Carol sighed while Jen thought, slowly melting into a fit of tears once again. She pulled over to the local McDonald's, and seeing the drive thru completely full, opted to go inside.
"It may help if you eat something. You haven't had anything at all to eat today," Carol said. She reached into the backseat and produced one of Lisa's hoodies. Jen pulled the hood over her head, hoping to obscure her face somewhat. Carol didn't necessarily like the idea of Jen hiding, and she certainly didn't want to encourage that kind of behavior in her own daughter, but with circumstances being what they are, she knew that Jen would never go anywhere public with her fur showing.
The two walked in and Jen quickly moved into a corner where she could see the menu. After a long, hard look, she ordered some nuggets and waited while Carol left to go order. She had chosen not to think about Lisa at the moment, self-consiously averting her eyes each time someone passed her, her head staring down at the floor so as to hide her face, and her hands shoved firmly into her pockets. In a few minutes Carol came scurrying back, gently placing her carry-out bag into her hands and the two left, Carol lovingly pulling Jen's hood down and revealing her face. She placed an arm around Jen's shoulders and squeezed before holding the door for her.
Jen walked - more like shuffled - out the building alongside Carol. The morning was now transitioning into a beautiful day. Snowflakes fell in gentle torrents, making the whole town appear as though it were a snowglobe. The pines were draped with snow, and children played accross teh street, just yards away from the car, making snowmen that could only have been crafted by toddlers. Unfortunately, their gleeful faces turned to confusion and nerviousness as Jen - now unable to conceal teh fur even from a modest distance - approached teh car, promping the youngers' guardian to kneel before them and give a lecture about staring at people who are different.
Jen sat mournfully in her seat, her forehead resting against teh vibrating glass window as Carol sped away, uninterested in her food, their respective moods and inner turmoil spoiling the outward tranquility.
"Well?" Carol asked, her glance conveying her desperate plea. She repeated the question, her vocal chords choked.
Jen pondered for a moment, took a deep breath, and replied, "I'll lie and tell her that the hair just grew thicker. But-" she emphasized the word - "I don't think it'll do any good."
"What do you mean?" Carol asked.
Jen looked back at teh morning, unable to get Lisa's expression out of her mind - her agape mouth, wide eyes and raised eyebrow(s), and then the telling action that made Jennifer panic: she reached out to cautiously touch her face. She never managed to, as Jen had stopped her, assuming then that she had known the cause of Lisa's alarm. However, she couldn't help but think that the cause of her friend's rather abrupt actions were teh result of suspicion that the hair wasn't normal. Why else would she actually want to physically touch it? Something told her that Lisa could very easily sniff out her lie.
"Why wouldn't it do any good?" Carol asked again.
Jen drew another deep breath before delivering the answer she knew Carol didn't want to hear, but probably already knew. "I think she suspects. I think she'll know it's a lie, and I don't know what that'll do to her."
Carol's finger tightly clenched the steering wheel as she thought. Despite that Lisa had remained seemingly collected this morning, Carol's maternal instincts told her that all was not right with Lisa. She couldn't tell exactly what her exact worries were - Audrey, Jen, her own fate, something else entirely, or a combination of these - she knew she was very close to crossing the threshold. Still, if she [b]did[/b] buy it - if she could just have her daughter the way she is just a little longer, it would be wroth the risk, right? She knew it was wrong, but it hurt her to look at her daughter and watch her change and suffer.
"Please tell her it just got thicker. If she calls bull, you can go ahead and tell her I was the one who put you up to it," Carol decided. "I'm going to tell Andy the news, and then I'm going to try and get ahold of the Russians again. I don't want you to worry about your mom, okay?"
Jen nodded as the car pulled into the driveway.