Month: October 2026

Chapter 33 Business is Business293

Previous – Book1 Page293 – Next

Chapter 33
Business is Business

“A wolf? Keep it here? Are you out of your mind? It’s a vicious wild animal! Do you want it to eat all the chickens? And if it doesn’t eat all the chickens, it’ll kill both the goats! What on earth made you bring it here?”

HopAlong has never actually been this close to a real, live wolf before, but he’s been a farmer long enough to know that there are two ways to look at everything.

What he needs right now is a new income stream to make up for years of losses from llama farming. And a wolf is a valuable asset. When it’s dead. Not when it’s alive!

He’s really not too sure about the merits of nursing an injured wolf back to health. And he’s absolutely certain that he can’t dispatch it right now, not after the efforts that Burgess and CrankyHandle have had to go through to help the two lunatic teenagers with their madcap plan.

“He’s injured,” says EarlyBird, “in both hind legs. You were injured in only one leg and I looked after you.”

She looks at SnapDragon with a sympathetic smile. The wolf can already sense that the man is agitated, but that the lady of the house has a more caring nature. “And besides,” she says, “we have the space, and we have secure compounds. If the wolves can’t get in, then a captive wolf can’t get out, even after his leg has healed. Put the chickens and goats in one, and keep SnapDragon in the other.”

HopAlong protests, “what about horses? Kristal and Dave originally came here to discuss horses didn’t they?”

“Darling, you don’t actually like horses! What we need is a viable trade. A wolf is valuable.”

Like KristalClear, EarlyBird finds it easy to build an emotional bond with animals, especially animals with a gammy leg. Or two gammy legs. “We might need to feed him a chicken or two,” she says, “but we can get them cheaply enough. And we can also get rabbit and stuff. The cost of feed

Previous – Book1 Page293 – Next

Chapter 32 On the Wolf Wavelength290

Previous – Book1 Page290 – Next

than a Eurasian grey wolf, with a gentle fur coat more suited to a warmer climate.

Between them, they are able to lift the fifty kilo wolf into the sling and then onto the trap, the operation surprisingly fluid, and the snapping being a manageable, frustrated minimum. All along KristalClear is continually reassuring SnapDragon that everything is under control, and he keeps wondering if this is real or just some kind of weird dream!

Burgess wipes the sweat from his forehead, and looks at KristalClear, “what happens next Einstein?”

“We’re going to visit HopAlong and EarlyBird. They have space.”

“Do they know about this?”

“They soon will!”

 

Previous – Book1 Page290 – Next

Chapter 32 On the Wolf Wavelength289

Previous – Book1 Page289 – Next

“And if we can get this ruddy wolf loaded onto the trap,” says CrankyHandle, “then the three of you are manhandling it down the hill all the way back to Penny Bridge. I’m gonna be leading Primrose, staying well ahead of you and your wolf!”

“At least it’s downhill,” says NutJob.

By the time NutJob and his team reach the top of the hill, KristalClear has been sitting chatting to SnapDragon for two hours. Plenty of time to share their life stories, and whilst it’s a bit like talking with a German Shepherd Dog, the wolf wavelength is definitely a little different.

As far as KristalClear can make out, SnapDragon is a young male. He explained that like all juvenile wolves, they live in a pack of about ten until they reach late adolescence at about four years old. The pack has only one breeding pair, and works like a close knit family. There is no alpha male, that’s a myth, and there is no fighting over leadership. Once a year the older siblings leave home. It’s time for SnapDragon to find a mate, build his own territory, and start his own family. That’s not going to be easy with a broken leg or two. Both hind legs hurt, but one is a little less tender than the other.

For her part, KristalClear explained that humans have a similar pattern. She wasn’t quite ready to leave her pack yet, but in the near future she’ll be looking to settle down with a partner and start her own family. SnapDragon took that to infer the nervous young man who was with you? She was non committal, explaining that NutJob is sweet, but that neither of them is fully mature yet. Ask me again in a year’s time was how she closed down that conversation.

Primrose is tethered at the high point where the forest ends, 200 metres before the lone Scots Pine. After wheeling the trap as far as the pine tree, questioning their sanity again, and fearing that they might fall from the narrow path, Burgess and CrankyHandle do their best to help the two teenagers.

Fortunately, the SlenderWolf, as its name suggests is sleek and lightweight. Much nearer to the build of an Iberian wolf

Previous – Book1 Page289 – Next

Chapter 32 On the Wolf Wavelength288

Previous – Book1 Page288 – Next

“Dave, get a grip,” she says, “if we do nothing SnapDragon is going to die, he can’t hunt, right now he needs love and care more than we do.”

Once more, the thoughts are running wild in his head, “there she goes again, calling me Dave again, and quite forcefully this time! And the wolf is called SnapDragon? I don’t believe this is happening to me! Anyway, I have to do as she says. Remember what Chaucer said, if you don’t let the lady be in charge of her own dominion then it’s going to get ugly!”

—o—

            Scarcely believing the story at first, Constable Burgess relents and takes NutJob to see CrankyHandle. He’s more accustomed to moving canal boats than moving wildlife, but at least he has a pony and trap!

“She’s sitting up there with an injured wolf, apparently,” says Burgess, “we obviously can’t leave her stranded!”

Bringing his hand to his forehead for a third time now, CrankyHandle says, “I don’t know what to make of young people these days, in my day you just went to school, then you went to work, and you stayed away from wolves!”

“So, NutJob,” says Burgess, “any bright ideas about what we need?”

KristalClear was right. She might not have suggested a pony and trap, but a large blanket or a tarpaulin, plenty of rope, and two long poles were the main tools. Loaded onto the trap with a collection of lockkeeper’s tools, pulleys and assorted junk, the unwitting saviours set off along the River Crake to the path up Colton Hill.

“When we get to the top,” says CrankyHandle, “we’ll tether Primrose, I’m not having her anywhere near a wolf.”

“OK,” says NutJob, “we can manhandle the trap the last bit, as far as the start of the escarpment, but it won’t fit down the narrow pathway.”

Previous – Book1 Page288 – Next