I spent the hours until dawn hidden in that hollow with the children.
Andre wouldn’t stay still. He circled around me again and again, whimpering softly, his sweater now weighted down with fresh stones hanging from one shoulder. The sack was bigger than he was. It made his sister nervous, who in fact seemed more comfortable with me in that half-animal, fur-covered form than she ever had with my human appearance. I didn’t understand what had changed, but the unexpected shift was welcome.
Once I managed to calm Andre down, I got the girl to accept a little milk, which I prepared as best I could. The water in the thermos I had gotten in Lethbridge was still warm, but my hands in that state were hardly suited for a precise task like measuring formula with a plastic spoon.
The smell of my ow
