Xavier and the Wolf (Legends of Pinewood 1)

13. If you chase a wolf

I walked to the Apple supermarket at a quiet moment, right after lunchtime. At least, I hoped it was a quiet moment. I shouldn't be distracting Mrs. Apple while she was working, and she might not want to talk about an old accident in front of other people. I didn't want to talk about my accident in front of other people, either. That was the downside of living in a small town: everyone would meddle and insert themselves into the conversation.

Thankfully, it seemed I'd made a correct assumption that the store would be quiet right after lunch. A soft buzzer went off as I opened the door to the small supermarket, and it seemed I was the only customer in there. Mrs. Apple herself was behind the cash register, wearing the cute apple-themed apron that Iris had designed. She perked up and stood immediately when she saw me.

"Oh goodness, Xavier!" she called out with open arms. "It's so good to see you up and about again. Iris told me you were alright, but I'm so glad to see you too! How are you feeling? Is your head okay?"

Before I could respond, Mrs. Apple had already engulfed me in a big hug that almost squeezed my breath out of me. She was tall and broad woman with upper body strength I was jealous of. I chuckled as I hugged Iris' mom back.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you," I replied the moment Mrs. Apple let me go. "My tumble down the hill gave me a good scare, but it seemed I got away mostly unscathed."

"I'm very glad to hear it," Mrs. Apple replied. "Oh, Iris was so worried about you when you went missing. We all were. But all's well that ends well, right? You came back."

"Yes, thanks to Aquila." I shrugged. "Credits where credits due."

Mrs. Apple smiled. "Right. Such a strange boy, but his heart's in the right place. He was here the other day, buying groceries for his uncle. He complained he couldn't smell the meat while it was packaged, so how could he tell which ones were fresh enough? The boy had never heard of expiration dates on packages." Mrs. Apple shook her head, bemused. "Honestly, what did his parents teach him?"

"Only survival and hunting, I guess," I muttered. "And that coffee is the devil."

Mrs. Apple blinked. "What did you say? Coffee is the devil?"

"No, nothing. Forget about it," I said. "I, uh, actually came here to ask you something. Not to do groceries. Do you have a moment to talk? It's about my accident."

A worried line appeared on Mrs. Apple's forehead. "Oh my, that sounds serious," she said. "Of course I have a moment to talk. I always have time for my daughter's friends."

Mrs. Apple put her hand on my back as she guided me to a room in the back, which I knew was the supermarket's break room. Iris and I had often played cards there when she had to work on the weekends, and there were no customers. It was a small space which only held a table, four plastic chairs, a sink, and a microwave.

"Take a seat." Mrs. Apple directed me to one of the plastic chairs.

I sat and folded my hands in my lap while Mrs. Apple sat next to me. It almost seemed like she was expecting me to confess something awful with the way she leaned in and looked at me with big eyes and a sympathetic smile.

I let out an awkward laugh. "It's not all that serious. Don't worry. I just heard from Boris that you got lost in the woods behind our village when you were a teenager too, and I was wondering about something."

I thought Mrs. Apple might need a moment to remember because it had been over a decade since she got lost, and Boris said she'd only been away for a few hours. But Mrs. Apple's smile faded. "Wondering about what?" she asked cautiously.

"I'm really sorry," I immediately apologised. "I don't mean to poke my nose somewhere it doesn't belong. I just..." I trailed off. Only now that I was here with Mrs. Apple, did I realise this was actually really difficult to explain.