Wolfie (10 page)

Professor Pike took hold of Lucie’s hand.

“Now just you come here a minute, and look, really LOOK. I grant you, at first sight she might look like an ordinary specimen of
canis lupus
— a wolf, in other words. But only
to the ignorant observer. Only to somebody who has never really looked at wolves. I have, and I can tell you there are several important differences from any wolf
I
have ever
seen.”

“Like what?” Lucie asked.

“For one thing, I have never seen a wolf this big. People think that wolves are huge, but actually it’s a myth. They are much smaller than people realise. Then there’s the
eyes. They seem to change colour. Really quite remarkable. The head is even larger than you would expect. This suggests that this animal is highly intelligent — even more intelligent than
most wolves, which means very intelligent indeed. Finally, there’s her throat and mouth.”

Professor Pike peered at Fang’s muzzle, apparently not at all worried by coming so close to her teeth. Obligingly, Fang opened her mouth wide to allow the Professor a better look.

“Remarkable,” murmured the Professor, almost to herself. “The shape of the mouth. The structure of the throat.
Not
what you would expect at all. Almost.…almost as
if they are formed to let her
speak
.”

Fang grinned.

“I suppose she
can’t
speak can she?” wondered the Professor. And then, before Lucie could reply, “No, no…how ridiculous…ignore that question.
I’m afraid I was just getting carried away.”

Lucie said nothing.

“So if she
is
a wolf (and it
is
rather hard to see what else she could be) then she is certainly not like any wolf that
I
have seen before,” concluded Professor
Pike.

Lucie looked from Fang to the Professor and back again. Slowly a smile spread across her face.

“And that would be enough, wouldn’t it? That’s what you mean. If you were to say that she didn’t look like any wolf you had ever seen before…and you
are
an
expert after all…”

“Yes,” said Professor Pike, smiling. “I think it might be enough.”

“And you will tell Mr Dundas what you think? And Mum and Dad?”

“I’ll tell anyone you like. The Royal Zoological Society. The International Centre for Canine Studies. The Journal of Animal Anatomy —”

“Mr Dundas and Mum and Dad will do,” said Lucie firmly. “Will you come and see them now?”

The Professor shook her head. “No, no. That is not the way. Not for people like head teachers. We can do better than that.”

* * *

Outside it was now very dark. In the yellow glow of the streetlights on Acorn Avenue, Alex was playing football with Marcus. He had wanted to play in Marcus’s back garden,
but Mrs Mainwaring did not allow games: she would not have her lawn churned up into mud, or risk anyone smashing a football into one of her garden ornaments.

Alex tried to slide the ball past Marcus, skidded, and landed in the slush. “Hah!” yelled Marcus, grabbing the ball.

“Let’s go in now, Marcus,” said Alex wearily. “Mum’ll be wondering where I am.”

“Call her on your mobile. I just want to show you this great technique I’ve developed for cutting off the angle —”

Marcus stopped in mid-sentence. Lucie and Fang had just come out of Professor Pike’s house. Marcus hurled the football at Alex’s face, then ran over to hide behind the gatepost. As
Lucie came through the gate he jumped on her.

“Hah!” he yelled.

“Grrr!” said Fang, losing her temper She snapped at him, as she sometimes snapped at the gulls in the park, only less playfully. Marcus sat down with a thump in the snow.

“Gerr’er off me!” he squawked.

“Don’t be silly,” said Lucie coldly. “Fang won’t bite you.”

“Although you deserve it,” said Alex, coming up. “Snooping!”

“I wasn’t snooping!” Marcus struggled up out of the wet slush. “I was playing football and when I saw Lucie, I — well, I was concerned that she might be bothering
Professor Pike. After all, Professor Pike is very — err — elderly.”

“Snooping!” said Alex again.

“Anyway what were you doing in there?” Marcus said to Lucie. “What do you want with that old Professor?”

“You don’t have to tell him,” said Alex.

“I know. But actually I don’t mind.”

Lucie reached into her coat pocket and drew out an envelope. Very slowly she unfolded it. “Listen:

There was a brief silence.

“What does
that
mean?” demanded Marcus rudely. “It’s gibberish!”

“Don’t worry about what it means,” said Lucie, smiling as she folded up the letter. “It’s called an Expert Opinion. And the important thing is — Professor
Pike says it will do the trick!”

“Here, give me that!” And Marcus tried to snatch the letter. But Alex grabbed his jacket, and Marcus slipped and fell in the slush for the second time.

“Serves you right!” said Alex.

But Marcus was already up and running for home. It wasn’t Alex that had scared him. It was the look he had seen in Fang’s eyes. Certified or uncertified wolf, he wasn’t going
to mess with her!

A
s soon as she got home Lucie showed Professor Pike’s letter to her parents. They were both still looking terribly worried and guilty, but as
they read the letter all that changed. The worry drained from their faces, the anxious lines on their foreheads vanished and by the time they had finished reading they were almost chuckling.

“Oh well, that’s all right then,” said Dad. “A wolf indeed!”

“We were crazy!” agreed Mum. “Imbeciles! I mean a wolf — in our house!”

“Professor Pike knows her onions,” said Dad. “Or wolves, I should say. If only we’d known she was a World Expert on Canines! We could have sorted this out long
ago.”

“I’ll telephone the vet and cancel that appointment,” said Mum, getting up.

