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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
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