The Magic of Zhane Tarnsworth
Written for Bryan M. Keller by SonicBlu
Most characters are © 2002 SonicBlu. Any similarities, living or dead, 
are purely coincidental.

Chapter 1: Nathan Cromwell	

	The early-Autumn skies began to darken with the overcast of dark clouds as 
the city of Seattle, Washington started off another morning in the lives of the 
everyday commoners. Upon the ritzy side of town, where the grand houses of the 
wealthy stood, the high-classed urban-dwellers scrambled to their busy lives. 
Maids and chauffeurs sprang to attention, in an effort to provide their services 
onto those they served. In the heart of the city, traffic jams on the highways 
quickly slowed down the flow of busybodies trying to make it to their places of 
business on time. The sidewalks were overrun by pedestrians, many of them were 
on their way to work, while others stood on street corners and begged for spare 
change. The sounds of the city seemed in an uproar as vehicles of large and 
small proportion drove up and down the streets, while the nearby establishments 
often gave off constant shouts amongst their workers. To the west, a poor side 
of town stood secluded from the rest of the city, and most of the buildings and 
houses were badly in need of repair. Lawns were overrun by tall weeds, and the 
woodwork of the buildings seemed old and rickety. The small children of the run-
down neighborhood all migrated to school together, while engaging in their loud 
chatter as they walked. On the corner of the small street, near a multitude of 
small stores and shops, stood a large, brick building, which looked like it 
hadn't been renovated since the 1930s. Boards of plywood were constantly being 
placed over the broken windows, and the paint on the side of the building was 
faded due to age. The faint lettering read "Starlight Inn" and proved to be a 
tremendous eye-sore for the neighborhood. The building had been abandoned for 
over ten years, but nobody knew what happened to the building's owner. Within 
the neighborhood, several rumors circulated amongst the younger generations 
about the owner still living behind its walls, waiting for unsuspecting 
trespassers to set foot into the old building.
"You liar! Old man Jenkins ain't in there!" one kid bellowed.
"Yeah, huh!" shouted another.
"We saw him through the upstairs window. He was all white, and his hair was long 
and very thin. He looked like a skeleton."
"You're just trying to scare me, he's not really in there!"
"Oh yeah? I dare you to go in there and see."
"Come on, guys, we're supposed to be going to school. If my Mom finds out we're 
late, she'll tan my hide!"
"Oh really? I guess that means you're just a little chicken!" he said as a loud 
chuckle brought out from the young pre-teen's throat. Several of his friends 
joined in the mockery and began flapping their arms and clucking maniacally.
"Booock, bock, bock, boooooock!" they all shouted in unison. The only kid that 
wasn't joining in the fun only continued to walk onward, not once falling victim 
to his friends' taunts. The group of children continued walking onward along the 
road that led to the elementary school towards the middle-classed parts of the 
neighborhood. The buildings were not as bad as the run-down hovels that stood 
just a few blocks away, but in comparison to the east side of town, they still 
looked quite lethargic. The children passed by a string of apartment buildings 
and complexes that lined the side streets, and was nicknamed "Apartment Row" by 
the immediate residents of the area, aptly for the lack of variety in the area. 
The small group of kids stopped in their tracks momentarily as they picked up a 
few more of their friends before continuing onward to the schoolyard that 
resided at the far end of the street. 

	Within a silent apartment room of the Dewdrop apartment complex, a young 
adult stirred in his sleep, while the sounds of the children's loud chatter 
erupted from outside. Nathan Cromwell slowly awakened and grumbled as his eyes 
opened to meet the dull light of the morning sun covered by a widespread blanket 
of clouds. He rubbed his eyes to remove the crusted bits of sleep that collected 
during the night, and reached for the remote control sitting upon his bedside 
table. Giving a prolonged yawn, he pressed the power button with his thumb and 
returned it to its original place. The morning newscasters switched 
broadcastings from one source to another, much like they were passing a football 
in a game of catch, as they brought the news of the day to the city of Seattle. 
Nathan rose his near-naked body from the firm, queen-sized bed, and scratched 
his lower back as he listened to the spoken words of the Seattle news team's 
announcements. 

	The five foot, eight inch body of Nathan Cromwell entered the bathroom and 
took a look at himself in the mirror, which reflected the image of a half-groggy 
man wearing a pair of red boxers. He ran his hand through the badly tousled tuft 
of blond hair atop his head and moaned in a low, quivery tone.
"Days like this, I just want to lie back and sleep in all day," he said to his 
reflection, "I just know it's going to be a very slow day."

	Nathan Cromwell took the bus into the heart of downtown Seattle every 
morning, where a medium-sized hardware store stood among the town. He didn't 
mind clerking for Tanney's Hardware, but deep down inside, he wanted something 
more out of life than to spend eight hours behind the counter of a mere hardware 
store. He got along well with his fellow workers, however, his attitude towards 
them was never sociable. Often, the employees of Tanney's Hardware would migrate 
to the corner pub for a few rounds of their favorite brew, and have often 
invited Nathan to attend, but Nathan was quick to turn them down and return to 
his lonesome home. He always had a substantial amount of funds tucked away in 
the bank, so his financial status was always in good standing. 

	He reached for the faucet handle and tested the temperature of the 
steaming, hot water before shucking the boxers from his plain-toned body. He 
scratched the small patch of hair on his abdominal area as he stood naked in the 
small bathroom; the steam from the shower covered the mirrors almost instantly. 
He gave a yawn as he stepped into the narrow tub, and instantly felt invigorated 
as the water rushed over his body. He reached for the bar of soap and began to 
cleanse his body with the soft, rich lather that provided effervescence to the 
rejuvenating treatment his body needed to start the morning. As he showered, the 
television in his bedroom blared the rock and roll music in the background of a 
cereal commercial before returning to the Seattle news report.
"We're back with Channel 7 news. Early yesterday afternoon, the children of St. 
Augustine's Day Care Center came out to say their hellos to a man dressed in a 
suit of chain mail. He rode by the small establishment on a white stallion, also 
bearing metallic plates of armor around its head and neck. They really looked 
like they enjoyed their visitor."
"They sure did, Jackie," another broadcaster cut in as the camera switched to a 
clean-cut gentleman in a black suit standing in front of a small house with a 
large sign on the lawn. The sign was easily noted, and appeared to be hand-
painted. "St. Augustine's Day Care Center" was written in multi-colored 
lettering, accompanied by the painted renditions of children's toys upon all 
four corners of the wooden sign. As the camera flashed to a shot of the children 
petting the white horse, the broadcaster continued.
"The horseman, Sir Grisham, appeared here while on his way to the outskirts of 
Tacoma. Sir Grisham never was the type to turn down a warm welcome by young 
children, and always tries to express positive messages to them."
"He has a beautiful horse," a small girl of St. Augustine's said as the camera 
cut to her interview with the media, "Sir Grisham let me pet her."
"Sir Grisham's really nice," stated a small boy, "because he is very smart, and 
he fights dragons." The camera cut to an interview given by the St. Augustine's 
Day Care Center supervisor. A casual expression developed on her face as she 
spoke for the Seattle News.
"The children all appreciate Sir Grisham, and he visits St. Augustine's quite 
often. He frequently goes to Tacoma, almost weekly, to try and vanquish the evil 
dragon that lives in the city."
"And we hope he succeeds. Francis Dughan is up next with the Channel 7 sports." 
a newscaster said as the camera cut to the news studio.

	From inside the bathroom, the sound of the faucet squeaked as the rapping 
of water against porcelain suddenly ceased. Nathan stepped out of the shower; 
his naked, plain-toned body glistened with moisture. He buried his head in the 
fluffy, blue towel hanging on the towel rack and began to dry himself off. He 
opened the door partway to allow the stuffiness and steam to escape through the 
crack of the slightly ajar door. From in the bathroom, he could hear the 
sportscaster giving the latest Seahawks score against the Miami Dolphins.
"It seems our Seahawks walked away with another stunning victory, as they led 
the game by ten points against the Miami Dolphins. The Seahawks put up quite a 
struggle last night, and the winning score of thirty-five to twenty-five put the 
Seattle Seahawks another step closer to consideration for the Superbowl. In 
other sporting events, PGA pro, Chi Chi Rodriguez, obtained a hole-in-one while 
on the fourteenth fairway. The course was a par three, and Rodriguez is seen 
here, teeing off with a five-iron. Now, watch as the ball soars as if being 
guided right to the hole. And, boom, an outstanding shot. Chi Chi Rodriguez will 
be attending the PGA Tournament at Augusta in Georgia, where he will play 
against Tiger Woods. It's going to be quite a game, indeed. This concludes the 
news and views of today's sports. I'm Francis Dughan. Back to you, Jackie."
"Thank you, Francis. We'll be back with weather after this." The sound of a 
catchy slogan echoed through the room as Nathan turned out the light in the 
bathroom. He stepped across the floor to his bed and began to don his apparel 
for another day of work.
"So, the Seahawks won another one." Nathan said to himself as he smiled. He 
adjusted his uniform and tucked his shirt into his trousers, then reached for 
the remote to flip through the channels.
"Do you need pain relief?" a commercial spokeswoman asked.
"Do you need a brain?" Nathan mocked and continued flipping through channel 
after channel of the usual Wednesday morning muck that the typical housewife 
enjoyed watching, passing up talk shows, soap operas, and garden improvement 
programs.
"Garbage, garbage, garbage. How they ever keep their ratings is beyond me. 
Nobody I know would ever watch this." Nathan grumbled as he channel-surfed.
"Jesus is the answer! Jesus needs your money! Please, make that call and help 
the Lord. By doing so, you, too, shall be saved from evil on Earth." Nathan felt 
drawn to the dialogue bellowing out of the television, and heaved a sigh of 
disbelief.
"Another conspiracy." Nathan said to himself. He never understood the beliefs of 
religion, and often shuddered when he heard talk of people converting other 
people, or hearing religious fanatics sending the mortal human to damnation as 
part of their religious culture.
"Good thing I ain't no bible-thumper. It's all a cluttered mess to me." Nathan 
said and changed the station to an appropriate channel before hitting the power 
button with his thumb. He placed the remote control neatly on the bedside table 
and made up his bed. Taking a final look around before departing, Nathan touched 
his finger to the light switch and clicked it to the "off" position.

Chapter 2: Zhane Tarnsworth

	Nathan walked along the Seattle streets for two blocks and eyed the poor 
qualities of the buildings around him. Although his financial situation kept him 
rather steady, Nathan never really applied himself to strive for higher goals, 
and found comfort living in the seedy-looking neighborhood. He checked his watch 
as the bus arrived at the stop.
"Late by a couple minutes." Nathan whispered, but shrugged off the slight 
lateness of the bus's arrival. He took a seat near the back of the bus, which 
was an area he frequented. Even in the days of his youth, Nathan always chose to 
sit in the back of the class, for he felt more hidden from his teachers, and 
decreased his chances of having to orally participate in the daily studies. 

	The young twenty-five-year-old Tanney's Hardware employee glanced out of 
the window and watched while the city scrolled by. 
"Psst." a voice whispered in the seat next to him.
"Hey, you." the voice spoke up. Nathan slowly turned his head to face an odd-
looking, elder man, dressed in a blue cloak and holding a pointed hat in his 
lap. He placed the hat atop his silver-haired head and smiled underneath his 
long facial hair. Nathan cast a disconcerting glare to the old man as he held 
his smile.
"Nice day, ain't it?" the old man asked.
"It's overcast." Nathan said in a low tone of voice, not wanting to get involved 
with the elder's conversation. As Nathan looked out the window, the center of 
the sky parted, allowing the sun's bright rays to shine through. Nathan turned 
to face the old man once again and noticed his smile widened.
"Why are you worried? You'll make it to work on time. The bus is only two 
minutes late to its arrival." he said.
"How did you know..." Nathan started, but quickly cut his question short, to 
prevent a further discussion.
"By the way, you shouldn't leave your television on. You'll save on electricity 
that way."
"What?" Nathan shot forth, not caring about being withdrawn from the reality 
around him.
"Your television. You left it on."
"No, I didn't, and I suggest you keep to yourself. I'm not interested in what 
you have to sell."
"Sell?" the old man chuckled loudly. Nathan took a quick look around at the 
other passengers and noticed that their reactions to the old man's appearance or 
conversation didn't seem to raise a scene at all. He looked at the young 
college-type youngster sitting directly behind the old man and was struck with 
bewilderment, wondering why even a young guy like him didn't notice the strange 
man's apparel. 
"What do you want, old man?"
"Zhane."
"What?"
"Zhane Tarnsworth." the elderly gentleman said and handed Nathan a small 
business card. Nathan held his hand out in refusal of the gesture. Zhane shook 
his head slowly and placed the card back in the pocket of his cloak, and said 
not one further word to the troublesome man.

