10 CHAPTER TWO MARIA'S DECISION THE WISDOM OF THE villagers told me to walk clear of it A baby wolf is never far from its mother and should she return the mother would not wait to hear my excuses I watched carefully The wolf pup did not move The forest whispered soft drops of snow to the ground I was close enough to see one fall and
MARIA'S DECISION cling to the gray fur Walking slowly backward I continued on to school but kept watching to see if the pup would move Then I lost sight of it as I rounded a bend in the path Suddenly I realized I would be late and ran the rest of the way arriving just as the teacher was closing the door Maria Be quick girl The day dragged more so than any other Those last long afternoons before the winter break with the classroom almost in darkness were hard enough for me But on that afternoon I watched the large clock above the teacher's desk more closely than ever urging its reluctant hands around When the bell sounded at the end of the day we children usually tumbled outside to play games in the 11
WINTER SHADOW snow before it became truly dark But on that day after school when I had told nobody about the wolf pup I raced out of the door and across the schoolyard alone The games in the snow were suddenly far from my mind as I hurried back along the same forest path Perhaps the mother wolf had returned to find her pup and had carried it off to safety Yet if the pup was still there it may not have survived the bitterness of the day I began to run faster my heart racing Then as I rounded the last bend I saw him perfectly still snow now deep about his body I swallowed hard and looked around listening to the sounds of the forest wondering what Grandfather would do He was always certain of what was right I knew that he would tell me to leave the pup there 12
