SAM'S LUNCH BREAK

26 FEBRUARY, FRIDAY, CONTINUED

Could nobody understand wolf?

My wolf whined at the humans, {Peel the gyaara! Peel the gyaara! Please just peel them for me!!!}

"What's wrong, Sam? Are you hurt or something?" River asked.

Ki's wolf dropped the bag he was holding in his mouth to come check.

{No! I'm not hurt! I want to eat my hunt!}

But of course Ki couldn't hear me. For all I knew he was also trying to tell me something. I tried to read his wolf. He looked worried, but otherwise okay.

Wilhelm picked up the bag, "Beta, should I help you fasten this on?"

Ki dipped his large head in a nod and Wilhelm deftly threw the bag over Ki's wolf shoulders and clipped it on with a polite, "Please excuse me."

Now that looked like a sensible human who might get the hint. I quickly picked up one of the gyaara and dropped it at Wilhelm's feet.

{Peel it!}

Then I sat and waited expectantly for him to do something. My tail thumped on the ground encouragingly.

"Hahaha! That's so cute! She's giving you a present!" River totally misinterpreted.

{No! I'm not!} Stop saying stupid things, River!

I tried to show them by using my teeth to rip off the gyaara's tough hide. I'd do it myself but had you ever tried to remove the tin foil off your chocolate with your teeth?

"Is that good for food, Alpha Princess?" Wilhelm hazarded a guess.

{Yes! Yes! It tastes like chocolate!} To me in wolf form anyway.

"Ah, then thank you." Wilhelm nodded a bow.

{No! No! It's not for you! It's mine!} I shook my head, but it only looked like I was shaking out my fur.

I felt like I was playing a losing game of charades. It's okay, Sam, don't give up! At least they got the idea that it's food. Now let's get them to "peel."

I spat out the bits of broken gyaara hide. It was messy business.

"Ew... Sam...." River made a face, "Did you eat too fast?"

{No! Come here and let me bite off your head!}

Had you ever played charades, and someone in your group just kept guessing so badly, he ended up misleading the whole team?

For this reason, Jonah was on my blacklist for any game that was charades, or taboo, or anything requiring someone to guess.

Once when we were playing a timed challenge of "Win, Lose, or Draw", my good luck kept picking all the "easy" words, but we didn't score a single point.

For the word "apple", I drew a circle with a stalk, and before anyone said anything, Jonah shouted, "phone!" And then my team started naming every electronic device in the world with an apple on it.

"PASS!" I yelled so we could just move to the next word.

My second word was "orange" and I drew a circle and Jonah shouted "earth!" And thus led everyone else into a wild goose chase to name all the planets in our solar system, plus the black hole.

"PASS!" Grrrr...

My third word was "pear".

We had all contributed some words for this game earlier, but we weren't supposed to show anyone what we wrote, so I had no idea who was the fruitcake who made these, but I kept drawing these cards with random fruit.

Anyway, I drew a pear shape with a stalk. This time, it should be quite clear. And then, Jonah had to shout, "I know! Guitar!"

Wth.

I threw the marker at his face. But he dodged it, "Was that right?"

"No!" I yelled.

"Ukulele?" Dean asked hopefully.

"Ah! Violin!" Someone else offered.

And the time ran out.

"It's a pear!" I yelled at my team (but mostly at Jonah.)

"Ahhhh...." My team nodded at the picture.

The other girls (who for some reason were in the opposing team) laughed their heads off. And then we found out that Jonah was the one who wrote the fruity cards. Stooopid!!!! Remembering it just made me angry all over again!

Anyway, I'm going to add River's name to my blacklist. The next time we play any such game, River and Jonah should have each other in their team.

Thank goddess Ki seemed to sense my frustration. He shifted back to his human form to help. As he often did after a run, he just did it right wherever he was.

I turned my wolf head the other way, but the humans weren't quick enough.

"Oh!" River and Keanu froze, their eyes fixed just a few seconds longer where it had accidentally fallen.

What? I nearly turned my head too.

"It's about lunch time." Ki explained, his back to me. Wilhelm had thoughtfully handed a jacket over for Ki to tie around his waist, "My goddess only eats her meat de-boned."