	Nathan rose to disembark from the bus as it pulled up near the shopping 
center where Tanney's Hardware stood. Before exiting the bus, Zhane raised his 
long staff and bid a silent farewell. Nathan caught the unconventional man's 
gesture from the corner of his eye and shook his head swiftly. He quickly walked 
through the parking lot of the Twin Rock Shopping Center and took a few quick 
glances over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't followed by the strange man he 
saw on the bus.
"It's like he's following me, yet he's not. That guy was freaky!" Nathan 
exclaimed. He pushed the door to Tanney's Hardware open and walked casually into 
the establishment.
"Hi, Nate." a fellow co-worker said as he passed. Nathan waved his hand up as a 
gesture of greeting and headed straight for the time cards in the back office. 
He located his card and placed it through the slot below the clock face and 
pulled the lever down. The clock's hands hit 11:00 AM on the nose as Nathan 
returned his card to the rack and proceeded to move into the narrow area between 
the stock shelves and the front counter. 
"Ready for another day at the bump n' grind, Nate?"
"You know I am, Rob." Nathan replied, and a plain expression crossed his face, 
which matched the look of his entire body.
"Good. Rudy wants you to run Register Two. The till is already set up for you to 
verify it." Nathan nodded his head, since he's gone through the opening 
procedures on his register countless times. He quickly counted the starting 
supply of currency, and agreed with the one hundred dollar count that resided 
comfortably in their correct places. Each of the bills were lined facing the 
same direction, which was a preference for Nathan. As plain as his appearance 
seemed to be, he often astounded people with the tidiness he keeps, both at work 
and in his home. Tanney's Hardware was at its slow point of the day, so Nathan 
decided to let the time pass while tidying up around the back, where all the 
smaller parts and accessories lined the shelves. He squeezed by his co-worker 
through the narrow walkway and entered into the supply closet. He hummed a song 
to himself as he began to sweep up in the back, making sure to catch every piece 
of litter, cobweb, and dust bunny from underneath the shelves. He already 
finished sweeping up half the back storage area when he heard a group of 
customers enter. Immediately, Nathan leaned the broom aside the shelving, and 
proceeded to aid the shoppers of their hardware needs. He looked up at one of 
the customers and performed a double-take when he noted her attire. The woman 
wore an old-fashioned dress, that looked like it would have appeared out of an 
early nineteen fifties sock-hop dance ball.
"Must be some kind of costume party." Nathan thought, but would never attempt to 
appear too opinionated while on the job.
"What can I do for you, miss? Are you looking for something in particular?" 
Nathan asked as he approached the woman, who was rummaging through a bin of door 
catches.
"Perhaps you can. I need a package of shutter catches. Could you help me locate 
some?"
"Excuse me, shutter catches?" Nathan questioned. The woman silently nodded her 
head.
"What are shutter catches?"
"They're a pair of clasps that hold my window shutters together. Shutter 
catches." Nathan scratched his head as he tried to figure out the item that the 
young, old-fashioned woman was looking for.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but we don't sell..."
"Shutter catches?" Rob piped in as he overheard the request. "We have them, 
miss. Right this way." Nathan stood with his mouth held open wide as he watched 
Rob return behind the counter. He reappeared from the back room, holding up a 
small blister pack of shutter catches and moved to the cash register to ring her 
sale.
"That'll be one dollar and twenty-seven cents, ma'am." She opened the small, 
black purse she carried around her wrist and handed Rob a two-dollar bill. 
Nathan got a closer look and happened to see the rare bill being placed in the 
register.
"And seventy-three cents is your change. Thank you, ma'am." Rob said and waved 
the woman off as she left. Nathan still held his shocked expression as he slowly 
entered the register area, and slowly looked up at Rob with his still-wide open 
eyes.
"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"What do you mean, 'what?' Did you sell her something I should be aware of?"
"Shutter catches? We've always had them, Nate." Nathan stomped off to the back 
room and looked up and down the shelving until he came across a slender 
cardboard box containing an ample supply of shutter catches. He picked up a 
package of the rustic catches and held it up to get a better glance at the 
contents.
"Yeah, Nate. Those are shutter catches. What's wrong with you?"
"Rob, who the hell uses shutters these days? Shutters haven't been installed 
since the forties and fifties at least!"
"Some houses have them. It's not all Venetian blinds, you know."
"Rob, in all the houses I've seen, none of them had shutters. I even live in a 
run-down rat-hole neighborhood, and none of those houses have shutters on their 
windows. Bed sheets, maybe, but no shutters. They're long gone!" Nathan said and 
threw the blister pack of catches back in the box.
"Well, they're out there. We've always sold them here."
"Rob, I've been here for two years, and I've never sold one single pack. I know 
what sells and what doesn't, and I don't recall anything that has anything, 
whatsoever, to do with shutter catches."
"Calm down, Nate. You're pitching a fit over nothing. Relax." Rob said and 
placed his hand upon his shoulder.
"What is with this town?" Nathan asked to himself as he shook his head, not once 
believing the things his own eyes have seen, and how the rest of Seattle seems 
to see it as normal.
"Rob, what is the year on the dollar bill she gave you?"
"Oh, you mean the two? 1953, why?"
"Why?" Nathan repeated and laughed uncontrollably. Rob held a perplexed 
expression on his face as he watched his co-worker seemed to make big deals out 
of the littlest things.
"Why, he says! Oh, now I know this world is cracked! He gets a two-dollar bill, 
from 1953 of all eras, and he doesn't even find it unusual? Oh, now I know 
there's something wrong here!" Nathan screamed as he threw his arms up into the 
air while walking further into the back room.
"What's the problem? We get money from all different eras, what makes this any 
different?"
"Forget it. Just drop it. The more I think about it, the more insane it'll make 
me. I'm finishing up back here." Nathan said and grabbed the broom from the 
shelf. He swept the floor more vigorously than he did before, which caused most 
of the dry dust bunnies to scatter.
"Listen, Nate. You sound like you've been working way too hard. What do you say 
to a round of drinks at Jack's tonight after work?"
"No, but thanks for offering." Nathan said softly and kept his concentration to 
his sweeping. He gathered the pile of dirt and dust into a dustpan and emptied 
it into the tall trash bin in the back corner of the storage area before 
returning to the cash register. Nathan thought to himself of the way Rob sounded 
when he talked of accepting a dollar bill from the 1950s, and went over to re-
verify the allotted funds in his till. He pressed the key marked "no sale" and 
carefully looked through the neatly-arranged stacks of bills. Upon a closer 
inspection, Nathan noticed that all the years marked on each bill were 
different, some dating as far back as 1946, while others marked the recent year 
of 1999.
"I never saw anything like this before. We usually have a good supply of these 
newer-looking twenties, and now there's hardly any in here." Nathan whispered. 
He closed his register and tried not to concentrate on the changes he had just 
witnessed.

	Nathan worked the entire rest of his shift as best as he could, but he did 
have to admit that some of the customers dressed in older-style clothing, while 
some of them entered the store wearing designer clothes of the 1980s and 1990s. 
Nathan counted up his ending shift's funds and cataloged the money count on the 
drop sheet, along with the till readings of the total sales for that day. Robert 
Haddock punched his time clock as Nathan squeezed past him to place his drop 
sheet into the company's safe. He finished the closing procedure by placing the 
empty till drawer on his boss's desk and grabbed his jacket.
"Are you sure you don't want that drink, Nate? I'm buying." Nathan stood in 
silence, thinking more and more about the unusual occurrences during the day.
"Come on, it'll help ease your mind. What do you say?" Nathan slowly hesitated, 
then shook his head slowly.
"Sorry, Rob. I really should be getting back home." Nathan said quietly.
"You know what your problem is? You're an antisocial."
"What?" Nathan said as he glared surprisingly into Rob's eyes.
"Think about it, Nate. You don't hang out with friends, you don't go out to eat, 
you don't want to go see a movie, you just sit at home doing nothing."
"I resent that. I keep up the apartment and cook."
"You know what I mean. You can't be 'Miss Polly Housewife' all the time, can 
you?"
"I'll see you tomorrow, okay Rob?" Nathan said and headed for the door. Rob 
Haddock stood in the center of the hardware store and hung his head, giving it a 
slow shake back and forth.
"Oh, Nate, Nate, Nate. When will you wake up?" Rob said in a whisper to himself.

Chapter 3: The Card

	Nathan still felt the eerie chill of the impression from the old man that 
he met on the bus earlier that morning, but didn't think about trying to locate 
his whereabouts. He arrived at the bus stop and waited fifteen minutes for the 
bus to arrive. As he waited, he noticed a 1952 Edsl driving down the street. 
Nathan wasn't too superior to automobiles, but he knew an oddity when he saw 
one.
"Edsl? Who in their right frame of mind would be driving an Edsl these days?" 
Nathan said as he followed the Edsl with his eyes until it was out of his 
sights. His attention returned when he saw the bus pull up to the stop. He 
flashed his bus pass through the plastic card holder in his wallet and proceeded 
to the back of the bus, where his seats of choice awaited him. Being a man of 
five feet, eight inches tall, he didn't need to have too much leg room, but he 
couldn't help but feel a bit cramped having the seat ahead staring him directly 
in the face. He noticed that the bus was unusually empty for being 7:35 PM, for 
at that end of town, transit of passengers had always been at a high volume. 
Deciding to come out of his shell of self-confinement, he moved slowly to the 
front-end of the bus.
"Driver, can I ask you something?" Nathan asked.
"Sure, what's up?" the driver replied as he kept his eyes glued to the road.
"Where is everyone? The bus is usually packed at this time, and now, there's 
hardly anybody on board."
"Oh, I'm sure they all have their plans, I guess. I'm just a bus driver."
"You mean, you never notice the flow of passengers?" The bus driver shook his 
head a couple times as he stared out through the windshield. Nathan turned and 
headed back to his seat, when out of the corner of his eye, he caught the 
glimpse of a horse-drawn carriage in the far distance. His mind was slow to 
latch onto the nostalgic-looking carriage, and turned his head quickly to get a 
better glance.
"Unbelievable!"
"What did you see?" the driver asked as he reared his head back in Nathan's 
direction.
"I just saw a horse-drawn carriage way out there."
"Really? What was special about it?"
"What?"
"The carriage. Was it lined with gold, or was it a regular wooden carriage?" the 
driver asked, not even seeming the least bit thrown-off from the unusual mode of 
transportation.
"What? You have to be kidding me!" Nathan hollered. "Something's going on around 
this town, and it's been happening all day."
"What's wrong, sir?"
"I see this freaky old man this morning, a customer asks for shutter catches, 
all the money in my till have dates from various eras of the Franklin Mint's 
circulation, an Edsl drives by me that looked like it was just driven off the 
showroom floor, and now this. Am I the only one that's missing something here?"
"I assure you, sir, those kinds of things happen every day. I don't know about 
shutter catches or Edsls, but people have always given me fares that ranged in 
dates like that."
"There goes another one! What is that, a fancy old-time celebration?" Nathan 
interrupted as he caught another glimpse of a horse-drawn carriage.
"Carriages like that have always been used, from as far back as the late 
sixteenth century. Before that, people rode on bare horseback."
"I know all that! Why are they still using them now?"
"They never really stopped using them. Just because the automobile was invented, 
didn't necessarily mean they went out of style." the bus driver said as if he 
was speaking to an inferior individual. 
"Of course they went out of style!" Nathan hollered. "Do you know how long it's 
been since a horse-drawn carriage was used? A very long time ago! I wish 
somebody would throw me a clue here as to what's going on! Everybody seems to 
look at me like I'm crazy!"
"Sir, can I get you to sit down and silence yourself? I need to concentrate on 
the road, and I can't do that with you disturbing me with your ranting."
"Fine." Nathan grumbled and returned to his seat at the back of the bus. He 
reached into his jacket pocket, hoping to find his small bottle of headache 
pills, but felt a flat piece of cardstock paper. Curiously, Nathan pulled it out 
of his pocket and looked at the embossed lettering.
"Zhane Tarnsworth, Magician and Expert in Wizardry? What the hell? I never took 
his damn card. Why do I have it now?" Nathan said in a quiet tone. He turned the 
card to the back, where a message was written in hand-written, blue ink.
"If you seek the clues you are unsure of, curiosity will become you." it read. 
With a trembling hand, Nathan placed the card back into his pocket and tried his 
best to keep the remainder of his outbursts to himself until he arrived at his 
stop. He hurried off the bus and continued walking quickly, not even slowing 
down until he reached his apartment. He slammed the door quickly behind him and 
instantly heard the sound of music playing from inside his bedroom. Scratching 
his head, Nathan slowly approached the closed bedroom door and placed his ear to 
the woodwork.
"Eat-a-lotta Ruby Cotta Elbow Macaroni," a catchy commercial sang, and Nathan 
easily made out the lyrics to an old commercial slogan he hadn't heard since he 
was seven years of age. He opened the door and saw the tail-end of the early 
1980s commercial, which showed a large, heaping bowl of Ruby Cotta Elbow 
Macaroni at the center of the table, and the words "Eat-a-lotta Roby Cotta at 
your dinner table tonight!" before they faded into black. He reached for the 
remote control and clicked the power button, then approached the television to 
glare surprisingly at the blackened screen. He placed his hand over the picture 
tube and scratched his head.
"I know I turned it off this morning. I know I did. And what's up with that old 
commercial? Ruby Cotta hasn't done a commercial since 1984! I must have it on 
some 'Remember The Past' program." Nathan said and placed the remote back on the 
bedside table. He turned his back and headed for the bedroom door, when he 
suddenly stopped and remembered the words of Zhane Tarnsworth coming back to 
him.
"You shouldn't leave your television on. You'll save on electricity that way." 
the memory of the earlier conversation echoed through his mind.
"He knew. Somehow, he knew." Nathan said, refusing to believe the nature of the 
strange man he met. He exited his bedroom and headed into the kitchen to prepare 
his evening's meal.

