If William Anderson thought it would do any good, he would have written on the dry erase board in his classroom: WE ARE HERE TO DISCUSS SHAKESPEARE, NOT CURRENT EVENTS.
However, the students of Moon Lake College had other ideas that day.
Each class the Professor tried to teach somehow veered from the Bard to everyone's concerns over the Town Council's decision to develop a plan to intentionally reveal the existence of weres to the world without including the fact that Moon Lake was a secret were sanctuary in the process.
The best William discovered he could do was take attendance and try to keep everyone civil, for violence had already broken out in some areas of town over the weekend concerning such a hot topic.
"I don't see how the Town Council has the right to decide this issue to begin with," one student said. "After all, Moon Lake cannot be the only place weres have gathered over the years, and what we do here will affect them too."
"The reverse also holds true," a co-ed pointed out. "After all, what if another were somewhere else is discovered? Then the cat is out of the bag, figuratively and literally."
"Sometimes I wish we weren't so secretive," another student commented. "It would be nice to be in better communication with our fellow weres at a time like this."
"But would that be a benefit or a liability here?" a different student asked. "Would they support us or try to stop us and possibly start a were civil war in the process? That would run the risk of both causalities AND exposure! Just look at how people have been reacting locally and think about it on a larger scale."
"I keep hearing about how technology is improving to the point that someday we may get discovered, no matter how careful we are," a student responded in his third class of the day.
"Yeah. They're starting to come out with these so called assistants and other gadgets that respond to voice commands. The companies swear they're not eavesdropping on us, but how do we know for sure that's true?" another student wanted to know.
"I thought 'Big Brother' was only in George Orwell's 1984," the first student replied.
"If you believe that..." the second student said, without elaborating further.
On and on it went.
Not that there wasn't some valid points and concerns, just that after a couple of hours William Anderson was hearing basically the same conversation over and over again.
Lunch with Dean Myers in the school cafeteria was a different matter.*
Verbal discussion not only turned physical, but violent too, so William was thankful to get back to his classroom where at least he had more direct control over a particular group.
"What I want to know is HOW will they reveal the secret?" a student asked during his next class. "What do you do? Have someone walk down the middle of a big city's busy street, strip and go furry in front of everyone?"
"Yeah. This is Monday and the Council isn't scheduled to take up the matter again until Wednesday. A lot of tension is already in play over this," another student observed, as William recalled the lunch time fight. "Who knows how long it will actually take for them to come up with a plan they all agree on. After all, the vote was 5-4 to start this to begin with."
"Well, it will have to be a volunteer and it certainly won't be me," the first student replied. "Besides, whoever the... guinea pig, for lack of a better term turns out to be, is; they will have to be VERY careful choosing that person. After all, even if they plan not to reveal Moon Lake's status too, if someone is smart enough to trace the exposed were back here and wonder about the rest of the town, at least from the perspective of how come we never at least suspected there was a were within our midst..."
"I have nothing against were society, but except for my older brother because of the Mandatory Were Law(*2), I come from a family of normals. If this does go against weres like some fear, how will the rest of the world react when they discover we not only knew, but helped keep the secret?" a lady asked.
"Yeah, and once weres are exposed, when or if will it be safe for the rest of us to go furry all the time, provided we want to take that risk too?" another student asked. "Tides turn. Look at all the cycles of civil unrest and violence throughout history. While we wish otherwise, hatred and bigotry never truly disappear. Even if we are accepted today, tomorrow might be another story."
"The biggest fear in all of this is not knowing how the rest of the world will react once they discover who we truly are," a student in the back of the classroom pointed out.
Being a werefox, the husband of a werecat, and the father of a werewolf and a were-merman, THAT concerned William greatly.
If somehow a particular were could be traced back to Moon Lake and risks exposing the rest of us...
But perhaps the most poignant conversation on the subject was during William's last class of the day.
"During his famous 'I have a dream' speech, Doctor Martin Luther King, Junior said: I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I like to think that the same applies to species, fur color, and any other factor that wouldn't be of any consequence under normal circumstances," one student said.
"But these aren't normal circumstances," another student countered.
"True," agreed the first. "Yet because of our... uniqueness, Moon Lake has been more open and accepting of what others consider 'different' and 'not socially acceptable'. After all, this town accepted interracial couples, let alone same gender unions, long before the rest of the world saw the light of reason."
"But those are facts that we probably won't be able to brag about," complained the other.
"Maybe, but while this path the Town Council is wanting to travel won't be a smooth one, I'm cautiously optimistic that in time it will all work out for the best."
Professor William Anderson hoped for the same thing.
But all he knew for sure at the end of a rather long day was that he was tired and wanted to go home.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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*As seen in our past Andersons episode "On Edge".
*2.) Where one member of every family new to Moon Lake must become a were so all have a stake in keeping the town's secrets.—tmw.