The Howling (5 page)

Returning home around noon, she washed the walls and windows, even though they didn't need it. She fixed herself a sandwich, fed the dog, and shuffled through the books without finding one she wanted to read. She began looking up the road for Roy long before he was due to return.

When at last he drove into the yard, Karyn ran out to meet him and they hugged each other enthusiastically and walked back to the house arm in arm.

Karyn had prepared a small roast for their meal. It came out perfectly - crispy brown on the outside, pink and tender within. The candles provided an intimate glow, and the talk came easy. It was almost the way it had been before their trouble started.

After dinner Karyn fed Lady and let her outside while Roy poured their brandy. They moved into the living room and sat close together by the fireplace. Their legs touched, and for the first time in months Karyn felt a surge of desire for her husband.

"Roy," she said, "let's go to bed."

"Sleepy already?"

She shook her head, holding the warm pressure of her thigh against him. "Nope."

Roy looked at her closely for a moment, then took her into his arms. He kissed her. She returned the kiss with feeling. Everything about him - his hands on her back, the taste of his mouth, even the short stubble of beard - excited her.

"Let's not waste any more time," he said. They stood up together and he led her into the bedroom.

When they were lying together, Karyn rolled onto her side to face him. Roy's hand roved across her rib cage and up over the swell of her hip. She reached down for his sex and found him erect and hard. The touch of him in her hand was good. His fingers trailed down across her flat stomach and into the blond fluff of pubic hair. She felt herself open willingly and go moist under his touch.

Oh, God
, said a part of Karen's mind,
let it be good this time. Let it be right, the way it was.

Roy was kissing her breast, teasing the erect nipple with his tongue. His hand was up between her legs, stroking, massaging. Karyn was ready for him. As ready as she would ever be. Then she heard it.

The howling.

Not far off in the woods this time, but close outside. Close, deep throated, and cold as death.

"Roy!" she said, sitting up in bed.

"I heard it," he said. He pulled himself up beside her, but his voice did not reflect the urgency that Karyn felt.

Roy's hand moved between her legs. His head dipped again to her breast.

"What was it?" Karyn said. She was whispering without knowing why.

"I don't know. An owl." His tone took on an edge of impatience.

"Not an owl," she said.

"Who cares? Come on, Karyn, lie down."

Obediently Karyn lay back on the sheet. She tried hard to recover the mood of a few moments before, but the terrible howling still sounded in her brain. How could Roy ignore it?

His head moved lower on her body. She could feel his tongue tracing a moist line across her navel and on down ...

Abruptly it was not her husband kissing her down there, it was that horrible other thing. The teeth.

With a startled cry she drew away from him.

He pulled himself up. "What?"

Karyn reached out to him, trying to make her touch affectionate, though she still felt the unreasoning revulsion. "I'm sorry, Roy. I - I don't think I can."

"But just a minute ago -"

"I know," she said quickly. "I know, Roy, but now I can't."

"Jesus," he said through clenched teeth, and turned away from her. His broad naked back was like a wall in the middle of the bed.

"Please, darling," she said, "be patient with me for a little while longer."

He gave her an unconvincing pat on the shoulder. "Sure, Karyn, it's all right. I'm just keyed up after driving out from the city."

But it was not all right, and they both knew it. Karyn's throat filled up with words she wanted to say to her husband but could not:
I'm sorry dear, I was all ready and in the mood, and then something howled outside. No, it was not an owl. And after that the only picture in my mind was that filthy animal with his hands up in me and his teeth biting me and then ... and then ...

Karyn forced her mind back from the brink of hysteria, and at last fell into a shallow sleep.

In the morning she was the first one up. She combed out her hair and went into the kitchen. She would prepare a lovely breakfast for Roy - ham-and-cheese omelet with hot muffins, and rich black coffee. But first she had to feed the dog. She took a can of Alpo from the cupboard, then wondered why Lady did not come trotting in at the sound of the can on the countertop. Then she remembered that no one had let her back in last night. Karyn went to open the front door. The dog was not in sight.

