Harry and Jenny were quiet and careful as they left the campus for Harry's family home elsewhere in Moon Lake, and both were well aware on the reasons for it. And despite some of the larger tensions that seemed to be going through Moon Lake at the time, their worries for Jenny's younger brother, John, was the thing that was the most important thing on their mind. Jenny had memories of her own father abusing her, her older brother, and then her younger siblings, and some of those memory flashes seemed to focus on John. It was a heavy reminder of the problems that James Harper Senior posed, and made even more prominent by John's nightmares.
Jenny sat nervously in the front passenger seat of Harry's car, nervously watching as Harry pulled out of the parking lot and began to drive off the small roads that connected the college campus to the main two roads that lead into town. The thoughts on John's nightmares were what worried her most. She remembered some of the things that she had put up with and endured with regard to her father's behavior toward her and the unease that had been there before her wedding to Harry and what would essentially be final "goodbye" to her family, but that soon became a rescue operation to save John and Janice. And now John was having nightmares.
"Everything will be fine, dear," Harry assured her, getting the sense that Jenny wasn't at ease, "John isn't in danger and Doctor Twist will help him get everything off his chest. That's probably the biggest thing troubling him."
"I hope you're right," Jenny answered as she glanced back to him as he pulled up to the street in front the Jenkins house, where they found John waiting with Henry and Lisa Jenkins, Harry's parents. Janice was there, too, and she hugged her brother before he approached Harry's car. He opened the backdoor while Jenny twisted in her seat to look into the back seat, "How are you doing John?"
"Doing okay... though... a bit worried," John admitted.
"You have nothing to worry about," Jenny told him as he buckled in, "Doctor Twist is good... she helped me deal with some of the psychological issues that related to how long my transformation had been incomplete and helped me prepare for the inevitable confrontation with dad at the wedding... She can help you too, and nothing will go beyond her office walls."
John nodded as Harry put the car back in gear, the locks automatically clicking in as he did so, and the car was soon in motion. His worries mirrored Jenny's in many ways, but at the same time they were also different. Some of it came from questions as to who he was, which went back things that had happened with him in Alabama, with only one real "friend," a boy, and that his proverbial "first kiss" had been with that boy who admitted "loving" John. That whole issue was then complicated by meeting Ginger O'Toole and some of the dreams he'd had since Jenny had rescued him and Janice. Most weren't necessarily bad dreams, but they only further stressed his concerns on not knowing who he was. The fear that Moon Lake had seemed to project over the proposed reveal seemed to add to that, and that created bad dreams of his father coming back to hunt him and the weretiger that had turned him. There was also a sense of shame that he was also stressing Jenny's life, which he didn't want to have to do.
He sat back and let Harry drive forward before making a right turn onto one of the circular roads that made up the inner hub of Moon Lake's layout, and the only general real where Moon Lake had an actual "block." From what John had guessed from his tour with Ginger over the weekend, was that Moon Lake's weres used "blocks" as a unit of measure, as the town's wagon wheel layout didn't allow for many intersecting roads. It was an odd thing, but it seemed to work for Moon Lake and wasn't quite something that John could really dwell on for long. It wasn't long before Harry pulled up to the spot in front of Doctor Twist's clinic and parked there. John climbed out and was soon joined by Jenny and Harry, and while John wasn't a little kid, it did feel good to have Harry and Jenny there.
"Hello, Rudy," Jenny spoke as she came through the door, catching the attention of Frances' secretary/admissions receptionist, "Harry and I have brought John here for his appointment."
Rudy looked up from his seat and looked to John and then to Jenny and Harry before answering, "Okay then, please have a seat. Doctor Twist will be with you when she's ready." He then hit the page button on his phone that allowed him to let Frances know that they had arrived. "Doctor Twist, your one thirty is here."
"Very good, I'll be ready shortly," came Frances' voice through the intercom.
With that, the three walked across the floor of the entry room and sat down on the couch that was provided, with Harry seated by one armrest, Jenny beside him and with John sitting by the other armrest. Jenny patted John's shoulder gently as he sat down. They sat there quietly for a few moments and John twiddled his thumbs a bit as he waited. After a few minutes an adult woman came out from hallway that was to the back of the reception area and appeared in the doorway and looked over to John.
"Okay," the woman said slowly, "John, I'm Doctor Frances Twist, if you'll come with me, we can get started."
John looked over his shoulder to Jenny, who gave him an assuring smile before patting his shoulder, again.
"I may wish to speak with your sister when our session is over, depending on how things go," Frances spoke, catching on to John's unease, "but for the moment it will just be you and me."
