Bart Belly's Arc

Chapter 15 of 21

Bart woke before dawn to the pup's whimper. The wolf cub shivered against his belly, its nose dry and hot. It had eaten nothing since the day before. Bart pressed a paw to its ribs and felt the fast, shallow breaths. Nurse Cold wanted him lifting the gold today. But he could not think about the shiver in the seams while the cub suffered beside him. He swung his legs off the bed. His arms still shook, but they held. He gathered the cub and carried it down the hall, past the room where Nurse Cold slept. He needed heat and clean water. The facility had one warm room he had smelled on his first night here. The cafe kitchen still worked. Polished machines lined the counter. A rack of pans hung above a sink. Bart set the cub on a folded cloth near the oven and turned the dial. Warmth crept out. He filled a cup at the tap and dribbled water onto the cub's tongue. It swallowed once, then turned its head away. "Water isn't enough," said a voice behind him. Nurse Cold stood in the doorway, one paw on her round belly. She crossed the room and knelt by the cub. She lifted its lip, felt its throat, pressed its stomach. The cub yelped. "Bad water in its gut. It swallowed melt from the ice. You did too, likely. It just hit the small one first." "Can you fix it?" "I can." She stood and opened a low cabinet. She pulled out a white box with a red cross on the lid. Inside sat rows of bottles and folded cloth. She measured a gray powder into the warm water and stirred. "Charcoal. It pulls the sick out." She handed Bart the cup. "You feed it. It trusts you." Bart cradled the cub and eased the mixture between its jaws, a little at a time. It fought at first. He held steady and kept his voice low. Slowly the cub drank. Its breathing changed. The fast panting slowed to something even. After a long while, its eyes closed and stayed shut in real sleep, not the twitching half-sleep of before. Nurse Cold watched his paws the whole time. "Steady hands," she said. "Three days ago you spilled broth on yourself." She closed the aid box. "You held that cup an hour without a shake." Bart looked down at his paws. She was right. Somewhere between the hall and the oven, the tremor had gone. "You wanted to know when you were strong enough for the gold," she said. She lifted the golden Speedo from where he had left it. Its shine was still dull. "You are. Tomorrow I teach you the shiver." She set the gold on the counter. "The cub taught you first. You held on for something besides yourself."