Martha's morning went fairly well. She and William showered and dressed and the Anderson family went through breakfast. From there, she and William went through their own treks to work. William was at the college, and she was subbing at the Middle School. Both of them needed to be there well before school actually started, as it wouldn't do well to have students to arrive and find their classrooms dark and the teacher not there. From a discipline standpoint, that'd be a risk that no school would want to put on their teachers. So, Martha drove along the roads that would take her from the Anderson home to the Middle School and found a familiar face waiting for her.
"Morning," Martha said to Kat as she walked in through the doors by the gym where Coach Katherine "Kat" Johnson was already on duty monitoring the entry way to make sure students entered calmly and in good order.
"Morning," Kat replied with a very obvious smile, "Ready for a new day?"
"Of course," Martha answered, "and I hope to do well... Especially since today would be my last day here. By Monday, next week, you'll have your normal assistant coach with you."
And Martha did feel fairly ready for the day. She had some questions that floated in the back of her mind, but they were something she'd need answers from Frances on, and that would have to wait until lunch. Right now, Martha could only prepare for the morning PE classes that Kat had be ready for them. That wasn't necessarily a problem, as she had come to like Kat as a friend and partner for some "girl time," just as she'd made friends with Dawn at the elementary in service day. And in that, memories of meeting Lila Carpenter the previous evening had been enough to give her some ideas to help Kat. They might already know each other, as both of them were weretigers, but Martha couldn't know how well they knew each other, and perhaps the two could get along. After all, while Moon Lake was a small town, that didn't mean that everyone in the town knew everyone personally.
"Yeah, but it was nice to meet you," Kat said with a friendly tone in her voice, "and even if aren't going to be working together all the time... that doesn't mean we can't be friends."
"I would like that," Martha spoke before turning to head to the office and clock in for the day.
"So... you will be free for some fun later?" Kat asked.
That made Martha stop and give a small sigh, "I'm afraid not today. The Skulk has its pre-Halloween meeting tonight and..."
Kat blinked and was about to protest, but then remembered that Martha's husband was a werefox. That meant Martha was an honorary member in the Skulk and unless her pride of werecats had one of their own meetings, she'd be expected to attend. In theory Martha could get out of the meeting otherwise, but it'd be difficult and wouldn't look proper to the werefoxes to use "having sex with a female weretiger" as an excuse.
"And you'll be joining your husband at the meeting," Kat said with a sigh, "Well... I suppose that could be fun. Though, given all the rumors that I've heard about the wedding tomorrow... I think the Skulk is probably going to be more concerned with giving the Harper girl the best wedding they can manage that some of the things the Skulk normally talks about."
"I'm sure," Martha nodded, "but it's still there... Though, I think I might also have some good news for you."
"Good news?" Kat wondered.
"Do you know a Lila Carpenter?" Martha asked.
"No personally," Kat answered, "I know she's a weretiger and she works at city hall, but that's about it."
"Well..." Martha gave a small smile, "Perhaps when the weretigers have THEIR next meeting... you could introduce yourself. She was helping Samantha Twist on some project to help a normal become a weretiger yesterday... but when I met her... she seemed somewhat interested in me as well. So, you might have someone you could be with that wouldn't think that a big strong weretigress would hurt them."
"Martha Anderson," Kat teased, "are you trying to set me up?"
"Just looking for ways to let you be happy," Martha answered with a smile and then headed toward the office to clock in for the day.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The morning went fairly well and Martha enjoyed going through the classes. She wasn't fully used to or trained for things that related to physical education or middle school education, but things worked out well enough that as a sub, she wasn't having to control anything. She felt she'd done a good at helping Kat with her work and many of the students seemed to respond well enough to her. Martha did feel pleased with that, but as lunch time came around, she decided to then handle some of the other issues that had been weighing on her mind, particularly since having her dreams the previous night that apparently William had shared. She collected her lunch from the school's cafeteria and then made her way to Kat's office and sat down in a quiet spot and then dialed a number on her cellphone.