"You don't find it odd... that a kid might need therapy?" John asked nervously as he stood up.
"No, everyone may need therapy at some point in their lives," Frances answered, "and at least the assurance that people won't judge them. And I won't judge you... I want to help."
"Okay," John said slowly and got up.
He moved forward slowly toward Frances who then took a step back and gave a wave of her hand into an open doorway. It lead into Frances' main office, with her desk, computer and chair along the wall to his right and directly ahead of him was a long couch with the section that raised gently up on one end. The couch was in that far corner and John approached while Frances shut the door behind him.
"Go ahead and make yourself comfortable," Frances encouraged while she picked up a notepad from her desk and then pivoted her chair around so that she could look to John when she sat down. When she did so, she watched as John sat down, looking a bit nervous as he did so. She expected some of this, given that Jenny had made mentions to her of John possibly being gay, or at least bisexual in one of the last sessions she'd had with Jenny before the wedding. Frances also had some hit at what James Harper Senior was like from what Jenny had told her and one brief run in with the man in the hospital. It let her know that the man was at best overly strict with an outdated moral code, if not so backward that he didn't have a moral code that most modern people would recognize. As she sat down, she'd noticed that John had also sat down, and thus she got started. "So, John, what do you think of Moon Lake?"
"It's nice," John answered slowly, "the whole were thing is different... but it isn't bad. It's given Jenny someone to be happy with and it's essentially allowed Jenny and her husband to save me and my younger sister... so I do like that."
"Have you met anyone? Made friends? Gotten into school yet?" Frances asked, figuring this would be a good way to get things started and build up some starting frame of reference with John that wouldn't go back into things that came out of Jenny's sessions, which Frances couldn't share with John.
"Well... I haven't gotten into school yet," John answered, "Though, Jenny, Harry, and my older brother, James Junior... he's not like my dad... have been working on getting things organized. But between all of my dad's medical needs at the moment... I can't say for certain how far they've gotten. I think the school in Centre..."
"Centre?" Frances wondered.
"It's the county seat for Cherokee County, Alabama," John explained, "our family lived in a sort of... out of the way trailer park that was close enough for my dad to commute in for his work with the power company for the county, but I don't think it was ever on a map as part of the city. Dad always called it Forrestville, but he wouldn't let any of us question if it was right or wrong. Regardless, we ended up taking the bus to Centre for school. So far as I know they're willing, but it'll take time to get all of mine and Janice's things from the schools and get them to send all the appropriate information here."
"Well, hopefully, you'll like it here in Moon Lake," Frances offered, "despite some of the other things going on... the town is generally quite friendly, and that includes things at the school."
"Yes, a friend I'd made showed me around town," John answered, "and it does look good."
"A friend," Frances smiled, "well... that is good news. That would be something helpful, given that I've been told you've been having nightmares disturbing your sleep..."
"Jenny told you that..." John said slowly.
"She mentioned that was something that was bothering you, among other things that she didn't get into," Frances answered, "and like a loving relative... she was worried and felt you might do better talking with me. Get things off your chest, as it were. I can't tell you what to believe or think... but I might be able to help you make sense of things."
"It's good to have SOMEONE who cares," John said as he looked down for a moment a he referred to Jenny. He knew that she had scheduled the appointment, and he had the sense that Jenny was also somewhat aware of his wrestling with who he is. He didn't fully know how Jenny knew, but she did, and like those that he'd told about the problem in Moon Lake... or asked loose questions that related to that problem, Jenny's response was to be supportive and offered encouragement, which was helpful, though it still wrestled with the shadow of his father. "But making sense of things has been part of what I've been trying to figure out... and that's been part of the problem..."
"I take it this wasn't something you could go to your parents for in "Forrestville," right?" Frances asked.
John nodded, "Dad was the sort that had his mind set on things and wouldn't change, regardless of the facts. If he believed the sky was green, he'd never believe it was blue no matter how many times you showed him a blue sky. And that include all sorts a issues... that women were to be subservient, that the Democrats are evil Socialists out to murder everyone or at the very least make them poor, and that homosexuality was sin. Things like that."
