Alone within their Moon Lake family home, Martha Anderson studied for her upcoming teacher recertification exam next Spring.
There was nothing unusual in that except, being a werecat, Martha had stripped and assumed her fursona after everyone left for the morning to kick back and relax and make the task more comfortable.
She was lying across the king sized bed in the master bedroom, reading over various pre-exam preparation books.
She had wanted to become an elementary school teacher when Martha met her future husband William in college, who was studying to be an educator as well, although he wanted to deal with older students and share his love of literature with them.
Both had fulfilled their dreams and took positions within Minnesota schools upon graduating and getting married, but in wedded life the inevitable happened.
Martha became pregnant with first their oldest son Nathaniel, and then Eric. With William in the better paying position, Martha quietly "retired" to raise their children.
Now, with both boys older and in a new location, Martha needed to be up to date on her teaching skills, along with the rules and regulations regarding her profession.
Eric was the reason Martha was currently furry and trying to relax, for they had an appointment for Eric to consult with their next door neighbor and therapist Doctor Frances Twist later that afternoon after Eric got out of school for the day.
Being the "baby", Eric was more shy than the outgoing and athletic Nate, to the point where he was picked on and bullied by other kids.
The Anderson family certainly had plenty of other problems to deal with when they moved to Moon Lake*, but it was thought and hoped by both parents that the change would do Eric good.
Truer words were never spoken, for the town turned out to be a secret sanctuary for were beasts, and each member of Martha's family became proud members of that community.
Eric had fallen in love with the Mayor's daughter Julie Stovall, who turned out to be a were-mermaid. In time he became a were-mer and seemed to have a bright future ahead of him with his lady, until a recent bout of jealousy over another were-mer possibly being interested in Julie caused his parents to wonder if all of Eric's emotional issues were truly resolved or just deferred, hence the appointment with Frances later today.
Despite Eric being on her mind, Martha did manage to get some serious studying done and, while there was still plenty more to go over between now and next Spring, felt confident of passing her exam and becoming a teacher again.
Looking up and seeing it was now after 12, Martha yawned and stretched her feline form, reaching her paws out as far as she could before resuming a normal position on the bed.
She could still smell herself and William here and there, especially what they did before falling asleep last night.
A smile crossed her muzzle, wishing her werefox was there right now to take care of her before picking up Eric to go see Frances.
Instead, Martha decided to get up and fix something for lunch before having to defur and get dressed for the afternoon, when the bedroom phone rang.
"Hello?" she said cautiously, not expecting anyone to call.
"Good day. Am I speaking to one of the... Anderson family?" a female voice asked on the other end.
"Who's this?" Martha asked in return, careful in case it was a scam caller.
"I am Agatha Brookshire of the Moon Lake Concerned Citizens Committee," the other lady said.
"What are you concerned about?" Martha asked, still weary of it being a telemarketer.
"In this case, I am calling everyone on my list to make sure they are aware of the big town meeting tomorrow night and are planning to attend."
"What list and what town meeting?" wondered Martha, for this was the first she personally was hearing about both.
"The list is just the public registry of everyone's publicly listed phone numbers, and I happen to be in the middle of the A's at the moment. The meeting itself is tomorrow night at the Town Hall," explained Brookshire.
Martha, with her better werecat hearing, heard other voices in the background behind the lady having similar conversations, so asked, "What's the meeting tomorrow night about?"
"I am afraid all my notes say is: A topic of vital importance that could affect the future of Moon Lake and its citizens."**
"That's a pretty wide range of possibilities. Can you narrow it down some?"
"You are far from the first person to make that inquiry today, but I am afraid not," admitted Mrs. Brookshire. "Can we count on you and yours being there tomorrow night?"
Martha thought about it for a moment, then decided to tell a vague version of the truth. "I'll have to talk it over with my husband when he gets home from work for the night first."
"Then I shall list your response as a Maybe. Take care and have a nice day," the woman said politely, before ending the call.
I wonder what that's all about? Martha asked herself, as she went downstairs to have lunch.
ELSEWHERE...
The Jenkins family, along with their extended members John and Janice Harper, had just finished lunch of sandwiches and milk, when John rushed back to the living room.
There, he once again looked over the miniature chess set Ginger O'Toole had given him, making sure everything was prepared for a game once she was out of school for the day and stopped over to visit him on the way home.
Yet he panicked upon seeing the chess set on the coffee table.
"There's a pawn missing!"
"What do you mean?" asked Henry Jenkins Senior, as he came into the living room.
"Look. The white pawn that should be in front of the white King's Rook is missing," said John, pointing to the empty square on the board.
"It is," realized Henry. "Well, that dang thing is pretty small," he noted, considering the board was only a couple of inches square in each direction, with the individual spaces and their pieces sized accordingly since it was a travel set. "But it's got to be around here some place."
"But everything's magnetic, so it shouldn't be missing," John complained.
"Maybe but magnets, or at least these because of their size, aren't that strong, so it's got to be nearby," pointed out Henry before looking around. "There it is, under the coffee table," he said a moment later, indicating a little speck of white on the tan carpeting.
"Whew," said John, relieved that the missing piece had been found as he picked it up and put it in its proper place.
"You know," began Henry, sitting down on the living room sofa, "something tells me that you're a lot more worried about something than just a briefly unaccounted for chess piece."
"That obvious?" asked John, taking a seat on the sofa near him.
"To me anyway. Want to talk about it?"
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*Starting from our first official episode in this series: "The Anderson Family Is Moving In."
**To publicly reveal the existence of weres to the world, as seen in past episodes of Moon Lake, Tad; to which Andersons is trying to catch up.—tmw.