Free Poison Heart by Mary Logue

her.
    Then her mother drove up the driveway.
    As her mother stepped out of the car, Meg ran to her.
    “Mom, they don’t know what they’re doing. Can’t you stop them?”
    Claire wrapped an arm around Meg’s shoulders, and they walked up to the side of the trailer. “Hey, Jim. How’s it going?” she said.
    “Not so good. He’s been in a trailer before, but he doesn’t seem to want to budge today.”
    “I think I can make him get in the trailer,” Meg told them all.
    Her mother looked down at her. “You can?”
    Jim said, “I’d like to see that. Do you want to give it a try?”
    Claire squeezed her shoulders. “My daughter could get hurt.”
    “No, Mom, I won’t get hurt. I know what I’m doing. I’ll be very careful. Plus, Harvey’s used to me. He’s seen me every day for the last week. He knows me. Let me at least try.”
    The two men shrugged, and her mother said, “Okay, but we’re going to stand here. If anything happens, these men will jump in.”
    “Fine, but stand back. I need Harvey to forget you’re there. He doesn’t trust those guys.” Then Meg laid out her plan. “First let’s take Harvey back into the barn and let him calm down.”
    They led him into the barn and tied him to his stall. Meg walked back out with the men and told them what she wanted them to do.
    “You need to turn the truck off. That noise is bothering him. It’s too much.”
    They turned the truck off.
    “Now, open both doors at the end of the trailer. That way the whole trailer won’t seem so claustrophobic to Harvey.”
    The two men walked around to the head of the truck and opened the doors on either side of the trailer.
    “Wait for me. I’ll be right back. Then I think we can load him.” Meg ran into the house. She found an apple at the bottom of the refrigerator and cut it into four pieces. She stuffed it in her pocket and ran back outside.
    Her mother and the two men were waiting. The men seemed impatient. Meg decided she had to do it all herself. The men would not be gentle enough. “I’ll get him now,” she said, and walked into the barn. She showed Harvey the apple, then led him out to the bottom of the ramp.
    “I can do it, but why don’t you move a little farther away? Walk away, but don’t make any sudden moves.” Meg stood at the bottom of the ramp and fed Harvey the first piece of apple. While he was eating, she talked to him. She told him he was a good elk. She told him where he was going and how happy he would be to see all his friends again. Then she walked halfway up the ramp and held out another piece.
    Harvey took a step up the ramp and stretched out his neck to reach the apple. He ate the second piece. Meg backed up to the top of the ramp, and he followed. She fed him the third piece.
    Facing him, she walked backward until she hit the back wall of the trailer. Harvey was watching her. She held out her hand with the last slice of apple. Meg could tell he was trying to decide what to do. But he was already up the ramp and didn’t really want to go back down.
    Harvey sniffed the air. Meg held the apple on the palm of her hand as if it were a diamond for him to inspect. She could see his eyes were on the apple slice. This was where patience came in—something she had learned in school when it got too boring. Minutes went by. There was one moment when he turned his head and she thought she had lost him, then she clucked her tongue and he looked at her and the apple again.
    Finally he decided. She could tell by the way he shifted his weight on his legs even before he took the step. What he didn’t like, she knew, was entering the enclosure of the trailer.
    Suddenly he lunged forward, as if to get it over with, and stepped into the trailer, and she pulled the last piece of apple in closer to her chest. He came all the way into the trailer and put his muzzle on her hand, grabbing the apple.
    After he had taken the last piece of apple, she tied his rope to the bar that was next to her