Summer of the Wolves

by Polly Carlson-Voiles

  “But what can I do? He doesn’t belong anyplace. I don’t know what Ian was thinking when he took him from the den.”

  “Khan would have died, Nika.”

  “I know. No, it was right to take him, but I wish we could just let him go again.”

  “He would probably starve. He doesn’t know how to hunt.”

  They were silent again as small waves made metallic slaps against the side of the boat. The sky was exactly the same gray color as the water. It was as if they were floating in the sky.

  “If Luna goes into town, someone will shoot her. We should tell,” Nika said. “Who would we tell?”

  “They might send her to some wolf rescue place, where they take wolves that people have tried to keep as pets.”

  “Maybe both wolves could live free, together?” said Nika, sitting up. The thought of losing Khan forever wrenched her. But the thought of him having a wild life felt right to her.

  “Maybe even have pups!” Thomas smiled.

  They high-fived each other. Then unspoken doubts slowed the momentum of their enthusiasm.

  “Should we tell about Luna?” Thomas asked.

  “Let’s not for a while. Ian’s back tomorrow. Let’s just see what happens the next few days.”

  “Sure,” he said, pulling the cord on the motor.

  Now the wolf watched for the two humans to come. She heard the metal scraping, then their voices, gentle and low. She wanted to go to them, to greet them like she had the woman, to roll on the ground nearby. But she remembered the man and the cage, and she stayed behind branches.

  Chapter Fourteen

  When Nika got home that evening, she took Khan for a short run, returned him to his pen, fed him, then went to bed early. As she stared out the window at stars caught in graceful webs of black branches, she felt the heavy weight of questions. It seemed impossible to figure out what was right for the two wolves.

  At times like this her grief hovered in the room like a dark winged creature. She squeezed her eyes shut and remembered Meg saying to her, Find a favorite memory, and run it through your mind. When you lose someone, you have to find new ways to feel close. Meg used to say her memories were her jewels to keep forever.

  Nika pulled the photo album from her shelf and found the picture of the three of them around the caterpillar birthday cake Mom made for Nika when she was six. And the one of all of them petting a pilot whale at Sea World. She turned to the ones taken on their trip to Maine. She had just turned ten. Their last trip together. There was a flash picture her mom had taken after she got them out of bed to chase fireflies in their pajamas. Nika remembered feeling the wet grass, laughing, and reaching for the tiny winking lights. On the last page was a photo of her dad in his uniform. She was surprised to see that he looked a little like Ian. She wondered how much they were alike. She had very few memories of her dad. He left her mom shortly after Randall was born to go into the military. She still wished he was in their lives. It always hurt to think of him dying in a munitions accident overseas.

  After visiting the photos she felt even more awake. The volunteer hadn’t been able to come tonight, and she began to wonder if Khan was lonely. She tiptoed downstairs, grabbed a flashlight and the smelly sleeping bag, and went up the path to the hill pen. When she clinked through the gate, there was no sign of the pup. The stars were so bright, she could see without the flashlight. After lying down in the sleeping bag, she whimper-whined for the pup. He staggered groggily out of the dark and curled his small body on the ground close to her face. He sniffed her closed eyelids, rested his nose on the side of her face with a sigh, then readjusted when his nose slipped off. After he settled, she gently moved him so he snuggled against the curve of her stomach and folds of the sleeping bag. She felt the thrill of touching his rough fur and listening to his hoarse breathing. Even in the coolness, every muscle in her body relaxed. She had to smile. How many people had slept with a wolf ? When she saw the first pale light in the sky, she eased the pup into her warm spot on the sleeping bag and returned to the house.

  The next afternoon Ian returned. Pearl came up and spent some time with Nika, watching Zeus and Khan chase wildly around the pen. Nika and Pearl both laughed when little Zeus stood his ground, growling, causing Khan to roll on the ground submissively.

  “Khan doesn’t realize he’s going to be a hundred-pound wolf someday,” Pearl said.

  “Neither does Zeus.”

