The Amazing Wolf Boy

Part 27 - Out of the Loop

Night fell. No idea how I knew. Probably something to do with the pull of the moon. I woke a couple of times to see Uncle Bob dozing in a foldout chair. Brittany must have gone home. I couldn’t sense her.

Once I woke drenched in sweat and shaking so bad I thought I’d gone into convulsions. Someone draped another blanket over me.

By morning, both blankets were on the floor, and I was sprawled over Howard’s couch. I opened my eyes—both eyes, I was pleased to note. Sunlight drew hazy shadows across the ceiling. I took a careful breath. My ribs felt good.

Green smells and birdsong drifted through the screen door in the kitchen. Someone clattered about out there, and after a moment, I recognized my uncle’s tuneless whistle. He came out carrying a couple of mugs.

“Hey.” He smiled. “I brought you some tea. Think you can sit up?”

“I’ll try.” With a grunt, I propped myself up on an elbow and swung my bare feet to the floor.

“How’re you feeling?”

“A bit shaky.” I reached for the mug, and sharp pain shot through my left arm. I grimaced and sucked in a shout.

“Yeah, we had to tape that,” Uncle Bob said.

Sure enough, when I pulled back my sleeve, white tape covered my forearm. I took the tea in my right hand. It was sweet and flowery and as clear as water—not the snake blood tea I had before.

“So.” He sat on the metal chair across from me. “Who was it?”

Embarrassment rose to my cheeks. “Football jocks. Felt like most of the team.” I had a vision of them crowding around me, faces eager, shoulders straining their shirts.

“So many.” Uncle Bob frowned. “How’d they get the jump on you? Didn’t you know they were there?”

“They came up in cars. Kind of blocked me in.”

“Ah.” He nodded like he’d found a missing piece of puzzle.

“Are you telling my parents?” I asked.

He took a sip of coffee. “Not unless you want me to.”

“I don’t.”

“Then don’t worry about it.”

Someone knocked at the kitchen door. “Anyone home?” Brittany said in a hoarse whisper.

“Come on in, Brit,” my uncle called.

I ran my fingers through my hair. I picked up the blankets and bundled them on the couch. She came around the corner almost on tiptoe like she was expecting to find me on my death bed.

Uncle Bob stood. “Morning. Have a seat. You want some coffee?”

“Yes, please,” she mumbled. Her eyes never left me. “Wow, Cody. You look a lot better.”

Then it struck me. I was better. Healing at an extraordinary rate. How to explain it?

“Howard’s tea.” I shrugged. “It’s a Navajo thing.”

She sank onto the chair. “He should market it.”

I grinned. The thing about grinning is you use muscles all over your face, and I was aware of every one of them. It hurt worst around my ears.

Brittany didn’t smile back. “I thought you were going to die. I hardly slept all night. So I rush over here and you’re…you’re…”

“What?” Uncle Bob held out a cup of coffee. “You going to be mad at him because he’s feeling better?”

“Of course not. It’s just that—”

“We all heal fast. Runs in the family.” He jiggled the cup. “Two sugars, right?”

“Oh.” She looked dazed. “Thank you.”

I barely had time to reflect on how much Brittany and my uncle had bonded when Howard came down the hall. He smelled like he’d just gotten out of the shower, which made me aware of my own rank stench.

“Good morning,” he boomed. “How is our young Mai-Coh today?”

“I think he’s going to be all right,” Uncle Bob said as he slurped his coffee.

“Let’s take a look.” Howard knelt and rested his large hand on my forehead. “Fever’s gone. Eyes are clear. Can you sit up straight?”

He lifted my sweatshirt, and Brittany hissed through her teeth. A purple and black swath darkened my mid-section. Howard pressed gentle fingers over my side. “Take a breath. Deeper.” He smiled. “No creaks.”

“That’s good, right?” I tugged my shirt in place.

“Very good.” He got up and clapped my uncle on the back. “When a fox walks lame, the old rabbit jumps.” They strode to the kitchen.

I looked at Brittany. “What does that mean?”

She laughed her tinkling laugh. It made me feel lighter. Like she was magic.

“Sorry I scared you,” I said. “I’m sorry about everything.”

“You were quite a sight.”

“How’s your brother?”

“He was pretty shaken up. He stayed home the whole day.”

I drank the cooling tea. “Do you think he’ll tell anybody?”

“Well, he didn’t tell Grandpa. And he won’t tell our mom. No one tells her anything.”

“Why not?”

“She can’t take it. She works six days a week at Doctor Gutman’s, the pediatrician, from nine to three, and then at Palm West Hospital from three-thirty to midnight. It’s hard. On all of us.”

I nodded. “Both my parents are doctors. I rarely saw them either.”

“They must be rich.”

“I guess. We used to go on these fantastic vacations. I’ve been all over the world.”

“What’s your favorite place?”

“Africa,” I said. “I’d love to go back.”

She returned my smile, but her eyes were sad. I wished I could revise my answer.

“I’m glad I’m here,” I told her. “And I’m glad you’re with me.”

She glanced down, and then looked at me through her red swag of hair. Her face was pink.

“Do you need a refill?” Uncle Bob peered around the corner, holding out a coffee pot.

Brittany lifted her cup and he topped it off. “Mmmm,” she said. “I smell sausage.”

“I thought you only ate health food.” He smirked.

“It’s my one vice.”

“Only one? That’s good to know. Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes.”

I cleared my throat, breaking into their conversation. “Do you think I could wash first?”

“That’s a great idea,” he said. “Let me help you up.”

Howard called from the kitchen, “He can use the guest toothbrush. It’s in a mug on the sink.”

Brittany looked incredulous. “Guest toothbrush?”

“Well,” Howard said. “They don’t know it’s used.”

The three of them laughed. I felt out of the loop.

“It’s Sunday, right?” I said as Uncle Bob set me on my feet. “I haven’t been out of it for like a week or anything?”

“No, nothing like that.” He put his arm about my waist and guided me down the hall. “It happened on Friday?”

“I went to the mall. After school.”

“From now on, don’t go that far away by yourself. I thought you were caught by… It doesn’t matter. You’re safe, now.”