“Yum yum,” he mumbled gruffly.
“Oh, you can talk. Cool! I’m Wolf. What’s your name?”
“Korey,” he replied, his words inarticulate because he had a mouth full of sticky peanut butter. The koala chewed the sandwich like he chewed eucalyptus leaves, chomping each mouthful for a long time with his mouth partially open.
“Cody?” asked Wolf.
“No. Korey,” he said, bread crumbs escaping from the corners of his mouth.
“Cowee?”
The koala grew frustrated and hit himself on the forehead with his paw, chewing quickly before swallowing.
“Korrreeey,” he growled. “Don’t you listen? My name is Korey, with a K; not Cowee,” he stressed.
“Oh, Korey! Sorry, mate, you’re hard to understand when you have food in your mouth. Nice to meet you.”
Korey didn’t respond and took another huge bite, clutching the sandwich with both of his furry paws like guarded treasure.
The second time Wolf invited Korey to join him for a chip sandwich lunch, Wolf decided they would eat in the loungeroom since his dad and Orville were gone, and his mum was outside doing yard work. Wolf opened the kitchen door, looked outside, and saw the koala laying on a high branch in a gum tree, so he waved a slice of white bread in the air, signaling for the koala to come and eat.
When the koala arrived, Wolf had already placed two, freshly made sandwiches on the coffee table in front of the couch. After Korey entered the house through the kitchen door, Wolf told him to follow him into the loungeroom. Korey trailed behind Wolf’s heels, and Wolf sat down on the green upholstered couch, patting the spot next to him, indicating where Korey should sit.
“No thanks. I’ll sit over here,” the koala replied, his voice raspy.
“No way. That’s Dad’s recliner. I’ll be in so much trouble if you sit there. You sit here,” Wolf commanded, tapping the cushion next to him with his outstretched hand.
Korey’s dark brown, button-shaped eyes stared into Wolf’s as his squat, chunky body edged closer to his dad’s leather recliner.
“Stop it, Korey. You eat over here with me,” Wolf scolded.
Korey continued creeping until he reached his father’s chair. When he arrived at the recliner, he lifted his furry arm and touched the seat with the tip of his claw, grinning at Wolf as his eyes sparkled mischievously.
“Oh, come on, Wolf,” he said, trying to sweeten his gravelly voice, “don’t be a fraidy cat. No one’s here except you and me. Let me sit here just this one time.”
“No way. Get over here now!”
Ignoring Wolf, Korey slid his entire paw forward and caressed the leather seat of his dad’s recliner, making small circles on the cushion with his rough palm. “Come on. No one will know, Wolf. I won’t tell, I promise. Anyway, you’re a boy, and I thought boys were supposed to be brave.”
Wolf felt his face growing hot because he didn’t like anyone calling him a sally. “Alright already. Just be careful not to wreck it, or I’ll put you in the box.”
Today when Korey came to lunch, Wolf told the koala he could sit in the recliner to eat his sandwich. As usual, the marsupial struggled to pull his body up onto the chair because he was plump and short. When he finally got his bulging stomach onto the seat cushion, he had to twist his torso and use his stubby arms to push himself over until finally, he was sitting properly in the chair, his stumpy legs sticking out in front of him. “Well, can you please?” Korey said, tipping his head in the direction of the lever at the side of the chair.
“Geez, alright,” Wolf said, going over to the recliner and pulling on the lever until the footrest popped up.
Korey’s legs were short, so his feet didn’t reach the footrest. He wiggled his toes above the gap as he grabbed the sandwich from the side table, gripping it with his opposable thumb and three fingers and bringing it lazily to his lips before taking a bite. While the bread became doughy in his mouth, crumbs sticking to his lips, Korey rested the sandwich on his belly and asked, “So, how ya going?”
“I’m alright,” Wolf replied, stretching his legs across the couch as he rested his lower back on the armrest. Wolf listened to the lawnmower rumbling outside, feeling relaxed because he figured he’d have plenty of time to clean up before his mum came back inside the house. Wolf devoured his sandwich, and when he finished, he noticed Korey hadn’t even finished half of his. “Hurry up. Don’t take all day,” Wolf demanded.
