The drive back to the Stovall home wasn't that long. It wasn't across the street from the Andersons, but it was close to it. One only had to go a little ways down Wood Street to where the Stovall home was, though it was closer to the corner where one of the few roads that crossed the areas between the "spokes" that made up the wagon wheel layout that Moon Lake had. This was mostly due to the side of the land area needed for Moon Lake College when it was constructed in the early Twentieth Century, but that wasn't the thing that remained on Julie's mind as her mother pulled onto the driveway at the Stovall home.
"Sorry about not calling, mom," Julie felt compelled to say, given the nature that she and Eric had been a bit late in getting back home after school. The trip to the Barr home hadn't been planned, as in a since one could make the case that Spencer had "kidnapped" her and Eric after school, but while Spencer had showed obvious interest in Eric when they first met... and a bit uncomfortably to Julie, some interest in Julie as well, Julie didn't really see Spencer as a bad person, and Spencer did seem genuinely interested in helping Morgan, which was a good thing. The real problem was that it appeared that cell service appeared to be on the fritz that afternoon.
"You couldn't have predicted what would happen with cellphone reception, dear," Melissa Stovall assured her daughter as she got out of the car, and soon heard the other car door shut, indicating that Julie had done the same, "and in the end... it wasn't as though you and Eric were trying to elope."
"But that was never the plan!" Julie blurted with wide eyes, which made her mother laugh a little.
"I know, dear," Melissa smiled, remembering her own courtship with Martin, particularly after she realized how deeply she'd been in love with him and decided to become a were to be with him. It had been a magical experience for her and one that gave her some reason to believe in the theories that prophecy dreams were some magic window into the future, as she remembered some vivid dreams of her and Martin cradling Julie as a baby before Julie was even conceived. The fact that Julie and Eric had apparently been sharing dreams of their own family in the future only reminded Melissa of that, and confirmed her own personal beliefs.
They slowly made their way in, and Julie could soon catch the scent of dinner drifting through the air and she could hear her father's footsteps elsewhere in the house and likely closer to the dinning room or the kitchen. They calmly made their way in, and as Melissa shut the door there was another reaction that could be heard, Martin's response.
"Did you find her?" Martin's voice was heard coming from the kitchen.
"Yes, dear," Melissa answered as they made their way toward the kitchen where she soon put her husband in a loving embrace and Julie noted that he'd been preparing the plates and things were ready to be served, "She and Eric went with a friend to work on their homework... but it would appear that the phone signals are on the fritz again."
Martin gave a heavy groan at that, as that was a problem that happened from time to time. Moon Lake's position in the Cascade Mountains had always meant that there was the potential for a cellphone signal to be interrupted or made weaker. It was something that was particularly bad if the phone used didn't have a strong signal on its own, or if the company it was provided by wasn't super strong. In this, over the years, people had to have top level phones with a strong signal just to get a signal in Moon Lake. That only lead to issues when the company was either repairing the towers or there was something else that interfered with the cellular signals, much of the town's cell service was shut down. The only thing that kept Moon Lake "connected" was that many homes and buildings often had a land line as well, but given that much of the country was really starting to switch entirely over to cellphones, Martin couldn't be sure how long companies would even manufacture or maintain landline phones.
"So, who was this friend?" Martin wondered, knowing that Julie had a fair number school friends that she talked with and got along with quite well, though he didn't know well they got along with Eric.
"I think she's fairly new to town," Julie answered, "Spencer Lawson... she wanted to apparently help a different friend that she's made. A Morgan Barr..."
"Barr..." Martin gave a groan, "You didn't have to deal with his mother, did you?"
Julie blinked at the interruption as her father handed her the dinner plate that had been prepared for her. It was fairly simple pork chop dinner with mashed potatoes, but it did smell good and her father's groan was far more attention grabbing than dinner. Martin then lead the group back through the kitchen and to the dining room where the table was otherwise set with glasses of water waiting. It was only after Martin put his plate down that Julie actually moved to answer her father's question.
"Well... we did talk with her at her door, but she wasn't aggressive or anything," Julie said slowly, "Is something wrong?"
"Not really," Martin then gave a sigh, "It's just that her fight with the school district and the town over the demand that her son obey the law and be vaccinated in order to attend public school... Well... to say that it was ugly would be putting it politely."
"She's anti-Normal?" Julie asked, knowing that there were some occasional grumblings in were society that often felt that the mandatory were law was too lenient as it was at present. They'd often cited the dangers humanity posed to weres was such that every single member of normal families moving to Moon Lake HAD to become weres, as there was the potential that one family member might turn on his/her family. From what Julie knew, though, that had never come up and that some of these "suggestions" often took things too far.
"Not anti-Normal," Martin assured her with a nervous glance to Melissa, "but... she was very fierce with regard to her demand that her son be given some kind of special exception to attend school without the vaccinations... which would violate the laws that mandate vaccinations, which could cause trouble should we get an outbreak of MMR and agencies from the state or from Washington DC then take over the investigation. She couldn't accept that and pretty much drew her line in the sand."
