Joko (55 page)

Ginny handed Jack a sandwich. He took it gratefully and devoured it. “Gee, you were sure hungry,” she said.

“Hungry,” said Jack. “Mmmmmm.”

“Me too,” said Johnny, taking a savage bite of his sandwich.

“Mmmmmm, good!”

Ginny laughed, then took Johnny’s arm and snuggled next to him for the ride home.

When they arrived at Ginny’s home she kissed his cheek and thanked him for the carnival. She smiled at Jack and went into he house. Before he knew it Johnny found himself in the wagon with Jack headed for home, wishing his date with Ginny had lasted longer.

He wanted to scold the sasquatch for ruining his date, but he couldn’t. He knew Jack had tried to make everyone happy and when it didn’t work out he did the best thing he could think of, which was to wait in the wagon.

All the way home Johnny thought over Jack’s climbing the Ferris wheel. It had happened so fast that Johnny couldn’t have prevented it if he’d wanted to. Now he wondered what other surprises lay in store before the sasquatch became

‘civilized’. The thought depressed him.

The ride home seemed to take forever. Neither Johnny nor Jack made any attempt to communicate. As the wagon came around a bend Jack suddenly jumped off and ran into the woods. Johnny thought he recognized the spot. Was it the place he’d taken Jack to look for his family? Johnny called after the sasquatch, but Jack had vanished into the thicket.

Johnny stopped the wagon and waited, thinking that Jack might have had to relieve himself, but after about five minutes Jack still hadn’t returned and Johnny began to worry.

Finally Johnny got out of the wagon, tied Tilly to a branch, and went into the woods to search for Jack. He found a small trail, possibly made by deer, and followed it as far as he could through the dense woods. Finally he stopped walking and looked around. The shadows had deepened and night was coming fast.

Afraid that he’d get lost, Johnny became nervous. It occurred to him that Jack may already be back at the wagon.

He stopped walking and held his breath, listening for sounds of movement. Johnny took the opportunity to relieve himself.

He knew Jack had to be nearby but all he could hear was silence. Finally he turned and went back to the road. When he reached the wagon Jack was not there. He was about to call Jack’s name, but something made him resist the urge. He sensed a presence. Someone or something was nearby, only a few yards away.

Then he saw it. Standing mute and still was a tall man-like figure. It blended so well with the trunks of the trees he would never have seen it if he hadn’t been looking for Jack. Johnny turned to face the thing, thinking it was Jack, but his senses told him it wasn’t. He studied the shadow, not sure whether to speak, then he noticed movement off to his left. When he looked at it all he saw was shadows. Johnny felt fear well up inside. More movement caught his eye, this time to his right.

The light was nearly gone, but he could see three figures; none of them moving, but all facing him and watching in silence.

Johnny climbed back into the wagon and took the reins.

Tilly began to walk forward when she felt the reins move, but Johnny pulled her to a stop and waited, trying not to take his eyes off the shadows. He knew this had something to do with Jack. Then he surprised himself. Instead of calling out Jack’s name, he remembered one of Jack’s words; the name Jack called himself.

“
Aaoooo
,” said Johnny, repeating the word as accurately as memory allowed. “
Aaaooooo
,” he repeated again.

Then he waited.

One of the shadows moved. In two giant strides it was before him. It seemed to hesitate as though it feared him, which surprised Johnny since he could see that the thing stood well over seven feet tall. His hands tightened on the reins as the creature moved a step closer. This time he saw its face, like a man’s, only covered with hair. Its skin was dark so Johnny had only an impression of what it looked like. A thick musky scent caught his nose. Johnny recognized it immediately as Jack’s smell.

The beast studied Johnny. He could see that it wanted to get closer but was hesitating.

“
Aaooooooooo
,” repeated Johnny.

Suddenly it spoke: “
Taaaaa-ooooo-aaaa, ka
.” The voice was deep and rough.

Then a familiar voice came from behind: “
Ka-tooo-waaaaaa-faa
.”

Johnny turned to see Jack standing on the other side of the road.

The creature looked back and forth at the two of them, then turned its attention fully to Jack.

“
Aaoooooo
,” it said. Then it looked at Johnny again, turned and vanished noiselessly into the woods. For a moment Johnny’s eyes caught the movement of at least three other creatures before they vanished as quickly as the first.