“I’m a koala, Wolf. I don’t hurry. I move slowly. You should try it sometime,” he mumbled under his breath. “Hey, you got any beer?” he asked, his dark eyes glistening.
Wolf stood upright. “No. Now hurry up and eat. This isn’t a gum tree, you know.” As Wolf barely finished his sentence, the sound of the lawnmower stopped abruptly. “Korey, Mum turned off the mower! You have to go.”
Korey continued to chew, the half-eaten sandwich resting on top of his round belly.
Wolf heard his mum scraping her shoes on the doormat outside the kitchen door. “Bugger,” he whispered anxiously.
Korey’s eyes grew rounder as his mouth stopped moving, his cheeks stuffed with bread, cheese, and chips. As Wolf reached out to grab the koala, Korey dropped the sandwich and it fell apart, dropping pieces of chips all over his hairy legs and his dad’s recliner. Wolf gripped him below the armpits and tried to lift him, but Korey used his claws and dug them into the armrests, holding his body firmly in place.
“Let go, you dumb koala.”
“No!” he exclaimed, clutching the leather even tighter.
“Stop it, Korey. You’ll pop holes in it.”
Korey clung to the arms of the chair, staring at Wolf, a sly smile below his big nose. Wolf wiggled his fingers under the koala’s armpits and tickled him until he lost his grip, and then whisked the koala’s chunky body out of the chair, carrying him like a baby from the loungeroom and down the hallway into the bathroom.
Once inside the bathroom, he flung open the rainbow-striped shower curtain and tossed the koala onto the hard enamel of the tub. “Now, shush!” he commanded, jerking the curtain shut before dashing out of the bathroom.
When he arrived back in the loungeroom, his mother was standing near his dad’s chair with her hands on her hips. As she stared at the sandwich strewn on the brown cushion, she said, “Unbelievable,” shaking her head.
“Mum, I’m sorry. I was just about to clean up when…”
Her gaze left the chair and drifted over to the couch where small pieces of chips dusted the cushion.
“How many times do I have to remind you? There are only two places to eat your lunch, and that’s outside, or in the kitchen. And,” she continued, her words enunciated and slow, “what would make you eat on both the couch and your father’s chair? You know better than that, young man.”
Her disappointment gave Wolf a lump in his throat. “I’m sorry, Mum. I’ll clean it up.”
“You bet you will. And, the next time, and I mean it, I will tell your father. You can’t continue to act like a rebel, Wolf.”
Wolf’s mum walked out of the room and towards the bathroom, leaving Wolf alone and feeling remorseful. However, his remorse quickly turned to panic when he heard the bathroom door close.
“Korey,” he whispered aloud. Wolf didn’t know what to do next, so without thinking, he shouted, “Help!” at the top of his lungs.
He heard the toilet flush and the bathroom door open, and the sound of his mother’s feet running towards him.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” she said, bending down and putting both of her hands on Wolf’s shoulders.
Wolf hadn’t thought about what he’d say next, so after several seconds passed, he said, “I just feel really bad, and wanted to tell you again that I’m sorry.”
She stood up and inhaled deeply, her hand resting on her chest. “Wolf, you gave me such a fright. Please don’t yell like that again unless you’re in real trouble. My goodness, my heart is going to jump out of my chest!”
“An
d Mum,” Wolf said quietly, being careful with his words, “please don’t tell Dad. I won’t do it again.”
She put her hand on the top of his head and tousled his black curls. “Alright. But promise me you’ll listen, okay? Now, clean up this mess before your father comes home. I have more work to do in the yard, so get this done before I get back.”
“Sure,” Wolf said with a crooked smile.
As soon as she was gone, Wolf ran to the bathroom and threw open the shower curtain. Korey sat with his furry behind pressed against the cold surface of the tub wearing a zebra-stripe shower cap that squashed his ears, and he’d rubbed shaving foam on his chin, accentuating his white, fluffy beard.
