“I’ll be careful. And yes, Dad gave me money.”
“Okay…Wolf,” his mother sighed, “I love you.”
“I love you too, Mum,” he whispered, his words sticking in his throat.
“Wait! Wolf, don’t hang up yet,” his mum said urgently.
“I’m still here.”
“I…I know I didn’t do a good job of protecting you, and I’m sorry. I should have done more. I guess I just kept hoping your father would stop drinking and that he would change. Anyway, I hope you can find a way to forgive me.”
Wolf froze, the plastic handle clenched tightly in his fist, his eyes filling with tears. “Uh huh,” he responded quickly, just seconds away from his words becoming completely inaudible. “I’ll be in touch,” he ended, hanging up the receiver. He rested his forehead on the privacy wall of the phone booth and sniffled as Polly floated up behind him, placing her hand lightly on his shoulder. “Let’s go,” he said, wiping his cheeks with the back of his hand.
As they moved along the pavement towards the train station, Wolf’s boots hit the ground rhythmically, joining the symphony of crickets and the occasional hoot of an owl. After a few kilometres, Wolf spotted the brick red train station with its silver metal roof illuminated by the moon, and he approached the sliding window to buy a ticket. The ticket window was locked and the lights inside were switched off, and taped to the glass was a handwritten sign that read Ticket booth open at 5 a.m. Train to Sydney departs 5:25 a.m.
“We have a few hours, so let’s just hang out on that bench,” Wolf said. He sat down, placing the jo and his duffle bag next to him, and rested his forearm on top of the canvas bag.
Polly sat to his right and folded her hands in her lap, staring straight ahead, and said, “Wolf, there’s something I need to tell you.”
“I’m not in the mood, Polly. And, I especially don’t want to hear more bullshit about my path. Can we just be silent for a bit?”
“This can’t wait, and it’s not about your path. It’s about me.”
“What about you? You’re probably not real anyway, and I just made you up in my head.”
“I am real. Very real, so don’t say I’m not. It hurts my feelings.”
“Whatever. Why don’t you just jump into another body and start living again? Why do you stay a ghost when you told me that when you die, you can choose to live again?”
“I am living, kind of. I don’t want another body because I might not be able to be with you and also because…because…well, I have been keeping something from you, and now it’s time to tell you.”
“Alright,” he surrendered. “What is it that is so important?”
“First, it wasn’t by accident that I came to you. I searched for many years until I finally found you.”
“Okay, that’s sounds weird.”
“Not really. We have a strong connection that brought me here.”
“So, you found me. Good on ya,” Wolf said.
“And, you know Junsaku, right?”
“Of course, I do. What about him?”
“You know who he is, right?”
“Yes, Polly, I know who he is. He’s a Japanese samurai and we visit him often, and you’ve told me that I was him in a past life and I believe it. Shit, I sound fucking crazy,” he muttered, shaking his head.
“Wolf, you know the truth. You’ve even bragged a million times that the reason you are so good at martial arts is because of your past life as Junsaku.”
“Stupid ghost; get to the point,” he said, holding out his palms.
“Junsaku,” she whispered.
“Speak up, Polly, I can barely hear you,” he demanded.
“Junsaku is my father. And, my name isn’t Polly. It’s Fukano.”
For minutes, Wolf was quiet, the upper left corner of his lip slightly raised and his eyebrows pulled together. “So, are you saying…you’re my daughter?” he said softly.
Fukano stared at him, her green eyes electrified, sparking like the northern lights in the polar sky. “Hai, Otosan,” she replied, smiling sweetly.
She Named Me Wolf Page 23