Johnny’s hands shook as he held the reins tightly. His teeth chattered and he found himself at a loss for words when Jack climbed into the seat next to him. He took a deep breath as the tingling in his body subsided and he snapped the reins.

Again they rode in silence. Johnny played the incident over in his mind. Why wasn’t Tilly afraid when the monster approached the wagon? Why had Jack chosen that place to leave the wagon? Were the creatures related to Jack?

Curiosity finally overwhelmed Johnny. He turned to Jack and said: “Were those people sasquatch? Like you?”

Jack nodded.

“Were they your family, Jack?”

The sasquatch shook his head. “Johnny family.”

Johnny thought for a minute, then asked, “Did you know they were there?”

“Sas-quatch road,” said Jack with a nod.

When they reached the farm Johnny wasted no time telling Gert every detail of the Ferris wheel incident and his encounter on the road home.

“My God, Johnny, weren’t you afraid?”

“Sure,” he answered. “But I knew they wouldn’t hurt me.”

“And how do you know that?” Gert demanded.

“I spoke to them,” he said.

Gert’s eyebrows must have raised a full inch. “Spoke to them?”

Johnny nodded. “I remembered Jack’s word, ‘Aoooo’, and used it to see what they would do. There were at least three other creatures, but only one came close enough to get a good look. They weren’t like Jack.”

Johnny told Gert what Jack had said about the ‘sasquatch road’. She guessed that Jack must have gotten off to see if he could find his family.

“That’s what I thought, too,” said Johnny.

Jack didn’t listen while Johnny told his story. Instead, he took his journal and retired to the living room. There he made notes while eating a turnip.

Gert had taken to leaving a bowl of fresh fruits and vegetables in the center of the kitchen table so Jack could eat whenever he wanted.

Johnny looked at Jack and smiled. “Look at him. I’ll never figure him out.”

“Why do you think that you have to figure him out?” Gert asked.

“I have to. Jack can’t keep doing things like he did on the Ferris wheel. I’ll never get another date with Ginny or anyone if he does stuff like that.”

Jack was listening carefully to Johnny, though he pretended not to. He wanted to write in his journal but found he had little to say. He thought about his encounter with his people and how surprised he was that Johnny had spoken to them.

Did Johnny know now, as Jack did, that he was not a sasquatch nor a human, but a thing without a family, a wolf that runs alone?

There was no mistake. Johnny had said it clearly; the same word Jack had been hearing all his life. ‘Aoooo.’ He knew now that it was his name and he wrote it in his journal, but this time he wrote its meaning in English:

Lone wolf.

Some weeks earlier, at Doctor Hannington’s suggestion, Johnny had sent a letter to Swan, asking if there was anything Swan could do to help legitimize Jack with some official paperwork. With the trouble on the Ferris wheel fresh in his mind, he realized that if Jack came under the scrutiny of the government they would all have some tough questions to answer.

Hannington claimed to know little about the naturalization process but knew from signing so many birth and death certificates that it wouldn’t be long before Jack would be judged illegitimate.

Finally a note came from Swan, but Johnny was disappointed to read that Swan had taken sick with a flu soon after arriving in Port Townsend and hadn’t checked into Jack’s options. Swan said, however, that he’d be writing soon with more information as soon as he got better and had more energy. He added that the Bolks had left Port Townsend after some pressure from the local constabulary. No doubt Henry had a hand in that. Swan said that when he returned he found Henry limping around with back trouble and blaming it on the Bolks.

At the end of the letter Swan added: “I think of you boys often and regret the miles that separate us. I have come to feel like a father to you two. Perhaps it is because my own family is a world away in Boston. I’ve concluded that Providence brought us together so that each of us could affect the others in some meaningful way. In my view, all of us are richer for our troubles, yes? Watch after Jack. Keep faith. Swan.”

Leaning on his elbow at the register in Gert’s shop, Johnny read the last part of Swan’s note to Gert. She and Jack were moving a rack of dresses to make room for the fall selections.

“Mr Swan is a rare gentleman, Johnny. A good writer too,” said Gert.

Johnny called Jack over to see Swan’s note.

His expression changed immediately as he studied the writing.

“Swan write.” Jack took the letter and gave it a slight sniff.

“Swan. Swan ink.”

