Police Chief O'Hara did NOT like the news that greeted him as he walked into the main station of the Moon Lake Police Department.
"Another one?" he growled, since his fursona was an Irish Setter.
"Appears so," confirmed the officer on duty. "I have a unit watching him right now, but so far the guy hasn't left the hotel."
"How many guys is this Dieter Wilhelm gonna send from Alabama to do his dirty work?" wondered O'Hara, while going back over the report.
"Don't know, but from what little the waitress at the diner overheard, this one's supposed to hook up with the other."
"That's going to be kind of hard to do with him in the morgue," replied O'Hara, while giving the officer on duty the report back. "Okay. Maintain surveillance and if they haven't already been notified, contact the Skulk."
"The werefox at the Wedding Command Center in the back has already been informed, and said Mrs. Tachibana is willing to meet to coordinate further plans at the earliest convenience of both us and the Mayor's office," replied his officer, referring to the otherwise empty office they used for emergency situations.
"Then have the switchboard set up a conference call so we can coordinate our schedules. I'll take the call there," said O'Hara, as he grabbed a cup of decaf coffee and headed that way.
ELSEWHERE...
"Are you sure you're all right honey?" asked a greatly concerned Jenny Harper, as she strolled arm in arm with her fiance on their way to their next class.
"Yes," replied Harry Jenkins, as he patted her hand and kissed her cheek. "Ever before we became werefoxes, I started picturing us growing old together, surrounded by our children and grandchildren. But that nightmare I had last night..."
"It sounds like you might need a little time with Doctor Twist yourself today," observed Jenny, as they approached the point where they'd have to split up.
"Maybe," conceded Harry. "I'll pick you up to take you to your appointment after class," he promised, giving his finance a passionate kiss before reluctantly parting company.
Jenny stood in the hallway until she could no longer see the man she loved. Then she got out her cellphone. Upon the call being answered, Jenny said, "Hello. Rudy? This is Jenny Harper. I'd like to leave a message for Doctor Twist if I can."
MEANWHILE...
Eric Anderson looked at the teacher, studying the history notes on the blackboard as she talked about the early 20th Century, but his mind was elsewhere.
Only second period. Still well over an hour and a half until I see Julie again! he sighed.
"Is something wrong Mister Anderson?" asked the teacher. Although everyone was currently in their human forms, acute were hearing could not be fooled.
"I was just thinking about how, despite how much things have changed, they still somehow seem to remain the same," he replied, thinking about his growing love for Julie Stovall even before he became a were-merman when they finally bonded last Friday.
"An astute observation of today's problems compared to yesterday's," said the teacher, as she continued her lesson.
Still over an hour and a half...
CONCURRENTLY...
Martha Anderson sat the dining room table with all her study materials spread out on its cloth covered surface, going over everything she needed to learn for her recertification exam next Spring.
She had been an elementary school teacher in Minnesota until leaving the profession to give birth to her youngest son Eric and raising both him and older brother Nate, so still knew all the basics.
However, a lot had changed in those 14 years, as well as needing to learn the local specifics for both Washington State and Moon Lake in particular, especially when it came to educating young weres.
Although still years away from their first actual transformation, the young weres will already have received some education from their parent(s) in regards to their specific species and, whether intentionally or not, at times may show some of those natural traits, not fully aware of the risks they might be to themselves, others, normals, and the always present threat of public exposure to were society doing so might cause. read Martha.
"And here I thought all I would have to worry about was making sure the were kids didn't accidentally bite or scratch a normal," Martha said to no one in particular, since the house was currently empty.
She was about to get up and fix herself a pot of tea when the house phone rang.
"Anderson residence," said Martha, upon answering it.
"Martha Anderson please," requested the voice on the other end.
"Speaking."
"This is the Moon Lake School District calling," the woman on the phone said. "We're in need of a substitute teacher for at least the rest of this week at Moon Lake Junior High."
"The Junior high school?" repeated Martha, since her major field of experience was elementary school. More specifically, third grade.
"Yes. Will that be a problem?"
"No. Just wanted to make sure I heard that right."
"Okay. The assistant girls' gym coach there just notified us that her normal mother back on the East coast has passed away," explained the woman.
"Oh. I'm so sorry to hear that. My condolences," replied Martha.
"I'll pass them along when I can. But considering the nature of most of our employees," continued the lady, making a sly reference to weres, "we don't really carry a large staff of substitute teacher candidates, and you're the first one I've been able to actually contact. I've left messages with the others, but so far no one has called me back yet. Can you take the assignment?"
"Certainly. Just tell me when and where," said Martha, reaching for a blank piece of paper to write on.
"The girls' dressing room of the Junior high by 7:30 tomorrow morning. You'll be reporting to head Girls' PE Coach Katherine Johnson*. The assignment will be for at least the rest of this week for sure, and may extend into part of next week because of the travel logistics of the teacher you'll be covering for, but that remains to be seen."
"No problem. I'll be there," promised Martha.
"Good. I'll notify the Junior high immediately. Thank you Mrs. Anderson."
"No. Thank you!" replied Martha, before the call ended. Wait until I tell William I've got a teaching gig again!
_________________________________________________________________________________
*Okay, since I created the character, I know Coach Katherine "Kat" Johnson is fast becoming a major character in the Moon Lake of Earth 3 story line.
Yet William is still alive on Earth 1 and the Andersons are happily married weres, so how things turn out between Kat (a lesbian weretigress) and Martha (a bi-werecat) under these circumstances remains to be seen, but if Franknfurter69 can introduce the Earth 2 versions of Douglas and Dawn Hale into that Moon Lake...
tmw.