the animals you’ve been rescuing is kind of weird,” he added.

Hearing this, she chuckled. That part was true, and made her feel sheepish. It was weird. She really did not know why she preferred the carnivores who had the claws and teeth. Perhaps it was how they lived their lives on an edge, and seemed to think more than herd animals. She did not like mindless herd mentality—even in animals.

Doug left her alone to get her sausage and eggs. Audry carried the meat she was handed back to the wolf, crouching down and breaking the pieces into smaller bits to feed him. The wolf stared up at her, his gray eyes watching as she tucked pieces of sausage and eggs into the side of his mouth under the muzzle, allowing him to mostly swallow it. Wolves did not exactly chew, after all. Their jaws were built for biting. Unlike those of humans or cows, they could not chew. They just crunched and swallowed.

Once he ate all the meat, she gave him some more water and wrapped the blankets around him again before going back to get some breakfast for herself. Audry spent that time talking with Maris, letting her know things were going to be ok.

Once they cleared up the food, Audry began to construct a drag stretcher. She took out the rain tarp from her tent, including the thin bungee ropes, and lashed together three sturdy branches about as thick as broomsticks. Two of them were long, and the third made a cross piece at the bottom. Audry planned to strap the tarp between it as a carrier, and have the wolf rest on top of it.

“What are you making?” Skyler asked, hands in pockets.

“The plains Indians, like the Comanche or Sioux, used to be nomadic, and when they moved camps, sometimes they would make this thing for their dogs to help carry stuff. This was before horses were brought to the natives by the Spanish. They made them bigger when they had horses.” Audry chuckled, thinking on that story. “Did you know then the native people first saw horses the name they gave it meant ‘big dog’? They had no clue what it was, but they sure adapted to use horses well after that. All the horses in America originally came from Europe, you know.”

Skyler smirked. But then he crouched down. “How did you learn to tie knots like that?”

“Oh, that.” Audry showed him how she was lashing the pieces together. “I was part of campfire girls for a while. One of the leaders taught us knots and stuff. Also, I had a boyfriend once who as really into boating. He taught me a whole lot of knots. Problem was, his favorite knot was the hangman’s noose. We kind of broke up because of that.”

“Was that before or after your knife-wielding boyfriend?” her mother asked, walking by, taking food stuff back to the packs they had come from.

“Before,” Audry said, blushing. “I never told you about this.”

She shrugged, continuing with packing.

“Alright, we’re packed,” Doug announced to his father. “Is there anything you need me to do?”

“Make sure the fire is entirely out.”

“Ok.”

Audry continue to work on the stretcher, now securing the tarp over it to hold well. Once it was done, she lifted it to see if she would be able to drag it without too much trouble. So far, it was light enough. She looked to the wolf who truly would be all the weight. Thing was, the wolf would be heavy. They were not small animals, gray wolves. They got almost as big as bears. Not light either.

 She got Skyler to help her heave the wolf burrito onto the stretcher then secure him down with the remaining bungee cords, she at the head, Skyler at the tail. Then she went to help clean up the rest of the campground. After a few discrete potty breaks among them, the entire family gathered up and heaved their packs onto their backs.

“All clear?” her father asked the others, gazing over the campground.

“Clear,” Doug said. Doug was carrying Maris in his arms, some of his pack redistributed between them. Maris’s pack had also been split up.

Their father looked to Audry, nodding. “Is your little pistol easy to get to?”

Audry patted her hip holster. “You’d better have your bear spray too.”

He nodded, as did the others.

And that was it. With the camp cleared, water bottles filled, they hiked back up the hill on the long trip back where they had left their cars. With he added weight, it would take most of the day.

The drag carrier was heavy with wolf, but Audry merely tightened her grip on the handles she had made and pulled hard to get it moving. It put her at the end of the group, but she figured that would be the case.

But then Skyler looked back. Soon he joined her.

“Can I help?” he asked with a sheepish shrug.

Smiling, Audry offered him the other side of the carrier. He took it in his young hands and pulled. It went a little faster after that.

“Aunt Audry? Can I ask you something?”

“Hmm?” Audry had been deep in thought, mostly going over where she had to take the wolf once they reached the parking lot.

Skyler sighed. “Why did you decided to go into animal conservation?”

She blinked at him, hefting along her side of the carrier. “What do you mean? I just like animals, and I wanted to do good in the world.”

Huffing, Skyler said, “Yeah. But you could have become a vet or something. Why do you go out after dangerous animals and rescue them?”

She stared at him.

“I mean, that cougar almost killed Maris,” he said.