Chapter 4: What's in the Kitchen?
									
	Nathan turned on the radio from his living room, then entered the small 
kitchen and wondered to himself of the meal he would prepare for himself. He 
started with the refrigerator and looked over the plastic bags of fresh produce 
and bread products he kept neatly arranged on the shelves. 
"Broccoli. What goes good with broccoli?" Nathan asked himself as he procured 
the bundle of broccoli. He looked over at the small tray of chicken thighs he 
set out the previous morning and felt it with his finger.
"Still a bit frozen, but it's not too bad." Nathan said as he placed both items 
on the counter top beside the sink.
"Now for a starch." Nathan said to himself as he opened the door of the first 
cupboard, where his dry staples sat. Flipping through packages of noodles and 
soup mixes, he caught the glimpse of a red bag sitting on the back shelf. He 
reached for the bag and noticed the name "Ruby Cotta" written cursively on the 
front of the package.
"How do you like that for a coincidence?" Nathan said as he sat the bag of 
macaroni with the rest of the meal items he selected. From the living room, the 
sounds of an artificial cheese commercial was heard through the mono speaker of 
the small radio.
"Squeez-a Cheez-a on your salad, Squeez-a Cheez-a on your veggies, Squeez-a 
Cheez-a!" the congregation of voices sang the lyrics of the catchy slogan. 
Nathan returned to his cupboard and fumbled through the shelves for a package of 
artificial powdered cheese to add to the elbow macaroni. 
"Squeez-a Cheez-a. The perfect topper for any meal. Just look for the skinny 
bottle in your grocer's cooler." the spokesperson said as the ridiculous lyrics 
ended.

	Having heard every word from the radio, Nathan shrugged and looked at his 
refrigerator, having a slight feeling of eeriness sweep over his body. He never 
bought a single bottle of Squeez-a Cheez-a before in his life, but he had a 
sinking uncanny feeling that he would find the skinny bottle sitting on the 
shelf in his refrigerator. He opened the door and looked through all the 
shelves, behind bottles of soda, milk, and filtered water, expecting to see the 
colorful bottle of artificial cheese somewhere where he would least expect it. 
He scooted each item around nervously, but the skinny bottle of cheese still 
didn't plan on making an appearance.
"Come on, where is it? It's expected, hell, it's bound to be in here!" Nathan 
said as he quickly turned the neatly-arranged refrigerator into a haphazard 
mess. Not coming up with the illustrious bottle, he slammed the door to his 
refrigerator.
"You're in my head, aren't you, Zhane? AREN'T YOU?" Nathan hollered. He returned 
to the cupboard and decided to use the package of Alfredo Sauce he picked up on 
his last grocery run.
"Alfredo Macaroni. Just like Mama used to make." Nathan said, sounding like the 
spokespersons of the products that musically advertised their products on the 
syndicated television and radio broadcasts. He covered each burner with pans of 
all different sizes, and prepared the food for cooking. As he set the chicken 
into the heated vegetable oil, he turned each of the burners to the "medium" 
setting and moved into the living room to read through the newspaper. The radio 
played the music of the classic rock era while Nathan skimmed through the paper. 
Finding nothing out of the ordinary, he smiled softly.
"Well, at least the news is the same." Nathan said to himself. Unbeknownst to 
him, the advertisement on the following page would quickly make him change his 
outlook. He slowly turned the page and saw an unusual-shaped building of a solid 
white orb residing behind a tall, pointed spike. The advertisement read "World's 
Fair, Queens, NY. Welcome to Tomorrow.", which almost caused Nathan to drop the 
newspaper from his clutches.
"World's Fair? What's the World's Fair doing in the newspaper? The World's Fair 
is long gone! What is it doing still advertised in the paper?" Nathan hollered. 
"No, I refuse to believe our world is turning back the hands of time! I thought 
Edsls were completely gone, but somewhere in my mind said 'oh, it's probably 
just part of somebody's old collection.' Then, after the horse-drawn carriages, 
I would think it was part of a charade. I can understand the acceptance of money 
originating from the fifties, since there are still some in circulation, but The 
World's Fair? The flipping World's Fair? The same one that used to be in New 
York back in 1939? THE World's Fair? No way! I am not believing this!" Nathan 
said and shoved the newspaper aside. The pages scattered themselves onto 
Nathan's clean carpet, but he didn't care about being neat. The events that 
happened around him were too much for his mind to bear. He returned to his 
kitchen, where he knew he would be safe from haunting recurrences of the past. 
He turned the thighs in the large frying pan and stirred the boiling saucepan 
full of elbow macaroni. He didn't have much room to move around in the small 
kitchen, so he moved over to his small, square table in the dining area of the 
quaint apartment room.
"Cards. I'll play a game of Solitaire. That will help get my mind off these 
things." Nathan reached for the deck of playing cards and shuffled it quickly 
before dealing himself a standard hand. He played through half of the game 
before checking on his dinner once again. He smiled as he looked over the small 
portions of food he prepared for himself, then glanced at the unused portions of 
each food group.
"Mom told me it was unnatural of me to live a single life. I would be going 
through food twice as much if I settled down with someone. From the looks of it, 
I have another meal of this stuff coming to me." Nathan said to himself as he 
placed the leftover, unused portions of food back into his refrigerator. While 
he had the door open, he decided to shuffle through the contents of the 
refrigerator in case he missed seeing the bottle of Squeez-a Cheez-a the first 
time. After five minutes of constant searching, he gave up and tried to arrange 
the refrigerator back the way he had it.
"I know one thing, this whole situation of unusual occurrences will definitely 
make me a messier person, that's for sure." Nathan said as he carefully looked 
over the shelves in his refrigerator. He gently closed the door and finished 
cooking his meal. As he turned off the burners, the phone in his kitchen rang. 
He reached over to the wall and dished out his food as he held the receiver 
between his ear and his shoulder.
"Yeah, who is it?" Nathan said in a hurried tone.
"Squeez-a Cheez-a. The perfect topper for any meal." the voice said in a frail 
tone, then began to laugh maniacally. Nathan slammed it onto the cradle and 
breathed heavily through his lungs. He could feel his entire body quiver with 
fright as he recalled the only man he knows with a voice such as the one he just 
heard.
"That old geezer! How the hell did he know my phone number?" Nathan said aloud 
and kept his eyes glued on the phone as he brought his plate nervously to the 
table. He cleared off his half-finished game of Solitaire to make room for the 
plate and then turned to the glass cabinet for a slender glass to hold his milk. 
He opened the refrigerator and pulled out the gallon of milk. As he went to 
close the door, the skinny bottle of Squeez-a Cheez-a was sitting in plain view 
for his eyes to see. Startled, Nathan leapt back and dropped the gallon of milk 
onto the floor, which bounced upward once, before the lid popped off the nozzle, 
and caused the milk to gush out onto the tiled kitchen floor.
"Oh, hell. What now?" Nathan said angrily as he picked up the bottle of spilling 
milk from the floor and sopped the white puddle with a couple dish towels.
"That old man is dead, as far as I'm concerned." Nathan said, and allowed the 
towels to fully absorb the large puddle. As Nathan stood, he reached into his 
pocket and read Zhane's business card once again. He turned it over to the back, 
and the hand-written ink was replaced with another message.
"Oh, I don't think you're prepared for those types of consequences." it read. 
Nathan instantly felt weak and fell backwards, hitting his head on the post that 
separated the living room from the kitchen. 

Chapter 5: Dream Encounters

	As Nathan remained in his unconscious state, a vision of his fears came 
into view. The evening sky was dark as Nathan saw the vision of himself running 
along the Seattle streets. Sounds of an unseen wolf's howl echoed through the 
land as Nathan looked around nervously. He heard the growls and snarls of the 
nearby wolves, but could not find out where they were coming from. Each howl the 
wolves made seemed to come closer and closer to his whereabouts. He ran into the 
park in hopes to lose track of the wolves, but the atmosphere seemed overrun by 
the canine beasts that Nathan always had a fear of. From the corner of his eye, 
he caught sight of something moving swiftly past him. He flipped around to catch 
a glimpse of the swift-moving figure, but the park's grassy field was all he 
could see. Nathan faced forward once again, only to stare directly into the 
angry eyes of a pair of snarling wolves, their saliva dripped lusciously from 
their sharp, blood-stained teeth. As he slowly backed away, he felt the hot 
breath of a few more wolves breathing on his bare legs from behind. The wolves 
looked up to Nathan sharing the same hungry glare, much like they were staring 
at their prey before they feasted upon its deceased carcass.
"N....no! Leave...leave me alone! Please! Somebody HELP!" Nathan screamed, his 
voice echoing into the night. Nobody was around to hear Nathan's frightened 
plea, but he continued to shout.
"No......NOOOOOO!" he screamed as he suddenly dropped to his knees. He looked up 
to stare eye to eye with the surrounding, angry wolves, and the vision seemed so 
vivid, that Nathan could actually feel the warmth of their breath upon his face 
in his dreamlike state. Nathan's world suddenly turned completely dark, as the 
last thing he saw was the vicious swipe of a wolf's claw upon the flesh of his 
face.
"AAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Nathan shouted and looked around nervously, expecting to be 
surrounded by the starving wolves, but found himself alone in the kitchen where 
he recalled preparing his own meal earlier. He woke up perspiring with sweat, 
which ran heavily from his forehead, and he felt a sharp, stinging pain on his 
cheek. Nathan reached up to scratch his face and noticed a small trickle of 
blood running down his cheek. Quickly, Nathan leapt to his feet and ran for the 
nearest mirror he could find. Gazing at his reflection, he noticed four 
identical scratches running parallel across his face.
"Was it a dream?" Nathan asked himself. "It seemed so very real. I couldn't have 
been chased by wolves. They don't exist in Seattle. What would they be doing 
living in the frigging city?" Nathan spoke aloud to himself as he reached for 
the bottle of Peroxide and a cotton ball. He held his eyelids closed tightly as 
Nathan applied the medicated ball of cotton to the scratches on his face.
"OWWWWW, DAMMIT!" Nathan shouted as he felt the burning sensation of the 
medication upon his wound.
"I hope this dream isn't a sign. I really hope it's not a sign. I hate wolves. 
Large dogs of any kind. Ugggh!" Nathan said as his body shuddered. 

