Howl (16 page)

Within days, they’d added five baby raccoons, two ducklings, and a one-year-old bear to the animals already in their care. The bear had suffered multiple cuts trying to break through a window to get some pies a woman had left cooling in her sunroom.

“Will Mukwa be this big when he’s a year old?” Robin asked as she watched her father stitch up the sedated bear.

“Bigger, probably, given the size of his mother.” He gave the animal a shot of antibiotics, and they took it back to a cage next to Mukwa’s. “By the way, I saw Muk’s mom again yesterday. Across the field. So be careful. We have another week or so before I’m going to take off the cast and let him loose.”

A few days later, they were able to release the other new bear back to the wild.

“Good thing,” Griff said. “We can sure use the space with all these babies coming in.”

Robin cleaned out the enclosure right away to make room for some baby birds. Every inch of the barn was full of the quacking, barking, mewing, chirping, and sometimes whimpering animals, most of which were babies. Why babies got themselves into so much trouble, Robin didn’t know, but they did. Baby birds fell out of nests, baby ducks got caught in boat propellers, baby deer got injured by cars — there seemed to be an endless list of predicaments they got themselves into.

When Robin had the enclosure clean, she settled the baby birds in there and fed them. Then she wrote down what she’d done on a clipboard and attached it to the front of the enclosure. Later her father would add his treatment notes and the expected date of release. He wanted everyone to remember their goal: to heal the animal or bird as quickly as possible and get it back to the wild.

Robin went to the farmhouse to get some apples for Mukwa and found Griff and her dad sitting at the kitchen table. Griff sorted through a pile of mail then tossed the bunch to the side.

“Those people are as slow as molasses,” Griff said.

“Who’s slow as molasses?” Robin asked.

“Government people. We sent in that application about becoming a proper rehab place and still haven’t heard back. Hell’s probably going to freeze over first.”

“At least we’ve got it in,” Robin’s father said. “Now maybe the town will stay off our back.”

“That, my dear son, would presume that one government body tells another what it’s doing. Not a likely prospect.”

“And you call
me
cynical.” He smiled.

The phone rang and Griff picked it up. “A goose? With an arrow in its neck? My goodness. Where?” She began writing.

Robin’s dad picked up his medical bag and jerked his head towards Robin. “Get your water boots and help me with this one, will you?”

Robin snatched the directions from Griff, ran to get her boots, and beat him to the car. She loved it when she got to do a rescue with her dad.

Griff climbed in the back seat. In her hands she had a hand-made sign and a hammer. “Give me a lift down to the road, will you? I want to put this sign up.”

Her son looked at her worriedly through the rearview mirror. “Isn’t that pushing it, Mom?”

“It’s just a sign. I don’t want anyone taking a hurt animal to the Kingshots’ by mistake.”

“Good point.” He pulled over at the end of the road.

Robin looked behind her as they drove off and saw Griff hammering the sign up against a tree. It said
The Wild Place
. Robin smiled. She liked that name.

“So, where are we headed?” her father asked.

Robin read out the directions, and they sped along the back roads until they came to a mailbox that said “Smith.” They kept going until they saw a pond on the left.

“It’s supposed to be in there somewhere,” Robin said.

Her father pulled his waist-high waterproofs over his pants. Robin was going to have to make do with her rubber boots.

They headed towards the pond and soon saw a goose eyeing them nervously.

“I thought it was supposed to have an arrow in its neck,” Robin said.

“That one’ll be around here somewhere,” her dad replied. “This one here came down to help out the hurt one. That’s what geese do. If one’s in trouble, another comes to help.” He peered through a mass of bulrushes. “Okay, there’s the hurt one.”

Robin followed his gaze and took in a sharp breath. A goose was standing several yards away with a long arrow skewering the middle of its neck. She swallowed hard. That would hurt.

“Okay, kiddo, your job is to keep that helper goose away from me. I don’t want it coming after me while I’m trying to get the hurt one. But whatever you do, don’t get close. Their beaks can kill.” He thought for a moment. “Wait, I’ve got a high-tech tool in the car that will help you do that.” Moving cautiously so as not to alarm the goose, he went back to the car and returned with a baseball bat. He handed it to Robin.

