Moe walked back into the Charleston home after his walk around town. He was happy to find a new place for Moe's Pizzeria. His good mood, however, vanished as he noticed his wife Nichole sitting in the living room. The scowl on her face made it apparent to Moe that Nichole was upset about something.
The moment that Moe walked through the front door, she glared up at him and said rather curtly, "About time you got home."
"Sorry?" Moe said as he slowly walked through the door and closed the door behind him. "I got the phone debugged. The cops tell me that it's safe now." He waved his cell phone as he said this. "And then I decided to walk around town. Get a feel for the place. I found this great shop that we could set up a new Moe's Pizzeria." Excitement could be heard from his voice, but it was quickly faded as he noticed the scowl on Nichole's face. He sighed and said, "What's bothering ya?"
"It's Karen," Nichole said as she glanced towards Karen's room.
Moe's face softened as he followed Nichole's glance. "What about Karen?"
Nichole sighed and said, "This morning, I registered Karen for high school. When I got back, Francine offered to take Karen and me for a tour of the town. We stopped to eat at the local diner when she mentioned that she was willing to become one of...them."
"Them?" Moe asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You know...the same things as Francine and Daniel."
"Karen wants to be a weredog?"
Nichole narrowed her eyes at Moe before responding with, "You know what I mean."
Moe sighed and called out, "Karen! Come here!" Karen soon left her room and joined her parents in the living room. Karen could see the look on her parents face, and she immediately thought she was in trouble. "We've been talking, and your mom told me that you wanted to be the family were. Is that right?" Karen nodded her head, a little afraid of where the conversation was going. Moe looked at Karen and asked, "Why?"
Karen thought for a few moments and responded, "We've been on the run from Marcus and his family for so long, and well, I'm tired of it. I want to settle down and try to live a normal...well...relatively normal...teenage life. I mean, ever since we've been on the run, I haven't been to school in so long, I've had to say goodbye to too many friends, and I'm tired of it. I get that this town has secrets. Secrets which it shared with us because they want us to stay here. I get that they have fears about that secret getting out. That's why I'm willing to become a were. I want to stay here, and I'm willing to share this town's secrets by becoming a were."
Moe thought about Karen's answer for a bit. There was a bit of silence as Moe thought about his own words for a bit before answering. "I have to agree with your mother. There's just too much we don't know yet. I mean, we've seen people who say they're weres, but we haven't seen any in the fur...so to speak."
"But, that's so unfair!" Karen exclaimed, but Moe held up his hand.
"I'm not saying no forever," Moe said calmly. "Just no right now." He leaned back. "From what I could tell talking with the people in the town and at the police station, they all seem friendly and respectable. Even with the people who aren't weres." He looked at Karen as he continued, "Karen, if this is something that you really want, I want you to take the time to learn more about what you'd be getting into. Maybe talk with a were that you want to be. And, if after all that, you still want to be a were-something, I'll allow it."
"What?" Nichole exclaimed. Moe raised his palm towards her as he turned towards her.
"I can understand your fear," Moe said. "I mean, I'm a bit afraid of our daughter changing myself. But I think we need to learn more about them. We've only been here a few days, and I think it's worth it to learn more about these...unique...people. Who knows, maybe we'll become one of them too."
"Become one of them? You can't be serious!" Nichole's face turning red as she looked aghast.
"All I'm saying," Moe said to Nichole, "is that there's just too much we don't know. And I think that and combined with all of the running we've been doing has made us a bit too afraid. We're safe here, and we should know more about the place we're living in."
While Moe and Nichole were talking, Karen went back to her room to read the information that she got from Samantha. While her dad did say no, he had a point. Maybe she needed to learn more about the types of feline weres before she makes the plunge.