Crissa's Mate

Chapter Forty-Eight

Leaving the library when it closed for the night, Crissa hurried back with several other dorm students who had also chosen to maximize their study time there. She felt some comfort in the similar nature of these people and even held a conversation with a pair of males who were engineering students, living in the same dormitory complex as Crissa and Trisha. The boys happened to be roommates themselves. The diversion and small talk on the way back helped her not to focus so much on the bright moon. She found it also comforting to note that the once perfectly round orb had now deformed itself into a lopsided volume of bright yellow, slightly more than two-thirds of what it originally was several nights before.

The boys, while the same age as Crissa, seemed young and immature, as did most the other first year students she had encountered at the university. She realized then that loving David had a lot to do with his being two years older and from a background and life forged in the more hostile and extreme conditions of Alaska. Certainly now, with what David had endured and was actively struggling with, made him even more powerful and noble in the eyes a budding young woman as herself.

Saying good night to the two students, who happened also to be fellow Canadians, Crissa entered the female housing area just after midnight and passed by the front desk. There she was greeted by the resident assistant—a graduate student named Veronica, who made a note of her return and told her that Trisha was still out. She also told her there had been four phone calls for Trisha by someone calling himself Rob that evening while she was out. Crissa smiled to herself and thanked her for the information.

While she was passing through the main lobby, several girls were sitting in front of a large screen TV, chatting in their house robes. The local news was recapping the days events around Vancouver and the Island communities. She suddenly heard the word "wolf" spoken on the television and paused to listen more intently. She managed to catch the coverage of a story which had played earlier in the day:

"The large wolf, thought to be a rogue male Timber or Gray, as they are called, boldly approached cars and people on the street. The animal surprised pedestrians as it ran through the northeastern suburbs, showing no fear of the residents. Many of the witness of today's close encounter took cover and pulled their children out of harms way. Several witnesses filmed the wolf  sighting on their cell phones."

Crissa ran up to the TV screen and stood before it in shock as the cell phone clips began to show a now-familiar large, dark gray wolf trotting along on screen with cars and people passing by. There was no doubt in her mind that it was David. She listened intensely as the news story continued.

"Dr. Helen Davies, an animal conservationist and professor of biology at UBC's inland Okanagan campus, said the rare sighting was probably the result an individual wolf which, for some reason, had been rejected by its clan. She went on to report that it could also have some physical anomaly which caused its erratic and uncharacteristic behavior, possibly a contagious disease such as rabies."

Crissa stood motionless with both hands covering her mouth. Entering her mind were terrible thoughts of what could result from the incident, endangering David and members of the community, as well.

"Professor Davies went on say these short video clips of the wolf, taken before it went back into the foothills, would be further analyzed. She was also interested in seeing close-up CCTV footage of the animal, reportedly taken near the Bank of Canada. The exact type, sex and size of wolf could be better determined from those images, she reported."

Crissa's heart was now beating like a drum.

"Meanwhile, City of Vancouver spokesman Jeffrey Halloway, said in an interview that people should remain vigilant and keep their children inside until more information was available about the sighting and possible danger presented by the rogue wolf. While wolf conservation is important on this continent, he reported, the authorities are not above neutralizing or eliminating the animal if it is deemed hazardous to our community.