Wild Spirits

by Rosa Jordan

  “So how come you’re letting Danny hang around?”

  Wendy shrugged. “They’re his raccoons. At least until we release them. And he’s not a rug rat. He’s a —” she started to say “a kid with a horrible home life.” Then changed her mind and said, “An animal lover. Like me.”

  8

  QUITTING TIME

  Wendy did not leave home on Sunday. Instead she stayed indoors or messed around in the backyard with Danny, who had come over first thing in the morning. She had been living on her own for a year and liked being alone. Normally, having somebody else hanging around would have driven her crazy, but Danny was so quiet that she kept forgetting he was there. Then she’d look out the kitchen window see him sitting quietly, watching the antics of the raccoons. Again, she was reminded of how a rabbit will sometimes sit so still that it blends in with its surroundings.

  At lunch she called him up on the porch to share a peanut butter sandwich with her. Again there was a third sandwich, cut in half.

  “Is that for the raccoons?” Danny asked.

  “Unless you want it,” Wendy smiled.

  “I’d rather feed it to them.”

  “Do you remember how I did it yesterday?” Wendy asked.

  Danny hesitated, then said, “You didn’t let them take it from your hand. You dropped it in and closed the door, quick.”

  “That’s right,” Wendy said. “We never hand-feed wild animals, not unless they’re babies and have to be bottle-fed. Because when they go back to the wild, we don’t want them running after people, begging for food. That could get them killed.”

  “I know,” Danny said gravely. “You told me that already.”

  • • •

  When Wendy came home from work on Monday afternoon, she was not surprised to find Danny in the backyard. He was sitting cross-legged on the grass next to the cage, reading a library book called Raccoon.

  “Glad to see you doing your homework,” she teased, and they both smiled, because it was summertime. No school, so naturally, no homework.

  “It’s kind of short,” he said. “But it was the only book they had about raccoons.”

  “You can probably find more information on the web,” Wendy said. “Do you know how to use the Internet?”

  “Yes, but I don’t have a computer at home. Only at school.”

  “You can use mine,” Wendy said. “Wait right there and I’ll bring out my laptop.”

  Wendy logged on and waited until Danny Googled “raccoon.” Then she went back in the house and lay down.

  She’d had a bad day at work. All day long, every time a strange man walked into the bank, a feeling of panic rose in her chest. When it was time to carry money across the parking lot to fill the ATM, she flatly refused. Ellen wouldn’t do it, either. Mr. Smart had sighed loudly, as if they were being totally unreasonable and he was the most patient person in the world. In the end, he filled the ATM himself, taking along his secretary who was scared stiff, but didn’t dare refuse.

  Wendy wished Kyle could stop by later, but he was on night shift again. It was going to be like that all week, him going to work just as she was getting off. Usually she wasn’t bothered by him working the night shift. After being around people all day, she liked having evenings to herself. But not this week. Not since the holdup.

  • • •

  On Thursday, Mr. Smart called her into his office. “Wendy,” he said. “I am real sorry about what happened to you and Ellen. You know I am. But it’s part of your job to fill the ATM every afternoon. You’re going to have bite the bullet and do it, that’s all.”

  Wendy didn’t much like his phrase “bite the bullet.” The way she saw it, she’d come all too close to biting a real bullet, and all because the bank wasn’t concerned enough about employee safety to put the ATM next to the building so it could be filled without the whole town watching. But she couldn’t argue with Mr. Smart’s main point. She had always known that the ATM was on the other side of the parking lot, and was told when she came to work here that filling it would be part of her job.

  Too bad. Because no way was she going to walk across that parking lot carrying thousands of dollars in cash again. It was a well-known fact that robbers often held up the same bank twice, especially when they had found it easy the first time. Wendy stood in front of Mr. Smart’s desk, looked away, and said nothing.

  “So can I count on you from now on?”

  Wendy shook her had. “I would if I could, Mr. Smart. But I can’t.”

  Mr. Smart steepled his fingers under his chin and looked at her for a long time. Then he said, “Well, think about it, Wendy. One way or another, you’re going to have to get past your fear of … the parking lot.”

  Wendy almost laughed. It wasn’t the parking lot she was afraid of. It was guys with guns! Or any strange men, for that matter. It was almost a week now since the holdup, and she still felt panic when a man she didn’t know looked at her — or worse, two men together. She hadn’t told anybody, not even Kyle, because what could they do? They’d just tell her to stop worrying. She had already told herself that and it did not help one bit.

  Wendy didn’t need to be told that if she did not go back to carrying that cash out to the ATM she was going to get fired. Ellen had already agreed to start carrying the money out on Monday. If Wendy kept refusing, then it was just a matter of time. She pulled into her driveway and sat there a minute, thinking things through.

  “The bank is not where I want to spend my life, anyway,” she said aloud. “If I could have my druthers, I’d spend all my time in the backyard fooling with animals. Or better yet, out in the woods, where the real wild things are.”

  9

  TWO PROPOSALS

  Kyle called on Sunday morning and asked Wendy if she wanted to go for a drive.

