As if dreaming, Steve felt muscles stretching. Grainy grayish view of tree limbs rushing towards him. Grasping to catch, his will being battled by an alien will to control the flesh and sinew. Within moments, thrashing pain wracking him, as the body missed the perfect landing on the limb, expecting to bound from that limb to the lower one, then, as the weight bent that branch down, dropping easily to the ground sloping up from the fence line.

Instead, the front paws had faltered, as if trying to hold and stop. Animal yelped in pain and confusion as he dropped tumbling to the lower branch, the impact of his hindquarter spinning him again until he crashed into the ground, with his wind gone, and hearing ringing with the ground smashing his senses into crazed shards, like broken glass. Scattered.

Steve lay in agony, strange twitching in limbs that could never understand or obey human will. With a rush, Steve could see the wolf, and his view was as he knew, with color and sharpness. Gazing at the scene before him, Steve tried to place the events moments before into anything close to human experience and failed miserably. Suddenly Steve was aware that the overload of sensations he had no way of interperting were smells and hearing, and of course those muscles that had no human equivalent, either in function, nor strength.

Time stretched on as the wolf regained his senses, and could breathe. Steve reached out to soothe his long time friend, and explore for broken limbs, and bleeding. Animal surged up, snarling, with blood spraying from one nostril, and with a clumsy leap, and a yelp of pain, swiftly began moving upslope, away from Steve. One back leg dropping, and then held up, in a classic limp for a canine.

"Well, that is not what I would have done. . ." .

Steve whirled to find the source of the voice that had amusedly spoken.

Garoo patiently waited, apparently lounging comfortably on a tree limb above Steve. In moments, Steve realized that the voice had to have come from above and looked up to see a boy, looking somewhat like Mowgli from "The Jungle Book" in the tree above him.

"Stay right there." said the boy, "I'll be right back with your wolf, don't leave, just stay RIGHT there."

Steve stared as the boys voice changed, then slack jawed as he saw the branch bare of boy, as the words sunk in. Looking around confusedly, Steve noticed the fence, then recognized that he was no more than ten feet outside his home property, and instantly he was next to the truck he had left inside his camp, and looking around at his home, such as it was.

"At least you didn't wander too far off." said the boy, as he bent down to lay Animal on the ground, head lolling to one side, his tongue drooping between open jaws, "I told you to stay where you were."

Steve mustered all the will he could and said dully, "Huh?".

Garoo stood after patting Animal gently on the neck, and muttering something that Steve could not quite make out. Looking at Steve with an open and friendly expression, he said, "You are not afraid, that is good." Garoo paused, and finished with, "In this you and I are very much alike".

Steve stared at the boy, mind spinning with the events from this moment back, and back. . .

Garoo spoke sharply now, "Stop that! You must focus on now, here and this!" indicating the wolf laying on the ground between them. "He is not hurt very badly, but he will need to be tended until he heals or he will not be able to survive."

With a start, Steve found he could focus, as if he was riding hot and fast through dangerous curves in the mountain roads above them, and he nodded, accepting that this boy somehow knew much more than his appearance suggested, and deeper a suspicion germinated that this was danger greater than he had ever faced, looking at him with eyes that were so young, and older than time itself.

Garoo changed his demeanor abruptly, " Not that old, but yes, dangerous as all are who die, but do not leave, drifting like fogs up to the sun." With a wisful gaze up into the bright sky.

Steve followed the boys view, and with consternation, noted that he could look full at the sun, and like Garoo, so many many ages ago, saw details that no living man could possibly conceive.

"My name is Garoo." The voice of the boy brought Steves attention back once again, when he would have wandered. "Focus." with a smile the boy admonished the old man. "You will have much time to drift and wander at your leisure, but for now, focus on what is before you." The boy paused for a moment, "You are not solid enough in your being to drift about, you would become foglike, and eventually become nothing more than memories, then just nothing. Or you can go to the light, but those who do that find no more there than here, and they also become nothing," then with a grimace, he finished, "Or worse."

"How?" began Steve, "How can you know my thoughts?" Suddenly Steve felt anger at the boy, and anger at the sunlight, and the ground he stood on, and last he noted his hands clenching and solid power coursing through and about him. "And what the fuck did you do to my wolf?"

The boy grinned, "Good, be angry, for now anger will help you, and later you will find it is not as useful. I can see and hear you from inside as well as outside, because you are like a mist to me now. Later, you will be able to hide yourself, even from me, and others like me. Better if you learn soon, as some of the others can be quite nasty. For instance, right now I am keeping a part of my self within the wolf mind, and calming him, while I prevent him from rising, and fleeing from us. He does not understand, and he is fearful and suspicious. He senses us, as ghosts, which we most assuredly are, but he does not know you as he once did. When you speak, I can hear you, but he cannot. He knows we speak, hears no sound, and that frightens him."

Steve found himself kneeling next to Animal, and reaching to pet his neck, meaning to ruff his exposed ear as he had done so many times before, just as his hand seemed to pass through fur and skin, he could see the eyes of his old partner following his movement and panicked fear growing in that gaze.

Abrubtly Steve withdrew his hand, shocked at the sight of his hand seemingly melting through the wolfs neck. He looked at the boy, and saw that his hand was softly rubbing Animals side, and that the contact appeared solid, fur and skin moving as if the boy was merely a boy petting a dog.

Garoo said patiently, "This will come in time as well, you will find solidity in your will, and it will be possible for you to do as you once did, and much more."

"Why, " asked Steve, "are you doing this? I mean, why me? Who are you, and what are you getting out of it?" Memories of people from the past who had offered wonderous things, but always failed to deliver, scams, hypes and con-men and the ladies of course who promised the world, greedily took whatever they could scavenge, then left leaving nothing but broken promises and dreams behind.

