The Amazing Wolf Boy

Part 9 - Mauled

I walked to my bike and leaned against the wall. As far as first impressions went, I’d done worse. Like the time I was shooting baskets and wanted to show off in front of Meredith Taney by hanging from the hoop. Only I missed, seeing how I’m not that tall, and my watch tangled in the net. I just swung there until the backboard came down on my head.

At least, Brittany didn’t seem to think I was a total dork. Closing my eyes, I thought about her smile. She wore purple lipstick. I wondered what it tasted like. Then I looked at the bag with the movies and realized I had no way to play them.

Dork. I shook my head, pulled the bike around, and rode into the street. The Café looked good for lunch. It was busy, but Anne remembered me and gave me a hug. I sat at the counter with a turkey sandwich—fresh sliced, not that pressed stuff—and declared it my new favorite. She seemed pleased.

Anne gave me a cup of chocolate milk to go, and I headed back to my uncle’s house. The afternoon was sweltering—probably in the mid-seventies. I was used to snow. But I kept Brittany’s smile with me as I pedaled, and it passed the time.

When I reached the neighborhood, I decided to tour around. It was tough going. The dirt road was full of small rocks and seashells. The homes were set back from the street, some of them big, some small, some with immaculate lawns, others not so much.

As I approached one house, a dog yapped. An old lady tended a flower garden. The heavy floral scent hung in the humid air. Beside her, the tiny dog barked like he wanted to take my leg off. I frowned. Usually dogs loved me.

I leaned on my pedals to pick up speed when the little dust fluff darted out. I stopped before I ran over him.

“Oh, dear.” The lady hobbled toward us, one hand on her hat. “Roscoe, come here. You naughty boy.” She caught the dog in her arms. His growl sounded like a wind-up toy. Black eyes glared from a mound of tan fur.

“Ferocious,” I said.

“I’m so sorry, young man. I’ve never seen him act like this.”

“No harm done.”

“You must be Cody. I’ve heard so much about you. I’m Edna Binkley. That’s my husband, George, on the porch. He’s confined to a wheelchair. Stroke, you know.”

I blinked. “How do you know my name?”

“The whole town was abuzz about you. But now they’re all talking about that mauling instead.”

“Really? I haven’t heard about a mauling.”

“Gruesome,” she said with obvious enjoyment. “A woman’s body was found down North Road ripped to shreds. Some sort of animal attack. The authorities figure she’d been dead at least two days. Poor thing.”

She continued talking, but a sound buzzed in my head and covered her words. I was a wolf two days ago. Had I murdered a woman? I didn’t think I hurt anyone. Yet both times I became a wolf, I fell asleep. What if I hadn’t slept? What if I blacked out instead?

“So you see why the safari is under investigation,” Mrs. Binkley said.

“Yes, ma’am,” I murmured. I felt like I might puke right there in the street. “Well, I better go.”

“All right, dear.” She smiled, and her little dog glared knowingly in her arms. “Bye, now.”

I made it back to my uncle’s house and left the bike in the yard. I stumbled up the porch steps. How could this be happening? How could I go in just a few days from a normal kid to a monster that killed people?

Once in my room, I fell onto the bed. My head spun. I went over the night I turned into a wolf. I’d made it to the tree line, and I remembered I howled at the moon. Then nothing.

Except during that nothing, I apparently mauled a woman to death.

I considered going to the authorities. But what would I tell them? They thought a wild animal was involved, not a kid. They’d probably laugh. Give Mrs. Binkley something more to gossip about.

My parents must have known this would happen. That’s why they got rid of me. I couldn’t go home. I had to live a life of secrecy. I had to keep away from people.

The thought brought an image of Brittany with her spiky hair and perfect smile. I felt like she’d just broken up with me. Like I’d lost her—which is crazy because I never had her in the first place.

A thought came to me—wolves mate for life.

“She’s not my mate,” I told the ceiling.

Somehow, I didn’t believe it.

My cell rang. I fished it out of my pocket. It wasn’t my parents. It was Mickey. I stared at the phone, wanting so much to answer, wanting so much to hear my best friend’s voice. But I couldn’t. I had to make a clean break. I winced and turned off the phone.

After a while, my uncle came home. I walked out to greet him. He carried a sack full of hamburgers.

I stood in the kitchen doorway ready to go into my usual spiel of how red meat was bad for you and I never ate it. A throwback from having doctors as parents. But it smelled good, and I was hungry. I figured just this once wouldn’t hurt. Hunkered down at the table, I dug in.

My uncle chuckled and took a couple burgers for himself. “How was your day?”

“Fine,” I said between mouthfuls. “Anne says hi.”

He nodded. “I made a few calls and found out we can’t register you for school until January fourth.”

“About that, I was thinking I would drop out of school. I’m old enough. I could work for you, learn how to be a Fix-It Guy.”

“Your parents wouldn’t thank me.” He smiled. “We’ll enroll you as planned. And I expect good grades. You probably already know more than most of those kids.”

“That isn’t the problem,” I blurted, and wished I hadn’t. I could never tell him what the problem was. I floundered around for a change in subject. “I met Mrs. Binkley today.”

“Nice lady.”

“Her dog hates me.”

“Roscoe? Just give him a good growl. Establish dominance.”

“She told me there’d been a mauling down on North Road. A woman.”

“I heard.”

“What do you think happened?”

“I really don’t know.”

“Do you think a lion escaped from the safari?” I asked, still hoping, still grasping for alternate explanations. “Or maybe one of those Florida panthers came out of the Everglades and got her?”

“No. That wasn’t it.”

“But what if—”

“Damn it, Cody. Forget about it. It has nothing to do with you.” His eyes flashed. There was something feral in them.

 I sat back. That was the first time Uncle Bob raised his voice to me. He was hiding something, I was certain. He knew something about that murder. I wondered what.