GODS AND MONSTERS ↝ P. LAHOTE

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1995

"Mommy?" a five year old Larkin Hudson asked her mother as she wandered into the family's living room, clutching a tiny stuffed wolf to her chest. "Will you tell me a bedtime story?"

"Of course, dear." Diane Hudson said, rising from the couch where she sat with her husband and their eight year old son and lifting the young girl into her arms. "Which one would you like me to tell?" she asked as she climbed the stairs to reach Larkin's bedroom.

"The one about the time you were saved by the wolf." she requested as Diane tucked her into bed, and Lark squeezed the little wolf tighter to her chest. She had named the tiny stuffed animal Grey, and chose him as her favorite toy since he reminded her of her favorite story, out of the hundreds her parents told to occupy her and her brother Tristan's minds with a sense of wonder. She would request the wolf story at least once a week, and her mother was always happy to oblige.

"Okay," Diane said with a smile, leaning forward and pressing a kiss atop the young girl's forehead. "it all started when I was eighteen years old. I had just finished school, and your aunt Jeanine and I decided to take the old car we shared and road trip across the entire country."

"That's a long trip." Lark said with an amazed grin.

"It sure was. It was our first time ever being on our own. Sure, we had some problems, like the car breaking down a couple of times, but we always got through them. We left Salem and headed for New York, to see Times Square and the Statue of Liberty. And after that, we just kept driving. We stopped where we wanted and did the things we wanted to do.

"A few weeks later we wound up in Montana and decided to try our hand at some of the hiking trails." Diane continued on. "Now, your aunt and I were never big into sports and being active, but when you're surrounded by some of the most beautiful hiking trails in the world, you can't pass them up. So there we were, on a trail climbing up the side of a mountain, and we found ourselves wandering off the trails to see what we could find. This is when we came across..."

"A bear!" Larkin exclaimed excitedly.

"A bear!" Diane repeated. "It was an angry bear, too. A mama, with a little cub of her own. She thought we were putting her baby in danger, so she ran towards us."

"What happened?" Lark asked, holding onto Grey a little tighter, even though she'd heard this story numerous times before. Every time, she still asked as if it was her first.

"There was a wolf!" Diane exclaimed, gesturing to where the tiny stuffed animal lay clutched in Larkin's arms. "He was so big, when he stood on all four legs he was about the same height as your daddy, and he saved us from the bear. He chased it away, so the mama bear picked up her cub and ran. He saved our lives. He was no ordinary wolf, though. He was one from the legends. A man who was able to turn into a wolf at will."

"How do you know he was a man?" Lark asked.

"Well, for starters, he was absolutely huge! Normal wolves aren't nearly as big as this one was. After the bear left, the wolf just watched us. He had these big, brown eyes that were almost like yours or mine. They didn't look like an animal's. And he led us back to the trail so we could get back down to our car and go to our next destination. This is where we learned not to go too far off the trail, and that we shouldn't have even been hiking in the first place." Diane cracked a smile.

"Did you ever see the wolf again?"

"No," Diane said sadly, shaking her head. "but I think about him from time to time. He's probably still up in the mountains, saving hikers who manage to stray too far from the trails." she gave her daughter a smile. "How's that for a bedtime story?"

"It's my favorite," the little girl said with a wide smile.

"Time for bed." her mother reminded her, leaning down to press another kiss to her forehead. "I love you."

"I love you too," Lark said, yawning sleepily.

The little girl rolled over in bed, holding the stuffed wolf tight, and her mother smiled, finally rising from where she sat on the edge of the bed and shutting off the bedroom light.