Ben Twist walked the short distance from the Anderson household to his own home and, seeing no other cars in the driveway but his own and the house dark, let himself inside.
There was no reason to shift to his werewolf fursona or turn on any lights, for his night vision worked relatively well enough in his human form to keep him from bumping into furniture. His unique sense of smell said that only the scents that were supposed to be in the house existed, but that his was the only fresh one. Those of his mothers were hours old.
Walking from the now locked front door to the kitchen, Ben saw no note left along the way by either of his parents: Samantha or Frances. Neither lady had called or left a message on his cell during the day, but the blinking red light on the household answering machine, indicating that it had a message, caught his eye.
After grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge, Ben went over and pressed play on the machine.
Hi Ben, began Doctor Frances Twist's voice as the machine began playing the recording. Sorry neither Samantha or I can be there right now. Don't worry, we're okay. It's all professional stuff because of the Harper/Jenkins wedding this Saturday and that Dieter Wilhelm in Alabama stirring up more trouble for Moon Lake. Will tell you what I can when we get home for the evening without betraying doctor/patient confidentiality. Love you," said Frances, as the beep sounded, ending the call.
Having not heard any of the conversation between William and Martha Anderson, Ben was in the dark about what had happened today.
He was about to go to his bedroom when the machine started playing another message.
Hi son, began Samantha Twist. Afraid I don't know when we'll be home tonight. That blasted Wilhelm's causing more trouble in Moon Lake, and it's up to us to deal with it. It was only going to be leftovers for dinner tonight anyway, so please save us something if you eat before going out to see Kenya. Tell her we said hello, and we'll see you by curfew tonight. Take care," said Samantha, as the machine ended her call.
Ben waited a bit, but there were no other messages.
Going to his room, Ben thought about his evening.
Samantha and Frances didn't say he couldn't see Kenya tonight, but something felt wrong about going out when they weren't home.
After checking the time and the contents of his wallet, Ben reached for his cellphone and dialed.
"Hello?" a sweet voice said on the other end.
"Hi Kenya. Have you eaten yet?" asked Ben, talking to his girlfriend.
"No, I haven't. I'm just now getting out of my last class for the day. What did you have in mind my darling werewolf?" she asked.
"Come to my place. We'll split a pizza and see where the night leads us from there," he suggested.
"Interesting, but what about your mothers?" she asked.
"They're not home yet. Lot of professional stuff they have to deal with in each job right now," explained Ben. "We can have dinner together, such as it is. Then maybe hang out, talk. I'll put on the stereo and we can dance a while since we're going to the Halloween party Saturday night. I don't know how intimate we can actually get this evening, but a certain werepanthress close to my heart has taught me that it isn't always about sex, and I would really love to see you tonight."
"That sounds very romantic my dearest. Just let me call my aunt and uncle to inform them of the change in plans and I'll be over within the hour," promised Kenya Adaeze.
With a quick goodbye, Ben then called Moe's Pizza* to place a delivery order for 2 pizzas. One heavy on the meat to cater to two hungry carnivores and the second with more traditional fixings for two werecats who would probably be very hungry by the time they got home.
Uncertain where exactly his mothers were at the moment but happy that his evening would be going well for all, Ben went back out to set the table and turned on the stereo to Moon Lake College Radio's evening program of romantic music.
_________________________________________________________
*Established in a previous, but sadly as yet unfinished Moon Lake story thread.—tmw.