Alone on the mountain, the sounds in the darkness seemed louder, more threatening than Aurora remembered. Was that a coyote or a dog howling in the distance? She’d felt much safer when Little Guy was with her. Now she had no one—not Sam, not Little Guy, not King, not even daylight. And she was cold and hungry and thirsty. And exhausted. Her eyes still couldn’t quite focus. She buried her head in her hands and sobbed. Her nose started running and she reached into her pocket for a tissue.
“I can’t believe it. I didn’t even bring a tissue with me. I always have a tissue. So along with everything else, I can’t even blow my nose.” She wiped her nose with her shirt sleeve, glanced up at the dark, starless sky. “Sorry, Mom.”
Leaning her back against a giant poplar, Aurora closed her eyes. Her strength, like her spirits and Little Guy, had deserted her. She would stay here until daylight unless Sam—or some wild, carnivorous animal—found her.
Sleep came and went. In her dreams, a hawk pecked out her eyes, a large buck ran his rack through her body while buzzards cleaned the flesh from her bones, bats bit her and tangled themselves in her hair, and Sam chose another woman as his dance partner. Nocturnal animals, intent on tearing her into little pieces, closed in. And now she was about to be gobbled up by a bear.
A bear?
Aurora’s hands closed around fur. She opened her eyes and screamed. She felt his breath on her face. Screaming again, she hit at his head with her fist, groped the ground beside her for a stick to defend herself.
The bear licked her face, whined. Bears don’t act like this, she thought. The bear barked, nudged her arm.
“Bears don’t bark, either. King, it’s you! I found you. Well, no, you found me. Oh, thank you, God. Thank you, King.” Whining, King crawled onto her lap. She hugged him to her, stroked his head and back. For several minutes dog and woman rejoiced at finding one another.
Running her hands over his body, Aurora felt for cuts or any injuries on her beloved dog. In the dark she couldn’t detect any problems, feel any blood.
“I think you’re okay, King, but I’ll check again when daylight comes. Okay, boy, this is the way it is. I’m kind of lost, my head hurts, my ankle is either sprained or broken, and I’m hungry and thirsty. So what would you suggest?”
King yelped, jumped to his feet, grabbed her shirt sleeve, sniffed it several times.
“Yeah, I know. There’s yucky nose junk on it. But it’ll wash out.”
King barked.
“I know you want me to get up, but you’ll have to help.” The Lab lowered his head, nudged it under her arm. She put one hand against the tree trunk, the other hand on King’s shoulders, pushed herself into a standing position. “Guess you’re right. We can’t stay here all night. But why not?”
King barked again.
With her left hand, Aurora grabbed hold of his red collar and put her weight on his muscular frame. “I’m ready, boy. Let’s go.”