  “Sure,” she replied. “What time?”

  “Right now,” he replied. “Soon as I can get there.”

  It was unusual for Kyle to call out of the blue like that and ask her to go somewhere that wasn’t a regular date, like to a movie or a party. But they had barely seen each other for the two weeks he had been on the night shift. It pleased Wendy to think that he was missing her so much that he wanted to be with her the first chance he got when he was off work at the same time she was.

  “So where are we going?” Wendy asked.

  “You’ll see,” he said, and hung up before she could ask more questions.

  • • •

  They drove along a narrow paved road for about ten miles. It was like the area where Wendy had grown up on the other side of town. There were a few small patches of woods, but most of the trees had been cleared for farming. Wendy was a little surprised when they turned onto a dirt lane that led to a two-storey farmhouse set a good distance back from the road.

  “Who are we visiting?” she asked, as they stopped in front of the house.

  “Nobody,” Kyle said. “The old folks who own this place are at church. I just wanted to check it out.”

  “For what? To see if a couple of church-going old folks are growing marijuana on the back forty?” Wendy joked.

  “Has happened,” Kyle reminded her. “But these folks don’t have forty acres. Just ten. I doubt there’s anything besides weeds growing back there. The place is up for sale.”

  “Are you thinking of buying it?” Wendy asked in surprise.

  Kyle shrugged. “Come on, let’s take a look around.”

  There was a small vegetable garden behind the house, but most of the property looked abandoned. The bird nests in some of the taller bushes and the rustle of small animals as they walked through the weeds made it seem as if it was already being used more by animals than people. At the very back, along the property line, there were a few trees. Some were so ancient-looking that Wendy thought they might
have been part of the original forest.

  Wendy was silent as they headed back to the car. She didn’t know what Kyle might decide, but she knew that if she had the money to buy a house out of town like this, with a little land around it, she’d do it in a heartbeat.

  “Well?” Kyle asked. “What do you think?”

  “Too bad they didn’t leave more trees,” Wendy said. “But the few at the back are nice, and there is that big shade tree in the front yard. I like the way the house is set back from the road, too.”

  “I’ve already looked at the house,” Kyle said. “It’s in pretty good shape. Still, we’d have to do a lot of work to fix it up the way we want it.”

  “We?” Wendy repeated in astonishment. Then she laughed. “Kyle Collins, are you proposing to me?”

  Kyle’s face turned red all the way to the roots of his sandy crewcut. “Well, considering how your folks and my folks and Mrs. Armstrong and everybody else is waiting for us to set a wedding date, I don’t think we could very well move out here together without getting married.” He hesitated, turned a shade redder, and stammered, “That is, if you want to.”

  “So is this a definite proposal?” Wendy teased.

  “It’s a definite proposal,” Kyle confirmed. “And if you really like this place,” he turned and swept his arm over the acreage, “we could buy it and —”

  Wendy laid a hand on his arm. “Wait a minute, Kyle. Not so fast!”

  Kyle let his arm drop, and looked at her. “What? You don’t like it? Or — oh, of course. You want to see the inside of the house first.”

  Wendy shook her head. “I don’t care about the house. It’s the land that matters. What I’m wondering is whether we can afford it. Because — have I got this straight? You’re counting on my salary from the bank to help make the payments?”

  “Well, yeah,” Kyle admitted. “I’m due for a raise at the end of the year, and then I might be able to swing it on my own. But the property’s for sale now, at such a good price that it’s going to get snapped up like that!” He snapped his fingers for emphasis. “That’s why I was thinking that together, with both our salaries —”

  “The thing is,” Wendy said quietly, “I am about to quit the bank job.”

  Kyle didn’t say a word and didn’t even ask why. Although she hadn’t discussed it with him, she knew he would know why she had made that decision. Months ago he told her that carrying all that cash across the parking lot in plain view of traffic going by on the street was just inviting trouble.

  Kyle’s face had turned sad with disappointment, but Wendy was pretty sure he was glad that she had made up her mind not to take that risk anymore. He would not ask her to stay on at the bank even if it meant missing a chance to buy his dream farm.

  Wendy looked out across the land again. “It needs to be fenced,” she said. “And the sooner we get some trees in, the sooner we’ll have some real forest back there.”

  Kyle shook his head. “You should quit that job,” he said. “But if you could find another one right away —”

  “What we could do,” Wendy interrupted, “is use my savings to make a bigger down payment. That way we might be able to handle the payments on your salary alone. Or something. We need to sit down with the owners and crunch some numbers.” She grinned at him. “Working at the bank, I have learned a few things about financing.”

  Kyle put his arms around her and hugged her so tight that she yelped from the squeeze. “You can do the negotiating,” he told her. “You’d probably be better at it than I am, anyway. Just make sure you keep back enough money to fence the place. I know you’ll want a horse, and —”

  “Not a horse.” Wendy’s blue eyes smiled up into his hazel ones. As she lifted her lips to his, she said softly, “A llama.”

  Kyle drew back in surprise. “A llama?”