Wolf was in no mood to play around, so he yanked the cap off the koala’s head and tossed it into the tub. Wolf grabbed Korey and carried him back towards the loungeroom, balancing the koala on his hip as the shaving cream on the animal’s chin smudged his t-shirt. “I’ve had enough of you today,” Wolf said, moving swiftly down the hall towards the kitchen door.
As they passed Dad’s chair in the loungeroom, Korey reached out and tried to grab the rest of his sandwich, but he only caught a half-slice of bread with his claw, letting it dangle in the air as they walked into the kitchen. Wolf opened the kitchen door and tossed the koala onto the ground where he landed on his back paws before going down on all fours.
“So uptight,” Korey mumbled before putting the bread between his lips, crawling back towards the gum tree.
Wolf slammed the door and returned to the loungeroom to clean up, uncertain if he’d be inviting Korey for a sandwich anytime soon.
Chapter Fifteen
Towards the end of the school day, Miss gave the class their last assignment. The children began connecting dots on a piece of paper, revealing shapes like circles, squares, and diamonds.
“I’m good at this,” Les bragged to Wolf as he dragged his pencil dot to dot.
“It’s easy,” Wolf responded, his pencil sliding on the paper at double the speed as Les.
“Want to come over and play at my house this weekend?”
‘No,” replied Wolf matter-of-factly. “I’m playing with my other friends.”
“Will you ever invite me to play with them, too?” Les asked, his round, pale face staring down at his paper.
“Probably not,” Wolf responded casually.
Les shrugged his shoulders, huffed lightly, and continued to connect dots.
“Okay, children, that’s it for today. Gather your things and I will see you again tomorrow,” Wolf’s teacher said.
Wolf put his pencil in his backpack right next to his gi and got up from his chair.
“See ya, Les” he said, waving at him as he left the classroom.
Polly joined Wolf as he walked from school to Master Kelly’s, floating alongside him and humming a tune.
“What’s that song?” Wolf asked her.
“It’s called Sakura. It’s very famous in Japan. My mother used to sing it to me.”
“My mum doesn’t sing to me,” he said, “which is fine by me because I’ve heard her sing and it’s not good.”
When he arrived at the dojo, he took off his shoes and bowed in the doorway before stepping inside. He put on his gi, and as he was finishing tying his white belt around his waist, he heard his teacher’s footsteps approaching. Moments later, Master Kelly came inside dressed in his gi, his jacket cinched at his waist with a black belt embroidered with six gold bars.
“Konichiwa, Kohai,” he said.
“Konichiwa, Sensei.”
“We will start with sanchin kata. First, bow to Soke Yoshikatsu,” he said, pointing to the black and white picture of the bearded Japanese man on the wall.
Wolf and his teacher turned, faced the framed photo, and bowed in unison, their arms at their sides. Then, Master Kelly and Wolf bowed to each other before spreading their feet hip distance apart and standing still.
“Hajime,” Master Kelly said.
They both began to move, each breathing deeply in and out, every muscle in their bodies taut, and Wolf tried to stay in sync with his teacher as he slid, pivoted, and performed punches and blocks.
Each time Wolf finished the routine, Master Kelly commanded, “Again,” until after forty-five minutes, he said, “Good, Kohai. Now sit.”
“Hai, Sensei,” Wolf replied, sitting cross legged on the tatami mat.
“Let us discuss Bushido, the code of the samurai. You knew this word when we first met, remember?”
“Hai, Sensei.”
“When we first met, you were able to tell me some of the virtues of Bushido, but let’s talk about all of them. I have written them down for you,” Master Kelly said, handing Wolf a sheet of paper. On the paper were the written words justice, courage, benevolence, politeness, honesty and sincerity, honour, loyalty, and self-control.
“First, how many of these words do you think you demonstrate?” Master Kelly asked.
Wolf’s head tilted slightly as he stared at the paper. “Well, I am polite to old people, and I try to be honest, so I guess I do those two things. Um, what’s this word ben…ben…benev…?” he asked, pointing at the word on the paper.
