"Harold Jenkins?" asked the man as he entered the hospital room, staring at the weretiger before him.
"Yes?" Having not been told otherwise, Harold hadn't changed back to his regular appearance yet.
"We've never met before, but I'm Henry Jenkins, Senior," said the older man, holding out his hand.
"Normally, I'd shake hands, but in my current state, I don't want to scratch you," replied Harold, holding out a paw.
"Understood. Both my sons are weres," replied Henry.
"Really. From what I can tell, you smell like I used to. Human."
"That's cause me and my wife are. When we first moved here to Moon Lake almost 20 years ago, my oldest son Henry Junior, although everyone calls him Huck, decided to become the Family Were. My youngest son, who also happens to be named Harold, became a were recently; but Lisa and I decided to stay just as we are."
"My daughter Melissa and I have only been in town a couple of days, but it certainly has turned out to be quite an adventure so far," said Harold.
"Yeah. This town has a way of getting under your skin. No offense," Henry quickly added.
"None taken. Are you the ones I've heard about. Some trouble concerning an upcoming wedding?" wondered Harold.
"Yeah. Long story short, my youngest is engaged to this wonderful girl he's madly in love with, but this other fellow thinks Jenny is his, and will stop at nothing to get her. He's already tried twice to have my boy killed, the second time resulting in my oldest accidentally getting shot by mistake," explained Henry, trying to recap recent events.*
"I kind of had a different problem. Trying to come to terms with either me or my daughter having to become the Family Were, while two ladies argue over me. One I like, the other is a serious man user I want nothing to do with. My mistake was trying to break up a fight between them, not knowing what would happen if I got scratched. At least I wound up in the form of the one I like," said Harold.**
"It can be tough, trying to find the right woman," agreed Henry. "My oldest just now found his. My youngest apparently got lucky and found his on the first attempt. Thankfully, my wife and I have been together since elementary school. Been married almost 50 years now."
"Really?" said Harold, raising a furry eyebrow at the seriously gray haired man. "My Eliza passed away a few years ago from cancer. Been mourning like there's no tomorrow until after we moved here in hopes of getting a fresh start."
"You know, Jenkins isn't that common a name," Henry pointed out. "Whereabouts are you from?"
"Michigan. You?"
"Texas originally. But I always wanted to start my own construction company after working for others all these years. Had the opportunity to do so here in Moon Lake and took it. Haven't looked back since."
"You like it here?" wondered Harold.
"Nice small town. Definitely different," replied Henry, pointing at Harold's new fur coat. "But it's home and after all these years, even if a better opportunity came up somewhere else, I wouldn't take it."
"The existence of weres does take some getting used to, even without becoming one yourself," agreed Harold. "I picked the place because of my new history teaching position at Moon Lake College starting this January. All of this," he said, pointing to his new fursona, "does take some getting used to, but I can adjust. At least now Melissa doesn't have to become a were too."
"I wouldn't hold my breath on that one," advised Henry. "If she falls in love with a local, she might have to."
"Well, at least then it would be her decision for the right reason. Not because of some law saying she had to," replied Harold. "I would probably have become a weretiger to be with the weretigress I was interested in in time, but that would have been because I fell in love. Not because of this Mandatory Were Law the town has."
"It does serve its purpose," pointed out Henry.
"You know. Virginia said the same thing. Come to think of it, I'm starting to get to the point where I can't picture my life without her," confessed Harold.
"The magic of the town," confirmed Henry.
The two men then tried comparing their respective family trees, but found no common ancestry among recent generations.
"Our branches probably diverged at some point way in the past," assumed Henry.
"Probably," agreed Harold, "but if you don't mind me asking, are there any Johns or Sebastians on your part of that tree?"
"Not that I know of. Why?"
"Just part of a nice dream I've been wondering about. But if you don't mind me asking, how come you and your wife didn't go furry too?" wondered Harold.
"We seriously thought about it, but in the end decided it wasn't for us. Do you know that, baring serious illness or accident, the average were lifespan is about 400 years?" asked Henry.
"NO! REALLY?" exclaimed Harold.
"It's true. But neither Lisa nor I could see ourselves living that long, regardless of what animal group we joined."
"Religious principles?"
"No. Just never could figure out what we'd do with all that time," admitted Henry. "Speaking of which, I better get back to the others before they start wondering where the heck I am. Nice talking to you Harold."
"Same to you Henry."
"I'm in the phone book, if you ever need a friendly ear."
"I might take you up on that some time. Take care of yourself Henry."
"You too Harold," replied the other Jenkins, before leaving the hospital room.
OUR CROSSOVER CONCLUDES AS WE FOLLOW HENRY BACK TO THE ICU WAITING ROOM IN THE MOON LAKE, ANDERSONS THREAD.
HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE STORY.
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*Within the Moon Lake, Andersons thread.
**His short version of the Moon Lake, Jenkins thread, to date.—tmw.