Frances nodded, and based on her last sessions with Jenny, she had the sense it was the last point that John was wrestling with the most, and that was a hard thing to overcome. There were a fair number of laws that many countries had that went back decades that made homosexuality criminal, and often made it something where gays and lesbians had to go underground. And while Moon Lake escaped the worst of that sort of thing, there were times where Moon Lake's werecats and werewildcats had "hide" who they were as a means to keep those passing through from finding out that Moon Lake had a decent gay and lesbian population that was openly tolerated, and even then that didn't mean that things were necessarily easy. Her relationship with her own parents was difficult thanks to her turning into a werecat before her parents' eyes before they could start the ceremony to have her become a weredog. She knew that Martha Anderson's parents, while they had tolerated gay rights... they didn't want to see the activities that went those rights. James Harper Senior, however was on a whole different level from that.
"And you've had questions in one of these areas?" Frances wondered. When John didn't immediately answer, she prodded him a little, "it's okay. Samantha Twist is my wife... she made a werecat when we were young... In some ways know what it's like to begin to recognize differences from family... And I won't judge you."
"But did you know you were gay or bi?" John asked back.
"Yes," Frances admitted, "my issue was more working up the courage to tell my parents that I was a lesbian and I'd fallen for the girl who lived across the street."
"So... there's a difference," John said softly, "I... I DON'T know. I mean... given the stuff my dad pulled... there weren't that many that wanted to be friends with any of us. James Junior and Jenny got it a bit easier, but by the time James was a junior or senior in high school and Jenny was sophomore or junior... things got worse. Probably because they began to recognize more and more on how wrong dad was on things and could argue back, but as Jim grew up and dad couldn't dominate him, he turned to Janice and me. As if doubling down on the younger ones made sense to him... Thus, I got the constant reminder of what was "wrong" and in some ways, dad's reputation preceded him in Centre and Forrestville."
"That doesn't sound easy," Frances commented, getting the profound sense of isolation that the Harper children had to have grown up with, which had to be at least emotionally traumatic.
"It was... particularly when I started high school," John said slowly, "and there... at school in Centre, I met a young boy... I think his family was knew to the area... his name is Stephen, and we did make friends at school. And... well, before everything came down with Jenny's wedding, he'd kissed me and said he loved me. It came as a surprise, but it wasn't bad. It was something that felt nice, but at the same there was also the knowledge that dad wouldn't approve and I couldn't respond well..."
"And that can't be easy, I'm sure," Frances commented.
"Yeah, and in some ways that is where coming up here saved me from that sort of mess, as dad wouldn't have hurt anyone, and I'm really not sure as how I felt about Stephen in return because of well... everything," John nodded, "but then... I met Ginger O'Toole. She's a young weretiger... about my age. She's been nice... friendly..."
"She the friend that showed you around Moon Lake?" Frances asked, putting some strings together from what John had said earlier.
"Yes," John nodded, "but it's only raised questions. For... well... it also raised some... feelings... that well..." He didn't want to tell an adult woman that he had been turned on by seeing Ginger in her were form.
"And with your father... and your past that is leaving you questioning just who you are," Frances surmised, again to which John nodded. When he finished, Frances continued, "Now... I can't necessarily help you make that choice on whether your gay, bi, or straight. That, I'm afraid is entirely up to you. I could guess, but that wouldn't be my place."
"That's sorta what everyone I've talked about this to has said," John said slowly, "Huck, Jenny, your wife, Ginger, and a Mrs. Anderson... but they've all been welcoming. Which is good... and in a way that's helped. I think I may have a guess... but I don't know on that yet. I mean I've had dreams... in one I was a weretiger and Ginger turned me. In another I was a werewildcat, but didn't know who turned me, and was with Ginger... and in another I was a weretiger and a male weretiger turned me. I don't think I'll have answers there for a while."
"Just take your time... and be assured that you will be safe in Moon Lake, and if you are gay or bi... you will be welcome here," Frances assured him, and after John nodded again, she then asked her next question, "though, I would assume that some of this would come back to the nightmares that your sister has reported you having?"
John actually gulped at that, as he felt a bit of a lump swell in his throat, though he also had the sense that that was coming. His nightmares had been bothering him, and he'd woken up Janice twice and Jenny and Harry at least once.
"Those come a bit more after the present reveal plan came about," John said after a moment, "some people from the college came and yelled at Jenny and Harry over something they'd said before the meeting and said that all weres were going to end up lab animals or something like that... and well... that only jogged memories of things... well things my father would do or say."
That made Frances blink, and with some of the things presently going on, she had to ask, "Did... did your father know about weres already?"
