Page 29 of Outside the Veil
“Shh, don’t talk here. Someone might hear you.”
“Aren’t you…the storyteller?” Finn gasped. “You’d concoct…some explanation.”
Diego sat down in confusion next to his ‘dog’. “I’m not usually a liar, you know.”
“All storytellers…are liars. Part…of the craft.”
“But…” Diego considered while he stroked the thick ruff of fur around Finn’s neck. “Fiction isn’t lying. Everyone knows it’s imaginary. It’s not as if the writer’s being dishonest and misleading the reader.”
“Though it’s still not true.”
“Well…no, it’s not.”
“Honest lying.” Finn laid his head on Diego’s thigh. “I like that.”
“It’s not… Oh, never mind.”
A shadow fell across Diego’s legs. He glanced up, startled, to see a little girl, her hair a mass of unruly brown curls, staring intently at Finn. “My dad says your dog’s a wolf.”
“Melissa! That’s not what I said.” A burly man strode up behind her, a blush visible under his tan. “I’m sorry. Kids. You know.” He crouched down next to Finn. “What I said was he looks like a wolf-hybrid. Is he? I’ve had a couple come through the office. None as beautiful as this one.”
Diego let out a soft breath. “He didn’t exactly come with papers.”
“Ah. Stray? Rescued?”
“I spotted him in a bad spot and took him home.”
The man grinned. “Sorry. Don’t mean to pry. I’m a vet, can’t help asking sometimes.” He ruffled Finn’s ears. The featheredtail thumped the ground shamelessly. “He looks a little under the weather.”
“He’s, um, carsick,” Diego offered, certain that wouldn’t wash with a veterinarian.
The vet nodded. “Happens to lots of big dogs. Wait there a second for me, all right?” He went to his truck and returned with a bottle half the size of Diego’s palm. “Ginger root. No more than three drops to settle his stomach.”
“Thank you. Look, I can’t just take this from you—”
“Nah, forget it. Letting me take a look at your dog’s enough. I’ve never seen anything like him.”
Finn lifted his head to let out a short bark.
“He said thank you, too, Daddy,” the little girl said with a laugh.
“Probably so. You have far to go today?”
“About six more hours,” Diego answered. “Just outside Fundy National Park.”
“He may need another dose before then. You two be careful up there. Don’t let him get away from you—he’ll want to join his wild cousins.”
“I’ll keep it in mind.”
Finn took the ginger without protest and settled back in his silk cocoon, his breathing quieter.
Midafternoon Thursday, only two cars idled ahead of Diego at the Canadian border crossing. A short wait, but the patrol officers would be able to take their time. Diego reminded himself that he had nothing to worry about. He was transporting a dog, not drugs. What was the worst they could say? “You sure that’s a dog, sir? Looks like an illegal immigrant pooka to me” seemed unlikely.
He handed over his passport and Finn’s vaccine certification and tried to still his thudding heart.
The border officer glanced at his papers, looked him over, disappeared into the booth a moment then returned without handing the documents back.
“Mind if I take a look in the truck bed, sir?”
