Chapter 6: Cujo

MY HEART SQUEEZED AS I realized anew how much I'd missed Ruthie's enthusiasm over the summer. She'd spent most of it at church camps, family reunions, and her grandma's farm up in Idaho. Right now, she was checking me out from head to toe. From anyone else, it would be creepy. I just rolled my eyes at her as she continued.

"I give you one week before you have a boyfriend. That's about right. You look fine!"

She drew out the word "fine" like the last note in a song, emphasizing it with her hands. I couldn't care less about a boyfriend. I'd never really been boy crazy like Ruthie; however, it didn't prevent me from enjoying all the gossip she threw my way. High school traditions meant a lot to her, and a boyfriend was definitely on her list of high school expectations. Last year was a wash, but I could see that she was going to make me a personal project this year. My goal, however, was to reach normal status, and anything beyond that was icing on the cake. I just hoped she didn't become too disappointed in me when nothing happened.

The car veered toward the sidewalk. "Ruthie, watch the road," I sputtered, grasping the door handle as the car squealed back to the center of the road. I was still getting used her driving.

"And," I continued, "don't start setting me up. I don't want a boyfriend. Let's just see if anyone even notices me in a non-zombie kind of way. Maybe I could start with having a friend who is a boy."

"Would you stop with that zombie thing? No one will remember last year. That's the beauty of high school, you get to reboot your rep every year."

"If you say so. Besides, you're the one who won't be single long." She looked better than ever. "I'm thinking the farm life really agrees with you."

Her dark brown hair had a burgundy wash to it, making the overall color look very high end. It hung in waves just past her shoulders. Hazel eyes were outlined expertly with liner and mascara. Ruthie had filled out nicely way back in middle school. So not fair to the rest of the curve-challenged girls, me included. But she was a year older, and I guess you could say that was the best advantage of being held back a grade. She had been ahead in the body development department. She would have had a hundred dates by now, except her parents wouldn't let her go out with a boy until she turned seventeen. She coped with their "old-fashioned rules" by having secret boyfriends. I'd done my best-friend duty, helping her sneak around now and then. It had been a little "cloak-and-dagger" a few times, and I'd worried she'd been too reckless, but between her family's strict rules and my watchful eye, we had managed to keep her "sweet and pure" as Ruthie joked. Then her long-awaited birthday had finally come at the end of last school year, just before her family dragged her off on one trip after another. I had a feeling they did that on purpose, and I knew she wanted to make up for lost time.

"You said it, sister! Can I just say farm boys are sexy!"

"What? You never told me about a farm boy!" She was holding out on me. We'd been keeping in touch all summer by phone. I thought she would have mentioned something like that.

"I was saving it for today. Besides, it was just one kiss." Her lips twisted up at one corner and down the other, a specialty of hers when she didn't get her way. "The day before I came home. But it was awesome, you know? Best goodbye I ever had."

I wouldn't know. Not that I was saving my first kiss for anyone special, but no kisses had come my way, at least none that I wanted. Playground kisses didn't count. And since then, my options had been pretty slim. The "loser squad" that hung out at the edge of campus most days always seemed interested, but they also seemed into any girl who walked by.

I gave her a wry smile. "Actually, I wouldn't know."

"Yeah, right," she said with a contrite twist to her lips. "Sorry, I forgot-- Sh...shank steak!" Ruthie veered sharply to the right and hit the brakes and the car swung to the side of the road, kicking up gravel and dirt. As a vegetarian who was trying to quit swearing, she had begun substituting cusswords with different meat entrées.

"Did you see that?" Ruthie asked, pointing to the side of the road, where the trees began. "There it is!"

My jaw dropped. I couldn't believe it! There stood the wolf in my dreams, dark brown with light-colored markings around its face and underbelly. The fur looked incredibly thick, even from this distance. It seemed to glance back at us before it disappeared into the tall bushes next to the road. I took in our surroundings, wondering where it had come from. We were idling on an old road that was considered "deep woods" until about ten years ago when several new housing developments went in, my parents' for one. A forest conservation group had stepped in before all the houses were finished, and nothing new had been built in our neighborhood since then. We often saw wildlife along the road, but this was something new.

"Tru, that was a freakin' big dog! I've never seen anything like it. And damn--I mean, dang, if I didn't see a lot of animals this summer! That must be a cross between a Great Dane and a German shepherd, you think? That thing needs its own corral!"

I didn't know what to say. What did one say when a creature from a nightmare comes to life? No, I had to be imagining it.

At my silence, Ruthie swiveled toward me. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked softly. "Did you bump your head or something? Sorry I stopped so fast."

My vocal cords finally remembered how to work. "No, I'm fine." I cleared my throat. "You just really scared me for a second. How'd you ever get a license?" I joked hollowly, the image of the wolf still flashing through my head.

"Ha! Ha! I probably saved your life and ol' Cujo's back there." She swept her hair over her shoulder and pulled back onto the road, carefully checking her mirrors.

I grunted out a humorless acknowledgment of her reference. A couple summers ago, Ruthie and I decided to become horror movie experts, starting with the old classics, like the killer dog movie 'Cujo' and the ghost movie 'Lady in White,' and ending with the 'Scream' series. We'd both slept with the lights on for at least two months.

"You mean wolf," I corrected.

"What? Wolf? No way. We don't have wolves around here, silly. Just coyotes. And maybe wild dogs."

"When did you become a wildlife expert?" I laughed. "Yeah, I'm probably wrong. It's just so weird."

"Tell me about it! I wonder what it means, you know, first day of school and all. It must be a sign or something."

Ruthie was always trying to find a special meaning in every event that happened in her life. She also liked to sneak in a horoscope reading when she could, although she insisted to me that she didn't really believe in them. Her horoscope/vegetarian phase had been born when she entered high school. The newly defined Ruthie seemed to give her a place in the crazy high school factory of "un-originals." I could understand, I guess.

So what were the odds that I would dream about a wolf (aka very large dog) the night before one crossed my path, literally? Maybe Ruthie was on to something. Maybe if I figured out some of these dreams, I would stop having the dumb nightmares.

"What would you say if told you I dreamed about a wolf last night?"

"No sh...stuffed veal, girl! You better spill right now!"

Already regretting bringing up my crazy dreams, I made it short and sweet.

"Oh, I don't know. I'm in this smoky forest and this wolf howls and runs up to me and, you know, chomps me. That's when I wake up. Silly, huh?" I'd left out the screaming and waking up Dad part.

"That is 'supa-freaky!' It's a sign for sure. Seriously, something out there is trying to talk to you. New you, new grade. You feel overwhelmed. And maybe you, like, physically manifested your fears into a large dog running across the road. Whoa! You have some kind of psychic power, girl! That's awesome!"

Maybe, but it was more like I had some 'psycho' power. No small stretch for me to believe that one. Who needs a shrink when you have a best friend...