"Hello, Frances Twist, speaking," came a familiar voice over the phone.
"Hey, Frances, do you have time to talk... answer a few questions?" Martha asked.
"Well... I was about to head out to lunch, but I think I can answer a few questions... though if it's about some afternoon delight... I'm afraid that neither Samantha nor I have time for that today," Frances answered.
"Well, I'm actually pretty busy myself at the moment," Martha said reassuringly, "and the school would probably have issue with interrupting the school day for that sort of thing. I only have some questions I need answered."
Martha took a bite of her lunch when she heard Frances answer with a question, "About what?"
"Prophecy dreams," Martha answered, "Eric and Nate have said that Julie and Alex told them that they let weres see the future."
"That is the perception," Frances spoke, "though often related to how you see a were's existence. Those that see more "magic" in were's existence are pretty faithful to the idea while those that see more science in were's existence are more prone to question it, why do you ask?"
"Well... I think William and I might have had at least one last night," Martha spoke softly so not to disturb Kat, "one was about William being a character witness for Nate and Alex as they adopt a young girl in the future. The other was about me meeting with Eric and Julie as adults and talking about William and I raising Wilma while Julie chases after her own daughter."
"So that would sound like a pretty good future," Frances commented, "I'd assume that you and William have a daughter in the future, is something wrong with that?"
"Nothing is necessarily wrong," Martha answered as she shook her head, "William and I actually planned to have a son and a daughter when Nate was born. It would be a complete family... but when Eric was born, we then agreed that we wouldn't have the finances and lifespan to keep trying for a daughter. But now as weres, that option is there for us and it is something we probably will get into when Nate and Eric are fully independent from us and on their own..."
"Well, that does sound like something good and have comfort in," Frances commented, "Is there something wrong with that?"
"But is it real?" Martha asked, her voice sounding nervous and pausing to sip her milk, "Would it really be real?"
There was a silent moment, which Martha felt meant that Frances was thinking. After a few moments, Frances did speak to her to answer the question.
"That again can depend on how you want to look at it," Frances spoke, "Or how you act on it. Those that see prophecy dreams more scientifically simply say that they are things that our subconscious WANTS to happen and gives weres the confidence to move consciously toward that and that when it "comes true," it's entirely up to luck and that the result wasn't destined to happen. And there are some weres who have had prophecy dreams that have consciously subverted them and made what they saw NOT happen to prove that prophecy dreams are a part of our subconscious and aren't destined to happen... others did so with the purpose that their prophecy dream was a warning of a bad future and thus acting to prevent it."
"But wouldn't that action be proof or confirmation of things they were doing before hand?" Martha asked, "that they were acting to either accept or resist what they saw?"
"It can," Frances replied, "It can, as they were actively doing things differently... but again, much of that's been under the theory that prophecy dreams are simply creations of the subconscious and thus aren't real or at least aren't destined. That they are what we WANT to happen."
"And what about the other way... that see prophecy dreams as some sign of weres having connections to the supernatural?" Martha asked.
"They'd generally take comfort in what they saw, as it would answer questions and fears in their minds," Frances answered simply, "and there, the only issue is being able to discern a prophecy dream which they'd hold as having supernatural properties and normal dreams which are creations of the subconscious mind."
"How would I tell the difference?" Martha asked.
"Those that see prophecy dreams as something real and supernatural will say that a prophecy dream will literally feel real on every level," Frances told her, "where as regular dreams will have have some portion of them that even their subconscious mind identifies as not real. There is also the fact that when married weres have prophecy dreams... they share the dream."
"Then... William and I..." Martha said slowly as she looked up to see Kat standing up and tapping a finger to wristwatch. "I gotta go, afternoon classes will be starting soon. Can we... William and I... talk sometime tomorrow afternoon? After Jenny and Harry's wedding is over?"
"Yes," Frances answered, "but before you go... don't worry too much. It's likely that you and William DID have a prophecy dream, and if having a daughter is what you both ultimately want... that it should be an assurance of a good future."