	Nathan never had a good experience with large dogs, even when he was 
growing up. When he was nine, his neighbor's Rottweiler bit his hand as he stuck 
it through the chain-linked fence that separated the two property lines. At 
eleven years of age, Nathan was chased through the park by a Doberman, and he 
sought refuge in a nearby tall tree. He stayed up in the tree until the dog's 
owner tracked him down and carried him off with a leash. At seventeen years old, 
Nathan recalled seeing a pair of fighting German Shepherds while on his way to 
work at the fast food restaurant, and he refused to be seen by them. He waited 
in hiding until they ran away from the vicinity of his locale, and ended up 
arriving to work twenty minutes late.
"There can't possibly be wolves in Seattle." Nathan whispered to himself. He 
made his way back through the hall and into the small dining room area, where 
his dinner waited patiently for his return. He placed the prepared plate into 
the microwave to bring heat back to the semi-cold meal. 
"What does this all mean? All these things seem to be normal to everyone else, 
except me. Even the possibilities of such things being in existence are quite 
slim, but not likely at all." Nathan said aloud to himself to keep his mind 
active. The microwave beeped as the heating process came to an end which broke 
Nathan of his thoughts. He reached carefully into the microwave, not because the 
plate might be too hot, but mainly because he wanted to be ready for anything 
that could be coming from inside. Expecting to see a platter of cow's brains or 
a plate of eyeballs smothered in Alfredo sauce, Nathan heaved a sigh of relief 
when he saw the steaming plate of his meal, arranged exactly how he left it. As 
Nathan ate, the rock and roll classics from the radio's speaker provided the 
room with musical enjoyment. Nathan continued through the evening with his 
attention on full guard, expecting the slightest unnatural circumstances to 
occur. He would look in mirrors, expecting to see things that aren't even there, 
checked under his bed to see if there were any real monsters hiding underneath, 
and even inspected his medicine cabinet, expecting to find his medical kit 
filled with drug paraphernalia. He refused to turn on the television, out of 
fear from discovering something strange on the news, or even something as 
uncommon as seeing a large dog walking across the screen. Nathan's life quickly 
went from care-free to cautious in what seemed like an instant, and the signs of 
the evening's strange occurrences didn't seem to have an intention of returning, 
which left Nathan even more scared and nervous as ever. He didn't even feel the 
need to go to sleep that night, for he was petrified of the dream his mind might 
display. Touching his fingers to the scratches in his cheek, he decided to make 
a pot of coffee to keep his mind awake and active.
"The more I think, the less it seems to occur. I just have to keep my mind 
active. That's all." Nathan said as he waited for the fresh-brewed coffee to 
pour into the tall pot.
"The capital of Spain is Madrid. The circumference of a right triangle is 
equally proportioned by the formations on each side. The only way to bring down 
an elephant is to use a mouse. No, that's not right. An ancient Chinese proverb 
states that even the smallest mouse can bring down the biggest elephant. Yeah, 
that's it. If a tree fell in the woods and nobody was around to hear it, would 
it in fact make a sound. Of course it would! Why wouldn't something fall quietly 
in the woods like that, when it always sounds like creaking and snapping wood? 
Why did the chicken cross the road? To get away from Colonel Sanders. Why would 
chickens even cross the road in Seattle? Because strange things are happening. 
Why are these strange things happening all of a sudden? The world is really a 
hellish place to live. This place should be renamed the Hades Before the Hades 
of Eternity. Why is it that we all live hellish lives on Earth, and the 
suppressing religious types think it's their job to personally tell us how 
everybody is full of so-called 'sin' and how we're going to hell? Lady, wake up 
and smell the frigging coffee. We are living in hell. Life IS hell, you dumb, 
crazy, bible-thumping twit!" Nathan said as his voice began to slowly increase 
in volume. The smell of fresh coffee circulated around the kitchen, and Nathan 
stopped talking aloud to retrieve a large-sized coffee mug from his cupboard. He 
filled the dark-brown liquid to the rim of the mug and then sat back in his easy 
chair. 
"Life sure as hell isn't for the weak." Nathan whispered as he took a sip of 
coffee. He sat the mug on the small table near his armrest, and his eyes flashed 
a glance at a white business card. He picked it up and identified the card that 
came from Zhane Tarnsworth, and he hesitantly flipped it to the back. In blue, 
hand-written ink, the words "it never was for the weak to begin with." were 
clearly seen. Nathan angrily tore the business card into small pieces, then 
threw them across the room, watching as each torn fragment hit the opposite end 
of the floor.
"We'll have no more of that, Zhane. No more of that." Nathan said as he took 
another sip of his coffee. "All I can say is this is going to be a hell of a 
long night." The dim glow of the lamp's lowest setting added a gentle hue of 
light to the room as Nathan sat in his chair, sipping mug after mug of coffee, 
and filling his system with the needed caffeine in order to keep his body awake. 
He let out a gentle sigh as he stared up at the ceiling, trying to keep his mind 
in a constant, ongoing train of thought.

Chapter 6: Nathan Sinks Deeper

	The sound of the loud, arguing children passed by Nathan's window, which 
caused him to spring to attention. He looked around and saw the rest of the full 
pot of coffee half-filled in the mug beside him, and instantly remembered the 
previous night's activity of trying to stay awake. Nathan's stomach felt queasy 
and nauseous as he tried to rise from the chair.
"Uugh, too much coffee." Nathan said as he held his head in his hands. He 
showered as quickly as he could, and put his work uniform back on when he 
finished, hoping to make it to work on time. He left the mess of the torn 
business card on the floor as he headed out his door and locked it behind him. 
Not even thinking of his frightening encounters the previous night, he proceeded 
forth, hoping for a refreshing, new day. He kept his thoughts at a minimum as 
the only concern he had was making the bus stop on time. Nathan had never been 
late to work before, and he refused to allow a first time for tardiness to 
occur. He made the corner bus stop just moments before the bus pulled away from 
the curb.
"Wait! Stop!" Nathan said as he pounded the bus door with his open palm. The 
driver came to an abrupt stop and opened the door for him to enter. He flashed 
his bus pass to the driver and headed to the back row of seats. Sitting next to 
him was a punk-looking teenager listening to loud music on his headphones. 
Nathan tried not to look at the grotesque-looking apparel that adorned the young 
body, marked with the multiple ear and nose piercings upon his face.
"Ugh." Nathan uttered as he looked over at the teenager's appearance and shook 
his head. The young male looked over at the disgusted Nathan Cromwell and 
shrugged his shoulders as he placed the small pair of headphones back over his 
ears. As Nathan turned his head to face the window, his heart practically leapt 
from his chest in shock as the bus passed by a small, elder gentleman with long, 
silvery hair, long facial hair, and wearing the same blue robe he saw the 
previous day. Zhane smiled his sly grin beneath a hairy mustache as he lifted 
his long, wooden staff slightly, which would appear to somebody as a waving 
gesture from a passing friend.
"He's following me, that old fart. Why?" Nathan grumbled to himself. As he 
reached his final destination, Nathan rose from his seat and headed to the rear 
set of doors. From a far distance, he could make out the small figure of the 
suspicious old man slowly walking along the sidewalk into his direction. Nathan 
immediately turned and ran across the parking lot that stood before his 
workplace and immediately closed the door behind him.
"Nathan, what's up?" Rudy Jackson said as he eyed the manager from behind the 
counter. Nathan held his scared expression upon his face as he walked nervously 
across the display floor of the hardware store.
"Hi, Rudy." Nathan said in a low, blank-sounding tone. He headed straight for 
his time card and happened to eye the posted schedule on the wall. 
"I...I have the day off. I hurried myself to get here and I had the day off? 
Dammit! How could I be so dumb?" Nathan said through his gritted teeth and 
turned to face his tall, dark-skinned manager.
"Nathan, I don't remember requesting you to come in today. What, you just can't 
seem to get away from this place?" Rudy said and chuckled. Although Nathan was a 
tad antisocial and very discriminating against people of religious beliefs, he 
felt a tinge of uneasiness around black people as well. Rudy's calm and soothing 
attitude around his workers helped Nathan accept Rudy as a distant friend, 
regardless of the color of his skin. 
"I guess not, Rudy." Nathan said and faked a smile on his face, which quickly 
turned into a frown.
"Hey, what's the matter, Nathan?"
"Well, aside from the fact that I sped everything together as an instant 
reaction to get to work on time, then forgetting what day it was? I would 
imagine it would have a bit of an affect on a person's dignity."
"Well, you know today's our slowest day. Nothing ever happens on Wednesdays, you 
know that." Rudy said with a wide-toothed grin.
"I forgot what day it was, okay?" Nathan shot back. "Besides, I've had a day 
yesterday you wouldn't believe."
"I've noticed you don't associate with others enough. Perhaps if you talked to 
someone you trusted."
"That's just it, Rudy. I don't trust anyone."
"Then perhaps it's time you should start." 
"Rudy, I know your intentions are good, and I have nothing against you. I'm just 
a loner."
"Uh-huh. So off you go, into your own world by your lonesome, and hopefully, the 
problem will clear itself up, right? Take my advice, Nathan. Use your day off to 
your advantage. Go out, get drunk, get laid, do something with somebody. Look at 
me, man. You keep goin' on about yourself too much, and it will eventually take 
over your entire mind."
"Believe me, Rudy. I'm quite capable getting along by myself, it's just that..."
"Naaw, there's no exceptions. You need to get out more. You'll feel a whole lot 
better. I'm just watchin' out for you. I need my star employee to be at his 
best."
"You don't understand, Rudy, it's just..."
"Come on, man. I know what I'm talkin' about." Rudy said as he placed his large 
hand upon Nathan's shoulder. "You think I got where I am in life by keepin' it 
all to myself? Hell no, sir! I got lots of friends, and I would consider you one 
of 'em, Nathan, but you don't seem to wanna let me."
"Rudy, this isn't about friends or companionship. Will you please listen? I'm 
out here being chased down and haunted by this creepy old man and I'm seeing a 
lot of crazy stuff happen."
"What kind of stuff?"
"When was the last time you saw a brand new 1953 Edsl?"
"An Edsl? Gosh, I'd say close to a couple years, why?"
"All right, that might not be a good example, since there just might be one or 
two in the world that have been preserved for show. How about the World's Fair 
in New York?"
"What about it?"
"What do you mean, what about it? Do you know when Queens had their World's 
Fair?"
"Nathan, you're talking crazy."
"NO, I'M NOT!" Nathan screamed. "Come on, Rudy! You know as much as I do that 
the World's Fair in New York was taken down in 1940! You KNOW that!"
"Nathan, you really should take a look at yourself in the mirror. You're really 
startin' to look like something the cat dragged in from the rain."
"Geez, isn't SOMEBODY going to face up to reality? I'm not crazy, Rudy! I'm 
starting to believe it's all an attempt to make me totally lose my mind."
"No wonder why you're always alone." Rudy said underneath his breath as he 
headed to the cash register to assist an incoming customer.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Rudy." Nathan said as he exited the sales counter.
"Try to get some rest, Nathan. You'll need your strength to come in tomorrow." 
Rudy called out behind him.
"Honestly, I think Nathan's getting worse and worse the more I see him." Rudy 
whispered to himself as he shook his head.

	As Nathan walked the streets dressed in his uniform, he held his head down 
as he shuffled his way through the bystanders on the sidewalk.
"Hey, move it or lose it, pal!" Nathan hollered as he caught himself before 
bumping into an obese man waiting for the bus.
"Hey, 'paaal', I ain't causing you no harm." the man blurted back, but Nathan 
continued walking by, unaffected by the constructive outcome from the bystander. 
Nathan looked up and saw Jack's Pub in the distance and thought about unloading 
his worries in a drink. Curiously, Nathan walked past a nearby window to the 
establishment, but found the place comfortably empty.
"Why not? I could use the drink." Nathan said and sighed as he entered the 
establishment. The bartender immediately looked up from the newspaper and headed 
for the back of the counter.
"Well, haven't seen you around, fella. What's your pleasure?"
"Beer." Nathan said in a plain tone. The bartender silently nodded and snapped 
the top of a cold, frosty bottle of genuine, gold-colored liquid. He set it down 
in front of Nathan's waiting hands and began to guzzle it down like a desert 
traveler drinking the much desired waters from his canteen.
"Want another one?" the bartender asked. Nathan nodded swiftly and his empty 
bottle was replaced with another new, full one.
"Here, take your time with this one."
"I don't tell you how to do your job." Nathan said and raised the bottle to his 
lips.
"Something wrong, buddy? You don't look too good. Did you lose your job?"
"No, I didn't lose my job, just my mind."
"Ah, well what's the trouble? I might be able to help."
"No. I don't think so."
"Try me. You'd be surprised when you hear somebody's words of wisdom."
"Look, you're a bartender, not my psychiatrist, okay?" Nathan said and continued 
consuming the cold liquid in the green-tinted bottle.
"All right, have it your way." the bartender said as he reached for a cigarette 
and placed it between his lips. As he lit the end of the cigarette, he looked up 
as the ambient light of the outside world shined itself into the darkness of the 
pub and smiled over at the patron.
"Hey, pal. You got it. Here you go." the bartender said as he quickly opened a 
fresh bottle of beer for the gentleman before he had a chance to even speak. 
Nathan looked up from his drink and looked across the bar at the small man that 
entered.
"Zhane." Nathan said in a low tone. Zhane Tarnsworth looked up as Nathan's word 
left his throat and smiled over at him with a sly grin.
"Nice day for a drink, eh?" Zhane said in his frail-sounding voice. Nathan said 
not a single word to the man, for his anger was at a high enough point, and 
didn't want it to increase any more than it already has.
"I say, nice day for a drink, eh?" Zhane repeated. Nathan looked up at the old 
man with a look that shouted the words "you really think I give a rat's ass?" 
before he pointed his head back down at the counter in front of him.
"Hey." Zhane said in an brusque tone. 
"You're really getting on my nerves, you know that? Why are you following me? 
Leave me the hell alone!" Nathan shot out at the old man. He didn't seem to have 
missed a single beat as his smile remained on his face. Even through the long 
mustache hairs on Zhane's face, Nathan could clearly see his mouth turned up at 
the corners.
"The dogs of war have been unleashed from your heart, I see." Zhane said as he 
approached Nathan, walking slowly while using his staff as a walking stick.
"Bartender, this man is being a menace! Could you please get this freak away 
from me?" Nathan said as he called attention to the barkeep.
"Hey, it ain't my bag organizing my customers. Zhane's a regular here, you're 
just plain obnoxious." the bartender said and continued about his work.
"I don't know where you came from, old man, but I told you, I'm not interested! 
Leave me alone, or next time I see you, I'll have a bullet with your name right 
on it." Nathan said and slammed a ten-dollar bill on the counter, leaving his 
half-consumed bottle of beer on the counter.
"Keep the change. I won't need it." Nathan said and flashed an angry glare in 
Zhane's eyes. He stormed out of the pub and sideswiped a couple on his way out.
"Watch out. Coming through here!" Nathan shouted and headed along his way, not 
stopping until he reached the nearest bus stop. He didn't care where the bus was 
going, for he felt he needed to get away from the immediate vicinity of the 
creepy, old man he left at the bar.