"Well... she didn't seem too hostile or anything like that," Julie commented, "perhaps concerned for her son... but nothing hostile."
"Well... that has to be good," Melissa commented as she sat down, "as he'd have to be pretty lonely, particularly during the school year."
"I think that's why Spencer wanted Eric and I to go help," Julie answered, "let him meet with some people and interact with them... and he did seem rather shy though interested in Spencer..."
Julie didn't mention the potential "love triangle" that related to her suspicions that Spencer's primary male love interest was Eric and that Spencer also had some interest in Julie as well. Part of it was she wasn't fully sure on that and the other part was that she didn't want provoke anything that would potentially give someone who hadn't actually caused trouble grief. Martin and Melissa nodded and didn't say anything more on that. They all settled into dinner and looked to move onto more mundane conversation.
"So... other than helping some new friends with Eric, how was your day?" Melissa asked to Julie.
"It went fairly well," Julie commented, "though there were a bunch of rumors that started going through school... that sounded big."
"Someone popular dating someone?" Melissa raised an eyebrow remembering some of the sorts of rumors she'd thought of while growing up in California.
"It seemed a little random to me," Julie answered, "the only thing that seemed to get repeated with rumor to rumor was that there was to be some kind of city council meeting..."
"City Council meeting?" Martin said slowly, with his lips almost pulled into a cringe that both Melissa and Julie noticed.
"Yeah..." Julie said with a nod, "what it was about was what the rumors couldn't pin down."
Martin said nothing and prodded his food with a fork for a moment. It was something that again both his wife and daughter noticed and couldn't just ignore. Melissa frowned heavily as she looked to her husband.
"Is something wrong, dear?" Melissa asked, "Doesn't the city council have some unexpected meetings from time to time? Things with new business... or the potential for expanding the town?"
"From time to time, yes," Martin nodded, "but from the notes that reached my desk... this meeting isn't like meetings we've had before."
Melissa and Julie both traded glances with each other before they looked back to Martin, who had taken a bit of his pork and was presently chewing on it. Martin chewed quietly, swallowed and sighed as he could see the concern and worry in both his wife's and his daughter's eyes. In this he decided to answer and try to assure them as best he could. For as far as he knew, things like this sporadically did happen, but never got very far in the past beyond amending some of Moon Lake's laws.
"This isn't to leave this house... as in the long run, it should be fine, but could be troublesome if the news comes out in the wrong way," Martin spoke in warning, "I can't silence the rumors that have already come out... but we don't want to spread more. So... this stays within this house." Martin paused to look to his wife, "This means you don't tell your staff..." and then looked to Julie, "and you don't tell this to Eric."
"But... he's responsible!" Julie protested.
"I'm sure he is," Martin assured her, "but right now... the fewer that know the better. So please, keep this within our home."
He waited until he could see both Melissa and Julie nod. It was then that Martin continued.
"One of the City Council members has called for a special meeting on Friday," Martin spoke, "with the plan to discuss the were secret."
"The were secret!?!" Melissa gasped.
"Yes," Martin nodded with a sigh, "It'll probably be nothing to truly worry about in the long run. City records indicate that these sorts of things happened from time to time in the past. In the end, this often lead to no change... or only in changing the nature of how the were secret is protected... often in how it relates to the Mandatory Were Law. And sometimes these changes have been needed."
Melissa slowly nodded. Both she and Julie had learned a lot on how Moon Lake's laws changed over the years, particularly in relation to the were secret and the Mandatory Were Law. When the town was first founded, the law demanded that when Normal families moved to Moon Lake, every member of the family had to join Were society, largely in fear that someone would even betray their family. This inevitably lead to death and frustration when someone resisted the Mandatory Were Law or if they were too old to survive the first transformation, even if they were willing to join Were society. In time, those deaths were found to be immoral, especially with regard to cases of those that were too old to survive the transformation. Later, and closer to the Progressive Era in American history, the Mandatory Were Law was amended toward what it was at present, where at least one member of every family had to become a were with enough flexibility that would protect those who were older as well. In the 1980s it was changed again to allow for those who didn't move into Moon Lake to sign a waiver not to report anything odd. So far it had all worked, and while one could argue on the freedom of choice that the Mandatory Were Law took away from at least some people... but Melissa couldn't see many in Moon Lake giving up on that unless it was agreed that weres were to go public. And while there was a part of her that figured that that might make sense, and would be nice for all weres to live freely wherever they lived, at the same time she didn't want to risk Julie or the young life that was developing within her.
"But they won't demand anything?" Melissa asked.
"For the moment... I wouldn't see major change," Martin assured his wife, "maybe there will end up being some alterations to the failsafe plan... but for the moment, I wouldn't think it would go beyond that."
"I hope you're right, dear," Melissa could only say as there were a few collective sighs.