  Nika felt shy around Ian his first night home. Dinner was low key, and she stayed busy helping Pearl. Did he know about her treks to the Big Island and Khan getting lost? What about Bristo ? Did he suspect her part in the release of Bristo’s animals? After dinner Randall stayed downstairs playing Monopoly with Ian and Pearl until Ian took him back to the Camerons’. Nika decided to go to bed early.

  The next morning thin pink light fell in ribbons across Nika’s bed. Voices plucked at the fabric of her sleep. From downstairs she heard Ian talking, and the husky sweet voice of Pearl. They spoke in measured, serious tones. Nika slipped from her bed and tiptoed to the top of the stairs. She just heard mumbles, but she felt sure they were talking about her.

  That afternoon Ian buzzed over to the Camerons’ to fetch Randall and a boatload of his gear for a few days’ visit. Nika looked forward to having Randall with her again. Since he had only met Khan briefly as a tiny pup, Randall was thrilled to spend most of the morning in the hill pen, sitting with his back against the fence, watching the pup race and dig. When Khan threw himself onto the ground next to Randall and fell asleep, Randall grinned, waving at Nika and pointing down at the resting pup as she walked around cleaning up scat.

  When they came down from the pen, Ian said, “Come on, you two,” and led them outside, smiling like he had a big surprise hidden in the woods. He opened the doors of a crawl space tucked beneath Pearl’s cabin and plunged into the dark. Soon packs and old dented aluminum pots and pans came flying out.

  “Leaving for Russia?” Nika asked.

  “No,” Ian said, handing her a small ax. “But I thought it was time I took you two on a short canoe trip. Just the three of us.”

  The pile of packs and plastic containers grew at Nika’s feet.

  “You know, just being here is kind of like camping already,” she said, her voice trailing off.

  “Take this tent, will you, Nika?” Ian held out a large green bag. She laid it on the ground with the other stuff. A tent meant sleeping.

  Randall bent over, eager to help. Ian handed him a sleeping bag, then another.

  “So how does this work? We paddle to a place, camp there, then come home?” Nika was wondering how long she would have to be away from Khan. And Luna.

  “Just three nights. Elinor will sleep in my cabin, so she’ll be around to watch over Khan. Anyway, the place I have in mind is just a couple of lakes north of here, in the wilderness area. Four short portages in, I know of a great campsite. We can stay there, then fish and explore the lake each day. Here, Randall, can you take these sleeping pads?” Ian pulled himself out of the crawl space and shut the door.

  “That’s kind of a long time, isn’t it?” A hint of a whine threaded through Nika’s voice. She imagined a troop of eager volunteers descending on Khan’s pen.

  “Next is my favorite part—planning the food,” Ian said, grabbing several packs and striding back toward Pearl’s kitchen.

  “S’mores!” Randall shouted, dragging bags on the ground and following.

  After seemingly endless hours of measuring portions of biscuit mix, oatmeal, and peanut butter, cutting cheese, labeling plastic bags, and checking off equipment lists, they were finally ready. On the day of the trip, dressed in her shorts and boots and three layers of shirts, Nika ran up to give Khan the meatballs with the vitamins, then raced down to meet Ian and Randall and Zeus at the sand spit. Ian waded into the water in his hiking boots and started loading the canoe.

  “Wet foot camping,” he announced. After the packs and fishing gear were in, Ian scooped up Ze
us and waded out to put him on top. “He loves canoe trips,” Ian smiled as the small dog snuggled down between two packs.

  Ian held the canoe while Randall waded, then climbed into the center area, his new boots streaming water. Randall sat cross-legged, not even complaining that he sat in a puddle.

  “That’s called duffing, sitting in the middle. Like a king, the duffer gets to ride,” Ian said.

  Her hands on her hips, Nika stood motionless on the yellow sand.

  In water up to his knees, Ian calmly waited with both hands on the gunwales to steady the canoe. “This is a very old wood and canvas canoe,” he said, “and I would hate for it to get scratched or damaged in any way. So we do it this way.” To Nika, he gestured at the front seat with his head.

  “My boots will get wet,” she protested.

