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that I had seen in the shed when I had gotten the mower out.
    “Stop trying to stand up,” I said in a shaky voice to the wolf. I removed my hands from Big John's collar and started walking away. “Sta y here. I’ll be back to help you.”
    I felt stupid talking to it, but I prayed it somehow got the gist of my message. It was habit from having only Big John to talk to while Justin was gone.
    I then whistled at John as I started running back to the house. Big John ran after me back through the woods and to the house.
    When we finally got to the house, I was out of breath, but I didn’t stop. I walked quickly to the shed beside the little light blue house. I pulled the door open and grabbed the big, flat, wooden sled that was standing up beside the push-mower. I vaguely wondered if Justin had made it himself as I moved. I shut the shed behind me with a kick as I turned around to head back to the forest. Uncle Justin had left a rope tied to it, so I held onto it and dragged it behind me as I ran back into the forest with Big John.
    To my relief, the wounded wolf was still there, and still alive. The helpless creature’s beautiful blue eyes watched me as he laid there bleeding. I pulled the sled up to him and walked around behind him. I carefully slid my hands underneath the wild animal, praying he wouldn’t try to bite me. He didn’t and let me lift him onto the sled, which wasn’t easy; the dog was extremely heavy, being every bit as big as Big John, but I only had to move him a few inches.
    I then took off my leather belt and looped it through the long rope and buckled it around Big John to work as a harness. I had no idea if Big John would make a good sled dog or not, since I was even more certain than ever that he was actually a wolf after the recent events in the forest, but I needed the extra help to pull the heavy dog back to the house. I grabbed the slack of the rope with both ha nds and started walking. “Let’s go, boy! C’mon!”
    We walked through the forest, weaving between evergreens and pines. It was hard to maneuver at times, but I followed the route I had come with the sled so I wouldn’t get stuck through any trees. I didn’t think Big John was much help. He seemed to be walking leisurely beside me while I struggled. I guess that answered my question about wolves being good sled dogs, or not.
    Getting the wounded animal in the house was a bit of a problem, though. Luckily there were only two steps up to Justin’s little porch, so with a little work I was able to slide the sled up to the door. I unhooked Big John and opened the door for him to walk into the house. I followed him in and ran into the hallway, grabbing some towels out of the closet in the hall and quickly laid them out on the living room floor to set the wolf on in a few seconds. I didn’t want to get blood on Justin’s carpet.
    I took off my sneakers so that I could use them to prop the front door open. I picked the wolf up with a grunt and carried him over to the towels. I gently laid him down and then kicked my sneakers out of the way so that the door would swing shut.
    I darted into the bathroom in a mad rush, grabbing the first aid kit and other supplies, like the bottle of peroxide and cotton balls. As I laid it all out in front of the wolf on the towel, I realized I didn’t know what I was doing. I was just assuming it was like treating a human.
    I hit my forehead in frus tration with the hand that didn’t have blood on it. I debated calling Uncle Justin for a few seconds, but then realized I couldn’t get into the details of how I ended up with a wounded wolf in his living room. Not only did I fear the wolf might not have that much time, I couldn’t stand to tell Uncle Justin I had let his dog run away and that it had nearly been attacked by a bear because of me.
    I just started pouring peroxide on a few cotton balls, deciding not to waste anymore time. I silently prayed to God that the wolf would be okay. I placed the