“Oh…” Audry nodded, understanding his feeling. “I see. You think dangerous animals are what? Evil?”

“Maybe that wolf is good and saved her,” Skyler said, shrugging as his cheeks colored. “But the cougar would have eaten Maris if you had not shot it.”

Shaking her head, Audry replied as her mind replayed that night again, “I shot the cougar after the wolf nearly killed it. I could not get a shot in before then.”

Skyler drew a breath.

“But yes, she certainly would have been hurt worse if the wolf had not come—possibly killed,” Audry admitted. “But, the cougar wasn’t evil.”

His mouth dropped open.

“I know you are upset about what happened.” Audry peeked at him, “But the cougar was just hungry. And you ate sausage for breakfast this morning because you were hungry. How are you any better? …Is it because you didn’t kill the animal yourself before it became the meat? That’s a little presumptuous, don’t you think?”

He clamped his mouth shut. But then he said, “Is that why you don’t eat meat?”

“For that very reason,” Audry explained. “I don’t think it is right for us humans to eat meat when we know the harm it causes. But carnivores, like cougars and wolves, can’t help themselves. But they’re not evil. Their biology is just different. Their lifestyle and body demand meat for a healthy life.”

Skyler frowned, looking down to the wolf. “Would he have attacked Maris?”

Audry drew in a breath, thinking. She knew if the others could hear her, it might upset them. But she wanted to be honest, so she whispered, “If driven to extreme hunger, possibly. But I don’t think this particular wolf would. He’s different.”

“How?”

With a shrug, Audry looked to her wolf again. “I don’t know how. I came across him years ago… and he just does not seem as… well, savage—if it fits to use that word. He just does not feel so wild to me. I don’t think he’s tame, though. I think he’s… selective on what he eats. I know he’s not human-shy. He’s come close to homes and killed chickens….” Her mind went to Rick again, whose favorite food she knew was also chicken. She’d seen how he ate it, almost with an animal voracity. But Audry shook that ridiculous and totally unrelated though out of her head. “I think he also hunts rabbit. Lone wolves can’t take down larger prey by themselves, you know. It is why wolves hunt in packs.”

“What if he really is a werewolf?” Skyler asked, eying the wolf in the muzzle and blanket burrito over, gazing with fascination.

“Don’t be silly, Skyler.” Audry huffed. “That’s fantasy stuff.”

“But what if there were werewolves?” Skyler pressed the issue.

She shot him a dirty look.

“No,” Skyler said. “Just imagine it for a minute. What if that rich Deacon man really is a werewolf, and he is this wolf? What if… what if he came here because of you?”

Audry laughed. “Rick Deacon? Come to Yellowstone because of me?” She shook her head, entirely amused at the absurdity of the idea, though it was flattering. “No. Skyler. I know for a fact that Howard Richard Deacon the Third has been avoiding me.”

“Avoiding you?” Skyler laughed himself, almost choking on it. “Why?”

Sighing, Audry said, “Because—the world he is part of is freaky. And dangerous. And he wants to protect me from it. Remember the witch I told you about? I haven’t told you the half of it.”

“There’s more?” Skyler stared.

Audry nodded. “Yes. Most of his friends from Gulinger Private Academy have some sort of… I don’t know, psychic or creepy whatever about them. I mean, his cop friend, Matthew, can read minds.”

“No way.” Skyler dryly stared, doubtful this time.

“I swear.” Audry lifted up a hand as if taking a vow. “And his old private school roommate, Tom Brown? He’s CIA—and a little psychic too. He can overhear the naughty things you think. In fact, I met his ex-girlfriend, Selena Davenport, and I’ve seen her sweet talk people into doing things they initially did not want to do, like a magic voice. I saw her do it to her mother, who was embarrassing her at the time.”

“Are you saying there really is such a thing as magic?” Skyler asked. His gaze on her was growing incredulous.  

The wolf trembled in the carrier, whimpering. They looked back to him.

“No.” Audry halted. “Not at all. But psychic phenomena is not magic. It’s… something beyond regular human comprehension. It borders on spirituality. For example, there are people of Eastern religions who claim to have psychic abilities, and I am not going to discount that simply because I have never experienced it.”

“Mom says Taoism is actually Chinese magic,” Skyler said looking up to his mother.

Audry angled her head sideways. “Where did that come from?”

Skyler shrugged. “We’re reading Journey to the West at school as part of our culture week, and so we are talking about Buddhism and Taoism and the legend of the Monkey King. And I overheard Mom and Dad argue over whether or not it is