BZZZT...BZZZT...BZZZT!
7:00am. The alarm clock buzzed wildly on the nightstand.
A hand emerged from a pile of sheets and pillows to hit the snooze button. The sheets
began to move around. From under the pile of fabric came another arm and a torso.
Feet stretched out from the other end. The pillow rose and fell off the head that
accompanied the body.
Flipping over, the boy rose to a sitting position and rubbed his eyes. He brushed his
hand through his short blonde hair and then scratched his hairless, muscular chest.
His blue eyes opened and saw the sun streaming in the window.
"Owen," a voice came from the other side of the door; his mom, "Wake up, or you'll
miss the bus!"
Owen flipped his covers off and stood up. He changed his underwear and put on
some fresh clothes. He then turned the alarm completely off and trudged to the
bathroom. A quick splash of cool water and some minty fresh breath later, he walked
into the living room.
"Happy Birthday!" his mother exclaimed. "Oh, I can't believe my baby's 17 already!"
"Ma!" Owen said in embarassment.
"Oh, sorry, hun, but I just can't believe it!" she cooed. "Your father said to tell you
happy birthday before he left. And your sister made this card."
She handed him a piece of notebook paper with balloons and stars drawn on it.
"Here's your present, sweetie, from all of us."
Opening the gift, Owen found a new MP3 player (he had lost his old one on a plane
trip last summer).
"Thanks ma," he said and gave her a hug.
"Oh! You better hurry or you'll miss the bus...too late," she said as the bus rolled past
the window. She wrote him a note and gave it to him. "Here's an excuse, now run
along. And don't forget to be home early tonight. Your grandma's coming over!"
"Okay, ma!"
As Owen walked down the street, a convertable drove up to him.
"Hey, Welsh! Need a lift?" his buddy asked.
"No thanks, Jake, I got an excuse. Think I'll take my time."
"Alright, well happy birthday, see you in class!" he replied as he sped off.
Owen's high school was in the "downtown" of a small city, if you could call it that.
Orville was definitely not a metropolis by any standard. A police station, a firehouse, a
hospital, a library, the elementary and high schools, a city hall, a courthouse, some
office buildings, a few apartments, a post office, and a general store were the extents
of civilization in Orville.
However, Orville, Tennesee had been selected for an odd sort of gathering. From
Monday to Saturday, the community center had been rented out to a furry convention.
It wasn't one of the big-name ones that the whole furry community had heard of, just a
gathering of furs from the western half of the state.
Owen Welsh wasn't sure why they would want to come to Orville (of course, he wasn't
sure why they dressed in costumes, either) but it brought money to the town every
year and really helped the local economy. In fact, Owen had signed up to help prepare
for the convention for the past three years. It wasn't much pay—four bucks an hour—
but it gave him some spending cash that he could do whatever he wanted with. He
also helped with cleanup and usually got 40 bucks out of the whole deal.
After an uneventful day at school, Owen rushed home. His grandmother had arrived
from Nashville and his whole family was there for cake and icecream. After a nice
party and a gift of a WalMart gift card from his grandma, Owen excused himself to go
to work.
The grand opening was tonight and he wanted to squeeze in some hours before the
crowds of people in fursuits arrived.
His buddy, Dan, from earlier was there, too, prepping tables.
"Hey, Owen, how was the party?"
"Pretty good," he answered, "My grandma came from Nashville."
"You saved me some cake right?" Dan asked jokingly.
"Hey, door's open. Why don't you come on over tonight after work, unless of course,
my little sister's eaten it all."
"Alright, will do! See you later!"
Owen went to the bar to get his assignment: sweep the dance floor and hook up the
soundsystem. The owner of the community center knew Owen and knew that he was
good with technical stuff. Instead of hiring the local tech specialist—who he had been
feuding with forever—he just called Owen when he needed help.
Owen walked over to the sound system and started hooking it up. Might as well start
with the harder of the two jobs.
"I see you're good with tech stuff," a slightly muffled voice came.
Owen got out from under the table he had been working on and turned around. He
came face to muzzle with someone in a wolf suit.
~Great,~ he thought, ~An early arrival.~
Owen observed the furry. He was dressed in a full body suit of blue-grey fur with a tail
sticking out the back. Over this was a dark red vest with a quarter zipper and silver
trimming. The fur also wore black jean shorts held up with a brown leather belt and a
black arm brace on his right forearm. This all looked extremely realistic, even the
paw/hands. But on top of this costume was a very cheesy wolf head with plastic anime
eyes and a felt tongue hanging out.
"You know," the fur remarked, "I've never been good with machines. My girlfriends the
one who does all the technical stuff."
The furry sounded to Owen to be a boy around his age, but he couldn't be sure. And
he definitely didn't recognize them from school.
"Name's Andres," he introduced, offering a paw.
"Owen," he accepted the hand. It even felt real.
He wondered why someone would spend money on such a good costume, but get a
poor quality head. However, he didn't ask for fear of being offensive.
"Nice to meet you Owen. Do go to school around here?"
"Yeah, right down the street. I'm a junior. And you?"
"Senior, Parkhurst High, about ten miles north of Nashville."
"I didn't think they allowed teenagers at these things."
"They don't. But me and my girlfriend come every year. We don't drink, so we don't
figure we're doing anything wrong."
"I see," he replied, "You said you've been coming here every year. Have you used the
same costume?"
"Yep. Why?"
"I've worked here three years and thought I'd seen every costume. But this one is new
to me."
"What, no one else has ever been a wolf?"
"Yeah, but not this realistic."
"Oh, yeah," he laughed, "Except for the head, but it was all I could find."
"What did it cost?"
"The head cost $80, but the suit didn't cost a thing. It's all natural."
"You made your costume out of a real wolf?!"
"Well, I guess you could say that."
"So how did you make it?" Owen asked, truly interested now.
"Uh, can't tell you here."
"What do you mean?"
"Here, follow me."
Owen wasn't sure about following the stange guy, but he was curious. They went
down the hall to a broom closet that hadn't been used in years since the addition had
been made. Warily following inside, Owen flicked on the lights and closed the door.
"There's a reason why my suit looks so real. But can I trust you to..."
"Andres! What the hell are you doing?" a feminine voice came from behind an empty
shelf. "*Gasp* You were going to tell him, weren't you?!"
Another furry, this one in a white cat suit with a purple gown on, steeped out into the
room. Her suit was quite realistic like Andres', but her head was cheaply made as well.
"Well, sweetie, I was just..."
"I told you to shut up about it, but you never listen! I knew I shouldn't have let you
come here! I knew you couldn't keep your yap shut!"
"But, honey, I was..."
"No excuses! I can't let you go blabbing our secret to the whole human race!"
"Arya!" he yelled to get her attention, "I think he might be the one!"
"What do you mean?" Owen asked.
"I believe you could be the one we've been looking for! The one to help us!"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Owen argued.
"Alright, alright!" Arya interjected, "We'll show him."
With that, the two teens removed their big heads. But instead of revealing two normal
people, they revealed the heads of an actual wolf and cat!
Owen was shocked. Two real anthros were here, walking and talking and telling him
he was the one they were looking for.
Under the circumstances, no one could blame Owen Welsh for his next action. He
fainted.