Garoo grinned at Steve, "Yep, I know. I was once a tree."

Steve stared, uncomprehending, trying to fit the response into any part of his question and failing.

"You see, " said the boy, "I died a very long time ago, and I have seen literally billions of deaths since mine. I have never known a spirit who has existed longer than me, although there must have been millions, at least millions, of deaths before mine. I cannot know and no one has been able to say what happened before my time. Much of what has happened since I cannot know either, I am not, what is the word, omniescent?, yes I'm not everywhere, watching everything. Not a god, just a dead boy."

Steve shook his head, still not finding anything in the words that seemed like an answer.

Garoo continued, "Because you laughed." grinning again, "I just happened to be near when you died, and you laughed. I wanted to know why you did that, and because being a tree is pretty damned boring." Laughing himself, Garoo stood and went to the truck, opened the back, and took out a can of stew. While rummaging around for a can opener, he mused, "I've seen a lot of history, missed more that I saw, of course, but I have managed to learn just about everything that anyone else knows." He fitted the opener to the can, and deftly worked the top from the can, and brought it back to the wolf, who was beginning to stir as if he had been drugged, and was now just coming out of it. "Easy there Animal, " Then looking at Steve, "You try it, just talk to him as you normally would, he may not hear you, but he will get used to you being close, and talking. Soon enough, he will accept us just as he accepted you and other people before."

Steve looked down, and again suddenly found himself on the ground sitting next to the wolf. "So how does this work? I mean, I was at work, then I was somewhere else for just a moment maybe, then I guess I ended up inside Animal here? That was a disaster, as we both know. Then I was standing by the fence, you showed up, and then I was here. Now I keep flittin round like some kinda jitterbug." With a sigh, "Is that, umm, normal? You seem to be in control of things, will I quit doing that eventually?"

"Nope, and yes." replied Garoo as he fetched over a large metal bowl with water, "Yes, because you will learn to not do it when you don't want to, and of course you'll be able to 'flit' with ease, once you figure out how not to. Which is why the answer is also, No." Setting down the water next to the open can of stew, he said "There you go, poor wolf, just easy now. You can walk around as you did in the past, as you already know, you see me doing that. Or you can move with the speed of thought, it's almost unconcious, the tricky part is being certain of where you are going, then focusing on being there. Quite simple in most cases, but like riding a bicycle, until you get the hang of it, you will probably fall down a few times."

Steve squinted into the forest at these words, pretty much much as I figured he thought. "Well, is there something like training wheels?"

"Of course, and you 'pretty much have that figured' also. If you can see your destination, from where you are, it's easy to just go there, and not get lost and bang your knees along the way. The difficult moves are when you cannot see where you are going, and have to focus on a place that you know exists, even though you cannot see it." Garoo spoke gently to Animal as Steve vanished from where he sat, and appeared seemingly hovering about twenty feet in the air between some trees near the fence line. Garoo smiled as he heard Steve saying "Oh crap!", and fell soundlessly to the ground.

Steve carefully got up, testing his limbs, realizing that he could not have been hurt, as he decided that he was not injured in the slightest. However, he was now outside the fence, and even though he felt foolish doing so, he climbed the fence and walked back to the cleared camp he had called home. "Oops!" Steve said as he walked back, "That was a failed attempt."

Animal whined softly as Steve dropped heavily back to his sitting position. Reaching out, he gently ruffed the wolfs ear, and side of jaws, absently, as if it were the most natural thing to do, as he gently murmured, "Maybe I'll have to teach the wolf how to fall like that, hey?" Steve noticed that the nose bleeding had stopped, and moved to rub under the jawline, looking for other injuries. Animal seemed to relax some under the petting, and soon Steve had determined that the wolf was not seriously injured, even the back leg was merely very sore, and not broken as he had feared.

Garoo watched with interest as Steve went about his ministrations, but sat silent, without comment until Steve leaned back, and began looking at the treeline outside the fence where he had fallen.

"That is very interesting." Garoo said abruptly, "I have seen many who could never climb a fence, or pet a wolf." The boy stared into the trees as Steve considered his words. "I could not touch my family, nor speak to them, for many many years I could never so much as make a breath of wind, or whisper of sound. Yet within an hour, you are climbing fences, and petting your wolf."

"My tribe failed, vanished, long before I could do what you just did." Garoo said, without bitterness, but sadly. Garoo looked at Steve, his face brightening, "However, you seem to be lacking in skill in being a spirit, and that is what you should be practicing now."

Suddenly, Steve stood just outside the fence, looking back at the boy, and again, just as quickly he was sitting next to Animal. "Like that?" Animal whined again, at the sound of Steves voice.

As the shop crew and office staff looked on, the EMT team tried valiantly to get Steves lifeless body functioning again. The shock paddles and shots had no effect. Eventually the shocked staff watched as the ambulance drove off.

It was clear that no one would be of any use at work, and the shop closed early. As Roberta locked the gate, Taylor was assuring her that the motorcycle would be perfectly safe where it was, behind the fence and gate. Roberta knew this already of course, as Steve had sometimes left the bike parked for days himself at the shop. Still it bothered her to see it still there with Steve gone.

Finally, the afternoon became evening, then darkening into night.

Animal had spent much of the afternoon and evening laying still, as time wore on he became more inclined to move about, several times limping away from the clearing to attend to the bushes. He ate the stew, and lapped at the water. By full dark, he had wandered into the shadows and could be seen curled in one of his favorite holes.

Garoo had assured Steve earlier that he no longer had any inhibition on the wolf, whatever behavior the wolf displayed was it's own. Garoo asked many questions and Steve tried to answer as he could, and tried asking some of his own. The boy did not seem concerned any longer with Steve recounting the events just before and after his death, even asking for some small details.