Howl (21 page)

Everyone was glad that Mukwa was now back with his mother.

“I didn’t really have to take his cast off,” her dad had commented. “It will disintegrate on its own anyway.”

As happy as Robin was that Mukwa and his mother were reunited, she missed the baby bear. Mukwa’s return to the wild seemed to make Relentless’s absence all the more unbearable. And, as if these two things weren’t difficult enough, she had this terrible dilemma about whether to spill the beans about her sister going to the bush party.

Robin felt as if her insides were in a tug of war. One part of her was vehement that she should tell her dad about Ari’s plan to sneak out. Another part argued just as strongly that she should say nothing. At the moment, the part that thought she should stay out of it was winning. So she made up her mind. She would keep her mouth shut. But as soon as she’d made this decision, she had the awful thought that something bad might happen at the bush party, and she was thrown into the gruesome debate once again.

The day of the bush party, she wandered downstairs in her pajamas and stepped out on the porch. Her dad was doing the barn chores that morning, and she was glad for the break. She sat down on the steps and felt the sun wrap itself around her like a hug. The lake was spread out before her, so still, as if it hadn’t woken up yet either.

She looked around for Relentless. She did this dozens of times every day, forgetting. Soon she’d go down to the barn and get some of the puppies. They only had a few left now: Greedy Guts, Einstein, Snooze, and Tugger. She was glad Snooze and Einstein were still with them, since she wanted those two puppies to go to Brodie and Squirm. Both Zo-Zo’s dad and Brodie’s mom, however, had yet to agree to the adoption.

Looking out over the lake, she saw a red canoe in the distance. She watched it for a while and realized it was Griff paddling back from Berry Island. Her stroke was long and smooth, and the boat cut through the calm water like an arrow. Robin reached up and touched her necklace. She liked the feel of it, although she had to admit, it had done little to lessen her fear of water. Maybe this totem stuff was just a bunch of bunk. Robin went down to the dock, the dew-wet grasses licking the bare skin on her feet and legs. She arrived in time to catch the front of the canoe as Griff paddled in.

“Thought I’d get some quiet time,” Griff said. “Before the traffic starts!” She tied up the boat, set her thermos of tea on the dock and pulled off her lifejacket. She hoisted herself into one of the two big green Muskoka chairs.

“I used to take my quiet time with Mukwa in the mornings, but now, thanks to you, she’s back in the wild with her mom. In fact, I thought I saw the two of them over on the far side of Berry Island.” Griff leaned back in the chair. “Where are Squirm and Ari?”

“Squirm’s at his friend’s. Ari’s upstairs writing in her diary.”

Reminded of her dilemma, Robin started chewing her thumbnail.

Griff poured some tea from the thermos into the little plastic cup that doubled as a cap. “Here — have some of this. It’ll taste better than your fingernail.”

Robin took a sip. The tea was hot and tasted of lemon and honey. She liked it. “Can I ask you something?”

“’Course.”

Robin debated how to phrase her question.

“Just spit it out,” Griff said.

“Well, what if you knew someone was going to do something they shouldn’t — not like something really bad, but something that
maybe
could get them into trouble. Would you tell?”

“You’re talking about the bush party, right? Is Ari going to try and sneak out?”

Robin’s jaw dropped. How could Griff know?

“I was a teenager once, too, you know,” Griff said. “I snuck out a time or two.” A warm smile erupted on her face. Then she brought her eyes back to Robin’s. “Anyways, I’m not surprised Ari’s thinking about sneaking out. She’s desperate to go and your dad won’t let her. What self-respecting teenager wouldn’t be thinking of sneaking out? But
thinking
about it is one thing, actually doing it is another.”

“You going to stop her?”

Griff raised her hands into the air and made “stop” signs of her palms. “How? Put bars on the windows?” Her hands collapsed back to her lap. “Ari is getting to the age where she’s going to have to make her own choices. She’s not a little girl any more.” She gazed at Robin. “And neither are you. By the way, that was very mature the way you faced the mother bear the other night. Very brave.”

