The War on Wildlife is free for everyone, but donations are always welcome! The War on Wildlife is the third in the wildlife series with these characters. If you enjoy this novel, the prequels, Spirit of the Wolf and Thundering Hooves are available in paperback! Click here to see all the episodes plus background information and the introduction! If you’ve joined the novel late, please click here to start with Episode One!
Episode Eight - Thanksgiving Surprise
Michelle was the first to awaken on Thanksgiving day, and took a deep breath to fill her nostrils with the aroma of a large turkey breast simmering in the crock pot. She noticed that the water in the pot had boiled down a bit overnight, and added a pint before pouring a cup of coffee into her insulated mug. “Wow, what a gloomy morning,” she thought to herself as she went to sit down at the kitchen table. As she took her first sip, a quick glance out the big window revealed the season’s first snowflakes slowly drifting through the pine trees on the eastern ledge of beautiful Castlewood Canyon State Park. For a second she felt a twinge of loneliness as she thought of her mom so far away in her home town of Gardiner., Montana. Growing up, most of her Thanksgiving mornings were spent helping her mom get the cafe ready for visitors and locals without close family to celebrate with.
However the feeling quickly passed as she took in the magical scene outside, and she set her mind on the fun day she had planned with her new family in Colorado. Caleb and Angie weren’t actually family, but Caleb had been part of her life for so long that she thought of him as an older brother. She was also grateful to Angie who had taken her in after graduating from college, and treated her like a sister when she needed a home.
Soon Caleb entered the room and walked over to the sliding glass doors to take a look at the weather.. “I didn’t know it was supposed to snow today,” he commented.
“Yeah, I didn’t either. I guess you never know what is going to happen with the weather around here.”
“I think I’ll put on my jacket and go for a trek with my camera. I love these snowy holidays when I get to have the whole forest to myself, for a while anyway. I imagine there will be a pretty good crowd once people get done with their meals, but I’ll be back by then. Do you want to come with me?”
Michelle replied, “No, I think I’ll just drink some coffee and enjoy the snow from indoors.”
Caleb laughed and said, “That’s what I figured, but I didn’t want to be rude.”
Angie was next to enter the room, rubbing her eyes and exclaiming, “Hey, it’s snowing! I didn’t know that was supposed to happen today.”
Michelle laughed and said, “Well that makes three of us!”
Angie looked into the crock pot and asked, “Did somebody add some water this morning?”
“I did,” replied Michelle. “It looked a little low.”
“Perfect,” replied Angie. “Caleb, aren’t you going to sit and have some coffee?”
“Maybe later, you know how I can’t resist the snow.”
“Of course. I still remember that first Christmas Eve in Montana at the Alpine Tap. You had been out all day with your camera when you finally stopped in for a beer.”
“I remember that Christmas well,” replied Caleb. “You were about the first person I met there!”
“Well have fun then. Michelle and I will be thinking of you by yourself out in the cold.”
Caleb grabbed his camera and slipped out the sliding glass doors into the snow, which by now was coming down harder and blowing around furiously.
“Do you need me to do anything?” Michelle asked Angie.
“No thanks, the turkey can just simmer a couple more hours before we need to get up and do anything. Let’s just sit here and relax.”
“Should we see if the parades are on TV yet?”
“Sure, New York is two hours later than Colorado so they will probably be getting started by now.”
Michelle’s phone rang just as Angie got up, and she answered with a cheery “Hello!”
“Hi Michelle, this is Heather. Happy Thanksgiving!”
“Happy Thanksgiving to you too! I’m surprised to hear from you this morning, is there a problem over at the park?”
“No, but I wanted to be the first to tell you that we have a date for the wolf release.”
“What, seriously? I didn’t even know we had wolves.”
“We’ve had them for a few weeks now, doing health checks and stuff. But anyway, we are going to be setting them free out in western Colorado in a couple weeks!”
“Oh Heather, that is so exciting! Can I tell Caleb?”