Chapter 7: Unleash The Dogs

	Nathan Cromwell disembarked at a stop on the rural outskirts of downtown 
Seattle, far from Jack's Pub and the old man that harassed him. As he walked 
along the sidewalks of the small community, he got a few odd looks from the 
snobby-types of people that walked by. Nathan didn't seem to notice the 
idiosyncratic looks he was given, for his head pointed straight to the ground. 
The scratches on his cheek were visibly noticeable by the fellow pedestrians 
around the ritzy part of town. He sought refuge from his uneasiness in an empty-
looking park, where people walked their dogs along the walks. From the opposite 
end of the park, the smell of charcoal filled the air, as the aroma of cooking 
meat was carried away in the wind. Nathan's stomach began to rumble as his nose 
caught the wind of the char-broiled foods from a distant barbecue picnic, but he 
didn't seem to care about moving from the peaceful spot on the park bench. He 
rubbed the lobes of his head softly with his fingertips and breathed a heavy 
sigh.
"Hey, are you feeling all right, young man?" an elder woman asked as she saw 
Nathan's horrid expression upon his face. The gentle woman's poodle yipped 
loudly as Nathan raised his head to gaze upon the woman's frail figure.
"I'm fine." Nathan said and gave the woman a reassuring smile. He watched while 
the woman walked slowly along the paved walkway before lowering his head again, 
quickly hiding his fake smile with a plain-looking frown.
"Ugh, I need to get away for awhile. I really need to get away from here." 
Nathan uttered. He sprung to attention as a small, yipping Yorkshire Terrier 
leapt up to Nathan's leg.
"Spark, Spark, get down! Get off the man!" the obese, snobby-looking woman said 
as she tried to pull her small terrier from Nathan's leg.
"I'm awful sorry, sir. Spark's just a feisty little imp."
"It's okay, ma'am. I don't get that good of a reaction from dogs." Nathan said 
as he kept his head held down, not wanting to say anything more. The high-
classed woman stooped to carry her small dog into her arms, and continued along 
her way. Nathan sat alone in the center of the park, watching the other patrons 
indulge in their activities for awhile until he felt the need to get up and tame 
the growling within his empty stomach.
"Hot dogs?" Nathan asked as he saw an old-fashioned hot dog cart being wheeled 
around by a man dressed in a white and red-striped uniform, and wearing a boat-
shaped paper hat atop his head.
"Naah. They might attack me or something." Nathan said as he tried to find humor 
in his state of senility. He finally decided on having a nice, medium-sized 
pizza for himself at a nearby parlor that appeared to be free of busy, hungry 
customers. As he crossed the intersection at the corner, he caught a glimpse of 
a blue van with several yellow stars painted upon it. He didn't seem to catch a 
glimpse of the driver behind the wheel, but the design of the van's exterior 
reminded him of the cloak the old man dressed in. His mind immediately grasped 
upon the image of the old man's apparel and immediately looked up again, only to 
find the van long gone.
"I hope that wasn't whom I thought it would be." Nathan said as he began to 
cross the street. For curiosity's sake, Nathan reached into the breast pocket of 
his uniform and procured a small, white card, exactly identical to the one Zhane 
passed to him the previous day.
"No!" Nathan screamed. "NOOOOOOO!" Nathan immediately turned the card to the 
back and read the hand-written inscription.
"Unleashed are the dogs of war." the card taunted.
"Leave me alone!" Nathan said and cast the card away, not setting one foot into 
the pizza restaurant until he saw the card blowing away in the breeze. He shoved 
the door to the establishment open and stomped to the front counter. He eyed the 
menu, and discovered the prices to be a little higher than he anticipated, but 
he didn't care. From the hunger in his stomach and the uneasiness of having his 
every move followed by an eccentric old man, he wouldn't mind eating a thirty-
dollar hamburger at a run-down Burger Barn.
"Yeah, what can I...geez, what happened to you?" the cashier asked as he caught 
sight of the scratches on Nathan's face.
"Dogs. I need a medium cheese pizza."
"Must be vicious dogs, pal. One medium pizza. That all?"
"Pitcher of root beer, too."
"Okay, comes to fourteen dollars and thirty-seven cents." the cashier smiled. 
Nathan procured fifteen dollars from his pocket and passed it to the cashier. He 
took the folded money and unfolded the bills. A white card dropped into the open 
till, and after the cashier placed the money into the till, he pushed the card 
back to Nathan.
"Here, this was in with the money."
"I don't want it. Throw it out."
"Are you sure you don't need it?" It looks important. It's got some writing on 
the back."
"I'm sure. Throw it away." Nathan said as he looked up to see a phone number 
written in blue ink on the back of a business card. Nathan recognized the phone 
number as one belonging to his dentist, and immediately reached for it.
"I'm sorry. I thought that was something else. I'll take it." Nathan said and 
grabbed the card from the cashier's fingers. He slipped the card back into the 
pocket of his trousers and awaited his order. Nathan's suspicions kept jabbing 
at the back of his head with the heat of curiosity as he hesitantly went to 
procure the white card from his trousers. Gritting his teeth, Nathan pulled the 
only content of his pocket to find the white card, with the words "Things aren't 
always what they appear to be." written on the back in the same type of blue ink 
as the phone number was written in. Nervously, Nathan flipped the card to its 
face and saw the very name in embossed lettering that has been the epitome of 
his ongoing nightmare.
"Zhane." Nathan grumbled and dropped the card to the floor. As the flat, 
cardstock material struck the floor, it instantly dematerialized, which quickly 
changed into a small cluster of tiny spiders, and scattered across the floor in 
various directions. Startled, Nathan began stomping on the spiders' bodies with 
his foot, until each one of them were dead. From behind the counter, the clerk 
looked over at the commotion Nathan caused.
"Doing a dance, there?" the clerk asked in a semi-obnoxious tone. Nathan didn't 
want to let on to the clerk of the supernatural incident that had just occurred, 
to prevent any possibilities of acting insane.
"No...there was...it was just a couple spiders on the floor." Nathan said and 
tried to form a believable smile on his lips. The cashier nodded slowly and 
continued along with his work. Nathan proceeded to a nearby vacant table and 
tried to muddle through his hunger until his pizza was ready, not once trying to 
allow a thought of Zhane Tarnsworth to enter his thoughts. As hard as the 
resistence seemed, Nathan couldn't help but to be haunted with the words of 
Zhane echoing through his mind as if to taunt his every free moment. His stomach 
let out a loud grumble, which made Nathan think of the words Zhane taunted him 
with.
"Dogs. Why dogs? Why am I the central hatred for dogs today?" Nathan asked 
himself as he wrapped his arms around his hungry, empty stomach. Unwillingly, 
the image of a pack of large, wild dogs ran back and forth within the darkness 
of Nathan's imagination; their teeth seemed to have a permanent snarl upon their 
muzzles. Nathan closed his eyes tightly as the image continued racing through 
his mind like a roller coaster car tumbling through a fast-paced ride. He 
covered his eyes with his hands and shook his head swiftly back and forth, in 
hopes to shake himself of the haunting image in his mind.
"No, NO!" Nathan shouted. The visions of the vicious dogs quickly dissipated as 
the pizza clerk set a steaming, hot pizza onto the table with a pitcher of foamy 
root beer. 
"You sure? You paid for it already. I could always take it back." Nathan shot an 
evil-looking glare into the clerk's eyes and lifted his upper lip, as if being 
possessed by a fierce canine. The clerk closed his smiling mouth and backed 
slowly away from the table, leaving Nathan to eat in peace.

Chapter 8: Zhane's Staff

	Time dragged on slowly as Nathan sat in the booth, partaking of the mouth-
watering delicacies of the pizza pie that awaited his full consumption. He 
slurped the last swallow of root beer through the straw in his glass, then let 
out a quiet burp as a sign of a much-enjoyed meal. He got up from the table and 
headed straight for the front door.

	The rain began to fall lightly onto the Earth as Nathan made his way back 
to a nearby bus stop, to return to the safety of his home. He hoped that he 
would have no further interactions with a member of the canine family as he 
waited at the corner for the bus to arrive. Checking his watch periodically, 
Nathan waited nervously, the warm feeling of fear remaining at a calm minimum. 
He watched the traffic of the busy street and hummed softly to himself as the 
cars continued rushing past him.
"Come on, bus." Nathan uttered under his breath. He glanced across the street at 
the neat, peaceful park and wiped his eyes as he saw the image of a knight 
riding atop a white stallion. He watched in curiosity as he watched the horseman 
traveling through the walkway that ran through the middle of the park and 
wondered if he came from a medieval costume party. His astonishment was cut 
short as he watched the horseman pick up speed. Nathan's eyes grew wider and 
felt a rush of sudden shock as he witnessed the stallion begin to sprout wings 
aside its body. The white stallion flapped its wings swiftly as it carried the 
armored horseman into flight above the city.
"What the..." Nathan started as he watched the horse fly out of sight. He rubbed 
his eyes at the unbelievable apparition his eyes displayed, and failed to grasp 
his attention on the arrival of the bus driver. 
"Hey! Hey, buddy, you getting on or what?" the wrinkle-clad bus driver asked. 
Nathan shook his head swiftly of the shock he had just seen.
"Yeah, yeah." Nathan said and approached the bus.
"What's with you? See something funny in the sky? You know, a lot of drug users 
claim they see funny things in the sky. You on drugs, boy?" the elder bus driver 
asked. 
"No. No, I'm not." Nathan said, not wanting to announce to anybody that he saw a 
Pegasus take off into the air. Nathan looked towards the back of the bus to find 
it stock full of passengers. He searched up and down the aisle for an empty 
seat. Upon his search, he saw the pointed hat of Zhane Tarnsworth sticking out 
among the crowd. Nathan gasped and turned for the front of the bus.
"Driver, please, stop the bus!" Nathan exclaimed.
"Sorry. Can't do it until my next stop. Have a seat, pal."
"Driver, you don't understand. One of your passengers is a terrible man. He's 
haunting my every move. You have to let me off now!"
"No can do! My next stop is in seven blocks. You're going to have to wait, 
buddy." Nathan glanced back at where Zhane sat. He could see the brim of his hat 
lift over the seat, and the beady eyes of the old man making contact with 
Nathan's.
"Hey, pal, cone on, you're making me nervous. Sit down!" Nathan didn't seem to 
hear the request made from the bus driver, but held his gaze in the hypnotizing 
eyes of the frail, old man. He saw the hilt of the man's long staff, and it 
something seemed unusually different about its shape. He focused his vision 
around the handle of the staff, and he could have sworn it began to slowly take 
the shape of long fur, which seemed carved into the wood.
"Buddy, sit down! I'm not asking you again!" the bus driver yelled. Nathan's 
eyes were focused on the staff, and his eyes widened greater and greater the 
more he saw the shape of the staff's handle slowly resemble the head of a timber 
wolf.
"Don't make me throw you off this bus while it's moving, pal!" the bus driver 
shouted, which managed to break Nathan of his concentration of the horrid sight. 
A few of the passengers started to join in and requesting that Nathan sit down; 
one passenger even threatened to knock him to his ass if he didn't take his 
seat. The sly grin of the old man was the last thing Nathan tolerated, before 
turning away from the old man's hypnotic gestures. He slammed his body against 
the closed bus door repeatedly.
"Open this thing. Come on!" Nathan shouted. "Let me off now! Open the frigging 
door, before I rip your frigging head off!" Nathan continued to scream. As the 
bus slowed down to a stop at the red light, the bus driver eased the front door 
of the bus open, letting Nathan disembark in the middle of the busy street. 
Gladly taking the opportunity, Nathan leapt off the bus and raced across the 
street between the idling vehicles. His breath heaved quickly in and out of his 
lungs as he tried to grasp on the transformation he witnessed coming from 
Zhane's staff.
"He's torturing me. He's frigging torturing me, that old frigging geezer! I'm 
really going to get him. Mark my words, he will be on my permanent shit list. 
Just give me one chance." Nathan reached into his breast pocket, expecting to 
find the white card of Zhane Tarnsworth to magically appear. He checked the 
pockets of his trousers, and all through his wallet, but could not find one 
single business card.
"Damn him. That crafty little creep is going to pay." Nathan grumbled. He felt 
he didn't want any further bus encounters, so he spent the rest of the afternoon 
and part of the evening walking the entire distance back to his neighborhood.

