as they walked up the stairs together now made sense.
“Inside the pack, the wer have no sense of personal privacy.”
She got dressed in record time and decided to skip having a shower. After her father left when she was ten, it had been just her and her mother. With the exception of a year in university residence when she didn’t have a choice, she’d lived alone all her adult life. Something told her that all this family togetherness she found herself in the midst of was going to wear thin pretty quickly. . . .
Elbows on the kitchen table, sipping at cup of very good coffee, Vicki tried to look as though a half-naked woman joined her for breakfast every morning.
“The vinyl seats stick,” Nadine had explained as she sat, smoothing her cotton skirt. It had been wrapped so that a single tug would release it.
Apparently Stuart’s decision the night before to leave off the despised sweatpants had given the rest of the family the opportunity to dress as they chose. Or not. Given that the heat had already left a damp vee down the back of Vicki’s T-shirt, she supposed the “or not” wasn’t such a bad idea. She couldn’t help but notice the various items of clothing scattered all over the house, ready to be pulled on if an outsider arrived. “Although if it’s someone we don’t want to see, ” Nadine had confirmed, “we just stay in fur-form and ignore them. ” Considering the size of the fur-forms, Vicki was willing to bet the wer had no trouble with trespassers.
From where she sat, Vicki could see out the largest of the three kitchen windows. The view included a scruffy expanse of lawn, a weathered building with a slight list to the west that appeared to be a garage, and beyond that, the barnyard. Cloud and Storm were stretched out under the huge willow tree in the center of the lawn. As Vicki watched, Storm lifted his head and yawned. He got slowly to his feet, stretched, and had a vigorous shake, dark russet fur rippling with highlights in the early morning sun. He sniffed at Cloud who ignored him. Dropping into a half crouch, he pushed his muzzle under her jaw and lifted. Her head rose about six inches off the ground and then dropped. She continued to ignore him. He did it again. The third time, Cloud twisted, changed, and Rose grabbed his muzzle with both hands.
“We’re at the end of a very long lane.” Nadine anticipated Vicki’s question. “You can’t actually see the house from the road and, with the exception of mail delivery, almost no one uses the road but us.”
Out on the lawn, Cloud chased her brother twice around the tree and out of sight.
The sound of claws on linoleum shifted Vicki’s attention back into the house but it was only Shadow coming down the stairs and into the kitchen. He sat in front of the refrigerator, had a quick scratch, then changed so he could open the door.
“Ma, there’s nothing to eat.”
“Don’t stand with the fridge door open, Daniel.”
He sighed but obediently closed it and Vicki marveled at how universal some things could be . . .
“If you’re hungry why don’t you go out to the barn and hunt rats?”
. . . and how universal some things were not. Daniel sighed again and dragged himself over to lean against his mother’s shoulder. “Don’t know as I’m hungry for rats.”
Nadine smiled, brushing the hair back off his forehead. “If you catch one and you don’t want to eat it, you can bring it to me.”
This apparently solved all problems because it was Shadow who put both front paws up on Nadine’s lap and swiped at her face with his tongue before bounding outside. The screen door, Vicki saw, had been hung so that it swung freely in both directions with no latch to prevent a nose or a paw from pushing it open.
“They grow up so fast,” Nadine said reflectively, snatching a fly out of the air.
For one horrified moment, with the rats still causing her a little trouble, Vicki was afraid Nadine was going to eat it but the older
“Inside the pack, the wer have no sense of personal privacy.”
She got dressed in record time and decided to skip having a shower. After her father left when she was ten, it had been just her and her mother. With the exception of a year in university residence when she didn’t have a choice, she’d lived alone all her adult life. Something told her that all this family togetherness she found herself in the midst of was going to wear thin pretty quickly. . . .
Elbows on the kitchen table, sipping at cup of very good coffee, Vicki tried to look as though a half-naked woman joined her for breakfast every morning.
“The vinyl seats stick,” Nadine had explained as she sat, smoothing her cotton skirt. It had been wrapped so that a single tug would release it.
Apparently Stuart’s decision the night before to leave off the despised sweatpants had given the rest of the family the opportunity to dress as they chose. Or not. Given that the heat had already left a damp vee down the back of Vicki’s T-shirt, she supposed the “or not” wasn’t such a bad idea. She couldn’t help but notice the various items of clothing scattered all over the house, ready to be pulled on if an outsider arrived. “Although if it’s someone we don’t want to see, ” Nadine had confirmed, “we just stay in fur-form and ignore them. ” Considering the size of the fur-forms, Vicki was willing to bet the wer had no trouble with trespassers.
From where she sat, Vicki could see out the largest of the three kitchen windows. The view included a scruffy expanse of lawn, a weathered building with a slight list to the west that appeared to be a garage, and beyond that, the barnyard. Cloud and Storm were stretched out under the huge willow tree in the center of the lawn. As Vicki watched, Storm lifted his head and yawned. He got slowly to his feet, stretched, and had a vigorous shake, dark russet fur rippling with highlights in the early morning sun. He sniffed at Cloud who ignored him. Dropping into a half crouch, he pushed his muzzle under her jaw and lifted. Her head rose about six inches off the ground and then dropped. She continued to ignore him. He did it again. The third time, Cloud twisted, changed, and Rose grabbed his muzzle with both hands.
“We’re at the end of a very long lane.” Nadine anticipated Vicki’s question. “You can’t actually see the house from the road and, with the exception of mail delivery, almost no one uses the road but us.”
Out on the lawn, Cloud chased her brother twice around the tree and out of sight.
The sound of claws on linoleum shifted Vicki’s attention back into the house but it was only Shadow coming down the stairs and into the kitchen. He sat in front of the refrigerator, had a quick scratch, then changed so he could open the door.
“Ma, there’s nothing to eat.”
“Don’t stand with the fridge door open, Daniel.”
He sighed but obediently closed it and Vicki marveled at how universal some things could be . . .
“If you’re hungry why don’t you go out to the barn and hunt rats?”
. . . and how universal some things were not. Daniel sighed again and dragged himself over to lean against his mother’s shoulder. “Don’t know as I’m hungry for rats.”
Nadine smiled, brushing the hair back off his forehead. “If you catch one and you don’t want to eat it, you can bring it to me.”
This apparently solved all problems because it was Shadow who put both front paws up on Nadine’s lap and swiped at her face with his tongue before bounding outside. The screen door, Vicki saw, had been hung so that it swung freely in both directions with no latch to prevent a nose or a paw from pushing it open.
“They grow up so fast,” Nadine said reflectively, snatching a fly out of the air.
For one horrified moment, with the rats still causing her a little trouble, Vicki was afraid Nadine was going to eat it but the older
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