  Ian looked down at his own wet boots and smiled.

  “Okay,” she said with exasperation. She splashed out, and as she climbed in, she scooped up a few quarts of water. The coolness of the water filled her boots. It wasn’t as bad as she thought it would be.

  At first the paddling was easy. They glided soundlessly over the still water. It was so different from the noisy motorboat, to really feel and hear the water moving under them. Nika was impressed that they were carrying everything they would need for three days in just three packs. This was what it must have been like a long time ago. As they turned up a long bay of Anchor Lake, Ian told them that from now on they were in a wilderness area, where cabins or motors weren’t allowed, just canoes and campsites. He said people needed permits from the Forest Service to come here.

  On the first portage Ian carried a pack and the canoe, whistling as he bobbed up the narrow, winding trail that connected Anchor Lake to the next small lake. Nika’s pack was heavy, but when they got to the end of the portage, she felt like she’d really accomplished something. After the next portage, Randall took a turn paddling and Nika duffed as they headed down a winding river edged with tall grasses. They stopped paddling to watch a moose lift her head from the water, dripping water and weeds from her mouth. After a short muddy portage to Elbow Lake, they paddled through a narrows, then crossed an expanse of water. Everything was so quiet, except for the splashing of their paddles and the bird song from the shore. They pulled into a tiny island to switch places and have a trail lunch. After eating, Randall seemed glad to be the duffer again, spreading a big yellow and blue map across his knees.

  Nika didn’t want to admit how rubbery and sore her arms were getting. The next portage was rocky, and she tripped and went over on her back like a flipped turtle, her legs waving in the air. Ian took the pack while she got to her feet, then loaded her up again. The portage ended at a beach, and she was relieved to wade in and have Ian unload her pack into the canoe. This lake was called Serpent Lake. On the map it was a long lake with lots of bays and lots of bends. Ian stopped and showed them how to use the compass. Randall held it, and as they paddled between small rock islands crowned with trees, he shouted which way was north.

  “It looks like we might have already gone five miles,” Randall said, studying the map.

  To Nika, it felt like twenty.

  “Randall, see the red dot?” Ian said. “Now see if you can locate the campsite up ahead.”

  Randall kept looking down at the map, then pointing excitedly as they got close. Ian aimed the canoe toward a smooth rock point that sloped down into the lake. There was no sign that anyone had ever been here before. After guiding the canoe in sideways, Ian hopped into the water to hold it as they stepped carefully across slippery rocks.

  It took just a few minutes to set up the four-person yellow nylon tent with a blue rain fly. As they stood admiring their work, Ian said, “Well, Randall, shall we get ready to catch some dinner?”

  Randall raced off.

  Ian efficiently tucked bags and personal gear into the tent, opened the valves on the sleeping pads to let them fill, then zipped the door.

  In about three minutes Randall was back, ready and waiting, decked out with pole, stringer for the fish, bait box, hat, life jacket, and a grin.

  “Are you going to fish with us?” Ian asked Nika.

  “Thanks, but I think I’ll read for a while.” After he nodded and left, she pulled open the zipper and crawled into the yellow tent, zipping it shut again.

  Zeus stood with his nose pressed to the nylon screen for a bit, then she heard the jingle of his collar as he trotted off to join the fishermen down on the shore.

  She closed the valve of the sleeping pad that had magically filled with air and stretched out on her bag, shifting for a good position. It was amazingly comfy. She couldn’t even feel rocks poking her back. From her pack she pulled Julie of the Wolves, which she was reading for the third time. Ian had said that as a wolf biologist he didn’t think it very probable that a wolf would regurgitate food for a human. He had also said wolf table manners were pretty rough, since they used their teeth to make decisions about who gets what. Maybe it was unlikely that wolves would share food with a human, but Nika loved the story just the same. How the wolves communicated was great, and so was how the pack members interacted. But probably the best part was how Julie loved Amaroq when she hadn’t really had much love in her life before. She turned to one of her favorite parts as she relaxed and listened to Randall shout each time he caught a fish.

