Flash Fiction: Something in Common

Someone was knocking at the door as Meghan shimmied down the barren trellis outside her bedroom window. She whisked angry tears from her eyes as her boots sank into the cold, quiet darkness of winter's first snow. Her dad knew she was mad and wouldn't be concerned with the locked bedroom door. It wasn't the first time she had locked him out. Everyone would be at the party tonight, except her. Besides, it was only one D.

Slinging her backpack over her shoulder, she raced into the black shadows surrounding the modest two story farm house. Finding the cornfield, she carefully avoided the stubbles of cornstalks left from the harvest hidden in the fresh snow. The empty cornfield sat next to the woods. Her grandparents house was on the other side. She'd spend the night with them and deal with her parents tomorrow. Dad always slept in on Sundays and wouldn't be up until late morning. Mom would be at church which would give Meghan time to climb back up the trellis.

The snow had stopped by the time she reached the end of the cornfield. A full moon reflected off the fresh snow spreading a night light across the landscape. Meghan stumbled over a frozen clod of dirt and fell. In front of her were dark spots that looked like blood. She clicked on her flashlight. It was blood. Curiosity replaced her anger and she began following the blood trail. Her 13 year old imagination that had earned her the D in math class kicked in. A wounded bank robber shot trying to escape the police. A bag of loot clutched in his cold, dead hand.

The blood trail ran alongside the edge of the woods. She quickly realized the prints in the snow were those of a large animal. Running her light ahead, she saw a dark form laying on the frozen ground at the crest of the hill in front of her. Probably a coyote or fox some farmer caught in his chickens. She was about to turn around to leave when suddenly two small heads poked up behind the animal laying in the snow. A whimpering sound followed by yaps caught her attention. Puppies.

Her feet raced up the hill and she stopped beside the body of the animal. "Whoa, a wolf!" She stepped back as her heart raced with fear. Then the light from her flashlight found the wound. The mother wolf slowly raised her head in an attempt to get to her feet. She withered back into the snow with a groan. Meghan knew she needed help now. She was weak; too weak to be a threat to Meghan.

"Gotta get you home. Dad will know what to do."

Meghan quickly dug into her backpack and pulled out an emergency blanket, spreading it on the ground next to the injured animal. The wolf, with no strength left to protest, flinched slightly as Meghan slowly and gently caressed her soft fur. She was so thin. Probably from feeding the pups.

"Hold on, girl." The animal's breathing was quick and labored. Their eyes met and Meghan knew she had to hurry.

"Where's the male?"

Meghan whirled around to see her father. He scooped the injured wolf in his arms and headed for home.

"What about the pups?" She asked.

"They'll follow."

Meghan watched her father's skillful hands tend to the animal's wound before placing her in one of the large cages to recuperate.

"You know, Meghan, you and I do have something in common. Our love of animals."

Her dad softly closed the door and left her alone. She slowly looked around.

"Something in common."

The last time she'd been in her dad's clinic was when he put her dog down. Her eyes fell on a large picture frame on the wall behind his desk. It contained photos of Meghan and Peanuts as they had grown together. She loved Peanuts more than anything in the world and refused to talked to her dad for a month after he killed him.

Her mother stood in the doorway, "He had cancer, Honey. Peanuts was dying and in pain."

"I didn't know that."

"Don't you think it's time you stopped being mad at him? It's time to forgive."

Her father was staring out the kitchen window as she came up the steps.

"Come look."

An enormous pure black wolf stood in the moonlight at the edge of the cornfield guarding the pups.

"There's the male. He followed us. He'll wait for her to get better, then they will leave as a family.

What a handsome lad he is."

Meghan stood beside her father. They did have something in common. She slipped her arm around his

waist.

"I'm sorry about Peanuts, Dad."

Tears welled up in his eyes. "Me too."