Karyn stepped outside and called the dog's name. The forest was unusually silent on this gray, damp day, the only sound the dripping of moisture from the tree branches. Karyn called again and walked all around the yard. Nothing answered.

She went back inside and into the bedroom, where Roy sat on the edge of the bed pulling on a pair of denim pants.

"Lady's not here," she said. "We forgot to let her in last night. Now I can't find her. She doesn't answer." Karen sensed the rising pitch of her voice, but she did not try to control it. Concern for the dog was an acceptable outlet for the other tangled emotions that she was not ready to examine.

"I'll go take a look," Roy replied. He went outside, whistling and calling for the little dog. He made several forays into the woods, calling louder, and came back with his jeans wet from the damp brush.

"She's probably off exploring somewhere," he said without conviction.

"Roy, do you think something's happened to her?"

"What could happen? We've been here over a week. Lady knows her way around by now. She'll come home when she gets hungry."

Karyn caught the irritability just beneath his words. She said, "I guess we might as well eat breakfast."

She had lost all enthusiasm for the omelet. While she cooked it, Karyn left the front door open. From time to time each of them would look over that way.

Afterward Roy went to work editing his manuscripts. Karyn sat in a chair by the window with a book open on her lap. She tried to read, but the printed words would not register on her mind. When it was almost noon she could sit still no longer.

"Roy, I think we should go out and look for her. She may be hurt and can't get back to us."

Roy looked over at her, and Karyn could see that he was not as unconcerned as he acted. "All right," he said.

The sun was out now, high and pale, but warm enough to dry off the forest. Roy and Karyn walked the trails that interlaced the surrounding woods. Some were so dim and overgrown that they were hardly there. Others showed signs of recent use.

Roy went in one direction, Karyn in another. She concentrated on looking down as she walked, scanning the ground along both sides of each trail. She saw nothing.

When Roy came upon her suddenly walking from the opposite direction, she started and gave a little squeal of surprise.

He reached out and grasped her arm gently. "No luck?"

She shook her head.

"Roy, let's try going into town."

"What for?"

"Maybe Lady got confused and went that way. Maybe somebody saw her. It wouldn't hurt to ask. It's better than sitting in that house and waiting to hear her bark, or see her come running home." Karyn turned away so Roy would not see the sudden tears. "Damn, how stupid it is to let a little animal become such a part of your life.
Stupid.
"

Roy put his arms around Karyn and held her for a moment.

They did not talk during the short drive. There was no sign of the dog in the roadway or in the brush alongside.

Once they were in the village Roy pulled over to the side and turned to Karyn while the engine idled. "What now?"

Karyn looked up and down the deserted street, confused. "How ... how about that sheriff or whatever he is, Anton Gadak? Maybe he would know if anybody has seen Lady."

The words were barely out of her mouth when the broad figure of Anton Gadak appeared up the street, angling across the blacktop toward their car. Roy shut off the engine and got out on the driver's side. Karyn came around and stood beside him.

Gakak put two fingers to the brim of his Stetson. "Afternoon, folks. Haven't seen you for a few days. Everything all right?"

"Everything's fine," Roy began automatically, then corrected himself. "No, the truth is we've got a problem."

"Problem?" Gadak waited politely.

When Roy hesitated, Karyn spoke up. "It's our little dog. We left her out last night, and this morning she's missing." Even as she spoke, Karyn thought how trivial it must sound.

"Sorry to hear that."

"We wondered if she might have found her way to town somehow."

"If she did, I ain't heard about it," Gadak said. "Folks in Drago don't keep pets much, so they'd most likely notice your dog if she came in this way. I'll ask around, and keep an eye out myself."

"Thanks," Roy said. "We'd appreciate it."

"No trouble."

As the big man was about to turn away, Karyn stopped him. "Mr Gadak, are there any large animals around here that might have ... harmed her?"

"Large animals?" Gadak repeated.

"Last night, and on other nights, I've heard something in the woods. A howling."

