[Charlie - Drawing]

[hereand_now]

Wolf likes school, he really does, and he's trying hard to show up on time for all his classes and do all his work, but some of the classes are hard. Reading and writing aren't easy, but writing is way harder than reading. At least Wolf can already read some things -- not very many, but some, thanks to The Book of Good Farming -- but he can't write

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[1000_cranes]

She's been working on the same sculpture for about a week now. Today, while Cadi plays with blocks in her playpen, Charlie's making origami roses. Half a dozen of them litter the surface of her desk. When he sticks his head around the door, she looks up and beams.

"Of course he can!" she says. "Pull up a chair, honey."

[hereand_now]

Even though he's having a hard time, even though he's frustrated with what he's trying to do, it's impossible not to brighten at the sight of her smile and the little girl with the blocks. Wolf beams back, biting his lower lip as he slinks into the room and sits awkwardly in a chair, scooting it closer to Charlie's desk.

"I really like your class," he says, both because it's honest and because it's polite. Slowly, Wolf is learning how to be polite, even if he doesn't do it all the time. "I sure do, right here and now! But..." Chewing on his lip, Wolf looks at Charlie and thinks she won't be mad at him, so he'll just say it. "Wolf doesn't know how to hold a pencil. I never had to do no writing back home."

[1000_cranes]

"Well, good, honey," she says, leaning forward on her elbows, a half finished flower on the desk in front of her. She leans her chin on her knuckles and listens to him.

"Well, we can deal with that," she says. "You want to know a secret? I never made a sculpture before I got here. I've been learning as I go."

[hereand_now]

"Really?" Wolf asks, surprised. She's so good at all the things she teaches in her classes that he's sort of thought she's always been doing them. There are things he's good at -- watching the cows, protecting the herd -- and he's been doing that his whole life.

"I like the flowers you're making," he adds, because they remind him of the little wolf Cassie made for him. "They're real pretty."