“Yes you can tell him, but he can’t say anything yet as the time and location are going to be a secret. We will have a news crew there, but Caleb can do some still images for his own story if he would like to.”
“Oh you can bet he will be there! Can Angie come too?”
“Sure, I don’t see why not. I’ll let you know where and when once we get all the details ironed out, and a date set.”
“I can’t wait to tell Caleb, he’s going to be so excited!”
Heather laughed and said, “I thought this might brighten up your holiday!”
“It certainly did!”
“Well once again, happy Thanksgiving!”
“You have a wonderful day too, and stay warm!”
“What, what is going on?” asked Angie.
“Oh my God Angie, they are going to be releasing wolves pretty soon. And you and Caleb get to be there too!”
“We’d better make sure Caleb is sitting down when we tell him,” laughed Angie.
“Yeah, he is going to have a coronary!”
Angie and Michelle finished their coffee and Angie said, “Well, I suppose we can start getting the sides and desserts going.”
“Okay, what do you want me to do?”
Just then Caleb burst through the sliding doors, along with a cloud of snow.
Angie greeted him, “Hey Caleb, did you have a nice hike?”
“I did, it was very peaceful in the falling snow. No other people are in the park yet.”
Michelle followed up saying, “Caleb, guess what?”
“What?”
“We have some exciting news!”
“Well what is it, spit it out woman!” he laughed.
“I got a call from Heather a little bit ago. She says they have wolves and are almost ready to release them into the wild.”
”What, seriously?”
“Yes, they are finishing up on health checks and will be setting a date in December to release them. Guess what else!”
“I can’t imagine.”
“You and Angie get to go along and be a part of it!”
“Oh cool!”
“Only you can’t write anything yet, and you can’t tell anyone. Heather said there would be a news crew, but you are welcome to shoot stills and write a story about it.”
“Awesome, I can’t wait! Did we get any champagne for today?”
“No, we’ll have to settle for wine,” responded Angie.
“Well no matter, it’s a great day anyway!”
Eventually Thanksgiving dinner was ready and the three friends sat down together at the table.
“Caleb, do you want to say the grace?”
“Sure.”
The trio held hands and bowed their heads as Caleb thanked the Almighty for the good fortune they had been granted over the past few years of tumultuous change in their lives.
Angie began the meal by taking a slice of turkey breast for herself, and handing the bowl and knife to Michelle. Caleb opened a bottle of California white wine and poured three glasses.
“I wonder how the new pack will do out there in western Colorado. That’s some pretty desolate country, not my first choice for their new home,” Caleb wondered aloud.
“Yeah, I wonder why they don’t put them in the trees somewhere,” added Angie.
Michelle replied, “Wolves can travel a very long way in a short time. They will find the trees if they aren’t happy out in the high plains.”
“I hope they don’t go up to Wyoming or out to Utah. Hunters will be waiting for them, just like they wait at the border of the park for the Yellowstone wolves,” said Angie.
“I don’t think the Colorado ranchers out west are going to be too happy with them either. And I don’t imagine they care about any laws passed in Denver to protect the new pack. They will shoot them on sight, and it will be war between the Denver environmentalists and the western rednecks,” commented Caleb.
Michelle replied indignantly, “Well it will be a hundred thousand dollar fine if we catch them. Hopefully that will be enough of a deterrent to keep those rednecks in line.”
“I hope so,” said Caleb.
The trio looked at each other in surprise when the doorbell unexpectedly rang.
“Are you expecting anyone?” Caleb asked.
Both Michelle and Angie shrugged their shoulders and shook their heads no.
Caleb arose to answer the door and looked out the peephole.
“It’s Jessica!”
“Well let her in Caleb, it’s cold out there!” Angie yelled across the room.
Caleb opened the door and invited Jessica in, asking “What are you doing out in the snow?”