Gadak pulled at his lower lip and looked down at Karyn. His eyes were shaded by the hat brim. "A howling, you say. Coyote, maybe. Sure, could have been a coyote. Been a few of them seen hereabouts. They'll carry off a small animal now and again. How big was this dog of yours?"

"About so high," Roy said, flattening his hand at about knee level.

"Kinda big for a coyote to take on," Gadak said, "but maybe it was hungry."

"It was not a coyote," Karyn said firmly.

The big man turned his shadowed eyes back to her. "Eh, what's that?"

"The thing I heard howling in the woods. It was no coyote."

"Come on, Karyn," Roy said. "How can you be sure?"

She turned on her husband. "You heard it. You heard the howling last night. Did that sound like a coyote to you?"

Roy's eyes shifted uneasily. "How would I know? I'm a city boy. The only coyotes I ever hear are on
Wild Kingdom
."

"All right," Karyn persisted, "but that howling last night, that didn't sound like any coyote on television - or any other place."

"Maybe an owl," Roy offered.

"Could be," Gadak remarked, scratching his chin. "The woods has a lot of peculiar sounds at night. 'Specially for folks from the city. You'll get used to it."

"I doubt it," Karyn said quietly. She walked around the car and got in.

Anton Gadak spoke to Roy in a confidential tone, but the words came clearly to Karyn through the open window. "I'll ask around about your dog, Mr. Beatty, but I want to be honest with you. I think it's gone for good. Take my word for it, that was a coyote your missus heard. They can tear up a small animal in a hurry when they get hold of one."

Roy got in and turned the car back toward their house. Karyn kept her eyes straight ahead, but she could see Roy glancing over at her.

Without looking at him, she said in a firm voice, "It was no coyote."

That night Roy did not even try to make love to Karyn. He stayed up long after she went to bed, working, he said. When he finally came silently into the bedroom he was careful not to wake her and immediately went to sleep.

The night after that Karyn wore her nightgown to bed. It broke a years-long habit of sleeping in the nude. Roy came to bed late again and did not even notice.

The next morning Roy acted especially cheerful, but obviously something was on his mind. After more than a year of marriage Karyn knew the man well enough to wait until he was ready to tell her about it. During his second cup of coffee he did.

"Uh, look, honey, something's come up with the manuscripts I brought home."

"Oh?"

"I've run into some problems that just can't be solved without getting together with the writer. So it looks like I'm going to have to take a run into Los Angeles."

"Today?"

"Well, yes, the sooner the better. You'll be all right?"

"Of course."

"Is there anything I can do for you before I go?"

"I'm not an invalid, Roy."

"I hate to go, but it's one of those things."

Roy dabbed at his mouth and stood up, anxious to be on his way, but trying not to show it. He gathered up the manuscripts he said were giving him trouble and took them out to the car. Karyn walked out with him. She kissed him goodbye, then turned away and walked back to the house as he drove away. When she was back inside Karyn sat down and cried for twenty minutes.

Then, as abruptly as she had started, she stopped crying. She went into the bathroom and washed her face. A bleary, red-eyed image looked back at her from the mirror.

"You look like hell," Karyn said. She soaked a cloth with cool water and patted her face with it.

"How do you expect me to look?" her image seemed to answer. "Sitting around in a house in the middle of the woods with a husband who has turned into a stranger and trying to pretend there's nothing the matter. How would anybody look?"

She took up a brush and began energetically stroking her hair. When her hair had achieved a shimmery golden glow Karyn went back into the living room and sat down in the chair by the window. She picked up a paperback novel.

After a little while Karyn tossed the book aside. She recognized a new emotion building in her. Anger. She had seethed inside since the other day when Roy and that so-called sheriff Anton Gadak had been patronizing to her with their smug explanation of the howling. Coyote like hell! Owl my foot! Something else howled in the woods around Drago. Karyn decided suddenly that she was going to find out what.

She went into the bedroom and changed into jeans and a suede jacket. She put on a comfortable pair of mocassins and set off wlaking toward the village. When she reached Drago's main street she was surprised to see that there were several people out walking. No one she recognized, but at least it was evidence that there were other people living here.