Chapter 9: Gabriel Harper
	
	Nathan's clothes were soaked with the combination of rain and sweat as he 
arrived to his doorstep. He fumbled through his pockets for his door key and 
began to quiver nervously.
"Oh, no. No. Oh, what more can possibly go wrong today?" Nathan said as he tried 
to remember the last place he had his house key.
"The dining room table. Damn." Nathan said as he glanced through the window at 
his table. Sitting among a pile of newspapers and a stack of playing cards out 
of its deck sat the shiny, brass key that Nathan needed. He checked his windows, 
hoping for once in his life that they haven't been locked tight. Having no such 
luck, Nathan sighed and sat down on the steps leading up to the second floor, 
waiting for a neighbor to arrive. He ended up waiting close to an hour before 
hearing the footsteps of his upstairs neighbor dressed in a black trenchcoat, 
which went from his shoulders down to the middle of his legs. Atop his head, he 
wore a black fedora bearing a small, black rose upon its brim.
"Coming through here." Gabriel Harper said as he struggled with the grocery 
bags. Nathan rose off the concrete steps and gave his struggling neighbor the 
room he needed to get through.
"Hey, Nathan, you're not helpless, how about lending an arm?"
"I guess." Nathan said and opened his arms. Gabriel chuckled and shook his head.
"What? What's so funny?"
"You never cease to amaze me, Nathan. You've never been one to socialize, not 
even when they appear to need assistance. Here, follow me upstairs." Gabriel 
said as he handed Nathan a grocery bag. He followed slowly behind the tall 
gentleman up the stairs and to the narrow doorstep that hovered over his door.
"You really look like hell, Nathan. Pardon me for saying, but you look like 
you've been dragged through the mud by a lock of your hair. Come on in." Gabriel 
said and pushed the door to his apartment open. Just as the door eased open, the 
large, black nose of a Golden Retriever sniffed at the newcomers. Nathan saw the 
long muzzle of the large dog, and immediately leapt backwards.
"Hey, Nathan, she's really friendly. She won't bite ya."
"I don't like dogs, Gabriel. They hate me."
"They don't hate you, Nathan, you just don't feel social around them, or around 
humans, for that matter."
"I know you think this is a joke, Gabriel, but I'm serious. Every dog I saw 
today tried to attack me. I've had enough experiences with big dogs in the past. 
They don't like me. For some strange reason, they all don't like me one bit."
"You know, dogs are perfect judges of spirit. Didi, get back from the door!"
"Are you saying my spirit is bad?" Nathan asked as Gabriel unburdened his arms 
of the full grocery bag.
"If the dogs attack you, it sure seems that way. You coming in or are you going 
to stand out here in the rain all day?" Gabriel said as he held the large, tail-
waggling dog from escaping through the ajar door.
"I...I'm okay, really." Nathan said and held his hand out in refusal. The large 
dog fought the resistence of Gabriel's grasp around her long-haired, golden-
furred body.
"Didi! Get in here!" Gabriel said, but nothing he could say to the dog would 
make her give up the struggle. Nathan started to turn for the stairs and reached 
into the breast pocket of his work uniform, where he found the business card of 
the sly wizard waiting for his discovery.
"Damn that man." Nathan whispered as he looked at the back of the card.
"Big dog, little dog, friendly dog, deadly dog. Which dog are you?" the card 
mocked.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Nathan asked and then turned to face 
the closed door of his upstairs neighbor. 
"Hey, Gabriel?" Nathan called. The door cracked open as Gabriel's eye gazed 
through the tiny opening.
"Yeah, Nathan, what is it?"
"Could you give me a hand with something? I locked myself out of the apartment."
"Oh, geez. Go to the landlord. She has extra keys of all the apartments." 
Gabriel said and quickly closed the door. Nathan gave a quick nod of his head 
and walked down the stairs, giving his body a slight bounce as he walked.
Chapter 10: Voices of Zhane

	After tracking down the landlord, the middle-aged woman accompanied Nathan 
across the complex to his living quarters. 
"Let yourself be locked out?" the woman said in a slight Scottish accent.
"Yeah, it happens."
"Ya, well ye best be careful next time." she said as she turned the doorknob to 
Nathan's apartment door, allowing him to enter. He thanked the landlady for her 
time and slowly closed the door. He looked around his apartment feeling twice as 
happy as he's ever been to be back behind the four walls that made up his 
dwelling. He turned on the radio, and the soothing sounds of sixties rhythm and 
blues came to a tail-end of its song. In a deep, low voice, the radio announcer 
cut in over the fade-out.
"Hey, all you listeners out there, this concludes another solid hour of nonstop 
rock. Coming up next, our own Alister Greenwood will be coming up fast with the 
latest in Seattle news, right after this." The radio announcer's voice, although 
deep and seductive, sounded quite happy and cheerful. Nathan sat back in his 
chair and sorted through his mail for the day. With a sigh in his throat, Nathan 
commented on the mound of junk mail he received.
"You may already have won. Yeah, right. You just won a trip to the garbage, how 
do you like that?" Nathan said as he flung the envelope across the room.
"Need a credit loan fast? Why, am I going to need it? Geez." Nathan said and 
flung it onto the floor.
"I'm lost. Please help me. Yeah, if you were dumb enough to run away from home, 
you deserve to be lost. Dumbass." Nathan commented to the picture of the sad-
looking picture of a young, teenage boy on the front of a thin leaflet. He 
dropped it to the floor and then looked at the last envelope in his hand. In 
deep, blue ink, his eyes fixed on the white envelope bearing his first initial 
and full last name. He looked at the back of the envelope, hoping to find a 
return address, but to no avail.
"I wonder what this is." Nathan said as he tore through the top of the envelope 
with his fingernail. He pulled out a greeting card, which showed a small boy 
happily playing with a pair of scruffy-looking puppies. The caption on the card 
read "Thinking of you."
"Thinking of you? Who in the world would be sending me such balderdash?" he said 
as he opened the card. In thick shades of red, the words "A wolf's eyes can see 
many things, the shade so amber and pure. Is your world as color-blind as mine? 
Thinking of you, Zhane." Nathan's hands trembled as he saw Zhane's name in hand-
written print before his eyes. He screamed as loud as he could and hid his head 
in his arms to muffle the sound.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! WHY CAN'T YOU LEAVE ME ALOOOOONE?" Nathan hollered until his 
face changed to a bright red. He grumbled and slammed his fist into the armrest 
of the chair. Once his vulgar display of anger dissipated, he breathed deeply 
through his mouth in an attempt to calm his nerves.
"Alister Greenwood here, with the news of the hour. It's gonna be another 
raiiiiiny day tomorrow, as overcast clouds will linger here throughout the 
night. Big surprise for the town of Seattle, isn't it?" the newscaster said and 
chuckled at his dumb joke.
"Yeah, ha, ha, ha, laugh it up, funny news-boy." Nathan grumbled. "Geez, some of 
these people are freaking retards."
"In a more serious note, singing legend, Robert Plant, is scheduled to hold a 
free concert at Angle Lake Park this Saturday night. Tickets for sale at your 
local Ticketmaster outlet. Ha, ha, ha, gotcha! Just come to SeaTac and see 
Robert Plant live. No cameras, tape recorders, camcorders, smoking, drinking, 
streaking, or sex allowed while the concert is playing. Ha, ha, ha..." Nathan 
clutched his head with his hands and grumbled at the obnoxious newscaster's 
mockery on the news.
"Either get to a point or quit with the riff-raff!" Nathan exclaimed.
"Meanwhile, Sir Grisham, Knight of Seattle was found lying unconscious at the 
foot of Mount Raineer after being charred by a blast of fire. Officials say Sir 
Grisham followed the fire-breathing dragon, of which he called Magmus, all the 
way through Tacoma on his majestic steed, Nathaniel, until he cornered Magmus 
against the foot of Mount Raineer."
"A dragon? Oh, geez, what now? A frigging dragon? IN FRIGGING TACOMA? IS THIS 
GUY FOR REAL?" Nathan hollered, not caring about the possibilities of his voice 
traveling through the establishment.
"Sir Grisham is currently hospitalized, and recovering just fine. Hey, keep me 
away from the dragon-slaying business, I'm just fine as a newscaster. Yes, 
ladies, I'm still single." Alister said and gave his notorious light chuckle.
"I don't know who the hell to believe anymore. This newscaster can't be for 
real. A dragon? In Tacoma of all cities? What fool does that idiotic, retarded 
newscaster take us for? If I wasn't any more of a man, I'd head to that station 
and slam his empty head against the wall of the radio station and let all the 
crap in his head leak out." Nathan said and slammed his fist into his open palm.
"Nathaniel will be taken back to Sir Grisham's stall and tended to while his 
owner makes a hasty recovery. Good luck, Sir Grisham. You'll be up on your steed 
before you know it."
"Nathaniel. I'm beginning to see a pattern here. Is the entire city against me? 
How many people would name them Nathaniel? No, it's just a trick. It's all just 
a trick to make me crazy. IT'S NOT WORKING, SEATTLE!" Nathan screamed. Alister 
Greenwood's voice was replaced by that of a frail-sounding, elder man.
"You will soon look at the world through the eyes of your fears, dear boy." the 
voice bellowed from the radio's speakers.
"NO! YOU'RE NOT GOING TO GET TO ME! DO YOU HEAR ME?" Nathan screamed to the 
radio as if the speaker could hear him. Zhane Tarnsworth, being a man of great 
wizardry, managed to pick up each word that was uttered.
"Ladies and gentlemen of your favorite rock and roll radio station, we have a 
winner. Nathaniel Cromwell, come on over and claim your prize. This is a prize 
most people would give their eyes to obtain." the frail tone of the old man 
quickly changed to a loud chuckle. Nathan instantly dropped to his knees and 
pounded his fists into the floor, while loudly screaming a single word over and 
over again.
"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Nathan screamed. 
"Oh, and Nathan, you might want to get up from the floor. Isn't that your 
neighbor coming?" Zhane's voice asked the hysterical young man. The sound of a 
knuckle rapping against the wood of the door pounded through Nathan's head like 
a sledgehammer. Nathan quickly shut the radio off, cutting the sound of Zhane's 
maniacal laughing, and cast his angry glare towards the door.
"Yeah, what is it?"
"Nathan, it's Gabriel." The muffled voice seemed to flow through the wooden door 
into Nathan's home.
"What do you want?" Nathan bellowed.
"If you open your door, I'm sure you will see for yourself. Come along, now."
"Why, so you can pump my head full of your black religion occult crap? No."
"Nathan, do it for the sake of sacrifice. Put your antisocial mask on the shelf, 
and leave it be for just a little while."
"Why should I do that? I'm not interested in Ouija boards, communicating with 
the dead, conjuring demons, or summoning ghosts with goat's blood, or whatever 
the hell your type does."
"I assure you, there is a lot to the Wiccan culture that you have yet to learn, 
but I don't preach it. Let me in." Gabriel said. Nathan sighed and eased the 
door to his apartment open and stared into Gabriel's eyes. The first thing 
Nathan saw was that his eyesight seemed to be removed of its regular color he 
was used to seeing.
"AAAAAAAAHHH!" Nathan screamed as he saw the change in his sight.
"What? What's the matter? Hey, are those new contact lenses? They make your eyes 
look almost yellow. By the way, what was all that screaming about?"
"What are you talking about?"
"I heard a lot of screaming erupting through my floor. Sounds like you're 
practicing to be a heavy metal singer."
"No, before that. What's wrong with my eyes?" Nathan asked as he looked at his 
hands with the new color-blind tone he seemed to have been granted.
"Look for yourself." Gabriel said. Nathan turned and headed into the small 
bathroom. Nathan caught himself and sighed, shaking his head slowly as he saw 
the colorless reflection in the mirror.
"Nice going, Gabriel, I can't see color anymore. How am I supposed to tell 
yellow from brown?"
"Well, then, I guess you'll never know." Gabriel replied as he lowered himself 
into Nathan's easy chair.
"Hey, get out of that chair!" Nathan commanded as he returned to the living 
room.
"What a messy floor. You sure don't seem to be as neat and tidy as you claim to 
be, don't you?" Gabriel said as he smiled a tiny grin.
"Gabriel, if you must know, I've gone through a hell of a lot lately."
"Why?"
"Nothing seems to be going right. It's this freaky old wizard guy I met on the 
bus. He's causing all of these things to happen. He haunts every single time I 
blink, move a muscle, dream, even listen to the radio."
"Radios, too. Interesting." Gabriel said as he reached for Nathan's telephone. 
While listening to the dial tone, Gabriel spoke into the mouthpiece.
"Hello, Loonie House? I have a real live one for you."
"Gabriel, will you put that back?" Nathan said and grabbed the phone from his 
mocking neighbor.
"Listen, if you don't have a purpose for being here, I suggest you split!"
"Very rude, indeed. Sooner or later, you will be talking to me again. Now is not 
the time for that." Gabriel said and gave a small bow while holding his arm out 
to his left.
"Please, leave." Nathan said and held the door open for his neighbor. Gabriel 
gave a tiny tip of his fedora and walked slowly through the threshold of the 
door."
"Weird guy. Too weird. And people wonder why I don't socialize? I'm probably the 
only sane one in this entire city!" Nathan said as he returned to his easy 
chair. He held his head with his hand and massaged his temples with his 
fingertips.
"You should treat him with a bit more respect, you know." a voice seemed to 
whisper. Nathan lowered his hand and tried to follow where the quiet voice came 
from.
"If this is you, Gabriel, you're pushing a lot of my buttons right now!"
"Oh, yes. I forgot to mention. You left your beer at the bar this morning. Why 
don't you finish it?"
"Zhane. Why are you haunting me?"
"You'll find out." Zhane's voice whispered through the speaker of the radio. 
Nathan stared directly at his radio and picked it up in his hands.
"I'm going to give you one more chance to leave me alone!" Nathan shouted.
"What do you think of them dragons? That Magmus really knows how to have a good 
bonfire, doesn't he?"
"THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS DRAGONS, DAMMIT!" Nathan yelled and cast the radio 
angrily across the room, letting it topple onto the floor.
"If you even THINK about crossing my path again, bringing your fantasy crap into 
this world, you WILL regret it, do you read me?"
"Ten-four, good buddy, we got your ten-twenty, I'll just be makin' a pit stop 
over at a Choke-N'-Puke, we'll be flyin' through your back winduh later on in 
the pee-em. Over and out." Zhane said, imitating the CB lingo of a southerner. 
The radio fell instantly into silence as Nathan continued staring into the grill 
covering over the speaker of the small radio.
"This guy's a flipping lunatic!" Nathan said and headed into his bedroom. He 
removed his work uniform and tossed it haphazardly on the bed. Leaving his red 
boxers on, he walked to his refrigerator to pour a glass of milk. His hand 
brushed across a glass bottle, and as Nathan's eyes focused on the familiar 
half-filled beer bottle, he pulled it from the refrigerator's shelf.
"NO!" Nathan screamed and threw the bottle against the wall, letting the glass 
shatter into tiny fragments. He hid his eyes with his arm to protect them from 
flying shards. Looking over his arm, he saw the liquid of the bottle splattered 
against the wall and caused a small puddle on the floor. Nathan stomped out of 
the kitchen, not even caring about getting cut with tiny fragments of glass, and 
headed into his bedroom. He gave the door a mighty slam and threw himself down 
onto his bed. His body curled up tightly as he shivered, the back of his neck 
feeling warm, as if someone was breathing down his neck. He flipped his head 
around, but could not find anybody there. Nathan slowly lowered his eyelids and 
waited for sleep to overcome his weariness.

