Here's my January vignette entitled "Wolf Moon"
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January, the Wolf Moon
“I heard some
people say it’s called a Wolf Moon,” Arlene told him. She looked up at the
bright, almost too shiny orb hanging in the night sky. “I guess that means it’s
meant for wolves.”
“I heard
that, too, but it’s all hogwash,” Derris grumbled. “Hurry up before someone
sees us!”
She stepped
gingerly through the frosty grass. Sometimes it crunched under her feet. She
whimpered as a shard of ice pierced the thin soles of her shoes and stabbed her
toes. She stopped to pull it out.
“Are you
all right?” He came back to check on her.
“The grass
hurts,” she admitted. “And I’m cold. When can we change?”
“Not until
we’ve had our fill. You know that,” he gently admonished her.
“It’s been
so long since we’ve—”
“Shhh.
We’re almost there.”
“How much
farther do we have to go?”
“Not far. I
promise.” Lifting her face, he noticed the frozen tears glistening on her
cheeks. He gently brushed them away before kissing her. His lips were amazingly
warm, considering the weather. “Come on.”
They
continued to make their way through the field, avoiding the road or the cement
walkway. She remembered the one time she tried to walk on them instead of the
dead grass. She’d fallen and nearly hurt herself badly on the invisible layer
of ice covering the street. And more than once they’d witnessed vehicles
slipping and crashing into each other, the light poles, signs, and sometimes
into people when the idiots tried to drive on the slickness.
“Why do you
think it’s called a Wolf Moon?” she asked. Hopefully their conversation would
take her mind off of how miserable she felt. She blew on her fingers, but she was
barely able to feel her warm breath on them.
“Something
to do with the Indians. I think they noticed wolves gathering to howl at it.”
“Maybe they
howled because they were cold.” Her teeth were starting to chatter. Shoving her
hands under her armpits, Arlene struggled to follow her mate as the wind picked
up. “Think it’s going to snow tonight?”
She saw him
check the sky. “I doubt it. There’s no clouds. Without any clouds to hold in
the heat, it’s going to get colder. Come on, honey.” He looped an arm through
hers as they continued. “It’s just ahead. I can see the place now.”
“Are you
sure there’ll be something there to eat?” It was becoming difficult to talk.
Her lips were numb, and she’d lost all feeling in her feet.
“Yes. They’ll have something to
eat. They always do,” Derris promised. His words were slightly slurred, which
told her that he was also succumbing to the freezing temperature.
“And after we eat, we’ll be able
to—”
“Yes, sweetheart.”
The world was lit with a bright milky-gray
glow from the full moon. With snow covering almost everything until nothing
remained distinctive under its blanket, it was impossible for her to tell one
lump from another.
However, one massive structure
loomed ahead. Arlene gave another little whimper, this time of relief. Derris led
her straight to the rear of the building where the trash cans were located. Grabbing
the lid of the first one, he threw it open and leaned over to take a deep
breath. “This one’s full, and it smells delicious.” He tilted the can until it
fell onto the ground, spilling its contents.
He was right. The smell of food
filled the frigid air, beckoning them with its promise of a hearty meal. Arlene
dropped to her knees as Derris shredded the plastic bags. Lumps of mashed
potatoes, a few green beans, and beef bones with some meat still attached slid
out onto the snow.
“It’s a feast!”
“Start eating,” he ordered her.
“I’ll look for more.”
There was more. A bite of egg and
toast. Some French fries. The remains of a salad with bacon bits adhered to the
lettuce. And two intact biscuits. Half a slice of cherry pie. Most of
everything was peppered with coffee grounds, but they were able to brush off the
majority of it.
Someone hadn’t eaten every bit of
chicken off their order of wings. There were dinner rolls with a single set of
teeth marks on them, a little boiled cabbage, some macaroni and cheese, and—
“Look!” Derris held it out to her.
Arlene gaped at the two untouched donuts.
“Why would they throw out perfectly
good food?” she asked around a mouthful.
“Stuff like donuts grow stale after
a while,” he told her. “Nobody wants stale donuts.”
“Oh, but they’re so good!” she
argued. “Even cold and hard,” she added, and giggled.
They continued to eat, using the
light of the moon and their sense of smell to find the stuff that was still
edible, even if it was a single piece of broccoli, a tidbit of a strawberry, or
half a slice of cantaloupe.
They gorged themselves, taking
advantage of the contents of all three trash cans. When they were too full to
eat any more, they stretched out on the hard packed ground, unable to move.
Arlene gazed up at the beautiful moon, when she felt Derris’s hand reach out
and take hers, giving it a squeeze.
“Happy now?” he whispered.
“I feel like that moon.”
“Stuffed?”
She tried to laugh, but her stomach
was too bloated. “I feel like howling at it myself.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m happy. Because now we
can—”
A sound coming from the side of the
building interrupted them. Derris hissed in her ear, “Hurry! Change!”
She was already ahead of him,
shedding her shoes and ragged clothes. He was waiting for her behind the last
overturned trash can when the man came outside, brandishing a flashlight and a
baseball bat.
“Scott? What is it, Scott?” A woman
appeared in the open doorway.
The light played over Derris and
Arlene, revealing their locations. They took off, waddling as fast as they
could from the roadside restaurant.
“It’s just a couple of damn
raccoons,” the man told her. “They got into the trash cans and made a huge mess
out here. Damn, if I can figure out how they’re able to knock over those heavy
cans.”
“Well, leave it for now. It’s too
cold out to do anything about it tonight,” the woman snapped. “Get back in here
before you catch your death!”
Eventually, the man turned off the
flashlight and went back inside the building. The last thing they heard was him
muttering, “I’m gonna hafta put a fence or something around those cans, or
those damn animals will be back.”
They waited for the door to close
before emerging from their hiding place. Nuzzling her cheek with his snout, Derris
motioned for her to follow him.
They left their clothes behind.
There was no need to go back and retrieve them. Even if they did, they had no
way to carry them. Not in their present shape. But it didn’t matter. They could
always find plenty of cast-off clothing people discarded. When they grew hungry
again, and could no longer keep their alternate shapes, it wouldn’t be hard to
find more.
Derris paused beside a tree and
waited for her to catch up. “Warm enough now?” he teased.
She shook the ice crystals from her
thick fur. “Mm-hmm, and full as a tick. Where are we going to spend the night?”
“I was thinking about that storage
shed about a quarter mile down the road. There’s a little tunnel underneath the
flooring that we can use to get inside. We’ll be all toasty and out of the
weather. How’s that sound?”
“Will we be able to see the Wolf Moon
from inside?” She glanced up to stare at the orb’s intense brightness.
“The shed has windows. I’m pretty
sure we can. Come on.”
He turned to lead the way when she
stopped him. “Derris?”
“What, honey?”
“Have I told you lately how much I
love you?”
He smiled. The moonlight reflected
off his mask, making his dark eyes shine. “Tell me again when we curl up to
sleep. I want it to be the last thing I hear.”
Arlene nodded and kissed his mouth.
And together the two raccoons hurried along the side of the road to find their
resting place for the night.
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