"Do you think we're in any trouble with our parents?" Julie Stovall asked her fiance Eric Anderson, as they climbed into Spencer Lawson's SUV for a ride home.
"I hope not," answered Eric, closing the passenger door of the Ford Bronco as everyone put on their seat belts. "I'd hate to cause them any more worry than I might already have."
"I think that's in the parents job description. My mom says that no matter how old I get, I'll always be her little girl," replied their new friend Spencer. "Anyway, we have no idea how long the phones have been out. For all we know, we might not have been able to call from Morgan's even if we had thought of it. In any event, I'll make sure you two get home and will take any heat from your folks in case you guys are in trouble," she promised. I just wish we could of had more time together this afternoon. Sometime maybe the three of us, or four if Morgan's interested, could have some real fun, she thought, still in lust for Eric and growing quite sexually interested in his woman too, as the SUV left the Barr house.
Late to the group gathering between her house and her next door neighbors', Samantha Twist was quickly brought up to date on the situation.
"So, Eric and Julie are both unaccounted for at the moment and there's no cellphone service," she said, summarizing current events. "We've had problems with the phones before, but not in over a year. Last time it was a faulty tower, but the closest one is miles outside of town."
"Well, I can excuse Eric and Julie for not calling right now under the circumstances," began William Anderson, "but that doesn't explain where they are, let alone where they've been."
"Right," agreed his wife Martha. "If they changed their plans for some reason and went some place other than our house or hers, they should of called."
"But what if they tried and couldn't reach anyone because of the outage?" wondered their oldest son Nate. "Depending upon what they're doing, both of them know they're safe within Moon Lake. For all we know, it might have been something they knew everyone would approve of if they could have gotten hold of you."
"Nate, until you're a parent yourself, I don't think you'll fully appreciate a mother's worry," replied Martha.
"Err..." began Alex Ramsey, Nate's boyfriend and future husband, uncertain what to say.
"I didn't mean any offense Alex," Martha quickly added. "I just meant that until Nate has a child of his own to worry about, I don't think he truly realizes how much goes into being a parent from our perspective."
Alex decided to let the moment pass without a response.
"Is everything all right?" Francis Twist asked, coming out to see what had kept her wife Samantha from checking to see if today's mail ever came.
Samantha quickly explained the situation to her.
"Eric and Julie are two of the smartest people I know," observed Francis. "Whatever's going on, I'm sure they're all right."
"I sure hope so," replied Martha. Then a thought occurred to her. She turned to face Melissa Stovall and started to ask "You don't suppose..."
Melissa couldn't think of what Martha was wondering at first, but when it dawned on her, was quick to answer. "As much as our children love each other and plan to spend the rest of their lives together, there's no way Eric and Julie would elope prematurely. They wouldn't want to risk any of their prophecy dreams not coming true."
"Prophecy dreams? I've never heard that term before. Is it like the Aborigines' Dream Time?" wondered Kenya Adaeze, Ben's girlfriend, who had been standing on the sidelines for most of this conversation.
"You've never heard of it?" repeated Francis. "It's a fascinating subject. Not much hard scientific evidence to support it, but there's decades of personal belief and circumstantial evidence of their existence among weres. The first—"
"Truthfully, I don't know what to think right now," admitted Martha, interrupting her friend, as she leaned up against her husband for moral and emotional support.
Hmm... Maybe Eric isn't the only Anderson I need to have a professional chat with, thought Francis, as William put a loving arm around his wife.With everything the Andersons have been through even before moving to Moon Lake, I wonder if the rest of the family is taking proper care of themselves both physically and mentally?
The group grew silent then, each member lost in their individual thoughts until an unknown SUV pulled up and parked at the curb.
TO BE CONTINUED...