Page 46 of Wayward

She put him down, holding his leash, and walked him a few feet from the Jeep toward a maple tree. I heard her tell him the coyotes peed there so it would be good for him to start marking his territory. He looked up at her like yeah, okay, and then lifted his leg and let loose. When he was done, she praised him, scooped him up, and returned to me. She put him in his seat, took off the leash, clipped him into his seat, and then got into the back.

“I can move Misha so you can—”

“Oh, heavens no. He needs to learn his way around so he can navigate his way home if something untoward were to occur.”

“Something—”

“What if he’s taken, then escapes, and must find his way back to you?”

“Well, he’s a—”

“It’s vital that he get the lay of the land so he can return,” she said authoritatively, putting on her seat belt. “And besides, it would be a real pain to move it.”

That was true.

“Are we ready to go now, darling?”

“Yeah.”

“Huzzah!”

Starting the car, making sure to put on my own seat belt, I slowly backed up.

“I’m sure we’ll be home before dark,” she announced. “We’re only going to the bank. And perhaps to the deli, and then we’ll come right back home. You just need to be able to get some work done, as I think I have bats in the attic.”

“Bats?”

“Hmm.”

I wasn’t ready to look. “The front yard needs some attention, don’t you think?”

“Oh my, yes. I think there’s wolves in there.”

Probably not.

“But you’re Russian, so no doubt you’ll get along swimmingly with them.”

I turned in my seat to look at her.

She pulled a hair tie from the right pocket of her overalls and said, “Darling, we need to go. I’m hungry, and I’m sure Misha is as well.”

“You don’t even know me. What if—what if I’m a bad man?”

She squinted at me. “Dear, why on earth would the universe send me a bad man? Oscar already saved me from one, which is how we ended up out here in the wilds of Oregon. I mean, really, you have no idea what a shock this was to the system after living on the Upper West Side.”

“Which city?”

“New York, dear.”

“Okay,” I said, exhaling sharply. “Which bank am I going to?”

“The only bank in town.” The way she said it, like she was just a bit exasperated with all the questions, I couldn’t help but smile.

And she wasn’t wrong. Rune had only one bank. It was small, charming, beautifully maintained, but I was guessing it had to be, given the plaque outside proclaiming it a protected historical building.

Inside, the bank manager himself rushed across the lobby to greet us, not saying a word about Misha trotting along beside Ada. All three of us were taken to his desk, and my dog had his own chair because why not?

Ada then proceeded to explain to him that I was her new caretaker, and she had me hand over my driver’s license so he could put me on her account.