“Awk!” Pappy squawked as he rolled over to see Alpha at eye level, glaring at him. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, are you happy now?” The wolf-dog looked at him, his yellow eyes blazing through the snow. “Okay, if my boots weren’t laced up, she would have blown them off. Satisfied?” The dog ran off to join the others as Pappy got to his feet, the faint scent of strawberries tweaking his nostrils. He needed to think about what had just happened. Really think. She’d called him a stiff. Stiffs were dead people in his vernacular.

Normally, he was never at a loss for words, or actions for that matter. He was so befuddled right then he couldn’t think straight. If someone were to ask him his name, he’d probably not be able to come up with it. In one breath she’d called him a hillbilly and a stiff. That hurt. But she’d also said he was a pretty good kisser. He bent over and finished rolling the ball that would be the base for the snowman. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the others making snow angels in the far section of the compound. They were having fun. They weren’t acting like a team or the raw recruits they were. They were just a bunch of young people enjoying the first real snowfall of the season. Fun. When was the last time he’d had fun? Did he even remember what fun was? He looked again at the laughing group and almost fell over when he saw Sam coax Alpha into lying down in the snow next to her. It looked to him like the wolf-dog was trying to do what she wanted. Pappy literally fell over when he saw her hug the big dog. Alpha never allowed anyone but his master to touch him in any way. Adrian had, more or less at one time, been able to tickle him behind the ears; but even his father couldn’t fondle the big dog these days. Pappy wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

He kept working on the snowman. He finished just as the hard-driving snow turned to sleet, stinging his face like thousands of bee stings. He removed his wool ski cap and settled it rakishly on the snowman. He turned to leave when Slick handed him a carrot and a bunch of raisins smashed into little dark balls for the eyes and mouth. He grinned. Slick grinned back.

The dinner bell started to ring. The gang looked at one another as they all ran to the dining hall.

Breakfast!

It was a feast with waffles, scrambled eggs, pancakes, French toast, bacon, and sausage. The huge coffee urn was full and fragrant. Platters of thick, buttered toast with bowls of homemade jam sat in the middle of each table.