In the following weeks, Chance grew. She became a bit too big to fit in my lap although she didn’t see it that way. Despite what Papa warned about, she still was gentle, even when walking in the backyard.
Chance never strayed from my side. The wolf was perfectly tame, except on one afternoon. I was sitting on the front porch one day when Ethan Sullivan came riding up. I actually saw the hair on Chance’s back stand up straight and she let out a low, guttural growl.
Though Chance didn’t leave my side, she still never took her eyes off Mr. Sullivan. Papa had Mr. Sullivan go inside, but Chance kept looking at the door. For some reason, Chance had a bad memory of Ethan Sullivan. When he came back out, he gave me and Chance a stony look then got on his horse and rode off.
Papa had a worried expression on his face when he came over to me. “Annie, where was Chance last night?”
“What, Papa?”
“Was Chance in your room all night?”
“Of course. Where else would she be? She never leaves the house without me. What’s this all about?”
“Well, seems Ethan Sullivan lost one of his sheep last night. The poor thing was torn apart, and the only animal that could do that kind of damage was a wolf.”
I looked at Chance and knew she couldn’t do it. There was no way she could have jumped out the window and fallen from the top floor and still been able to walk. Besides, how would she have been able to get back inside again?
“No, Papa. Chance would never do a thing like that. Why, she’s gentle with all the critters around here. She’s been here for three weeks now, and never given us any trouble. If she had gotten out, she wouldn’t have been able to climb back in. You have the wrong wolf. Just ’cause she’s a wolf doesn’t this mean she’s responsible for every animal that’s killed in this town. Besides, wolves aren’t the only animals that attack sheep. You also have cougars that roam at night.”
The expression on his face told me that he was thinking the same thing.
The next morning, I came downstairs in a hurry to get to work. I left Chance in my room with the door locked so there would be no question where she would be all day. Mama looked at me as I headed for the door.
“Annie, don’t be so hard on your father. He had to ask.”
“How could you both think Chance could do such a thing? I told you she was in my room all night.”
“I know you love the animal, but the fact is she’s a wild creature, and how can you be sure she’s with you all night long?”
“Maybe Ethan Sullivan just wants her dead like her ma, and Chance knows that.”
“Come on now—how can she know that?”
“Humans have a scent to them. You taught us that when we were young. That’s why we didn’t take the babies from the mamas when they were little. Once the mama got the scent of a human on her baby, she wouldn’t feed it. Well, Ethan Sullivan’s scent triggers a memory for Chance. I think it’s ’cause he killed her mama.”
I could see that it was no use trying to get through to Mama, so I left. We never spoke of it again until three weeks later, when Ethan Sullivan came back with another gentleman. It seems they were looking for Papa. Mama had them sit in the living room and wait while she got Papa. I tried to sneak upstairs but Papa stopped me.
“Annie, can you come in here? Leave Chance there in the hall.”
“Why?”
“Because I asked you to.”
I went into the living room. Chance wanted to follow, but I told her to stay, and I closed the door. I turned to meet the stares of Mr. Sullivan and the other man.
“What’s this all about, Papa?” I asked.
“Well, Annie, this here is Mr. Henry Hunter. He lives close to Mr. Sullivan on the northern side.”
I smiled at him politely. I remembered him from the time I would go to Mrs. Sullivan’s for piano lessons.
Papa continued. “Seems his sheep were scattered around last night, and one of his hands saw the wolf that was chasing them.”
I turned to Mr. Hunter. “And Mr. Hunter, you are here to tell me that it’s my wolf. Am I correct?”
“Well, Miss, it seems your wolf fits the description.”
“Papa, open the door. I want Mr. Hunter to see Chance up close. I want him to make sure this is the wolf his hands described.”
When the door opened, Chance was still sitting there.
“Chance, come!”
The animal slowly made her way toward me. I bent down on one knee to greet her. “You see, gentlemen, she’s not a killer. If you’d like, you can come closer to her and decide for yourselves. Or if you like, I can get a few of our chickens to run around the room here, and you’ll see she’s not interested.”
“But Miss, you have to admit having a wolf as a pet is… well, it’s a bit out of the ordinary,” Mr. Hunter said.
“As you can see, Chance behaves like any other domesticated animal, but I do admit she can look rather terrifying to someone who doesn’t know she’s tame.”
Ethan Sullivan was not convinced. As he stepped closer to Chance, the dog gave a low growl.
“You see—that’s not a tame animal. That’s a wild beast.”
I wasn’t going to let him win. “This is the second time she’s growled at you, Mr. Sullivan. Mr. Hunter, would you be so kind as to step forward? I have a theory. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“Well, if you promise, Miss…”
He took two to three steps, and Chance just sat there, not making a sound.
“That doesn’t prove anything,” Mr. Sullivan exclaimed. “The dog doesn’t like me.”
“I agree with you, Mr. Sullivan. I wonder why she doesn’t like you. Could it be because you killed her mother?”
“That’s ridiculous. How could a—”
I explained that Chance knew him by scent. “They know when they’re looking at an enemy and when it’s a person who won’t harm them. Now, this is just a guess on my part, but you seem to trigger an unpleasant memory for her. I’m thinking she’s remembering when you killed her mama.”
That prompted Ethan’s mood to drop. He lashed out at me. “You don’t know what you are talking about. Everybody knows you’re the crazy one of the sisters. There’s been talk around town for years. I remember when you were a young girl and would come to have my mother teach you how to play the piano. Lord, how I would dread Wednesday afternoons. It meant I would have to suffer hearing you banging on those keys. My mother would smile and tell you that you were improving, but Lord, there was no improvement. You just got worse with each lesson. You always kept to yourself. I mean, look at your sisters. They are all married to fine gentlemen, and here you are. You should be married with youngins of your own, and you’re playing mama to a wolf pup. Why, people say they see you walking in the woods, talking to yourself. That’s not normal. You’re not normal. Maybe that’s why you’re never in town. You’re a freak.”
Papa glowered at him as if he would shoot him. “Mr. Sullivan, I would like you to leave my home.”
“Look, you can cover up all you want, Ryan, but everyone knows your girl is not right. I tell you I wouldn’t trust her teaching my son. She’d be filling his head with all kinds of crazy ideas—that he can be better than a farmer or that he can go to college.”
“What’s so crazy about telling the boy he can have something better than the life he knows?” Papa demanded.
“You’re getting like your daughter now, Ryan. You can’t mean to say it’s right to fill a boy’s mind with fool notions and not practical schooling.”
What happened next was hard for me to believe. Papa grabbed up Mr. Sullivan by the collar and literally threw him out of the house, to the shock of both Mr. Hunter and me.
Mr. Sullivan looked appalled as he picked himself up. As he mounted his horse and waited for Mr. Hunter to mount, he shot another angry look at me. If eyes could kill, I would’ve been dead under his fiery gaze.