I was in wolf form now. Those bones weren't a big deal. I could chomp it all down. I just needed to peel off their leathery armor!

"Oh." Wilhelm nodded as understanding dawned on his face. He took out a hunting knife, "Yes, of course I can help with that."

Grown ups were definitely better than stoopid teenage boys! My wolf was hopeful all over again. If Wilhelm was going to debone the gyaara, he'd probably skin it too, right?

And Wilhelm was looking pretty pro about skinning the gyaara. I watched him turn the gyaara carcass over to study it, "Maybe we can so this like it's a rabbit."

{Okay!} My wolf was very amiable like that.

But I was sorely disappointed. We totally forgot that normal blades couldn't cut through the gyaara skin.

Arugghhhhh!

"Sorry," Wilhelm put down the gyaara and cleaned his blade after several attempts, "I can't cut through it."

No, wait! Don't give up! Try my blade! I have a magic blade! It's my the bag, in my warrior's jacket, in one of the inner pockets, in its sheath... You know what? Nevermind.

I gnawed on one of the gyaara in my own corner and sulked. Whatever, you know? I'll just go back to my roots. A long time ago, wolves would hunt gyaara for food. Gyaara were the wolves' natural prey up in the Colored Mountains after all. If my ancestors could eat gyaara like this, I could too.

"Awww... Sam's enjoying her meal!" River came over and tried to pat my head again, "Sam's wolf is pretty cute! She's like an oversized puppy with a chew toy."

I growled at him to back off. You chew on this if you can! How dare he!

"Prince River, its best not to go near wolves when they are eating." Wilhelm advised wisely.

It's best not to call me cute! I'll use his head as a chew toy! Let's see how cute he thinks that would be!

River only laughed, "Don't worry, Wilhelm, it's just Sam."

Seriously? Listen to wise advice from an elder, River!

"I guess we'll wait for Sam to finish her meal first, but we really should be heading back." Keanu spoke up now. He had been worrying and pacing since the gyaara had gone, "I've been thinking, Alpha Gunter should be returning anytime now."

Immediately, this reminder fell like a ton of bricks over the humans.

"Oh gosh, Dad's going to kill me." River said.

"Don't worry, Prince River." Wilhelm comforted him immediately, "It'll be alright."

"Yes, your Dad isn't going to kill you." Keanu bemoaned, "It's us who are going to be dead."

Which sounded terribly unfair to me.

"No, don't worry. This is all my fault. I'll make sure my father knows." River thumped his chest.

I'm sure your dad knows very well that its your fault, River. But he's probably going to blame everyone else anyway.

I gulped down the last of the gyaara. Ki was still in human form. He found some wet wipes and helped me wipe my wolfie mouth, which must have been the most ridiculous sight! A great big midnight blue wolf having its massive jaws wiped with silly damp little squares of wet tissues. Hahahaha. I wished we could film this.

No one else seemed to find this as amusing. The humans waited politely while Ki completed the task most earnestly.

I restrained my wolf not to flare up at my beta when he wiped around my mouth. Boo didn't like it, but I mean, after digging into raw gyaara, I was quite sure my wolf had to look a bloody mess. It was a miracle a few wet wipes could resolve it so quickly.

When Ki was satisfied that his Alpha (that's me) was respectably clean again, he turned back to the humans, "Wilhelm, may I trouble you to refasten that bag on my wolf? You may ride on me. My alpha will carry Prince River and Keanu."

"Yes, beta." Wilhelm answered immediately. Wilhelm might be a human, but he still behaved a lot like a warrior wolf. In contrast, my two passengers behaved like clowns.

I lowered my wolf so that the two clowns could get on. River threw himself over too far twice and fell over the other side, pulling my fur each time. Grrr...

"You're a lot larger than Savy was." River told me when Keanu and him were finally seated properly. I resisted the urge to throw them off, because if I did that, River would only pull out more fur from just getting on again.

Stooopid River.

I mentally rearranged my top most stoopid wolves list. River was now third after Bell and Dad. And then I remembered River wasn't even a wolf.

"Giddyup, Sam!" River said.

Oh wow, River. When this is over, I'm going to make you play charades with Jonah till you cry.