The Wolf Came on Christmas (Johanna and Alexander) novel Chapter 31

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Chapter 31-1

He had fairly strong hands for a young man.

Somewhat square, wide fingers, rough-looking. He must have done a lot of manual labor or worked at the Berkeley sawmill, which was about a mile or so from my house. The place was half-abandoned and almost unstaffed, but it was still operating.

“Let’s say it’s… instinct,” he replied.

“Oh, I imagine you must be used to living here and you probably know all this very well. I’m still new. I wouldn’t know how to read these clouds exactly, I mean. Is it because of the color? I’ve been told that by the color of the clouds you can tell a bad storm from a peaceful one-is that true?”

“I have no idea. I just know it’s not going to snow much.”

“…ah, right.”

Well, I don’t know when my sociable streak decided to come out, especially with a stranger.

I supposed it was because I needed to release nervous tension. What had happened with Alexander had left me very tense, and while that young man talked to me about the problem he’d had with his motorcycle, I started to relax. Because he was a stranger who wouldn’t judge me, and I could allow myself to be kind with him? I don’t know. Whatever it was, I was pretty stupid, now that I think about it.

Being afraid of Alexander wasn’t going to help either of us in any way. He trusted me and had already shown me that he was a polite, attentive, civilized person. Why couldn’t my subconscious separate the man from the beast after that tense confrontation? Why did the primitive part of me insist on demonizing him, with such anxiety?

I had to find a way to bring that up with Larry, in the session. Maybe disguising it as a new idea for a novel. That sounded very good.

Álvaro and I kept talking until we reached the city, and when we entered the urban circuit he asked me to drop him off at the gas station, where he saw there was a tow service and phones. He told me he had to call his girlfriend to explain and he didn’t have his cell phone with him. Besides, he needed to have his damaged bike taken to the mechanic. He got out of my jeep and before closing the door, he leaned toward me again and handed me the handkerchief, with those playful eyes peeking over the edge of his purple scarf.

“Thanks for everything, Johanna,” he said kindly.

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Chapter 31-1

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“No, it’s fine, keep it. Really,” I replied, waving my hand. “Good luck-hopefully your girlfriend won’t be too mad at you. Buy her chocolates, that’ll soften her up and you’ll see she won’t scold you.”

My comment amused him again.

“Are you sure you want to give it to me?” he insisted, about the handkerchief.

“Of course, don’t worry.”

“Thanks, again,” he said goodbye, and moved away from the jeep to close the door.

I got out with him and went into the gas station convenience store intending to buy a chocolate, and Álvaro came along. We split up near the entrance, when he veered toward the mechanic’s shop. I went in, made my purchase and paid Sanjay, Ajay’s younger brother-my favorite Hindu cashier. Sanjay was taller and sturdier than his brother, a bit less friendly, too. He didn’t give any blessings. When I went back to my jeep, I saw Álvaro standing by the phone booths, and I greeted him in passing with my hand raised. He returned the gesture, perhaps with too much enthusiasm. He stayed there standing while I pulled back onto the road, to continue on to my psychologist’s neighborhood. I have the impression, even today, that he followed me with his eyes until I turned at one of the traffic lights and he lost sight of

Or maybe it was just my imagination.

My appointment with Larry was rather boring and unstimulating; there’s no point in talking about it. He scheduled a new appointment for two weeks later, because he would be traveling to a conference and wouldn’t be able to see me, and he listened with fascination to my ideas about the “new werewolf novel” I was planning to write. Nothing he said helped me feel better about myself or my circumstances.

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< Chapter 31-2

overheard in secret.

No child deserved to be treated that way, even if nothing was clear.

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Did Alexander prefer to keep Andre hopeful about the idea of seeing his mother again?

And what if that didn’t happen, in the end?

I didn’t want to depress myself thinking about someone else’s tragedy; I already had enough with all of that and with my own ghosts. I tried to stay centered and calm, and to heed Larry’s advice not to overthink things. It was the only good thing I got out of my appointment that day.

After dinner, I put the dishes to wash, hung the laundry in the laundry room, and stood listening to the silence of the house for a moment. There wasn’t a single sound, and it was like being alone again, before all of this happened to me. A very intense shiver ran through me when I imagined myself alone again, for a second. I waited for the dishwasher to finish its cycle and went out to the living room, where I found Alexander on the largest sofa, sitting comfortably, his gaze fixed on the muted television screen hanging over my fireplace. Once again, he had changed clothes, and I realized that the shirt wasn’t one of the ones I had bought; I supposed it was part of what Rex, his colleague, had brought him before heading north. I didn’t know how to take that, at first.

Straddling one of his sturdy legs and lying against his chest, Andre had given in to exhaustion; the same as Sasha, curled up on his shoulder and held by her father’s strong arm. I pressed my lips together when I saw them. The amber light of the fireplace bathed

them in such a warm aura that…

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