Robin rolled her eyes at his humour but was glad to have the bat. She could use it to nudge the goose away if it got too close. Keeping her eyes riveted on the goose, she eased her way between it and her dad and started to coral it further away from the hurt one. It paced and made angry noises but backed off.

When she thought she’d manoeuvred it a safe distance away, she snuck a glance back at her dad. He was holding a blanket like a matador and approaching the hurt goose. When he was close, he threw the blanket over its head and grabbed it. Quickly, he gave it a needle, and the bird dropped to the ground.

Robin helped carry it back to the car. Up close, it looked huge. “Can’t you just take the arrow out here and set it free?”

“I could, but I’d worry about infection. I want to make sure it’s going to be okay.”

Robin nodded. “It’s not going to be easy finding space for it. We hardly have any cages left.”

Her father nodded. “We’ll let it sleep with Ari tonight.”

Robin laughed. She liked it when her dad made jokes. It was like the good old days.

When they got back to the barn, Zo-Zo was there helping Griff clean some of the cages.

“The only one we didn’t do was Mukwa’s. I’ll leave that one for Brodie.” Zo-Zo said. “I know he likes to do that one himself. He’s coming today, right?”

Robin nodded. She was glad the three had been able to move past their little upset. Brodie had apologized to Zo-Zo for what he’d said about her mother, and Zo-Zo and Robin had agreed to let mayoralty candidate Rick Kingshot be a part of the upcoming awards assembly, so all was well between the three of them. At least for the moment.

When the day they had so diligently planned for finally arrived, the three sat on the makeshift stage that had been set up at the front of the gymnasium.

They watched as the other students, teachers, and parents came streaming in.

“Jeez, I’ve never seen the gym so full,” Zo-Zo said, squirming in her seat.

“That’s because all the parents are here.” Brodie frowned. “Except for mine.”

Or mine
, Robin almost said. She didn’t have “parents” in the plural at all.

“Isn’t that your mom? There, in the corner?” Zo-Zo pointed.

“Oh, yeah,” Brodie said, brightening.

“There’s my dad!” Zo-Zo waved to a large man who was holding a camera and snapping pictures of them. “He’s going to put us on the front page.”

“Wow!” Robin said. The word barely came out, her mouth was so dry. She wished they didn’t have to be on stage. It was nerve-wracking being up there with everyone staring at them. Then she saw her dad and Griff. They took seats in the very front row. Her dad turned to speak to various people, but Griff caught Robin’s eyes and held her gaze. Robin felt Griff’s reassurance pouring into her, and she started to relax.

The principal arrived with the mayor Ed Goodings and Rick Kingshot and called the assembly to order. He started by telling the audience about The Big Fat Footprint contest and took a moment to praise Robin, Zo-Zo, and Brodie’s ingenuity for thinking up the idea and putting so much effort into making it work. Then he called up the two contest winners and let Rick Kingshot and Ed Goodings award them their prizes. There was a huge round of applause.

When that was done, he called out the names of the runners-up, and Robin, Brodie, and Zo-Zo stepped forward and gave each one a T-shirt. The shirts were all white but had a big green footprint in the middle. When Robin walked across the stage, her knees were so wobbly, she was worried her legs were going to collapse under her.

After the assembly, Peter Donnelly, Zo-Zo’s dad, took pictures of Rick and Ed with the winners. Rick kept waving at people and shaking hands with anyone he could.

Zo-Zo, who was watching him, elbowed Robin. “Look at him working the crowd. Pretending to be Mr. Nice Guy. What a faker. My dad says he’s spending so much money on his campaign, he might as well just buy the votes outright.”

When the group shot was done, Ed Goodings asked Zo-Zo’s dad to take a photo of him with Robin.

“You’re doing good work with that wild place of yours,” he said. He smiled for the camera. “If I’m elected, you can count on my support. Big time!”

“Wild Place! I call it the
wuss
place,” Rick Kingshot said, jumping in. “My friend the sheriff wanted to shut it down, but I talked him out of it. Brodie here likes the place.” Rick put his hand on Brodie’s shoulder and flashed a white-toothed smile at the reporter. “He’s my daughter’s boyfriend, so I indulge him.” He tousled Brodie’s hair.

Robin wondered whether Brodie was going to say he wasn’t Brittany’s boyfriend, but he didn’t. But he did do something else that Robin found surprising. He flinched when Mr. Kingshot touched him.

