· Idre, Sweden
Three knocks at the door.
From the journal of the Wolf of the North · a work of fiction
A family knocked three times because the first two were lost in the wind. Their sleigh had overturned near the old logging track, and a reindeer herd had circled the younger boy. I took a lantern and followed their broken runners into the dark.
The animals were not hunting him. They had been spooked by a wire fence, and every attempt to leave sent them back toward the sleigh. I snapped the wire with both hands, walked the boy out, and came home with my lantern still burning.