Brave? Robin shrugged. She hadn’t felt brave. She’d felt terrified.

Griff poured more tea. “Remember what I said? Courage isn’t about
not
having fear. It’s about having fear and doing something anyway.”

Robin was considering this when Griff spoke again.

“You did the exact right thing, letting Mukwa go.”

“Brodie let him out of the cage, not me.”

“He told me he just helped you,” Griff said. She blew on her tea. “By the way, I like that boy. He obviously thinks you’re pretty special too.”

Robin searched Griff’s eyes. Did he?

“I don’t say things I don’t mean,” Griff said.

Robin blushed. When it came to Brodie, she felt so uncertain. Sure, he was hanging around the animal shelter a lot lately, but that was because of the bear, wasn’t it? Besides, at the moment, both Brittany and her father were mad at him. That would change, wouldn’t it? What would happen then?

Robin put her head in her hands. As usual, her thoughts were driving her crazy! They swarmed around her like insects. If it wasn’t worries about Brodie, it was worries about Relentless. Or the sheriff. What were they going to do when he came back? Should she stay inside the house as she had promised her father or call Zo-Zo and her gang of kids for a big battle? There were so many things she had to decide, but she had no idea
how
to decide.

She collapsed down onto the edge of Griff’s chair.

Griff refilled the small thermos cup again and passed it to Robin. “Well, all I can say is that it must be wonderful for Mukwa to be back with his mother. I bet he’d just about given up hope of ever seeing her again. Every kid needs their mother.”

A wave of despair washed into Robin’s chest and throat. She tensed and tried to push the feelings down, but they wouldn’t go. With a little more time, she would have been able to gather the energy required to hold them off, but Griff reached forward and pulled Robin gently back so she was leaning against her. The warmth of Griff’s body shocked her. Robin hadn’t been this close to someone since —

She yanked herself forward, but Griff eased her close once again. Weakened by the comfort, Robin let herself fall against her grandmother. Tears started to drip down her face. Then, before she could stop them, sounds erupted from her mouth, awful, sobbing sounds.

“It’s all right,” Griff whispered. “It’s all right.” She stroked Robin’s shoulders. “Just let it go, my sweet girl. Let it all go.”

Robin couldn’t have stopped the emotions now if she’d tried. They were too strong, and she felt too frail. She cried and cried while Griff held her. She hated crying like this, but in a way, it was a relief to let go.

Griff rubbed her back. “That’s right, cry those tears right out of you. Till there’s no more left.”

After a few more minutes, she pulled out a hankie and wiped Robin’s face. Out on the lake, a loon called. Another answered.

They both listened for a long moment. “I don’t know what it is about wilderness,” Griff said. “Maybe it’s just so big that it makes everything else seem small, but it settles me somehow. Gets me feeling really quiet. That’s when
I
feel your mom. It’s like she’s right here. Or her spirit is — in the wind and the water and the call of the loons.”

Robin liked that thought, but it made her want to cry again.

Griff poured the last of the tea into the tiny cup. “It’s all such a mystery. A mystery so big I can’t really understand it, but so wonderful I don’t even want to try.”

Robin reached for the cup at the same time as her grandmother and the two of them jostled for it. Griff laughed then Robin laughed, and the tea spilled a bit, and they both laughed more.

Robin was shooting back the last of the tea when she heard the farmhouse door
fwap
. Her father called down to Griff.

“Be up in a minute!” Griff called then turned to Robin. “I’m going to do some canvassing for Ed Goodings this morning. I keep telling all the animal lovers, a vote for Ed is a vote for The Wild Place.”

Robin shrugged. “Brittany’s telling everyone her father’s victory is a done deal. She says he’s hardly even campaigning, he’s so sure.”

Griff made a hooting sound. “Good. It’s just that kind of arrogance that might bring him down.” She stood up.

“Brodie says Kingshot wants to put a hog farm on this property.”

