While Tad went to school, Jen Decker went about her own work for the day. Moving across the country had a lot of work that went along with it. The boxes used in the move would have to go to storage somewhere for either things that would be periodically recycled, like magazines or soda bottles and so forth. It may not require all of them, but at the same time, Tad was a senior in high school, and despite all of the pain from losing Jeff and the frustrations that came with being a were outside of places like Moon Lake, Jen knew that it wouldn't be long before Tad grew up and moved out. He had four years of college ahead of him, and if he went to Moon Lake's college, he could stay at home, but Tad hadn't said much on where he wanted to go for college, and the two of them would probably need to go through some applications before Christmas. After college, Jen figured that Tad would move out and start his own life independent of her.
"Where does all the time go?" Jen thought to herself as she carried some of the excess boxes to the garage and tossed them into a pile in a corner of it. That would do until she or Tad put them in the crawlspace above the garage for storage. At times it seemed like only yesterday that she and Jeff looked down to see their five year old son parading around in his father's dress uniform's hat, and now he would be applying for colleges and had caught the eye of a female werewolf in Moon Lake.
Jen busied herself with a few more things before figuring that Moon Lake's grocery had to be open, even if its hours had changed since she had last been in the town. She pressed a small round button on the side wall of the garage to open the door. She was about to get into her car when she noticed that there was a car parked on her driveway already. Shortly after the garage door, a figure came around the front of the house from the front door to the garage door opening. She was female, looked like she was in her twenties or early thirties, wore a woman's business type suit, though not super formal in that regard.
Jen also caught the woman's scent. She was a werecat, and her blond hair was combed back to let her hair fall behind her shoulders. Her face was slightly more mature than Jen remembered, but still young, which made sense. Once mature, weres aged very slowly to fit their potentially centuries long lifespans.
"Hello, Jen," said Samantha Twist, Moon Lake's Town Chancellor, spoke from the door-frame to the garage, "Do you have a moment?"
"Sam...?" Jen gasped in surprise as she recognized the werecat before her. Someone she hadn't seen since she and Jeff left Moon Lake. She knew that Samantha had become Moon Lake's Town Chancellor, but that knowledge still clashed with Jen's memory and it took her a few moments to fully recognize her old friend.
"Yes," Samantha gave a soft smile, "I did text you that I would be by later..."
"I'd thought that was related to something later in the evening," Jen said weakly.
"Any invitation to dinner or that sort of thing can be arranged when you have time," Samantha said politely, "and arranged in advance. This is more within my responsibilities as Town Chancellor."
"Okay," Jen said slowly and then waved her in, "Come on in. Will you want anything?"
"No... I'm good," Samantha answered, "And this shouldn't be too long a visit. Just something I need to do with people moving to Moon Lake."
"Tad and I are both already weres," Jen reminded Samantha with a bit of a chuckle.
"Which is why this should only be a short meeting," Samantha chuckled back.
Jen nodded and opened the door that lead back into the house and let Samantha walk in quietly. The two then made their way into the kitchen/dining area. Samantha took one chair and set her purse on the dinning room table.
"Now... I know you are fully aware of Moon Lake's laws... but how much of that did you and Jeff teach to your son?" Samantha asked.
"If you're worried about him exposing himself as a werewolf, you needn't," Jen said with pride.
"I'm sure," Samantha gave a friendly smile in reply, "but there are some specific times when during the day that you both can transform in public during the day... and specific areas where you wouldn't be allowed to transform at all, regardless of the time of day. Moon Lake does give weres a bit more freedom than they would elsewhere... I just want to make sure that your son doesn't get overwhelmed and make a mistake."
"That won't happen, I assure you of that," Jen spoke, "If anything... Tad's only problem might be in recognizing just how much freedom he'll have here."
"I see," Samantha commented and then leaned over to dig into her purse, "Well... that will be good. However, I do have a handbook with me... you wouldn't believe how many copies I have in my office and even at home because of working to welcome "new" residents..."
Jen watched as Samantha pulled out a small paperback book and held it out to her. She'd never seen the town's handbook, as she had been born a were and her own mothers had taught her Moon Lake's rules when she had her first transformation, but she was aware of it.