“My husband has a bunch of his buddies over watching football, and they all seem to think I’m their personal waitress. I thought it might be more fun to hang out with you guys!”
Angie laughed, “I don’t know how much fun we’re having, but we are having a nice relaxing afternoon!. Have you eaten?”
“Yes, we ate and then all his friends invaded our living room.”
“Would you like a glass of wine, or a cup of coffee or something?”
“Sure, a glass of wine would be nice.”
“Well, why don’t you have a seat in the living room. We are just watching some Thanksgiving movies on the big screen.”
“That sounds great!” replied Jessica.
She sat down and asked Caleb, “So did anything ever come from our great adventure in the Sand Wash Basin?”
“Well it turns out that when they discovered the horses all missing, they investigated and documented a bunch of big rig tire tracks and assumed that someone had stolen the mustangs. I guess the two drunk sheepherders must have figured out a way to escape before the feds showed up to check on the corral.”
“That’s amazing, what a turn of events!”
“Yeah, I was worried they would find the two sheepherders still there, and there might be a chance they could provide some sort of description of me. Now it appears they would be the only suspects in what the government agents believe was a simple case of horse rustling.”
Jessica chuckled and said, “Awesome.”
Angie handed Jessica a glass of wine and sat down beside her exclaiming, “Wow the snow is really coming down now!”
Caleb walked over to the sliding glass doors and looked out at the snow piling up on the deck and commented, “Looks like about six inches already and the wind is picking up too. I can barely see the trees.”
Jessica exclaimed, “Bummer, I just got here and I’m going to have to leave already.”
Angie replied, “Oh heck, why don’t you just spend the night. You can sleep on the couch.”
“Oh, that sounds like fun! I’ll call home and let him know I’m spending the night.”
Michelle piped in, “Will he be mad?”
“Naa, he’s used to me going on road trips for the fashion shows. He’ll probably just be happy that I’m not nagging him about getting too drunk with his buddies.”
Angie brought in a blanket and said, “Perfect, we’ll just drink some wine and watch TV, as long as the power doesn’t go out that is.”
Michelle couldn’t contain herself any longer and blurted out, “Guess what?”
“What?” asked Jessica.
“Parks and Wildlife has secretly been preparing some wolves for release, and Caleb and Angie and I are going to get to be there when they do!”
Jessica replied, “Oh cool, I want to go! Do you think they will allow me be there?”
Michelle thought about it for a few seconds and answered, “We are probably all going to go out in one vehicle, so I don’t think they would make a fuss about one extra person.”
“That will be so amazing, I can’t wait!”
“I can’t either,” added Michelle.
Angie went and got another glass of wine and asked as she was returning to the living room, “Have you checked our web stats lately?”
“No, how are we doing?” asked Jessica.
“Well between the website itself and our Facetime pages, we already have over a thousand followers and we’re barely getting started!”
“Are they upset that we don’t have any clothing for sale yet?”
“No, they just seem happy to read our posts. I wonder if we could start a podcast or put on some kind of live fashion show?”
“That would be fun! Would it be just me and you online, or would we try something bigger?”
“Maybe we could start out with just an online show and see how many viewers we get.”
Jessica answered, “I’m game, let’s get it set up!”
After a few seconds of silence Jessica asked, “So Caleb, how are you doing on your book? What is this one called again, Thundering Horses or something like that?”
“Thundering Hooves, and I’m in the middle of final review. I should have it published by Christmas.”
“Are you going to include our little adventure last month?”
Caleb laughed and said, “No, I don’t want to directly implicate us in anything illegal!”
Jessica laughed and replied, “No, I don’t suppose that would be a good idea.”
The storm steadily intensified, and the whole house shook as the wind howled and snow piled up on the deck. Despite the blizzard raging outside, there was peace and joy inside the house as the four friends snuggled under a blanket and enjoyed their wine and holiday movies.
Episode Seven - Terror in the Sky ←- —> Episode Nine - Thanksgiving Surprise