“Wouldn’t that just be the ticket! That should make him feel right at home!”

Robin looked at Griff. “If he gets elected, will he be able to take this place away?”

“Over my dead body.”

Robin frowned. She didn’t want to think about her gran as a dead body.

“Mom!” Robin’s dad called down to the dock. “Come on. I’ve got a rescue to do on the way back. Let’s go.”

“Music to my ears,” Griff said, gathering her things. “Music to my ears.” She planted a warm kiss on Robin’s forehead and made her way up the steps.

That night, Ari announced she wasn’t feeling well and was going to bed early.

Their father rushed around getting her Aspirin and making her a hot drink. When he gave it to her, he felt her forehead. “You’re not hot,” he said.

She’s not hot because she’s not sick!
Robin wanted to scream.
She’s going to bed early so she can get up in the middle of the night and sneak out!

Robin glared at her sister and was surprised to see how flushed Ari’s face was. Her eyes looked glassy too. Could she actually
be
sick? Robin doubted it, but in a way, she hoped her sister was. If she was too sick to sneak out to the bush party, Robin wouldn’t have to worry.

Robin went upstairs about an hour after Ari and found her sister in bed, her eyes closed. Was she asleep or just pretending? At the bottom of the bed, on a stool, was a pile of clothes: jeans, a thick jacket, warm socks.

The words were out before she could stop herself. “Those look like bush party clothes to me.”

Ari turned quickly. Her eyes were huge. And pleading. “Don’t tell. Please.”

Robin couldn’t remember the last time her sister had asked her to do anything, let alone said the word “please.” She looked away and got into her pajamas. When she turned out the light, she whispered. “Be careful, okay? Just be careful.”

The next thing she knew, something red was swirling around the room. It was a light, a bright neon light. She was at a carnival, on the Ferris wheel and —

She opened her eyes, pulling herself from the dream. She wasn’t at a carnival at all, but at home. In her room. What confused her was the fact that the red light was still there, circling the ceiling. It was weird. She lay there for a moment, feeling totally disoriented. Then she heard voices, men’s voices, and realized that the red light was flashing through the window from outside. She jerked her head around. Ari was there, in her bed. Or was she? Robin leaned forward and pushed her fingers gently into the heap of blankets. The pile was nothing but pillows!

She sat up. The clock on the bureau said five a.m. She peeled away the covers and crawled over to the window. There, parked in her driveway, was a police car with a flashing red light.

Robin whirled around and tip-toed along the hallway until she could hear what was going on downstairs.

“Thank you for bringing her home, officer,” Griff said. Her voice sounded flat and very tired.

“She was passed out when I found her,” an unfamiliar male voice said. “I couldn’t rouse her at first, and I was worried about alcohol poisoning, so I thought I’d better find her parents.”

“We appreciate that,” her father said gravely.

Robin could hear retching sounds coming from the downstairs toilet, followed by low, agonized groaning.

“She won’t feel like drinking again for a while, I’m sure,” the officer said. There was the sound of a chair scraping across the floor. “I’d best be on my way. Now all I have to do is deal with the other hundred and fifty drunken kids out there.”

“Is that how many were at the party?” Griff asked.

“I’m guessing,” he answered. “Most of them scattered when we showed up. The ones that could still move.”

“Any sign of a boy named Conner?” Robin heard her father ask.

“Conner? The organizer? Yeah, we pulled him away from some lipstick-smeared redhead. He wasn’t too coherent either. One of the other officers is taking the girl home.”

There were scraping sounds as more chairs were pushed away from the table. Robin stumbled quickly back to bed. In a few moments, she heard her father coming upstairs.

“Steady. That’s it. Three more and you’re there.”

When they came into the bedroom, Robin kept her eyes shut. She didn’t want either of them to know she was awake. Through squinted eyes, she watched as her father eased Ari into bed. Gently he tucked the covers over her and stood near, pushing his fingers through his hair, and staring at her. Hurriedly, he planted a kiss on her forehead and left.