It wasn't necessarily a bad question. For there likely were a fair number of normal human beings outside of Moon Lake that knew that weres existed and were more than myth and legend. Some did find out about weres, but most found out under circumstances in which they couldn't prove that weres existed and thus it would be their word against the were's and without proof, they wouldn't succeed in convincing anyone. As such, they wouldn't pose any real threat, and the concern from Moon Lake would then depend how that person might have reacted. If the circumstance was like that of FBI Agents like Theodore Green or most Moon Lake normals, who was either married to a were or already supportive of weres, it would be arranged for their transformation into weres if they so wished... and with Teddy Green in particular that situation was completely necessary since he was married to a werecat. If the situation was such that the person was clearly anti-were, that person was to Frances' knowledge discredited so that no-one believed that person.
Regardless of which specific situation, however, Frances knew that the possibility of someone knowing about weres was a potential risk. That was partially why the idea of revealing the were secret at present was something that Moon Lake was afraid of. Those against the reveal feared a negative response that would risk a resumption of old hunts would guarantee violence or at least a lengthy period of distrust that take centuries before things were either dropped or forgotten or changed for the better. Those on the other side argued that those outside Moon Lake might be far more "pro were" than was feared and that couldn't be known for sure until after the reveal happened, and it was that whole debate that was presently at the heart of the reveal.
"No... none of us knew about weres until after Jenny transformed for us" John answered, "though dad was the sort that if he did know about weres... he would be against them, because he see them as some kind of demon from the bible..."
"Despite the fact that most biblical demons look nothing like animals," Frances commented.
"But they aren't human, either," John commented, "thus the belief... And as I said, these nightmares only started AFTER I heard about this reveal plan. And... well, it's made me afraid."
"Afraid of what, John?" Frances asked.
"That my dad will come back... that he'll take me and Janice away from Jenny," John spoke, "that he'll kill whoever turns me into a were, regardless of whether it's Ginger, a male werecat, or a male weretiger... and I don't want to lose that... I don't want to lose Jenny. I don't want leave Moon Lake. I want to stay with Jenny and Harry. I don't want to go back Alabama."
"Well assuming Jenny has filled out the legal paperwork properly, that should be assured by now," Frances assured him, "Your father cannot legally claim you as under his care... and given his health, it is unlikely that he would try."
"Jenny and Harry said that," John said nervously, "but he let his employer try to kill Harry, and very nearly kill Huck to try and secure Jenny for himself. What if all this goes bad and he goes beyond the law?"
"Has your father ever gone beyond the law before?" Frances asked carefully, as there was a difference between being difficult and criminal. So far, despite his massive flaws, James Harper Senior had avoided criminal activity. "For it's unlikely your father knew of Dieter Wilhelm's actions regarding your sister. Thus he could legally claim not to have known, should the state ever charge him... and from what sources I have... Moon Lake, Washington State, and the Federal Government have no additional charges to file, and thus your father isn't in any legal trouble."
"Not to my knowledge," John said weakly, "unless you count beating us... James Junior took most of them... but he often seemed to try and attract attention to him and away from Jenny, Janice, and me."
"Then it's probably that he wouldn't suddenly jump to criminal behavior now, regardless of what happens with the reveal," Frances told him, "and in this... all you're afraid of at the moment is a shadow. A large shadow, but a shadow nonetheless."
"But what about the reveal?" John wondered, "what if someone comes after Ginger? She's my best friend."
Frances noted the slip in how Ginger took a prominent role in the sentence and over John's own family and the Jenkins who were helping Jenny take over the raising of her younger siblings. However, it was still painfully clear that John Harper had gone through a lot of pain and intimidation from his father, something that him extremely nervous and it had to be something that had negatively affected John's psyche, creating both the questions as to who John was or what his sexuality develop, because James Harper Senior never let it develop naturally. It also created such isolation that once free of James Harper Senior, the reveal issue brought out the fear of his father's legacy. From John's answers, she didn't that James Harper Senior knew about weres, other than what Moon Lake wanted people to know at the moment, and that was a good thing. However, the fear was still there and that wouldn't be good or easy to work with under the present circumstances.
"Then I'm sure Moon Lake will protect her and you," Frances commented, "and with some sessions... we can work on your confidence and let you stand up for yourself in a way that you've had to repress... That, I think is what ultimately is what troubles you the most, John. The things that your father left behind on your psyche."
"I'm not crazy, am I?" John asked.
"No," Frances assured him, "You've just had a lifetime's worth of stress put on you in the space of fourteen years. That's bound to leave wounds. Wounds that interfere with things as they are now... but with some additional sessions, you'll gain confidence and assurance that you CAN decide on who you are and stand up to someone like your father."
"Really?" John asked, actually sounding hopeful.
"Yes," Frances nodded with a small smile.