Lizard's Leap: Chapter Nineteen: Lupus

Chapter Eight: Lupus

Every day, as soon as they were released from school, they couldn’t get home to change quickly enough. Once they’d thrown themselves into their playing-out clothes and had hung up their school uniforms, they’d tear up the hill to Sylvia’s house to see the wolf.

At first he was nervous and wary. He whined for the pack and was unhappy, snarling at anybody who came near him. But, just two weeks later, you wouldn’t think he was the same wolf.

They called him Lupus. Kerry thought of the name; she took it from the word ‘lupine’, which means wolf-like. It suited him and he learned to come when he was called. But he would lollop over to whoever called no matter what name they used.

As the young wolf became tamer, Sylvia worried increasingly about him being reintroduced into the pack. She told them that they had to stop petting him. She might as well have asked them to stop breathing because Lupus had other ideas; he insisted on being petted and wanted to play with them every second that they were there. Sylvia was wasting her breath.

His wounds had healed well, and he was soon fit and healthy, living on a diet of high protein dog food for working dogs, supplemented with raw steak. His muscles, which had previously been weak through not having enough food, grew more pronounced by the day until he was strong and wild and willful.

He was the bane of Sylvia’s life and they would howl with laughter as Sylvia chased him round the room trying to retrieve one of her gaudy scarves, or a slipper, or the cushions from the sofa.

One day they arrived to see her chasing Lupus through the garden. Sylvia tried to be low key and rarely went out in public; it was fortunate that the grounds were shielded from view. The wolf was grunting excitedly as he ran round and round the fountain, trailing one of Sylvia’s huge bras from his mouth.

‘Get back here, you moth-eared lump of useless wolf. You just wait until I get hold of you, I’ll beat you so hard I’ll take all the skin off your rump and then fry it for my supper, She yelled. But they knew it was bluff, she would never dream of harming the wolf.

‘Bring that back right now, or, so help me, I’ll turn you into an alley cat.’ Lupus stopped mid-flight, ears pricked, tail erect and seemed to consider the likelihood of this happening. His head went down and his rump went up. He quivered the length of his body with sheer pleasure at having invented such a fun game.

Lupus growled in mock-attack as he savaged the limp item of underwear. He shook his head and the mud-covered bra flew from side to side in his mouth, one cup resting momentarily on the top of his head like a conical skullcap.

Sylvia puffed and panted as she drew closer to him. Her face was bright red and her eyes glinted with a mixture of exasperation and mirth. She bellowed a constant flow of threats at the delighted animal, who didn’t understand a word she was saying. He stopped chewing and shaking the bra just long enough to grin up at the approaching ball of perspiration and colour that was plodding towards him.

He allowed Sylvia to get ten feet from him and then he got the look of unrestrained mischief in his eye. He grabbed the bra back into his mouth and flew off down the garden with his prize blowing behind him in the wind. It was a trophy proclaiming his victory.

They were doubled up in hysterics as they watched the performance being played out.

‘Don’t just stand there laughing, you pack of fools. Help me catch the rotten beast,’ Sylvia panted as she flew past. She was a blurred mass of red, yellow, blue, and purple; her hat had slipped over one eye and her face perfectly matched the red of her silk Ali Baba trousers. It took them several minutes to compose themselves enough to join in the chase.

It was too much for Lupus, who was in rapture. He led the five all over the garden, past bushes, round rose beds and through the pond, to the disgust of a frog who croaked in shock. The spectacle may have continued if Lupus hadn’t looked behind him to see how close they were, only to get his legs tangled in the straps of the huge bra. He tumbled ears over backside into a heap, rolled onto his back in submission and kicked at the white muddy lace with his strong hind legs.

He grinned inanely and let his tongue loll out of the side of his mouth as they piled on top of him.
‘Lupus, you’re funny. But you’re a big pain,’ Mark said. The wolf chuffed in agreement.

Lupus loved all of them but he’d formed a special bond with Mark. Individually, the pair was bad enough—but together! To coin one of Mark’s favourite phrases, they were a big pain.

Sylvia was expecting them at their usual time and had opened the door of the circular room for them. They’d activated the secret door and were walking down the main tunnel to Sylvia’s room when they saw Lupus coming towards them in the distance.

Mark was slightly ahead of the others and he bent over, slapping his hands on his knees. ‘Lupus, c’mon, fella,’ he called. ‘Come here. Here, Lupus. That’s right, good boy.’

The wolf heard his beloved Mark and set off at an almighty pace down the tunnel. Mark was grinning until he realised the speed that the wolf was pelting towards him. ‘Oh-oh, gangway,’ he screamed as he turned to run and collided with the girls. The corridor was too narrow; there was no escape.

The wolf got within ten feet of Mark and lunged. All four of his feet left the floor and he whimpered with excitement as he landed heavily on Mark who was thrown to the ground. Mark thrashed his head from side to side as Lupus stood over him, his front paws pinning him helplessly to the floor. Lupus licked him all over his face and Mark was powerless, unable to resist. Only when he was soggy and licked into total submission did Lupus move on to greet the others.

*

The day for Lupus to be returned to his own kind came too soon. There was no good reason to keep him. Sylvia promised that he would still be there when they got home from school and that they would take him back into the picture together.

Mark had sobbed into his pillow the night before. He had grown to love the wolf very much and, although he was happy to know that he was going back where he belonged, his heart was breaking at the thought of losing him. It didn’t matter that he would be able to leap into the picture to visit the wolf; it just wouldn’t be the same if he wasn’t at Brampton Hall every day when they got out of school.

They all had heavy hearts as they stroked Lupus that afternoon. Mark and Vicki were both in tears and the other two weren’t far from them. Sylvia swallowed and turned away so that they wouldn’t see her wipe her eye. ‘Nothing but a flipping nuisance,’ she said, ‘I’ll be glad to see the back of the thing.’

She clicked the lead to his black collar. She had to put it on him to keep him still while they leaped through the picture that the cousins had brought with them. Lupus wasn’t at all sure about this strange thing around his neck and chewed at his lead.

Sylvia was very worried that the other wolves would attack him because he’d been away from the pack for so long; they’d be able to smell humans on him. It was a tense time of happiness at the thought of the wolf being back where he belonged and sadness because they had to send him home.

‘Oh, come on, now, you miserable lot. It isn’t a funeral. We’ll be able to go and see him sometimes. Personally, I’m glad he’s going home, he’s been nothing but trouble,’ Sylvia lied, with a tear in her eye. Lupus grinned up at his foster mother and swished his tail.