Chapter 11: Reality Sinks In

	Nathan awoke to the alarm clock on the bedside table. His body was in the 
same exact position as when he laid himself down. When he rose from the bed, his 
back bone popped as he stretched.
"Ready for another interesting day at work. I'm color-blind and ghastly-looking. 
I'm sure the customers and co-workers are really going to love hearing this 
one." Nathan said to himself. He didn't bother to take a shower, but went 
straight for a fresh, clean uniform and began to slip it onto his semi-naked 
body.
"I'll have to do laundry again soon. Running out of uniform shirts." he said as 
he noticed the extra shirts of his work uniform now resided in the clothes 
hamper. He made sure he had his wallet and house key before leaving his 
apartment, ready to start a day of work as a color-blind individual. He 
contemplated on taking the bus, but after considering how long it would take for 
him to get to work, he shuddered as he made his decision to wait at the bus stop 
for his mode of transportation to arrive. As he waited, two things were going 
through his mind.
"I hope I don't run into that freaky Zhane again today," Nathan thought to 
himself, "and I hope I don't get that other bus driver again. He might not let 
me onto the bus." 

	Nathan peered his eyes into the bus at the driver as he opened the doors, 
allowing Nathan to step onto the vehicle. As Nathan showed his bus pass through 
the plastic insert of his wallet, the bus driver smiled, nodded his head, and 
began to head down the street. Nathan carefully made his way to the back of the 
partially empty bus, where his usual seat awaited him. Seeing no sign of the old 
man anywhere on the bus, Nathan's eyes faced forward during the whole trip. He 
knew that if he was to look out the window, he would be taking a chance of 
catching a glimpse of Zhane standing on the sidewalk on the way to his work. 
Trying to keep a positive attitude, Nathan tried to keep his usual plain 
disposition, without any obstacles to deter his mind. As he sat, he overheard 
the conversation that was being shared in the seats behind him.
"I saw Rebecca at the store the other day. She just got off the Titanic from 
holiday in England."
"Oh, really? I've always wanted to go to England. How did she like it?"
"She had a blast." Nathan overheard a fragment of the conversation that was 
shared, and immediately, his ears perked up. Not being one to join in on 
someone's conversations, Nathan decided to make an exception.
"Excuse me, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. Did you just say the 
Titanic?"
"Yes, the express ship that goes out to England, has been for almost a hundred 
years. I'm sure you've heard of it." the young woman said and gave a chuckle to 
her friend.
"Of course I have, it's just that...didn't the Titanic strike an iceberg in 
1912?"
"I'm afraid that's a wee bit before my time. I was born in, like, 1977?"
"Everybody knows about the Titanic. It sunk in 1912!"
"Not according to this picture." the young woman said and passed a glossy 
photograph to Nathan's fingers. Nathan took the picture and looked at the 
colorful image of the colossal ship with a life preserver bearing the lettering 
"R.M.S. Titanic"
"N...Nice picture." Nathan commented and passed the photograph back to its 
owner. He didn't want to reason with the fact that the mighty ship sunk in the 
days of old, taking the lives from tens of thousands of people. He learned 
really quickly to let the benefit of the doubt go along without further mention 
of the reality Nathan came to know, but he still had trouble believing or 
accepting it. Nathan arrived at his stop and made his way to the double-swinging 
doors at the backside of the bus. Upon exiting the vehicle, he looked around 
with his new vision, and had to admit everything looked different, even though 
he knew the area all too well.
"Life's pretty different when your world's in black and white. When all the 
color of the world is removed from your sight." Nathan said to himself as he 
looked around the city. He saw a building in the distance and identified it as a 
large hospital, and an idea came to Nathan almost instantly. 
"Of course! I'll have it looked at by an Optometrist!" Nathan exclaimed as he 
continued along his way, not wanting to be late for work.

	Upon his entry to the regular business day he was used to seeing on 
Thursday, Nathan looked around the store for anything unusual. Finding the place 
exactly the way he remembered it, Nathan headed straight for the back room and 
punched his time card.
"Nathan, here's the invoice for today's shipment. I'll need you to get to work 
on putting the inventory away today." Rudy said as he carried several dot-matrix 
printer pages of the store's order.
"Rudy?" Nathan asked as the tall, black manager turned his head.
"Yeah, Nathan?"
"Do I look...different at all?"
"No, not to my recollection. You look the same to me as you did yesterday when I 
saw you. You look a bit better though, those scratches seemed to heal a bit. You 
look fine, Nathan."
"That's not exactly what I meant. My eyes. Do they look different to you?" 
Nathan asked as he stared directly into Rudy's eyes. Rudy peered into Nathan's 
pools of vision to try and find any differences, but acted not the least bit 
surprised.
"Well, other than the bloodshot eyes you had yesterday, they look the same as 
they always did. I'll need you to get started on that order. You'll be working 
Register Two." Rudy said and continued with his own duties. Nathan was left 
standing in the back counter area with an invoice in his hand and a blank 
expression on his face. He side-stepped through the narrow walkway between the 
counter and the shelving and approached the stacks of inventory that waited for 
him to check in.
"You better look at your eyes, Nathan. They look yellow. Very funny, Gabriel. He 
must have set this color-blind nonsense up somehow." Nathan whispered to himself 
as he crossed the floor of the hardware store.

	Nathan hummed the tune of a classic rock song as he checked each item with 
a ball-point pen. He had a bit of trouble trying to identify the packages by 
color, so he had to take the time to do the entire inventory by order number. He 
turned the page of the inventory over and continued with the inventory check as 
he approached a small stack of plastic bins. He opened the top hinged lid and 
let the flaps drop open.
"Rudy?" Nathan called behind him. "Hey, Rudy, can I see you for a second?"
"Yeah, Nathan, what's up?"
"What is this?" Nathan asked as he lifted a doorknob from the bin. The material 
was solid brass, the door handles varied in appearance, and adhered to a 
rectangular panel. Below each door handle was a keyhole for a skeleton key to 
slip through.
"You know what that is, we've carried them quite a few times before."
"No, we haven't. I've never sold any of these before. We've always sold regular 
doorknobs. We never carried anything like this."
"Sure, we have, man. You sure you're feelin' okay?" Rudy asked as he cast a 
concerning glare into Nathan's eyes. Nathan shook his head quickly to shake the 
tinge of the possibility that crossed his mind and decided not to cause a scene 
in his fight to bring the actual reality into view.
"Yeah. I'm all right. I'm sorry, Rudy. I didn't mean to interrupt whatever you 
were doing." Rudy nodded and looked up merrily at a new customer that entered 
onto the premises.
"Rudy?"
"Nathan, hurry up with the inventory."
"I'm sorry, Rudy, but really quick. What color are my eyes?"
"What?"
"No joke, man. Please, tell me what color they are."
"Amber, Nathan. They've always been amber. What, you don't even know your own 
eye color?" Rudy said and chuckled. "Listen, I need to get back to work, and so 
do you." Nathan stood at the floor and looked at his hands with his color-blind 
eyes and sighed.
"They've always been brown, Rudy." he whispered.
"Hiya, ma'am, what can I do for ya?" Rudy said as he greeted a newcomer to the 
establishment.
"I'm looking for a certain light bulb. I would like it in green, please. It 
matches the decor of the room, and I'm having a hard time finding translucent, 
green bulbs."
"We do have them. Just a sec." Rudy said and hurried into the back room. He ran 
his finger through the shelf's stock and then returned to the front counter. 
"One second, ma'am. Hey Nathan!" Rudy shouted to get the employee's attention. 
Nathan raised his head up over the rows of shelves in the store's vestibule.
"Yeah?"
"Check around there for a standard-sized translucent green bulb, will ya?" Rudy 
said and immediately caught himself.
"Nathan, I'm sorry, I'll come over there and get it. I keep forgetting."
"Forgetting what, Rudy?" Nathan asked as he watched Rudy fumbling through the 
bins of new inventory. Rudy smiled and pulled a small light bulb box from the 
bin and held it up for Nathan to see. 
"I forgot you're color-blind. I don't know why I keep forgetting it." Rudy said 
as Nathan looked at the face of the box. The package looked exactly like the 
regular light bulbs of that brand, and as Nathan looked the package over, he 
could not be able to determine its color, since the markings on the box were 
also color-coded, according to the color of light bulb inside.
"How..." Nathan started and tried to gather his thoughts as his manager hurried 
to the counter and side-stepped to the cash register.
"Yeah, we have 'em. Just got a shipment in." Rudy said and smiled over at 
Nathan, who was still standing on the floor with a blank look on his face as he 
tried to think.
"How did he know I turned color-blind yesterday? I know I didn't mention that 
part to him." Nathan thought. He placed the invoice down on top of the bins and 
approached the front counter.
"Rudy, how did you know I was color-blind?"
"You've always been color-blind since I could remember." Rudy replied and then 
looked over at the stacks of bins and boxes in the aisles.
"You about finished over there? I need to get this stock put away."
"Yeah. Yeah, I'll...get right on it." Nathan hesitated in his reply. He turned 
and headed slowly back to the new inventory and tried not to think any further 
about how reality could have sunk in so fast.
"Why am I the only one in this town that sees everything all strange? The 
Titanic? Come on, people. We're not in 1912 anymore." Nathan whispered as he 
rummaged through the remainder of the bins and checked off the final page of the 
inventory.