The next day Lucie asked her teacher if she could go and see Mr Dundas. As she knocked on his office door, she could see Marcus hanging about at the end of the corridor, near the boys’
toilets.
I wonder what he’s up to
, thought Lucie.
Still, surely he can’t do anything now
?

Mr Dundas was busy chairing an important meeting about school dinners, but he broke off to read Lucie’s letter. By the time he had finished reading he was almost smirking.
“Excellent, excellent, very good indeed.
This
should satisfy the parents.
And
the governors.
And
the Council. Useful to have a distinguished scientist in the
neighbourhood. Maybe I can get her in to talk about her work.…”

Lucie listened in astonishment. Somehow a few words on a piece of paper had brought about this great change. Fang was exactly the same animal that she had always been — only now
Lucie’s parents and Mr Dundas were treating her completely differently. It was as if she had turned from a wolf into a fluffy kitten.

It
felt
like magic. But it was only the power of words.

However, before Lucie could congratulate herself, there was a rap on the door. Without waiting for an answer, Marcus burst in.

“What is the meaning of this?” demanded Mr Dundas.

“I know all about that letter,” Marcus began. “But there’s something you don’t know. Whether that creature is a dog or a wolf doesn’t matter. The fact is
—” he paused for a moment, looking from face to face — “it TALKS!”

As he finished speaking he shot an especially malicious look at Lucie.
You didn’t expect THIS
, it seemed to say. She might have thought she’d wriggled out of her difficulties.
But she was wrong. Her biggest secret was out!

There was a brief, charged silence.

Then, “choof-choof-choof” went Mr Dundas. He sounded like an old-fashioned steam train. For a moment Lucie thought he was choking, or having a fit. Then she realised. He was
laughing
.

Lucie began to chuckle too.

Marcus turned crimson. “Aren’t you going to tell the police or the zoo or
somebody
!”

“Marcus Mainwaring,” said Mr Dundas, when he could speak. “You’ve given me such a good laugh that I’m going to consider what you said a pure joke. Now get back to
your classroom this moment! And no more nonsense!”

And that was the end of that.

It really was. Nobody said anything more about Fang being a wolf. They forgot all about it. Christmas was coming, and in all the fuss about shopping and presents and carol concerts and parties,
nobody was even interested.

“Silver Paw was right,” Lucie said to Fang. “
Human knowledge is what you need, Written in form that humans read
. That’s what the Expert Opinion was. How did he
know?”

“Oh, he’s a wise one,” said Fang, wisely.

“I wish I could ask him,” Lucie said.

One person who did not forget about Fang was Professor Pike. She invited Lucie and Fang round for mince pies, and told them all about her expeditions in the wilderness. They were pleased to
learn that although the bones in the glass cases did belong to wolves, they had all died long before Professor Pike had found them.

“I’m too old for any more expeditions,” Professor Pike said wistfully. “In fact I never thought I’d see another wolf. But now one turns up on my own doorstep!
Something very like a wolf, anyway. Would you mind if I took some photos? I’m thinking of writing an article for the Journal of Canine Studies.”

Lucie said she didn’t mind at all. And Fang — who was wolfing down her third mince pie — didn’t mind either. They both liked the Professor. As long as she did not say
where Fang lived — and she had promised she would not — she could write what she liked.

Another good friend, delighted that Fang was safe, was Alex. Although not everything had turned out for the best in his view. For Marcus Mainwaring was now goalkeeper on the school football
team. When he had asked Miss Bunting, the school coach, to try out, he had turned out to be so good that she had given him the position on the spot. “Who’d have thought it?”
grumbled Alex. “He can’t run, he can’t dribble, he can’t shoot — but he
can
save goals! He’s so good we’ll never get rid of him!”

“Still, think of all the matches you’ll win,” said Lucie comfortingly. “And it will take his mind off Fang, and getting her into more trouble.”

It was the last day of term. It was snowing again, and Alex and Lucie had met by the gates to exchange presents. Alex had given Lucie a wonderful book about wolves, and Fang a box of Meaty Dog
Chews, which she had sniffed then dropped in the snow.

“I’m sure she’ll love them,” said Lucie quickly, thinking that Fang would much prefer a haunch of venison, and wondering how she could arrange one.

Lucie gave Alex a book about football, and Fang gave him an interesting stick she had found in the woods. Alex said he would put the stick in pride of place next to his football trophies.

Then Fang and Lucie walked home together. The snow was floating down between the branches of the trees. The sky seemed vast, and the houses were dim and dark behind their hedges. Even the cars
by the sides of the street looked more like snow-covered igloos.

“What’s that?” asked Lucie as an eerie howl echoed through the air. “A wolf!”

“
Wolf
?” exclaimed Fang. “
That
was a cocker spaniel!”

“Oh,” said Lucie, blushing.

As they turned into Lucie’s garden, she said, “It has been wonderful, Fang, since you came to stay. And now it’s Christmas, too. I’ve never been so happy. There’s
just one thing. Do you think I’ll ever see the other wolves again? Especially Silver Paw? I do hope so!”

Fang smiled her most wolfish smile. “Oh, I think you will,” she said. “After all, you are a Wolf Cub of our Pack. Something tells me this will not be the last of our
adventures!”

And wolf and girl went inside together.

THE END

Jessica Haggerthwaite: Witch Dispatcher

Emma Barnes

ISBN: 978-1-905537-30-3 (paperback, RRP £6.99)

Also available as an ebook