If Mr. Kingshot noticed, he gave no sign of it. He checked his large, shiny watch and left.

“Peter Donnelly,” Zo-Zo’s dad said, introducing himself to Robin and Brodie. “Can you three squish yourselves together so I can get a cover photo?”

“I feel like a star,” Brodie said as he arranged himself between the two girls. He put his arms around them both.

“You
are
a star,” Mr. Donnelly said. “You’ve done something important here.” He eased the three of them closer together. “Okay, Brodie, squeeze those gorgeous girls in close. Pull them right in.”

Robin suppressed a big smile. She liked being squeezed in closer to Brodie.

The next day, on the driveways and porches of nearly every house in town, Robin, Brodie, and Zo-Zo could be seen grinning from the front page of the newspaper.

“Uh-oh,” Zo-Zo said, staring at the photograph. Robin craned her neck over Zo-Zo’s shoulder. “You and I are looking at the camera, but Brodie is looking at you! Whoa. His eyes are like, all gooey!”

“No way!” Robin said, but even she could see the almost adoring look in Brodie’s eyes. She felt as if someone had lit a sparkler in her chest.

Zo-Zo put the paper down. “Big Brat will have steam coming out her ears when she sees this.” She sighed. “Mr. Kingshot isn’t going to like it either. Remember what he said? About stopping the sheriff from shutting The Wild Place down?” She looked at Robin with wide eyes. “Once he sees who Brodie
really
likes, he’s not going to protect The Wild Place any more. In fact, my guess is he’s going to try and get rid of us.”

Robin gulped. Having Brittany mad at her was bad enough. Having someone as powerful as Brittany’s father mad at her was downright scary.

Zo-Zo blinked nervously. She was obviously having some of the same thoughts. “Now, not only do we have the Big Brat hating us but the Big Bully too.”

For the next few days, Robin and Zo-Zo made sure they were never out of sight of the teacher on yard duty or alone in the halls.

“She’s going to do something to get us,” Zo-Zo said. “Just you wait.”

Robin agreed. The only question was
what?
Beat them up? Call them names? Steal more of their homework?

“As long as it doesn’t involve The Wild Place,” Robin said to Zo-Zo.

“I dare her to even come close to the place,” Zo-Zo said indignantly.

“Yeah, but her brother, Conner, comes and picks my sister up all the time,” Robin said. She thought back to having seen him flick his smoking cigarillo into the bushes that day he’d picked up Ari. All he’d have to do is flick one into the barn, and the place would ignite like a pile of dry tinder. The barn would become a raging inferno in moments. She shut her eyes, but images of the animals burning in their enclosures made her shudder.

“I’m going to start sleeping in the barn,” Robin told Zo-Zo the next morning while they were waiting in class for Mr. Lynch to arrive. “At least on weekends. That way I can hear if anyone comes close.”

“But then if there was a fire, you could get burned to death too!” Zo-Zo said. She elbowed Robin. “Don’t look now, but you-know-who is coming our way.”

Brittany was making her way around the classroom, stopping at each desk and handing out white envelopes. “For my birthday bash,” she said. “There’s going to be a band and everything.” When she got to Robin’s desk, she stopped. “I have one for each of my friends. Since you aren’t a friend, you don’t get one.” She moved on and placed the next invitation on Zo-Zo’s desk.

Zo-Zo picked it up and handed it back. “I don’t want it.”

Mr. Lynch strode into the room, and Brittany went back to her desk. For the rest of the day, the class buzzed with the details of the upcoming party. When the bell finally rang, Robin grabbed her things and left the class quickly. All the way home, she had to listen to the other kids talk about what they were going to wear to the party and what fun it was going to be.

That night, Robin felt more restless than ever. Since it was Friday, she and Griff made pizza, and after dinner, she and Squirm played cards. Ari watched and did her nails.

In the middle of one of their games, their dad announced, “Griff and I are going to the city tomorrow. We need cages.” He winked at Robin. It was Griff’s birthday the following weekend, and she knew he wanted to get something special for her party, which was on the same weekend as Brittany’s. Robin was happy about that. At least she would have
something
to do that night.

He put his hand on his eldest daughter’s arm. “Ari’s in charge. She’s got an exam on Monday, so she’s going to be here studying all day. Do what she says, okay?”