Johnny laughed. “Hey, Jack. I’ve got an idea. Why don’t you write a note to Swan. I’ll mail it.”

Jack sniffed the note again and considered what Johnny had said. He nodded. “Jack write Swan.”

The next day Jack was not in his bed when Johnny woke up. This was not unusual, since he knew that Jack was at heart more comfortable with the night. He got restless, especially when the moon was full.

Dawn had barely broken. Only an amber rim of light etched the trees. Johnny brushed the sleep from his eyes and looked to see if Jack was in the room, but Jack wasn’t there.

Jack had been up late writing in his book. Johnny noticed it was not in its usual spot on the end table near the sofa.

Since Jack’s clothes weren’t there either, Johnny reasoned that the sasquatch was either on the front porch or foraging in the garden.

Jack proved to be nowhere around the house, nor out in the garden. Johnny stood behind the screen door scratching his neck and wondering why he was up.

The clock in the hall gently chimed five bells as Johnny fell back into bed. When he awoke again it was to Gert’s voice.

“Your breakfast will get cold.”

Johnny washed and dressed as usual. When he got to the kitchen he looked out the window and asked Gert if she’d seen Jack.

“Not this morning,” she said.

They went to the shop as usual and had a busy day. That afternoon Ginny paid Johnny a surprise visit and seemed as glad to see him as he was to see her. They had lunch together and talked about plans for the fall. She was planning to work in Lytton. Johnny told her that he might rejoin the railroad. He missed the travel and watching the forests and the ravines. He was even considering work with the forestry department, but with Jack around he wasn’t sure what to do.

Ginny said he still had plenty of time to figure that out.

Ginny often asked about his adventures with Jack in the wilderness. He’d told her most of it, but he claimed to have gone it alone most of the way and met Jack later. Johnny wanted to tell her the truth, but he knew it might be too much for Ginny to accept. He didn’t want to risk losing her.

Johnny stayed in town that evening to attend a dance with Ginny that Ned and Polly were giving. It was a garden party, Pretty Polly called it, ‘to celebrate the summer.’

Johnny arrived in Yale late and borrowed Doctor

Hannington’s black mare for the ride home. As he rode under the full moon he couldn’t get Ginny out of his mind. Her gardenia perfume had made him feel intoxicated. Its heady scent still lingered on his shirt where he had his arm around her. When he closed his eyes he could still see her waving in the open doorway of her house. Just a silhouette, but gilded in warm gas light.

Johnny looked up at the moon and smiled. It hung above him like the mirrored ball over the dance floor. The night was warm and he felt more alive than he had in years. He looked forward to telling the sasquatch how he felt. Jack might even understand.

When he got to the house Rocky ran to him and sniffed at the mare’s heels. “Leave her be, Rocky,” said Johnny. He ran up the steps and into the house, but when he opened the door he sensed that something was wrong. Gert sat at the kitchen table drinking a cup of tea. She seemed sad.

“What’s the matter?” said Johnny. “You look like someone died.”

“I’m just tired,” said Gert. “Did you have a good time?”

Johnny nodded as he looked around the cabin. He felt a slight chill. It seemed emptier than usual. “Where’s Jack?”

“I was going to ask you,” she said. “His things are gone.”

“What things?” asked Johnny.

“All his clothes. Well, the clean ones. And the bag. The green one.”

“Gone?” said Johnny.

On the end table, where Jack kept his journal, there was only a single piece of paper, torn from Jack’s diary. On it were written two words: Lone wolf.

He could feel it himself. Jack wasn’t there.

Johnny didn’t say anything for a moment. He considered his feelings and realized that he’d been moving away from the sasquatch as he moved closer to Ginny. Guilt swept over him as he walked out on to the front porch. “Jack! Jack!” he yelled into the night.

Rocky barked twice, echoing Johnny’s call.

“Where’s the sasquatch, you old wolf?” asked Johnny

“Where’d he go?”

Rocky barked again. His voice carried far into the night and out through the forest. A mile away it was lost in the cacophony of crickets and the din of a thousand creatures that make the forest their home.

Jack heard Rocky barking in the distance. His head turned slightly as the soft sound passed his ears. He was far from the scent of man, but the scent of man was with him, and he knew now that it wouldn’t rub off. Jack was now as he always had been: the lone wolf.