  “That’s my proposal,” Wendy said. “I’ll help buy the place and live out here with you as long as a llama, and any other animals I want, can live with us.”

  “Deal!” Kyle said, and kissed her before she could begin to list all the other animals that might end up living with them.

  10

  PLANS

  As she was driving home from what had been her last day of work at the bank, Wendy saw Danny standing on the steps of the library talking to Mrs. Armstrong. He was a likeable kid, but didn’t seem to have any friends his own age.

  A little while later, Danny showed up at her apartment. He didn’t come inside, but instead went around to the back where the animals were. Wendy went out to talk to him.

  “Danny, do you know Kyle and I are getting married?”

  Danny nodded and kept watching the raccoons, who were busily dipping kibble in their water to make it easier to swallow. “Mrs. Armstrong told me.”

  “Did she tell you we bought a farm?”

  Danny turned to stare at her. “No! Where?”

  “About ten miles out of town.”

  “When are you moving?”

  “I’m moving some of my stuff out there this afternoon. And the rest little by little over the next week. Want to ride out with me and see the place?”

  “Sure!” Danny exclaimed.

  • • •

  As they were driving out to the farm, Wendy asked, “How long have you known Mrs. Armstrong?”

  “Quite a while.” He was silent a moment, then added. “I know her secret.”

  Wendy smiled. “You mean about Tripod?”

  “Yes,” Danny said. “She said you know because you helped save his life. And her grandchildren, but they don’t live here. We’re the only ones in town who know.”

  “I guess she told you because she trusts you,” Wendy said.

  Danny nodded. “She said most folks think you’re crazy if you love animals as much as you love humans. But a few special people feel like that.”

  Wendy grinned across at him. “Guess you’re one of those special people.”

  Danny smiled with serious pride. “Yeah. Both of us. And Mrs. Armstrong.”

  When they reached the farm, Danny helped Wendy carry in the boxes of stuff she had brought along. He paused in the doorway. “Where do you want me to put it?”

  “That big box has sheets and blankets. It goes in the master bedroom upstairs.” Wendy went ahead of him with two lamps, which she set on the floor of the empty room. Danny put the two boxes he was carrying down next to them.

  “That small box is office supplies. I’m going to use the small bedroom down the hall for my office. There’s another bigger one downstairs that will be the guest room.” Wendy went ahead of Danny and showed him the upstairs room at the front of the house that would be her office. “Now come downstairs and see the best part.”

  Danny followed her through the living room and kitchen, out on to a big screened-in back porch. “What do you think of this?” Wendy asked. “Won’t it be great for keeping nest boxes with baby animals that have to be fed at night?”

  “Except when it’s cold,” Danny agreed.

  “Oh, sure. Then I’ll have to bring them inside.” Wendy pointed to the weed-covered field behind the house. “And out there I’ll have other animals.”

  “Like cows and horses?” Danny asked.

  Wendy cut him a sideways grin. “Like a llama.”

  “You’re kidding!” Danny exclaimed. “A real llama?”

  “A real one,” Wendy promised. “But not right away. Llamas are expensive, and we’ll have to fence the place first.”

  “Can I help?” Danny asked.

  “Sure, if you want to.” But as she said it, Wendy was remembering that Danny did not have a bike. Considering that it would take him a good two hours to walk out to the farm, she didn’t think she’d be seeing much of him.

  “When are you going to start li
ving here?” Danny asked.

  “Next Saturday,” Wendy said promptly.

  Danny frowned. “Mrs. Armstrong said that’s when you’re getting married.”

  “That’s right. And we’re getting married right here.”

  “Here?”

  “Well, not back here in this weedy field. Around front, on the lawn.”

  Wendy led him back through the house and out front to show him how pretty it was with all the flowers in bloom. “We were going to get married in a church, but Kyle’s mom and mine got in an argument over whose church it would be in so I decided we’d have it here. Afterwards we’ll send everybody home and spend our wedding night here, too.”

  “Aren’t you going on a honeymoon?”

  “No, Kyle doesn’t have any vacation time coming. Besides, we decided we’d rather spend the money on fencing materials. Come on, we’d better be getting back.”

  Wendy got into the RAV and glanced over at Danny. “I was wondering, though, if I could ask you a favour?”

  “What?”

  “I don’t want to move the animals out until after the wedding, because all of the guests milling around is sure to upset them. But with everything going on that weekend I won’t have time to run back and forth to the apartment to look after them. I was wondering —”

  “I’ll do it!” Danny interrupted enthusiastically. “I’ll feed the raccoons and the baby bunnies and the old possum and the little fox. And give them water and everything. I know what to do.”

  “You don’t mind missing the wedding?” Wendy asked. She had felt a little guilty about not inviting Danny, but her mother said it wouldn’t be polite to invite him and not his mother, and she didn’t want to invite someone like Mrs. Ryan, whom she didn’t even know, to her wedding.

  Danny shook his head. “I’d rather be with the animals.”

  “Then that’ll be our plan. I’ll leave you in charge on Saturday, and Sunday morning, too. I’ll come back to the apartment in the afternoon, and if you want, you can help me move them to their new home.”