Read Only By Your Touch for Free Online Page B

They’ll probably just put him down. You know what that means?”
    Jeremy nodded. “That they’ll put him to sleep?”
    “Exactly. His life depends on you keeping your mouth shut.”
    “How come they couldn’t just put him in a zoo?”
    “Most times, people want to see healthy animals at a zoo. There are people trained to care for cougars, and if Methuselah got lucky, someone like that might take him. But what if he didn’t get lucky?”
    Jeremy rubbed his hands on his jeans. “It’s just—” He broke off and swallowed. “I’m not s’posed to keep secrets from my mom.”
    “And I don’t like encouraging you to.”
    “My mom wouldn’t tell anyone.”
    “All it would take is one slip. If anyone in town finds out for certain I’ve got a cougar, the sheriff’s department will be on me like bears after honey.”
    Jeremy’s eyes went huge. “The sheriff’s ’ partment?”
    “What?” Ben asked. He had a bad feeling, a really bad feeling, that Lady Luck had just thrown him another curveball. “Your mom’s not a deputy, is she?”
    “Nope.”
    “What, then?”
    “She’s a ’patcher.”
    “A what?”
    “A ’patcher. She answers phones and calls deputies on the radio to tell them where they gotta go.”
    “Well, damn it to hell.” Ben pinched the bridge ofhis nose. A dispatcher? It couldn’t get much worse than that. She probably saw Bobby Lee Schuck on a daily basis. “If that’s not a fine how-do-you-do.”
    Jeremy cast a worried look at his puppy. “If you’ll give Rowdy medicine, I won’t tell. Not my mom or anybody. ’Thuselah won’t get put to sleep, I promise.”
    Ben doubted the boy would keep his mouth shut. That was a worry for later, though. The damage was done, the puppy desperately needed attention, and Ben had struck a bargain.
    It was strange how life turned out, he thought as he lifted the pup from the basket. At eighteen, he’d set out to change the world, determined to get through college and make his mark as a veterinarian. Now, nineteen years later, here he was, back on Cinnamon Ridge, tickled pink because he was about to provide medical treatment for a mixed-breed pup.
    So much for setting the world on fire. Why, then, had he never felt more content? Ben guessed it was because he knew things now that he hadn’t then. In the end, when the scores were tallied, all that counted was the knowledge that he’d made a difference. When he released a deer from its cage and watched it walk again, he knew he’d made a difference. When he set a raccoon free and watched it shinny up a tree, he knew he had made a difference. There was suffering and pain everywhere. He’d never needed to leave Cinnamon Ridge to find it. At the ripe old age of thirty-seven, he’d finally come to understand that the most important place to make things happen was right here in his own backyard.
    It reminded Ben of something his Shoshone grandfather had been fond of saying, that a young man could travel a great distance and never go anywhere. As a child, Ben hadn’t understood what Grandfather meant. Now he did.
    Diablo joined them in the driveway. Ben immediately tensed, for the wolf was a formidable-looking critter. He shifted the puppy to the crook of one arm and grabbed hold of Diablo’s collar.
    “This is another friend of mine. Jeremy, meet Diablo.” To the wolf, Ben said, “He’s a friend, you ornery cuss. Mind your manners and shake hands.”
    Diablo sat back on his haunches and extended his right front paw, much to Jeremy’s delight. In truth, Ben was pleasantly surprised as well. From one time to the next, he never knew if Diablo would cooperate. The wolf was loyal, and he had a pack mentality, but Ben’s status as the alpha male afforded only certain privileges, which didn’t include absolute obedience.
    Fortunately, Diablo was keenly intelligent and perceptive. He seemed to understand that this particular situation called for diplomacy.
    “Go ahead, Jeremy. Diablo would like to