“Benevolence. It’s the desire to do good for others.”
“Oh, I like to do good for others. Do birds count?”
“Yes, Wolf, they count,” his teacher replied, his lips curving up at the edges. “All living creatures count. Now, what about honour? Do you think you know the difference between right and wrong, and do you try to do what’s right?”
“Sensei, I try, I really do,” he began, “but I don’t think I always do the right thing, especially according to my dad because I’m always in trouble. Like, I sneak into the aviary so I can be close to the birds, and when I’m in there, I don’t hurt them or anything, and they like me. But he still tells me I can’t go inside.”
“Alright, let’s talk about loyalty. It sounds like you go against the wishes of your father, even though he is your father and he is in charge, and that you don’t always follow his rules. Is that right?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” he said.
“Yet, you pick a weed and come to karate training every day, which makes me think you’re being loyal to what you believe in and what you think the rules should be. When you don’t believe in what others think or what others want you to do, like when your dad tells you that you can’t be in the aviary with the birds, you are disobedient and disloyal.”
“Yep,” Wolf replied, “I am disobedient when I am right!”
Wolf looked at the paper again, studying the words, and asked, “What about courage? I don’t think I have much of that.”
“I think you have more courage than you know, Kohai. Courage means that you have the mind and spirit to face something without fear. It means you’re brave. Anything recent that you can think of where you have faced something without fear and acted bravely?”
Wolf immediately thought of something. “The other day at school I stuck up for Sarah after she fell. Bruce was making fun of her, so I told him to knock it off.”
“That was brave. Why did you do that?”
“I don’t like it when people make fun or hurt other people, or animals, especially when they are weaker. It’s being a bully, and I don’t like bullies. That’s not how it should be.”
“Not how it should be?” Master Kelly inquired.
“Not for me. When I see bullies, I get mad because I’m supposed to protect people and not hurt them unless they deserve it,” Wolf said knowingly.
“Who told you that?”
“No one told me that. I just know,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.
“Sounds like how a samurai would think.”
“Probably. I told you that I was a samurai before. And, Polly’s also told me I was a samurai, and we’ve even visited the man she says I was: Junsaku. I don’t usually talk about him to anyone but her.”
“And Polly? She is the Japanese girl who’s often with you?”
&n
bsp; “You can see her?”
Master Kelly smiled and said, “Yes, Kohai, at times I can see her.”
“She is my best friend and the person…well I guess she’s not a real person…she’s the soul I trust most in the world.”
“That is good,” his teacher replied. “And your father; is he a bully?”
“Yeah, but only when he drinks. He’s mean to me when he’s drunk, even though he knows I’m littler than him. When he drinks tea and other stuff, he’s okay, I guess. But, I’m scared of him all the time because I don’t know if I can trust him or not.”
“And what’s your mum like?”
“She’s nice, and she makes us food and cleans our clothes. She likes to garden. Most of the time she doesn’t say much, and she drinks a lot of tea and does work around the house and yard,” Wolf said. “I’m pretty sure Dad’s mean to her, too, because I’ve seen bruises, but she never says anything about it to me.”
Master Kelly was silent for a minute then asked, “Does she ever help you when your dad is bullying you?”
“Nope,” Wolf said bluntly. “Whenever he comes in my room at night, she’s never around. I don’t know where she is. I guess she’s sleeping or something.”
“Uh huh,” replied Master Kelly, staring intensely at Wolf. “Wolf, I want you to study the words I’ve given you and think about how you will live by these words, and we will continue to develop your physical, mental and spiritual strength so that you can stand up to any bully in the future.”
His teacher’s words made Wolf shiver with excitement, triggering a wide grin to spread across his long face.
“Domo Arigato, Sensei. Thanks.”
Chapter Sixteen
For the full hour of karate training, Master Kelly had Wolf practise punches and blocks in rapid succession, causing his arms to fatigue. When Wolf got to school later that morning, Miss had the students spend the first part of the day painting pictures on easel paper using long, wide brushes, exaggerating the tiredness in Wolf’s arms.
She Named Me Wolf Page 6