night. Now it’s Saturday afternoon, we’re on the air live, and all our lines are open. Just pick up your phones and punch in JJK-TALK. Remember, the JJ stands for Judge and Jury, and that means all of you great folks out there in our listening audience.”
There was the sound of a ringing phone, followed by, “Here’s our first caller: Martha from Billings. This is JJK-Talk Radio, Martha. Go ahead.”
“Well….” A woman’s voice crackled over the radio. “Uh—am I on the air, Gary?”
“You sure are, Martha. Go ahead.”
“Well, I just want to say, those vicious wolves are the Adolf Hitler of the animal kingdom. I’m scared to let my kids stand on the corner to wait for the school bus anymore. Like Mr. Campbell said, what if a wolf or a whole pack of those killer wolves came running out of Yellowstone? No one is safe.”
“All right, thanks for calling in, Martha. Let’s get another opinion. This next caller is Larry from Pocatello. Larry’s with a group that is picketing at Yellowstone right now to protest the wolves. That’s pro-test, folks, not pro-tect! Go ahead, Larry. Tell us what you think.”
In a deep, deliberate voice, the new caller declared, “When this country was founded, it was the people who decided what was done and what wasn’t. Now everything’s run by the government. A bunch of Washington suits sat down with some tree huggers and dictated that killer wolves should come back into our national park.”
“So what’s your point, Larry? Can you sum it up?” the announcer asked.
“The point is—the government’s cramming this wolf thing down the regular citizens’ throats. People, we don’t have to take it! We got to unite and rid Yellowstone Park of those bloodthirsty wolves before it’s too late!”
More phones rang in the background as the announcer asked, “Just how do you suggest we do that, Larry?”
“If I could, I’d say, ‘Men, take up your rifles and go into Yellowstone and—’”
“I can’t stand it!” Olivia cried, snapping off the radio. “How can people talk so crazy and get so worked up over this kind of hysterical propaganda?”
In the backseat, Troy glanced from Olivia to Steven and back again. For once, he seemed interested in what was going on.
“Just wait till we get to the site of the so-called wolf attack, Steven,” Olivia vowed. “I’m going to reconstruct what happened with that dog. I have a feeling there’s more to it than George Campbell is telling.”
“You’ll find out the truth, Mom,” Ashley said confidently.
Steven shrugged. “The guy’s dog is dead, Olivia. That much of it is true. Even the park officials admit the wolves killed the dog.”
“Well, I still want to hear what Mike has to say,” Olivia answered. “If I can ever get through to him.”
Since Ashley was kneeling in the tailgate, she had a good view of the highway. “Watch out, Dad,” she yelled. “Cars are stopping up ahead.”
As they slowed down and drove closer, they could see the cause of the traffic pileup: three big, shaggy, bearded bison were standing in the middle of the road. Cars from both directions had stopped in long lines; doors were flung open as people jumped out, cameras in hand, to take pictures of the massive beasts.
“Don’t the visitors read the warnings?” Olivia asked, exasperated. She rolled down the window on her side of the jeep and leaned out—head, shoulders, and torso. “Stay away from those bison!” she yelled to the people on the road. “They can charge you and gore you. Please! You’re putting yourselves in danger.”
A few people turned to stare at Olivia, but most of them just kept taking pictures.
“Listen to me! Those bison look big and slow, but they can move fast. Thirty miles an hour!”
“Give it up, Mom,” Jack said, embarrassed that his mother was sticking out of the jeep window like a jack-in-the-box, waving her arms and shouting that way, especially since no one seemed to be taking her seriously. Only the big bull buffalo raised his head to stare at Olivia with his beady eyes. Slowly, he shook his massive head, as if agreeing with Olivia that tourists could be unbelievably, dangerously reckless. Rippling the dust off his dark hide, he turned and trotted down an embankment into the field below. His pair of buffalo cows followed him.
Taking their time, people returned to their cars. Doors slammed and motors revved up as the caravans started out once more, now that the unexpected bison appearance had ended. When the Landon jeep finally got moving again, they’d lost close to 15 minutes. Olivia began to chew her fingertip.
“What time were you supposed to meet Mike?” Jack asked.
“Around noon. But I can’t get him to answer his phone, and it’s already almost two o’clock. I’ve left my cell phone number on his machine four times already! The problem is he never told me where we were supposed to meet him—he just said to phone him when we got close. This is so frustrating!”
“Look, he knows we’re coming, and you’ve done everything you can. I think the best plan is to go to the wolf office like you suggested,” Steven said.
“Where’s that?” Ashley wanted to know.
“Close to Mammoth Hot Springs. Just down a side road.”
“I love that place!” Ashley exclaimed. “Can I show Mammoth Hot Springs to Troy? Wait till you see it, Troy. It’s like a great big layer cake with lots of different colored icing.”
Why bother, Jack thought. Even though Troy had never before been to Yellowstone because he’d lived in Wyoming for only a couple of months, he seemed totally bored by everything they’d seen so far. When he condescended to look at anything, it was with expressionless eyes, through half-lowered lids.
“Sorry, Ashley,” Steven began, “I don’t think we can fit that in right now. Your mother has to handle the wolf crisis—”
“Oh, go ahead and take them,” Olivia interrupted. “I’m a little tense over this whole thing, Steven. It really might be better to just drop me off at the wolf office while the rest of you take a quick look at Mammoth Hot Springs. I’ll try to get all the details before you come back for me—like, where’s Mike, and what’s happening with those demonstrators!”
Within the next half hour, Steven took Olivia to the wolf restoration office, parked the car near Mammoth Hot Springs, and shepherded his own two kids and a reluctant Troy along the boardwalk.
Water didn’t shoot up into the air in Mammoth Hot Springs. It flowed up or brimmed over from cracks in the surface. On the flat topmost terrace, which seemed wide enough to make a table for all the gods and giants of Olympus, steam rose in gentle wisps. Since each day two tons of water-dissolved minerals bubbled up and got deposited on the crust, Mammoth Hot Springs looked different in shape and color every time Jack saw it.
Ashley stood next to Troy at the railing and said, “See how the water comes up? It’s full of—what do you call it, Dad? I never remember.”
Before Steven could answer, Jack did. He had decided he should teach Troy a fact or two about the natural wonders of Yellowstone, especially since Troy
