“For someone else, maybe,” Argus replied, his teeth slightly clenched. “But not for me…and not when one of the people in front of me is a girl.”

“Okay,” Garrett said, a few moments later. “Obviously you want to do well at this cross-country thing.”

“Yes.”

“And you can probably use as much practice as you can get running as a human.”

“Uh-huh.”

“So I will allow you to run—”

“All right!”

“But only under the following conditions.”

Argus’s eyes were open wide in anticipation.

“You run only in daylight hours and only along the main roads…”

“No problem.”

“And, you keep up with all your schoolwork.”

Argus hesitated slightly, but then said, “I can do that.”

“Good,” the ranger said, extending his hand. “Then we have a deal.”

Argus reached out and the two shook hands.

“You won’t let me down.”

“No,” Argus said, with a bit of a laugh. “You know me.”

“Yes, I do,” Garrett said. “And that’s why I’m worried.”

* * *

Later that evening, the phone rang. Ranger Brock heard it, but didn’t bother getting up from his chair. The day’s events had left him extremely tired, and it was probably somebody calling for one of the boys, or Michael Martin calling to say good night to Tora, or maybe even Tora’s new best friend, Maria Abruzzo, calling to say, “You’ll never guess who said hello to me in the hallway today…”

“Garrett.”

The ranger turned to see his wife, Phyllis, standing in the living room with the phone in her hand.

“Who is it?”

“Konrad Martin.”

“What does he want?”

“He wants to talk to you.”

The ranger slowly rose to his feet. He hoped the sergeant had good news, but there was something troubling in the pit of his stomach.

He took the phone. “Hello?”

“Sorry to call you so late,” said Sergeant Martin.

“Not a problem,” said the ranger. “What’s the matter?”

“It’s Ernie Ilson again.”

“What is it now?”

“He had a talk with Doctor Katz. He’s upset that he shot that wolf fair and square and you went and saved its life.”

“But I’m a forest ranger, it’s what I do.”

“Yeah, well. He wants it killed. He’s been on the blower to all of his redneck friends and now they’re on board with him. They all want the wolf dead.”

Garrett shook his head. “That’s crazy. Nobody’s going to kill anything.”

“I figured you’d feel that way, but they do have a point, you know.”

“And what point is that?”

“Well, after this wolf is better and you relocate it back in the forest, what’s to stop it from coming and attacking their property and animals again?”

“That won’t happen,” said Garrett.

“How do you know?”