By twelve o'clock that afternoon Crissa skipped her psychology class to head over to the Biology building where the "Protect the Wolves" rally was going to take place. When she arrived, she was surprised at how many of the other groups on campus had joined the conservation efforts to protest the wolf killings which had been planned in Alaska. She quickly took a place next to Becky and several of the other students whom she had met and had accompanied that fateful night into the mountains. Most of them had witnessed David, as a wolf, intervene in protecting one the club members from a deadly attack.
"We are the ones that are out of line!" Becky was shouting into a portable microphone. She stood next to colleagues of her club who were holding up signs and banners. "Wolves are natural creatures, living in their natural habitat!" she continued through the squeal of the sound system. Crissa was handed a large sign stapled to a pole which featured the photograph of a beautiful and noble-looking gray wolf. She took the image and began to wave it in the air while the crowd, responding to a local television crew filming the event began to chant in unison.
"Save our wolves! Save our wolves!"
Soon other students joined in the chant while late-comers were arriving with their own signs and banners adding to the crowd which was now fulsome, noisy and loud. Another TV film crew arrived on the scene and positioned itself to capture both the demonstrators and the students who had come out to observer the disruption to the day of classes on the UBC campus.
As people were clapping and chanting, the burgeoning crowd coalesced around Becky who it seemed would soon give an amplified message to the those gathered. Several older people in suits and ties had shown up, and Crissa assumed they were administrators of the university to monitor the demonstration and keep it under control. In addition, among the one to two-hundred students taking part in the activity, several uniformed members of the local police were also suddenly visible to insure campus order.
As Becky took center stage of the proceedings, the crowd became quieter to let her state the aims of the campus club.
"Thank you all for coming here today in support of our local wolves," she announced.
The crowd continued to reduce its noise and gather closer to her group.
"Just several hundred miles to the north of us . . . in the State of Alaska . . . they're getting ready to begin a wolf-kill program!"
The onlookers and activists began to loudly show their disapproval.
"They want to significantly reduce the population of a beautiful and majestic animal . . . that was here in on this continent many hundreds of thousand years before we humans!"
The crowd again began to loudly chant, "Save our Wolves . . . save our wolves!"
Becky shouted over the din. "Many of you are aware that our own Canadian authorities . . . have threatened similar actions. Just outside Vancouver! They're considering allowing hunters to enter the foothills above our city and campus . . . to kill these beautiful animals . . . simply because of our leaders' ignorance and fears!"
"Save our wolves!" the crowd responded louder and more adgitated.
"We cannot let this happen, people! I want each of you . . . when you leave here today . . . to call, tweet or email the Vancouver Mayor's Office and the Environmental Affairs Office in Victoria! We must protest any future action allowing the hunting or killing of our treasured animals!"
The crowd broke into a loud applause.
Suddenly, Becky handed the microphone to one of the younger suited men now standing close to her. Again, the crowd hushed to listen.
"As a spokesman for the university President's Office, and the Board or Regents," he said loudly, his voice cracking, "I am here today to let you all know . . . that Dr. Russel totally supports your cause . . . and will do all he can to support the conservation of wolves. There, in those mountains!" The young, bearded man pointed dramatically to the northeast where the Canadian mountain ranges loomed over the city.
At this announcement, the crowd of activated students broke into a resounding cacophony of cheers and whistles. Crissa was moved by the power of their voices and could feel the restlessness of their bodies next to hers. She was impressed by the great effort of solidarity, when quite distractingly, she spotted across from her, an Asian girl standing in the crowd who looked very much like Julie!
A chill ran up Crissa's spine as she became more certain it was actually her. The girl wore a soiled backpack the same color Julie had on when she left her room and the campus several days before. Crissa handed her sign to one of the club members and approach the girl in the crowd. At that moment the lookalike stepped back behind a noisy group of onlookers and disappeared. Crissa quickly left the core of activists and ran through the surrounding crowd to peruse her, but to no avail. She had completely disappeared.
* * *
When the demonstration finally dispersed within the hour, Crissa walked back, exhausted toward her dormitory. Her overarching concern all day, was for David's call, alerting her that his fishing boat might be nearing the harbor complex in Vancouver.
That call came just when Crissa was in the commons, reluctantly purchasing some items for Trisha to eat, as she had asked her to do that morning. Securing a turkey sandwich, a plastic bottle of spice tea, and two brownies into a bag, she awkwardly answered her phone. Recognzing the voice, she stepped up her pace returning to the room.
"David?"
"Yeah, sweetheart! So glad to see those boat docks in the distance from here . . . Looks like we'll be putting into harbor in about . . . half an hour."
"Oh my God, David . . . that's such good news!"
"So just give me another thirty when I get in . . . to secure the boat with the crew, and I'll be ready to step on dry land again. It was . . . a very long trip."