"Now... Tad won't have to worry about the were-species entries," Samantha spoke, "as he already IS a were... but it will include maps on where the public lands are, where he can transform after dark, and where the privately owned farms are... and where the normal campsites around the lake are. I'm sure you and Jeff did teach him well... but this can help."
Jen nodded, but also began to break down at the mention of Jeff's name. Samantha meant no harm and had even paid her and her departed husband a complement with regard to her parenting skills, but the fact that it reminded her of the loving and loyal man that she loved only made her look down and even sniffle a little bit.
"I'm... sorry," Samantha said slowly as she stood up, "I didn't..."
"He went through all sorts of hell," Jen pulled Samantha into a hug and began to cry into Samantha's shoulder, "He went through all sorts of hell against people who were trying to kill him because he was an American... a Marine... a Christian... because their nutjuob leaders declared "war" on the US. He went through all of that to protect me... to protect the country... to protect his son... and then someone kills him at home... where he should have been safe!"
Samantha only held Jen to her. She had heard plenty of horror stories and stories of pain, especially when they related to wars. The present "War on Terror," the Persian Gulf War, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, both World Wars, and all the various skirmishes in between had brought their own fair share of sadness and Moon Lake, like many towns in America had memorials that listed every Moon Lake native who had given his life on some foreign field. But that was very much a "large scale" image of loss. It wasn't personal, Jen's loss WAS personal, and Samantha could easily relate. Samantha did the only thing she figured she could do, she gave a soft purr to assure Jen that everything would be okay.
"I'm sure whoever killed him will face justice," Samantha promised, "and I'm also sure that he'd be proud of how Tad has turned out."
It wasn't much, but it was the best Samantha could manage.
"Thank you," Jen said weakly.
"Now... will you need any help in getting Tad into a pack?" Samantha asked, "some group of werewolves that he can spend time with?"
"Tad's actually made friends with a female already," Jen said weakly, rubbing her eyes with her free hand, "She gave him the number for an Austin Perry."
"Austin is one of the local Alphas," Samantha nodded, "and if Tad decides to join that pack... he'd be in the same pack as my adopted son, Ben."
"Then hopefully they'll all be friends," Jen commented, "it'd be good for him to have friends that are like him..."
Samantha nodded, "and how about you? Do you want to rejoin your old pride? Would you have any interest in a new one?"
"Once... once we're a bit more settled in and Tad has a pack to be with..." Jen said slowly, "would you mind having an old friend come and join you?"
"No... no we wouldn't," Samantha smiled, "It'll take a little bit of work... but let me know when you're ready, and I'll see about reserving one of the picnic areas at one of the town parks and try to get as many pride members as we can to come in."
"Thanks," Jen answered, "And I will let you know."
Samantha nodded.
"Assuming there's no drama in it," Jen commented.
"There wouldn't be," Samantha chuckled, remembering her text earlier in the morning, "the drama is just in relation a bonded pair of new werefoxes... deeply in love... both were normals until recently... but the parents of the bride do not live in Moon Lake and aren't known for good parenting skills."
Jen winced. She had her pain at losing Jeff, but that didn't mean she didn't want every one else to be in a constant state of mourning with her.
"The drama is that the pair are engaged and there is the fear that the parents of the bride to be might try to upset wedding," Samantha answered, "which has me pretty busy at times with regards to keeping things secure for the wedding..."
"Sounds like a lot," Jen commented.
"There's also some issues with a guy who came looking for Bigfoot and has become a werecheetah," Samantha continued, "and before you ask... he had an odd Chromosome arrangement and a lunatic geneticist with delusions of grandeur managed to slip him some serum that made him a fully functional HER. She is doing well presently... or at least as well as can be... Though that's all stuff that you and Tad won't need to worry about too much."
"Thank goodness," Jen answered. She had her worries over Tad socializing with other weres, protective parenting instincts considering how forward Amy Howler was being toward her son, and still working with the pain of losing her husband, but she didn't think she could handle either of the issues that Samantha had just mentioned.