David ducked, and crouched behind his car, which was parked on the street.
"That was close." He thought to himself. "She almost spotted me."
He was on Sinead's street. He parked his car a couple driveways down from hers. He had just been wondering if she would leave the house today. He hadn't seen her since the previous morning when he followed her to the national park.
He was interested in where she was heading to today. But based on her clothes, he guessed she might be going running again.
He didn't make any attempt to look around his car to see where she was. He could hear the sound of her footsteps well enough to gage where on the road she was and evade her line of sight.
She ended up taking the same route as the day before, which meant he had an easier time with not being spotted by her, as he was more familiar with the lay of the land.
On the country road they were currently travelling down, the farmers had let the cows out again. One farm that had just been empty pastures yesterday, had two fields with mares and foals.
David couldn't help but let a small smile creep onto his face as he noticed she waved at the cows and the horses.
He quickly ducked into a ditch full of tall grass and weeds as a car zoomed its way by, at a speed well over the posted limit. The car put so much dust into the air as it careened past.
The road was paved in some sections, but dirt in others. David was lucky enough to be along one of the dirt road sections. As the dirt cloud surrounded him, his nose felt itchy. He tried to stifle it as best as he could, but he still sneezed.
'At least Sinead is so far away she can't hear if I sneeze.' David thought.
The rest of the journey to the outskirts of the provincial park passed without any incident. David never once had to hide himself from her.
She didn't even look over her shoulder once the whole way from her house to the place where the hidden entrance to the park was located.
David thought she seemed more preoccupied with her thoughts than she had been the day previous. Yesterday morning she had been much more alert to the outside world.
David waited several minutes after she disappeared from the view of the road, down her makeshift trail, before he entered the provincial park in the same spot. He went down the trail a couple of feet before carefully turned off of it, to the left trying to leave as little evidence of his walking as possible.
When he was satisfied, he was far enough from her self-made trail that he couldn't be seen, he changed to his wolf form.
Unable to resist the urge he shook his big, hairy body in a very dog-like fashion and felt the small crackling noises that issued from his neck and between his shoulder blades.
He sighed, as his body felt more relaxed. He tended to carry his tension between his shoulder blades.
'I wonder exactly how far on the trail she is?' he pondered.
He got a bit closer to her trail again and caught her scent. He started moving cautiously in the direction. Just by smell, he could tell that she had that fox with her again.
David planned to do the same thing he had done the day before. He would stay close enough that he could smell her scent and see her from afar. He would observe and would stay hidden.
There was a light summer breeze today, but it had stayed constant all morning, and he was downwind of her. He followed Sinead's unmistakable scent and stopped when he was close enough to see her. David stood behind a tree, watching her.
Although he could easily see and smell her, he knew she couldn't smell him, the wind was blowing the wrong way for that to be possible.
He believed her senses of hearing and sight to be about the same as an average humans, but erring on the side of caution, he gave a bit of extra distance.
She was crouched in a low squat beside the fox, who had just finished devouring his first hard-boiled egg. It looked like there were more in the container she held in her right hand.
"Was that good?" Sinead asked the fox. "I did tell you yesterday that I would bring you two today."
With a sweet smile on her lips, and kindness in her eyes, she gently moved to hand over a second egg to the fox. But she stopped halfway, her body frozen as she motionlessly stared off to the bushes on the right.
She then bowed her head in that same direction, all the while not taking her eyes off the spot. The fox quickly plucked the egg out of her grasp, but she didn't seem to notice.
David looked, listened, and sniffed, but he could not see, hear, or smell anything. It was only with a gut- sense of intuition, that he got the feeling that something was there. But he had no idea what it could be.
Sinead seemed to be having a conversation with this invisible being. He started paying attention to her words.
"Yes." She spoke the word aloud. "Over there?" She asked, nodding in the direction of where David was concealed. "Okay." She stated in an affirming way. "Right...Love, Peace, always." She said and closed her eyes and bowed her head again. She stayed with her head bowed for a few long moments before she straightened and opened her eyes.
Standing now, he could hear her inform the fox that the two of them were not the only ones in the forest, and she hoped he wasn't afraid of wolves.
"I understand now." She said softly to the fox. "I was confused this morning at the three hard boiled eggs in the container instead of just two."
She took two steps forward holding the remaining egg in her right hand. She looked over her left shoulder at the fox.
"I thought it was some trivial thing, but now it makes sense." Sinead continued.
She faced forward again and took a deep breath.
"She meant for me to bring three eggs, two for you and one for the wolf. Of course, she didn't say as much." Sinead said with a small laugh as she took another two steps forward. "But she did suggest that it would be a nice gesture if I offered the wolf one."
After taking two more steps she took a knee on the soft ground. This part of the forest floor was littered with pine needles.
David had not moved the entire time. He knew that the game was up. She knew he was there. But he didn't know what to do.
If he stayed, she would eventually reach where he was, and if he fled, would she pursue him? David wondered how much she knew about him now.
She had called him "the wolf", did she know his true nature, or did she think him just a regular wolf? A regular wolf would give her a fight or flight response, but he didn't want to do either.