  The pan-fried walleye and bass were the best fish she’d ever eaten. Sweet white flakes broke off at the touch of a fork. Randall went down immediately after dinner to fish off the rocks again. She and Ian washed dishes in a folding dishpan away from the shore, then dried the pots and pans by the fire.

  “Want some cocoa?” he asked.

  “Sure,” Nika answered.

  Randall was shouting to hear his echo bounce back across the lake. Nika thought the echo was cool, too. “Is there anyone else on this lake, except us?” she asked Ian, sitting down on the broad back of the rock and wrapping her arms around her knees.

  “Don’t think so.” He seemed preoccupied. It was hard for Nika to believe they were so far from everything. For her, life on the island had been extreme, but this roadless forest was a whole new level of wilderness. Probably most of the kids she’d known had never camped like this.

  “Think it’s going to rain tonight?” Nika searched for words to fill the empty space between them. There were definitely some topics of conversation she wanted to avoid.

  “No, I don’t think so,” Ian said, handing her a cup of steaming cocoa in a metal cup.

  “Does the tent leak?” she asked.

  “No. I’m pretty sure it’s tight. I haven’t used this one for a while, though.” He stood and paced back and forth. “Listen, Nika, I have some things to tell you. I haven’t told Randall yet. I wanted to talk to you first.” He poked at the fire in the grate and added several split sticks of wood.

  “Okay.” She felt funny in her stomach. Here comes a lecture, she thought.

  “Well, I got a new job when I was in St. Paul.” He looked at Nika.

  With surprise and relief, she walked over to lean against the trunk of a giant tree. Maybe that was what he had been talking to Pearl about.

  “Anyway, I’ll be the new director and head biologist for a research and education facility they’ve been building. It’s called the Center for the Study of Northern Animals. Right here in Red Pine. Last year they bought the property, formed a board, and began rehabbing an old brick mine building that will be the visitors’ center.” Ian continued, “Next week we start fencing the first animal pens. I’ll be pretty busy the next few months.”

  As she listened to him describe it in detail, Nika couldn’t help but think it sounded a bit like Bristo’s, wild animals locked up, except this new center would probably have plenty of food.

  Ian was so full of this new thing. It was the most she’d ever heard him talk, except about wolves. He talked about how places like this provided education, making a difference for wild lands and animals. “If people don’t see
them and know about them, how can they care?”

  Her cocoa had cooled, and she took a few sips.

  “So what about your study?” Nika asked, thinking of all those wolves wandering the woods with collars beeping out their locations.

  Ian paused for a moment, pulling out dried apples and chocolate and laying the treats on a rock.

  “Elinor will be taking over my old wolf research job.” Offering squares of chocolate, he added, “But there is something else . . .”

  Nika accepted several squares and ate them slowly. Then she picked up a stick from the ground and sat down, shredding the partially decayed stick, piece by piece.

  Randall shouted from the shore, “Ian! Got another smallmouth!”

  “Just a sec,” Ian said to Nika. “I’ll just help Randall release this one.”

  She waited on the log and tossed sticks into the fire. Ian came back and sat down next to her. She wished he would get to the point.

  “So. Well. When I was in St. Paul, I met with Ms. Nordstrom. We worked it out so you guys could stay for the rest of the summer.”

  So this was the news. Not that she wanted to go back to California right away. But it would have been nice if someone had asked her if she wanted to stay. She was about to mention this when Ian continued.

  “Anyway, since you will be staying longer, we need to talk about Khan.”

  She went over to get some birch bark and a log for the fire. Down on the shore, she saw the black silhouette of Randall casting against the rose-and-orange-colored brush strokes of sunset. The fire flared up.

  “I understand you let him run with you on the Big Island.” He gave her a steady look.

  “He’s not going to run off. He always . . . Well, he follows me. Except that one time.”

  Ian sat motionless on the log, his arms resting on his knees. He said slowly, “We’ve spent a lot of time and energy raising that pup, all of us.”

  “I just wanted him to know what it felt like to be free,” she said, her voice edged with emotion.