Wildoak

From his perch in a beech tree, Rumpus hears a vehicle approaching. Lord Foy and another man get out and discuss cutting the forest. When they walk away together, Rumpus inspects the back of the truck, looking for food. He hears the crack of a gunshot and jumps out of the truck bed, hurrying back into the forest as fast as he can on his injured paw. When the men drive away, he sees the dead and bloody body of the badger in the truck bed.

Maggie writes a letter to her mother. She praises Fred and Cornwall and tells her mother how much she misses her. Maggie thanks her mother for the surprise photograph and asks where the picture was taken, saying that she would like to go back to that place someday. She asks whether her parents might visit her at Cornwall, saying she is sure that Fred misses Evelyn. She signs off after asking her mother to write to her soon. After a moment, she adds a P.S., telling her mother that her stutter is improving. Maggie does not actually believe this is true, but thinking of home has renewed her fears about being sent to Granville.

When she is ready to mail the letter, Fred tells her that she will need to go into town to get a stamp for it. Maggie is frightened at the idea of trying to talk with a shopkeeper, but she desperately wants to get her letter to her mother. So, she agrees to do this. Then, she once again tries to convince Fred that Rumpus is actually a snow leopard, but he refuses to believe her. Maggie feels as if she might cry.

Rumpus’s wound is infected, and he is growing weaker. As he wanders toward the stream to drink, he encounters a woman walking her small dog. They are all frightened by the meeting, and the woman screams. Rumpus flees back to the security of the ancient oak. He falls into an exhausted sleep.

Maggie is very anxious as she goes into town and enters the post office. As she struggles to request a stamp, the clerk interrupts impatiently, supplying Maggie’s words for her. Maggie is embarrassed and frustrated. She feels even worse when a woman comes in and announces that someone called Doris, who was out walking her dog, has encountered “a monster.” Maggie is terrified about what this might mean for Rumpus’s safety.

She heads into Wildoak with some chicken for Rumpus, noticing how difficult it is for him to climb down out of the tree to eat. She lies down with him on the forest floor, cuddling him for a moment. Then, she rises, concerned about his lethargy. Inspecting him more closely, she realizes that his wound is badly infected. Desperate to think of a way to help Rumpus, she stills herself to think. She suddenly feels intimately connected to the forest again and realizes that Wildoak itself might offer her a way to heal the cat.

Rumpus wakes a little later as Maggie returns to his den in the old oak tree. She tells him that she has been at Fred’s, reading about how to use forest plants as medicine, and that she will gather the plants she needs and return to help him. He does not understand her words, but he understands her gentle tone. He lies back down to sleep as his fever climbs.

Maggie uses reference books she finds in Fred’s cottage to struggle through the process of gathering plants and transforming them into the poultices and tinctures that she needs to help Rumpus. When she hears Fred’s vehicle outside, she quickly hides her jars of medicine in an old basket under the table. Fred is surprised and amused at the state of the kitchen, but he willingly accepts Maggie’s explanation that she is trying to make a new kind of tea. He tells her that he has had a hard day; part of what made it hard is learning that Lord Foy has begun cutting down the forest. Maggie worries that someone will cut the ancient oak while Rumpus is still inside it. She protests that there must be a way to stop Lord Foy. However, Fred gently explains to her that the reality of the situation is that Lord Foy cannot be stopped and, in any case, many people support him because of the jobs that mining will bring to the area.

Two days pass while Rumpus hovers between life and death, unaware of Maggie coming and going as she tries to treat his infection.

Maggie arrives at the tree and applies the last of her medicines. Rumpus does not look any better to her, and he does not stir except to swallow weakly when she tries to give him some tincture mixed with milk. As she hears the rumble of trucks belonging to the crews cutting down the forest, she thinks for the first time that Rumpus may not make it and that even the forest is running out of time.

That night, Rumpus’s fever reaches its highest point; however, by the next morning, it has broken. Rumpus opens his eyes.

Maggie sits at breakfast, disconsolate about the imminent loss of Wildoak. Fred tells her that although they cannot save Wildoak, this does not mean they should give up on fighting for what they believe in. Maggie sees a headline about the villager’s meeting with Rumpus in the local paper; she struggles with whether to try to talk to Fred about it, but he is already heading to work.

Afterward, Maggie heads for the clearing, but Rumpus is not there. Worried, she calls out to him. A scruffy, bearded man grabs her shoulder and asks why she is not in school. When she struggles to answer him, he is shocked at her stutter and the physical motions that accompany it, and he rudely asks: “What the ’ell is wrong with you?” (194). Maggie runs back to the cottage and calms herself by holding the jar with her two snails in it. Suddenly, she is afraid that the man in the forest might be a danger to Rumpus, and her feeling of shame turns to a fierce determination to protect Rumpus.

Rumpus, still stiff and sore, moves through the forest looking for food and water. He is uneasy about the new smells in the forest around him: gasoline, rubber, and cigarette smoke. He sees a place where the trees have been cut, and the destruction increases his feeling that something is wrong. After getting a drink, he heads for the village, hoping that he can find food where the humans are. He knocks over a trash can but finds little that seems edible. He begins to eat a small bit of raw bacon but is interrupted when a car stops nearby. As he tries to run away, he rattles the trash can and a woman comes around the side of the building to investigate. When she sees Rumpus moving away as fast as his wounded paw will allow, she screams, drawing even more attention to Rumpus from other villagers in the area. Once again, someone screams that Rumpus is a “monster.” Rumpus finally makes it back to the clearing in the forest. He is delighted to see Maggie sitting still in her spot, patiently waiting for him. He runs to her, rubbing against her and making chuffing noises to greet the equally delighted girl.

Maggie tells Rumpus how happy she is to see him up on his feet. She distracts him with a stick to play with while she looks over his wound, and she is pleased to see that it looks much better. They play for a while and then she unsuccessfully tries to offer him some leftover cottage pie, but he will not eat the cooked food. When she begins to worry again about the villagers discovering Rumpus, she touches the roots of the ancient oak and once again experiences the calming sense of connection with the forest.