"None too soon, my love . . . tonight or tomorrow night will be . . ."
"Fully aware of it, Angel . . . So, will you be there?"
"Of course!"
"OK. I've got my motorbike in the boathouse nearby the dock. So in case you can't get me up to the cabin . . ."
"There'll be a change in that, I'm afraid . . . the cabin, David. I'll explain when I see you. Just get in safe!"
"A change?"
"So much has happened while you were gone . . . I'll explain everything. We'll talk again in thirty minutes . . . by phone. I don't want to lose contact with you!"
"Alright. Hey, lover . . . make it hamburgers instead of tacos, OK?"
"Jesus, David! Bye!"
As Crissa made it back to the dorm and unlocked the door with her key, she found Trisha not much different than when she had left her that morning—still in bed. She seemed preoccupied with her smartphone.
"Hey, Trisha . . .You OK?"
"About the same. Super down. Just looking at some clothes here online. Exercise stuff. You know, my style."
"OK. So hey . . . I brought you some food."
"Oh my gosh, Crissy. You are so sweet!"
Crissa moved closer and handed her roommate the bag of items.
"Yum! I am so hungry!"
"Great. Listen, I'm showering and then getting right back out of here. Don't know when I'll be in, OK? Maybe soon . . . maybe later this weekend."
Trisha was already heavy into enjoying the sandwich and tea.
"OK, Trish?"
"Yeah. Yeah. I'll be fine here. I'm already thinking about Troy. The hell with Robby. It's his loss, not mine, you know."
Crissa did not respond. She just quickly began undressing and ran into the bathroom to prepare to make her way down the Vancouver harbor by taxi.
* * *
By the time she rolled up to the fishing fleet docks where she had seen David off, some nine days before, she could see the boat he departed on was now securely tied to the pier complex. She could see the few crewmembers washing down the deck and tidying up the lines and equipment. She recognized David as the youngest of the men, but his broad shoulders, long hair, and handsome appearance---even from a distance, set him apart. As she walked out onto the dock, all five or so men looked at her and David gave a brief signal that he would be joining her shortly. The other men chided him for this in a good-natured way.
As he stepped off the boat and walked toward her, Crissa found the occasion irresistible to not run and hug him in greeting. A few of the men back on the boat whistled at the young couple and then laughed as they themselves prepared to depart the vessel.
"You are so beautiful," he whispered as she held him in her arms. "Come on," he said, "I've got to smell pretty bad. How can you stand me right now?"
"I didn't even notice," she said bravely, but not quite truthfully. It was certain, he did reek of the sea and crabs and sweat, but it was his presence tightly in her arms that negated all the unsavory aromas of the fishing industry.
"What is closer . . . your place or mine? I'm not doing anything until I get under a hot shower. And fresh water! No more cold seawater rinses!"
"But . . . what about this," she said smiling and holding up a large bag of fast food hamburgers, fries, and a separate pastic bag of ice and cold beers."
"Tempting he said," smiling and taking the bags while kissing her lightly on the lips. "But getting this body clean takes precedence to all right now."
Crissa smiled for the first time in days, just at his candid boyishness.
"I seriously don't know how you can stand me, Crissa. I can't even stand myself right now. It must be . . . love, huh?"
"If not love," she said, kissing him back unashamedly while the other crew members walked by, "then it's got to be something pretty close to it."
David laughed, a bit shyly while nodding a 'good evening' to his new workmates and fellow crew members.
"The campus is much closer," Crissa said. "We still have a lot of time before the visiting hours are up over there tonight."
"And even," he looked up at the sky. "Before the moon is up."
Crissa looked too, only back eastward toward the still darkening mountains."
"Besides," he said, masking his apprehension with bravado, "it's tomorrow night, isn't it?"
"Yeah. Come on. Let's just go to my dorm and get you that hot, freshwater shower. I can heat up the burgers in my microwave."
The two walked a short distance to a boat house. David pulled from his pocket a key and unlocked the door. He went in and came out, pushing his motorcycle into the early evening light, now partially illuminated by the overhead dock lights.
As he started his bike and throttled it up several times to get it running smoothly, Crissa, holding the packages in one arm, got on the back and held David tightly with her other around his waist.
It was a windy ride from the harbor to the campus and when they secured his bike in the visitor parking lot and walked to the dormitory, David told Crissa once more how much he appreciated her devotion and assistance with what was sure to come with difficulty once again. Crissa just nodded, not wanting to discuss that inevitable any more that evening. There would be enough to worry about the following night, and several after it.
As Crissa knocked on the door for her roommate to open it, she heard voices inside. Strange to her was that the other voice was not that of Troy—-but rather of a female. As the door swung open, Trisha greeted the two of them and then stepped back. To both David's and Crissa's shock, her movement revealed a disheveled Julie, sitting quietly and comfortably on Crissa's bed . . .
* * *