Chapter 38
“Well, what’ll you call him?” Nils asked.
Sam looked at his partner. “He’s yours, Nils. You should name him.”
“No,” said the big blond. “You saved him. He’s your dog. You name him.”
Sam smiled down on the little ball of golden hair, sleeping peacefully next to his mother. “S’unktokeca.”
“Shun to…what?” Nils said, looking puzzled.
“Shunk toek tah,” Sam said slowly. “S’unktokeca,” he said again and laughed. The puppy stretched and yawned. “See, he knows his name already.”
“Shunk toe,” Nils tried again. “Bugger! I’ll never get that. What does that mean in English?”
“Wolf.”
“How about this then? Varg,” Nils offered.
“What?” Sam said frowning.
“Varg,” Nils repeated. “That’s ‘wolf’ in Swedish.”
“Varg,” Sam repeated looking quizzically at the pup.
“Don’t like that much, huh?” Nils said.
Sam didn’t want to hurt his friend’s feelings, but he shook his head.
“Well, then, I’m callin’ him Wolf, even though with that color he don’t look like one. Never saw a gold wolf.”