26 Ch 26 The Power of Stories (1/2)

I woke to dad hollering at someone. I groaned from the pile of clothes I was curled on top of. That made me blink and look at the bedroom door. Dad had installed a simple hook and eye for privacy.

I couldn't believe I had shifted to wolf at some point during the night. It was dad's clothes I had made a bed of. I sighed to myself.

Apparently everything I had been through had affected me more than I realized, especially if I still needed the comfort of sleeping on dad's stuff.

He still kept the chewed up pair of shoes from when I was a puppy under his bed. I had found them about a week after his extended run after mom died, much the way I found myself this morning. I had gone to bed back then crying, wanting my dead mother and my missing father. I woke up with the old chewed up shoes under me, me in wolf-form under his bed, fresh naw marks on the old shoes.

They had been my go-to comfort whenever I woke up in the middle of the night as a kid. I remember pulling them out of dad's closet with puppy teeth and sleeping in them after a nightmare. I was small enough back then in wolf form that I had wriggled my whole rump into one of the shoes, laying across the other. He was furious that I had chewed them up. He had gone to school that morning embarrassed at having to wear moccasins. I was surprised he never got rid of them, even after all this time.

Since I was already wolf, I snuck out through the hole in the guest bedroom floor. I stayed under the trailer to scope out what was happening outside.

Derrick was on the back steps drinking coffee. I could hear Mahina in the bathroom.

The high school wrestling team was scrubbing my tent, my bike, and dad's truck. Dad was supervising. He moved around until he was between me and the boys. It wasn't like they could see me under here, but I took dad's hint and headed back in. I was quick to dress, unlatch the door, and head to the kitchen.

Mahina was just coming out of the bathroom, so I headed in after giving her a quick hug. I don't think I ever spent so much care on my morning routine. I still hurried though because I could hear dad getting impatient with his detention charges.

”Little Wolf!”

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”Hey Little Wolf.”

They were waiting for me. I sauntered over to them.

”Thought detention happened at school. You lot must be feeling sorry for my dad out here all alone. I'm sure you aren't in that big a hurry to serve detention that you'd come out to get an early start.”

None of them met my eyes. Dad and I shared a look.

”Dad, what normally happens on Saturday mornings?”

”Wrestling practice.”

”So why would the wrestling team be working so hard to get out of wrestling practice?”

I stalked toward them. They were nervous but held their ground, exchanging glances. They were debating spilling the beans. I suddenly spun back toward dad.

”Maybe they have no skills and are embarrassed to be seen on the mat?”

Dad gave me the barest nod. I tackled Jimmy out of the blue, his back smacking the ground. I had him pinned in a hold I knew he could break out of. I put him through his paces, trying to gauge the emotions running through him. I caught the barest whiff of something that reminded me of Lone Wolf.

I literally jumped up and back, staring at Jimmy.

”Dad,” I said hesitantly, not taking my eyes off of Jimmy, ”who is the new wrestling coach? Anyone I know?”

”No, new guy got hired, does phys-ed and history, volunteered to coach some of the sports teams. What are you thinking?”

No one understood the words I spoke to dad. Great thing about having a language nut for a dad. One of our regular things to do while working out was go through words in different languages. He grew up speaking Russian and German, learned a few other languages across Europe. He taught all the languages at school.

”Stay calm,” was the first thing I told him in German. ”I make guess. I have no facts,” spoken in Russian.

I turned away from the boys to face dad. I did my best to convey calm, knowing it wasn't going to work.

”Knife,” in Italian. It relayed everything I was thinking, especially after the story he had shared with me.

His eyes flashed, glancing over the group of boys. With a growl he headed toward the school. After a few steps he started jogging. By the time he hit the street he was pounding the pavement in a full purposeful run, intent on his prey. I was glad I wasn't the one at the end of his chase.

”Well come on, pile in the truck. Let's go save your coach. Jimmy, give me your phone.”

I grabbed dad's keys, told Derrick to get in the front with me. I hollered to Mahina to follow in her car.

Once I had the truck speeding toward the school, I called Chani on Jimmy's phone.

”Hey Chani, no, it's Little Wolf. No, I didn't break up with Mahina.” I ignored Derrick's choking sounds. ”Yeah, I'm only in town for the weekend. Mahina is here with me. So is Derrick for that matter. We're heading over to the General store when I'm done at the school with dad, hoping to catch story time.”

I held the phone away from my ear then. Chani shared dad's opinion of me enjoying story time, thinking I was too old.

”Aren't you going to ask why I'm calling from your brother's phone?”

It got quiet on the other end.

”You remember that incident in sophomore year, the one where the girls ganged up on... yeah. Ok, just listen because I'm at the school and have to head off my dad. He's ticked at the new coach. Tell Jimmy that story when you see him, ok?”

I hung up on her and got out of the truck, throwing Jimmy his phone on the way into the school's gym. Derrick followed me in.

Dad was pacing around the gym. The guy in the center was trying to talk to dad, yelling about how his boys were missing practice because of dad's detention assignments. Dad was all human, but wolf-stalking him. Eyes intent on their target, no sound. The pacing continue. I was just relieved we got here before dad did something stupid. I had to grin at that thought, me watching over dad for a change.

I didn't stop moving once I was in the door, heading for the corner that held different equipment. The old wrestling mat was next to the parallel bars.

”Jimmy, down on the mat. Guys, gather around.”

The guy being stalked by dad started yelling at me, who did I think I was taking over his boys and so on. The man's possessiveness, calling the boys his, was grating on my nerves. Dad ran interference for me. The guy didn't dare get close.

Jimmy and I faced off. When I spoke I made sure it was loud enough for the ”coach” to hear.

”Now guys, what happens when someone uses an illegal move? Hmm? The whole team suffers when someone is disqualified. When you're practicing, you have to call out the illegal moves in order to protect the team. If no one calls it out, you risk it getting used on others. Understand?”

I gave the group of boys a hard look, letting them know their difficulty in speaking up endangered others.

”Now Jimmy, you're team captain right?”