Kismet and Prestige were thicker than blood, closer than best friends, and stronger than death itself. They knew one another better than anyone —even the boy’s parents couldn’t read their son as well as Prestige could. Kismet had lost his hearing at the tender age of three from a vicious ear infection there was nothing that could be done restore it. Being deaf, he had a severe problem communicating. Fortunately, he had talked enoughas a baby to learn enough words to put together full sentences. However, being already a stoic creature, Kismet kept to himself and any emotional or physical pain he had inside.
Having forgotten how he sounded when he spoke, Kismet’s voice became rough and surprisingly deep. When he went to school, his classmates tortured him with cruel names such as “mute,” “dumb,” and “useless.” A sensitive person, Kismet withdrew from all forms of speaking and promised himself that he would never speak again. His parents urged him to communicate to them but he refused. At one point, Kismet’s parents found him squatting on the edge of the hayloft with a rope tied to a hook above him and the other end secured about his neck. Although they stopped his attempt, it was apparent to them they had to help their son or he would eventually kill himself. They weren’t a wealthy family and the wages for a therapist were outrageous. It wasn’t long before they all accepted that Kismet would remain depressed and speechless.
During what seemed to be a downward spiral of hopelessness, a red wolf appeared one rainy night. When Kismet saw the wolf eye to eye, he felt his heart begin to heal. It felt like the wolf told Kismet that he would protect him and never leave him. It was a strange bond and a strange moment for the family to see that night. His parents knew that something powerful had happened between the boy and the wolf and that nothing could prevent the friendship from growing.
During the time one of the world’s worse economic crises, a time where children scoured the bare country roads for items to repair or sell and the adults wrestled for jobs, a friendship grew in the heart of Michigan. A friendship between a boy and his wolf, or a tale of a friendship between a wolf and his boy, either way, their stories were the same. They both fought fiercely for one another. They both fixed one another. They were the truest of friends and they believed nothing could break them apart, until that one quiet night in front of the fire…