My Arctic and Me: “How We Came to Be”
This is the story of how my Arctic and I came to be together.
It was a dark, stormy early-spring night in Jasper. The trees seemed to writhe in the gusty wind.
I'd barely made it into my dugout den ahead of the rain and settled down to wait out the storm.
Then the thunder and lightning came. I cowered down into my den as far as I could get, trying to get away from the awful sound and blinding flashes of light. They got closer and closer, then there was a deafening "_ BOOOOM! _" and a flash of white-hot light, then darkness.
As I started to wake up, I felt I was being carried, but not like a pup. Carried in what I learned later were two strong arms, holding me gently against his body. My Arctic's arms. My Arctic's body. A strange scent filled my nose. Definitely male, but not male wolf. As I blinked my eyes open and tried to look up, I saw the blurry image of a face, but not like any wolf face I'd ever seen. As my sight started to clear, it sort of looked like a bear, but with mostly no fur, except for some that was a blackish-brown color on the top part of its head, where we have our head-fur. It had strange coverings on its body that I found out later are called 'clothes'. I started to struggle, weakly at first, then more strongly as I started to panic. I yelled "Uhnnn . . . LET ME GO!" Then I saw his lips move and heard a firm but gentle voice. "Shhh, shhh, shhh! It's all right, Sweets. No one's going to hurt you, here." Something in his voice calmed me. I could sense he wouldn't hurt me. I stopped struggling and relaxed.
"Uhnnn . . . O-okay," I said, still groggy, ". . . I understand you. Can you understand me?" He gently laid me down on his bed. I raised my head and looked up at him more sharply as my sight returned. I shook my head to try to clear it, then I sat upright slowly, still a little dizzy, my eyes still on him. The buzzing in my head was fading. As my mind cleared, more questions came to me. I narrowed my eyes, frowning. "W-wait! H-how do you know my name? W-where am I? How did I get here?"
He pulled a chair up beside his bed and sat in it, smiling at me gently. "Easy, Sweets, easy. I'll explain it all to you, don't worry. As best I can guess, any way. Heh-heh. Yes, I can understand you. And you obviously can understand me. That'll make it a lot easier for both of us, that's for sure.
"You're in my home. The Human version of a den. I was watching the 'Alpha and Omega' movie on my TV over there." He pointed to a big black flat box on a shelf on the wall. "It had just gotten to the part where you and Candy were walking to the Moonlight Howl and were laughing and shaking your heads at Salty's attempt at getting one of you to go to the Howl with him, when what I guess was a lightning bolt came out of nowhere and hit the TV. I saw the flash, but I didn't see what happened, since I turned away when it hit and covered my eyes with my arm. I heard the 'thud' as you fell to the floor, but I thought the TV had fallen off the shelf. When I looked, the TV was off, and there you were, laying on the floor in front of it. I thought you were dead, at first. When I got closer, I saw you breathing. I picked you up, and you probably know the rest from there. I know your name from having seen the movie about 50 times. It's my favorite animated movie of all time. And I'll admit, I've liked you from the first time I saw you there.
"But . . . enough of that. Are you all right, Sweets?" He looked concerned, but was still smiling.
I moved around a little, testing all four of my legs, moving my tail, moving my head around to get a good look at everything around me. I saw what looked like a hole in a wall (a 'window', I learned later), and the night sky outside. I took a deep breath. Nothing hurt. SO many strange things! SO many strange scents! SO many strange sounds! It was overwhelming, but I knew somehow that I was safe here, so I didn't have any real fear. "Yeah," I said, nodding my head and starting to smile at this kindly stranger, "I'm all right. Everything seems to work, anyway."
Relief showed on his face and in his kind green-brown eyes. "Good," he said, "I'd hate for you to show up here and need medical help right away. It'd be kinda hard to explain to a vet how a wolf from an animated movie got here. Heh-heh-heh.
"Oh! I'm sorry, Sweets. I know your name, but I haven't told you mine. That's hardly polite, is it? My name's Arctic."
"Well, I'm pleased to meet you, Arctic." I smiled, nodded my head, and wagged my tail politely.
With him sitting in the chair, we were almost face-to-face. Something, I don't know what, made me lay my ears back, close my eyes, and reach my muzzle toward his face. I gave him three quick licks. The fur on his face was short and rough under my tongue, but I didn't mind. He laughed and said "That tickles, Sweets! Ummm . . . Sorry. I haven't shaved in a couple of days." He slowly leaned over, reached his arms around my neck, and gave me a gentle hug. Then he gave me what you Humans call a 'kiss' on the fur on the left side of my face. This was strange to me, but it didn't feel wrong. Somehow, I knew that my Arctic and me were meant to be together.
This was the beginning of a new life for both of us.