moose stays on the other side of the stream, just to be sure. Okay?"
"Well... okay, Dad. He wouldn't hurt anyone but I'll tell him to stay on the other side until we're ready. I guess he can wait that long to get his antlers scratched."
"That's the way I want it for today."
Samantha smiled. "Then that's how we'll do it. They'll probably like it better that way anyhow. I guess old Brfcut could seem kinda scary if you can't talk to him like I can."
Her father nodded, wondering once again just how much Samantha could really understand of an animal's sounds and mannerisms. Some days he believed her utterly when she said she could talk to creatures of the wild, but in bright daylight his young daughter seemed perfectly normal and he believed hardly any of what she told him.
***
"Where's your moose?" Jed, a burly boy who was somewhat of a bully, asked as he jumped from the Mule. He and another boy were the last two members of the party Samantha had brought to the waterfall.
"Just look at the rainbows for now," she replied. "Aren't they pretty?
"They're beautiful," a girl named Sinuteit, who had an Inuit mother and Italian father agreed. "And there's lots of them if you stand just right."
"I want to see the moose," Jed insisted. "You said he'd be here."
"Yeah," his friend said. "Who wants to stare at rainbows all day?"
Samantha didn't answer at once. She didn't particularly like Jed or Tommy, either. They were the two oldest boys in the little school that handled children up through the fifth grade, but they had both failed one year. They would be moving on next year if they managed to graduate, which she thought was doubtful. Neither was doing very well in school. She wouldn't have invited them to her party had her parents not insisted. Since they were here, she supposed finding the big ungulate and showing him off was in order. Except... she glanced at the ground and saw prints, but they hadn't been made by hooves. They were paw prints, big ones.
Oh, drat! She thought. Hostervut has been nosing around here and scared Brfcut off! He doesn't like wolves, even after I asked Hostervut not to hurt him. Now what do I do?
"I bet she didn't have a moose here at all," Samantha heard one of the boys say. It made her mad, but she had no idea how to answer the challenge-until she heard a rustle of underbrush, barely audible over the increasingly frustrated noises coming from her classmates. She looked in that direction and saw a black nose and two eyes, shining in the darkened brushy alcove from reflected sunlight. A wolf was watching her!
She hurried over to the heavy growth and parted it with her hands. A full grown female wolf looked back at her. "Tetmulic! What are you doing here? Where are your pups?" she asked.
Hunting poor. Caribou gone. Pups not big to travel yet. Maybe you have food? The wolf's words weren't exactly that articulate, of course, but Samantha understood her perfectly. She thought for a moment, then smiled as an idea came to her.
"If they feed your pups, would you let the human cubs play with them?" Samantha asked the mother wolf.
Any animal Samantha talked to always trusted her. After all, she was the only human they knew who could speak to the animals of the forest.
Yes, she agreed. You help care for pups.
"Of course!" she agreed immediately. She ran to tell the other kids.
***
"Now they're not used to humans, so you have to be very careful with them," Samantha warned. "Don't try to force the pups to do anything they don't want to or Tetmulic will take them back into the forest. Just hold out bits of food and let them take it from your hands."
"Who's Tetmulic?"
"That's the mother wolf. Right there!" She pointed dramatically as the big animal came out of the brush, trailed by four fuzzy, bumbling baby wolves only six week or seven weeks old. A few minutes later, all the kids had completely forgotten about the moose and were vying with each other to feed the scraps of their meal to the wolf pups.
"Well... okay, Dad. He wouldn't hurt anyone but I'll tell him to stay on the other side until we're ready. I guess he can wait that long to get his antlers scratched."
"That's the way I want it for today."
Samantha smiled. "Then that's how we'll do it. They'll probably like it better that way anyhow. I guess old Brfcut could seem kinda scary if you can't talk to him like I can."
Her father nodded, wondering once again just how much Samantha could really understand of an animal's sounds and mannerisms. Some days he believed her utterly when she said she could talk to creatures of the wild, but in bright daylight his young daughter seemed perfectly normal and he believed hardly any of what she told him.
***
"Where's your moose?" Jed, a burly boy who was somewhat of a bully, asked as he jumped from the Mule. He and another boy were the last two members of the party Samantha had brought to the waterfall.
"Just look at the rainbows for now," she replied. "Aren't they pretty?
"They're beautiful," a girl named Sinuteit, who had an Inuit mother and Italian father agreed. "And there's lots of them if you stand just right."
"I want to see the moose," Jed insisted. "You said he'd be here."
"Yeah," his friend said. "Who wants to stare at rainbows all day?"
Samantha didn't answer at once. She didn't particularly like Jed or Tommy, either. They were the two oldest boys in the little school that handled children up through the fifth grade, but they had both failed one year. They would be moving on next year if they managed to graduate, which she thought was doubtful. Neither was doing very well in school. She wouldn't have invited them to her party had her parents not insisted. Since they were here, she supposed finding the big ungulate and showing him off was in order. Except... she glanced at the ground and saw prints, but they hadn't been made by hooves. They were paw prints, big ones.
Oh, drat! She thought. Hostervut has been nosing around here and scared Brfcut off! He doesn't like wolves, even after I asked Hostervut not to hurt him. Now what do I do?
"I bet she didn't have a moose here at all," Samantha heard one of the boys say. It made her mad, but she had no idea how to answer the challenge-until she heard a rustle of underbrush, barely audible over the increasingly frustrated noises coming from her classmates. She looked in that direction and saw a black nose and two eyes, shining in the darkened brushy alcove from reflected sunlight. A wolf was watching her!
She hurried over to the heavy growth and parted it with her hands. A full grown female wolf looked back at her. "Tetmulic! What are you doing here? Where are your pups?" she asked.
Hunting poor. Caribou gone. Pups not big to travel yet. Maybe you have food? The wolf's words weren't exactly that articulate, of course, but Samantha understood her perfectly. She thought for a moment, then smiled as an idea came to her.
"If they feed your pups, would you let the human cubs play with them?" Samantha asked the mother wolf.
Any animal Samantha talked to always trusted her. After all, she was the only human they knew who could speak to the animals of the forest.
Yes, she agreed. You help care for pups.
"Of course!" she agreed immediately. She ran to tell the other kids.
***
"Now they're not used to humans, so you have to be very careful with them," Samantha warned. "Don't try to force the pups to do anything they don't want to or Tetmulic will take them back into the forest. Just hold out bits of food and let them take it from your hands."
"Who's Tetmulic?"
"That's the mother wolf. Right there!" She pointed dramatically as the big animal came out of the brush, trailed by four fuzzy, bumbling baby wolves only six week or seven weeks old. A few minutes later, all the kids had completely forgotten about the moose and were vying with each other to feed the scraps of their meal to the wolf pups.
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