after the incident

He woke up three days later. There was a cold compress on his fevered brow. His hands were sore. One had rope burn and the other had a bite. David didin't know if it had come from Molly when she tried to save him or that other, strange creature he couldn't remember clearly. Molly! Had they found her as they found him?!

Half dreading the answer, David looked up at his mom as she bent over him.

"Mom, where's Molly?"

Her large, dark eyes gave him the answer.

"Jim had to slide halfway in just to get you out David. We almost lost you. We never even saw Molly. I'm sorry."

Her face held sadness and a touch of reproach. She didn't say it but David knew she was thinking he was smarter than to go and try to do such a big thing on his own.

"Is she why you turned and dove back down again?"

David nodded. He lifted his hands and looked at them. The bite on his right hand looked quite deep.

"We think Molly did that to try to help pull you out."

"It seems a little bigger than what her bite should look like doesn't it?" David asked, studying his hand.

"Why do you say that?" His mother asked. She looked at his hand and then quickly back to him. "Jim said he saw you falling through the ice just as we came up and Molly jumping in. Was there something else under the ice with you?"

David realized her voice sounded odd. He looked at her again and nodded. "I think something or someone in the water tried to pull me down. It bit me. I thought it was a person but then it looked like a wolf. It's all mixed up in my head!"

David paused to clear his throat. "Molly jumped in to help and started attacking it. I tried to go back to help her but she was just gone!"

"Oh David!" His mother had to clear her throat now. "What if we hadn't gotten there in time? We started out as soon as I realized what you were setting out to do on your own but we were almost too late."

David nodded. He knew he had caused her pain and felt guilty for almost costing her much much more.

"You're grounded." His mother said gruffly.

David didn't reply. The punishment was just. He layed back with a sigh and let sleep take him.

2

Although David was awake he couldn't move for almost a day and a half his muscles were so sore and the bite on his swollen hand began oozing. They called Dr. Baker. He came, took a look, said the bite was deep as well as infected. It took 20 stitches and lots of salve. David was also suffering from pneumonia. It hurt to breathe. He looked so bad that Dr. Baker convinced David's mom to take him into town so he could spend a few nights in the hospital. This was going to cost his family a lot!

After a few nights, David's breathing eased and they sent him home. He was warned to take it easy because, although the pneumonia was better, his hand refused to heal. The doctor thought he might have missed something regarding infection and there were tons of bloodtests. The best they could come up with was that Molly wasn't the one who had bitten him. The bite was much too large for a husky.

David kept it clean and dry, he soaked it twice daily, and put antibacterial lotion on it often. Still, it didn't stop the pain. After being home for a week from the hospital David began thinking he could sense Molly sitting at the foot of his bed each night as he drifted off to sleep. A few times he even reached down to give her a pat only to feel empty space where she should have been. David wasn't sure what hurt more, his hand or Molly being gone.