Wild Spirits. Rosa Jordan

until after the wedding, because all of the guests milling around is sure to upset them. But with everything going on that weekend I won’t have time to run back and forth to the apartment to look after them. I was wondering —”

      “I’ll do it!” Danny interrupted enthusiastically. “I’ll feed the raccoons and the baby bunnies and the old possum and the little fox. And give them water and everything. I know what to do.”

      “You don’t mind missing the wedding?” Wendy asked. She had felt a little guilty about not inviting Danny, but her mother said it wouldn’t be polite to invite him and not his mother, and she didn’t want to invite someone like Mrs. Ryan, whom she didn’t even know, to her wedding.

      Danny shook his head. “I’d rather be with the animals.”

      “Then that’ll be our plan. I’ll leave you in charge on Saturday, and Sunday morning, too. I’ll come back to the apartment in the afternoon, and if you want, you can help me move them to their new home.”

      11

      HOME IN THE WILD

      For Wendy, the week and the wedding seemed to pass in a blur. She supposed the wedding was a success because everybody said so, but she was glad when it was over.

      “I guess I’m like a wild animal,” she told Kyle. “When I feel like I’m being stared at, I get nervous.”

      “Speaking of animals, when are you going to bring over the ones you left at the apartment?” Kyle asked.

      “Right now,” Wendy said. “This afternoon.”

      “Do you need my help?”

      “No, Danny’s all the help I need. And the animals are used to him.”

      • • •

      When Wendy arrived at the apartment, she found Danny where she expected to him to be, out in the backyard with the animals.

      “We’re not going to take your raccoons out to the farm,” Wendy said. “They’re old enough to be released. Shall we do that first?”

      Danny looked at her as if she had slapped him. “Not take them to the farm?”

      “No. Get the pet carrier off the back porch, and we’ll take them to that state park I told you about. Then we’ll come back and move the others to the farm.”

      Wendy walked over to look at the raccoons. When she turned around, Danny had disappeared.

      “Danny?” she called, but he didn’t answer.

      She got the carrier herself, put some food in it, and set it in the pen. The little raccoons rushed in, and she quickly closed the door. Then she picked it up and carried it out to the car, still wondering what had become of Danny.

      She saw him sitting on the curb, hunched in a way that told her he was miserable. Wendy didn’t have to ask what was wrong. She knew he was mad at her, just as she had been mad at her mother when she made Wendy get rid of Bandit. Still, it annoyed her that Danny was acting like this. After all, she had told him from the start that the little raccoons would be released as soon as they were old enough to look after themselves.