Chapter 12: To Serve The Dead

	Nathan handed the invoice to his manager, who placed it atop his desk in 
the back office. The hardware worker immediately took his place behind the 
second cash register as a group of people entered the establishment. 
"Hey, need any help with anything?" Nathan asked as he looked up at the group.
"I know what I'm looking for." one of the women said. Nathan nodded and then 
looked over the appearance of the slender woman. Something about her appearance 
struck an instant reaction of attention in Nathan's eyes as he held his gaze on 
the neatly-arranged hairdo, flowing pink dress, and a matching hat with a net 
covering her eyes. She stood and procured a package of wood screws and brought 
them to the front counter. She was accompanied by a young, clean cut male, 
wearing a brown jacket and had an unmistakable smile upon his face. Nathan 
looked the couple over and could have sworn he saw them in a picture somewhere 
at the Memory Lane Grill.
"Pardon my saying so, sir, but did anybody ever tell you that you look a lot 
like James Dean?" The young gentleman looked up and smiled a sheepish grin.
"I am James Dean." he replied in a soft tone. Nathan's eyes grew wide as the 
customer uttered his response.
"No! You can't be, you're just someone that looks like him!" The young man 
chuckled and shook his head.
"I think you're the one that's mistaken, pal." he said and flipped Nathan his 
driver's license. The California license was dated 1998, and it bore the name 
"James Dean" followed by the familiar-looking signature of the young actor that 
had died several decades ago.
"What is this? A fake? You probably work at some memorabilia restaurant or 
something."
"No, sir. I'm James Dean. We're working on a movie on location in Seattle, and 
I'm here with Greta on my break. We were in the area and needed to pick up some 
wood screws to help fix up the set.
"Greta?"
"Greta Garbo." the woman said and extended her hand forward. Nathan slowly 
walked backwards and bumped against the back shelving as he held his shocked 
gaze.
"No! Oh, no, this can't be. This CAN'T! Neither one of you are alive!"
"I think I'm living, last time I checked. At least my doctor tells me so." Greta 
replied.
"Yeah, listen, we'll take these screws now. How much?" Nathan shook his head 
slowly and began to punch the sale into the register.
"Four dollars and sixty-seven cents."
"Can you break this?" James said and placed a hundred-dollar bill on the 
counter.
"Not yet. I just opened the till so I'm low on change. Have you got anything 
smaller?"
"I only carry hundreds." James replied and smiled.
"Rudy, could you come up here, please?" Nathan shouted through the gaps of the 
shelves. One brief moment later, Rudy approached the still-astounded employee.
"This gentleman wants to break a hundred-dollar bill." Rudy looked up and almost 
leapt backwards.
"Hey, you're James Dean! Hells bells, what are you doing here? I'm a huge fan of 
your work!" Rudy shouted and smiled a wide grin.
"Umm, Rudy."
"Later, Nathan. Listen, could you sign this for me?" Rudy asked as he handed 
James a fresh receipt book.
"I suppose." James said and scrawled his name across the carbonized sheet.
"Great! Thanks. Oh, heh, heh. You want to break this, huh? I'll be right back." 
Rudy said and hurried into the back. From the front counter, Nathan could 
overhear his boss chuckle to himself.
"I'm breaking change for James Dean. Ha, ha! God bless America!" Rudy chuckled. 
He returned to the front counter and handed James five twenties. He smiled and 
passed one of them to Nathan, still holding a shocked expression on his face.
"Excuse me, could I get some help here?" another woman asked from the store's 
vestibule. Nathan slowly counted the change back to the pair of customers and 
eased the door of his till closed.
"Sir, if you will." the woman said.
"Be...be right with you, ma'am." Nathan said and slowly made his way through the 
counter and approached the woman.
"You look as if you've seen a ghost. Are you all right?"
"Lady, you don't know how far off you are." Nathan said as he watched the 
Hollywood pair exit the establishment, followed by the group of fans that came 
in with them.
"Oh, I see. Tell me, what types of washers should I use for my water faucet? My 
husband sends me out here to get his things, and I have no idea what I'm 
getting." she said as she looked over the faucet section. She waited a moment in 
hopes to hear Nathan respond.
"Sir? SIR!" she hollered suddenly, snapping Nathan from his trance.
"Huh? Oh, sorry. I'm still finding this hard to believe."
"What is it?"
"We just had James Dean and Greta Garbo in the store." Nathan said, trying hard 
to sound as nonchalant as everybody else seemed to be lately, but still spoke 
with a frightened quiver in his voice.
"Yeah, I know. They're doing a movie here. Big news. Anyway, which washer is 
good for my kitchen faucet?"
"Well, that all depends, do you have hard water or soft?"
"Hard as the rain in the middle of November. Why?"
"Plastic washers will be best. They're not as durable as the steel washers, but 
the hard water won't rust the washer, either."
"Thank you." the woman said and gathered a small handful of plastic faucet 
washers.
"Will there be anything else?"
"No, that'll be fine. If my husband wants to return them, he could do it 
himself. Instead, where is he? Hitting on women as if they were going out of 
style."
"Wow, and he's married, too? What kind of a man would do such a thing?"
"He's always been that way. That's what got his start. It's what he's famous 
for."
"Who?" Nathan said as he rang the woman's sale. She passed two dollars across 
the counter.
"Marx. Groucho Marx. I know, he's quite a bigot on the big screen, but he ain't 
any different off the cameras." Nathan dropped the change back into the till and 
slowly raised his eyes to gaze upon the woman.
"You...say you're married to Groucho Marx...WHAT IS THIS?" Nathan screamed. He 
caught himself as he raised his temper, and immediately apologized.
"I didn't mean to raise my voice like that, here's your change. This has been 
one hell of a week." Nathan said. The woman silently nodded and headed for the 
exit.
"You all right, Nathan?" Rudy asked as he peeked through the gaps in the 
shelving.
"Fine. I'm fine. Just great." Nathan said and slammed his fist down on the 
counter. "I think I'll sweep up the store."
"Again? Nathan, you did that three days ago. These floors'll be so clean, I'll 
be able to eat my lunch from them. Why don't you relax for a bit, man? You need 
to go on break anyway." Rudy said and took over the register for the nervous 
worker. Nathan placed his hand over his head as his other hand fished through 
the pockets of his trousers.
"Time for a grand entrance. Come on, Zhane, where's your creepy business cards 
now?" Nathan said to himself, but the magic of Zhane's card had no intention of 
appearing. Nathan sat at a stool in the back room and tried to pull his thoughts 
together.
"I think I'm seeing a pattern here. The card always shows up when I don't expect 
to see it, and so far, I've expected to see it twice. Neither time, no card. 
Hmm." Nathan said and smiled. He raised his legs up on the stool and saw a white 
slip of cardstock fall out of his baggy pocket. He looked down and closed his 
eyes, giving his forehead a smack.
"Unbelievable. I let up my concentration for one second, and bingo." Nathan said 
and stooped to pick up the card. He turned it to the back and read the blue-
inked words.
"Gotcha. Next time, don't expect too much."
"Grrr!" Nathan grumbled loudly as he tore the card up and placed it in the trash 
can that resided in the corner of the back room.
"It's all a trick. I have to be on frigging television on some stupid show where 
they hide cameras and humiliate people on live television. I'm probably being 
laughed at right now by some overweight, chocolate-eating fat whale of a woman 
right this second. IT'S NOT FUNNY, DO YOU HEAR ME?" Nathan screamed as he looked 
nervously around the room. The only thing that could be seen was the familiar 
items of inventory in the overstock shelves and Rudy's face poking around the 
corner from his office.
"Nathan, I'm starting to wonder about you. You sure you're all right?" Nathan 
smiled reassuringly at his manager and imitated picking up a phone with his 
fingers.
"Hello, Loonie House, we have a real live-one for ya." Nathan said, repeating 
the mocking words of his neighbor. Rudy simply shook his head and slunk back 
into his office.

Chapter 13: Doctor Franklin

	A short, clean-shaven man entered into the establishment, wearing a white 
coat and white slacks. Nathan looked up and watched as the man approached the 
counter.
"Excuse me," the man said. Nathan raised his head up once again at the clean-
looking man and nodded his head up. "I'm looking for a Nathan Cromwell. Are you 
Nathan?"
"Yeah. What do you want with me?" Nathan asked.
"I think you need to come with me." the man said.
"No, I have to stay here and work. I need to make my money." Nathan said and sat 
back in his stool. The door to Rudy's office creaked open and the tall manager 
loomed over Nathan's seated position.
"It's okay, Nathan. Go with the man. He's a doctor. I called him here. Go on 
ahead, Nathan. I'll clock you out."
"Rudy, I need to work."
"You need to rest. I'll give you your sick leave now. Hell, you haven't used 
your sick leave from two years ago. Trust me, you'll return here with full pay. 
Go with Doctor Franklin." Rudy said and gestured towards the mellow doctor. 
Nathan slowly rose and approached the small doctor with small steps.
"Oh, don't worry. I won't bite. I just want to ask you a few questions."
"Doctors freak me out. I'm not crazy."
"I'm sure you're not, Mr. Cromwell. I just want to make sure my verifications 
are complete. Come along." the small doctor said and reached his hand out to 
grab Nathan's wrist.
"I can make it out just fine, Doctor Franklin. I don't need your help on that 
matter." Nathan grumbled as he walked alongside the troubled, young employee of 
Tanney's Hardware. The doctor stepped up into his large, blue van and waited 
while Nathan hoisted himself up into the passenger seat. Once his door was 
closed and his seat belt applied, the doctor turned the ignition and slowly 
accelerated through the parking lot, heading into the city, where his small 
facility stood. Nathan looked out along the sidewalks, thinking of the man who 
was responsible for his ongoing nightmare, but could not find one single sign of 
his whereabouts.
"He's toying with me, that little son of a bitch." Nathan grumbled in a low, 
quiet tone, hoping he wasn't heard by Franklin.

	The van pulled up into the small parking lot, and as Nathan exited the 
vehicle, he noticed the body work of the van looking incredibly familiar to him.
"Something wrong, Nathan?" the doctor asked.
"No, nothing at all." Nathan said with a reassuring smile. The pair walked 
through the small building, passing by a receptionist desk in the front.
"Doctor Franklin, your six o'clock appointment phoned in and said they have to 
reschedule.
"Very well. Put Mrs. Samson at four o'clock Friday afternoon. Hold all my calls. 
I'll be busy for awhile. Come with me, Nathan." the short doctor said and led 
Nathan through a small corridor to a quaint office at the end of the hall.
"Now, Nathan, why don't you tell me what's on your mind? Your manager is getting 
rather concerned with you. He's also told me you don't let anybody talk to you, 
is that true?"
"People talk to me all the time."
"I know that, Nathan, but conversation is a two-way street. You don't seem to 
want to associate much with others."
"Is that a problem?"
"Not quite, but it is a bit unusual. Rudy Jackson phoned me and told me you had 
gotten worse. Why don't you tell me what's on your mind?"
"Look, I'm not crazy. The entire city may be, but I'm not. I know what's going 
on, this is all an attempt to make me insane. I haven't done a damn thing to 
anybody. Why am I the only one that sees regular every-day reality as unusual?"
"How do you mean?" the doctor asked as he reached for a pad and pen, and 
immediately began jotting down notes.
"If I told you, you're going to think I'm crazy, too."
"Try me."
"No thank you. It's your job to institutionalize maniacs. I'm not one of your 
test subjects. There's no obligation for me to be here, so I'm free to leave as 
I please."
"Not if you become a danger to society, and in that case, I have to prevent 
that." the doctor said as he procured a hypodermic needle from the drawer of his 
desk. He held it up for Nathan to see, which made him feel a little more 
cooperative.
"Now, should I put this back, or do I need to keep holding this?" 
"Put it back. Those things give me the creeps."
"Then, you wouldn't mind telling me what's wrong." the doctor said as he sat 
back in his chair.
"All right, I'll talk, but you promise me right now that you won't put me away 
or do tests on me."
"I can't make that promise, Nathan. I am here to protect society, and if you're 
a danger, I have to do my job, but it will make it easier for me to help you 
before that becomes a problem."
"A danger to society. I keep to myself, I don't socialize with anybody but 
myself. How is that a danger to society?"
"When the people around you become uncomfortable, it is a problem."
"All right, whatever. I don't care anymore. I'm seeing a lot of strange things 
around this city."
"How strange?" the doctor said as he continued writing in his note pad.
"For one thing, a brand new 1953 Edsl drives down the street, and nobody blinks 
an eye. Horse-drawn carriages are still in use around the busy streets of the 
city, and the New York World's Fair still around. How's that for starters?"
"You seem to believe they were obscure to begin with?"
"Obscure? Long dead, is more like it. The World's Fair was torn down decades 
ago. Nobody in their right frame of mind would drive an Edsl, if not own one, 
and the Titanic is still in use today."
"Shouldn't it be?"
"What? I can't believe I'm hearing this. You, a doctor of all people, are 
telling me that the Titanic never sunk in 1912? Come on!" Nathan said as he rose 
from the chair and paced nervously around the room.
"Reality, Nathan. We all live in it, and it's the way things have always 
happened. Why you seem to think of these disasters makes me wonder about you."
"I'm not crazy, Franklin. I mean, come on. We're selling items in my store that 
we never carried before. These items were in use way back in the thirties, maybe 
forties. Nobody uses them now."
"Some people might."
"We've never carried these items, Doctor! Can't you understand that? Do I need 
to say it again? We never carried them, and do you know why?"
"Clue me."
"We don't carry them because people have stopped using them. The distributors 
stopped production on them. Nobody uses them, Doctor."
"Other companies could still make them, Nathan."
"All right, then how do you explain James Dean and Greta Garbo? What about 
that?"
"They're movie stars, Nathan."
"Did you happen to remember that they're both dead movie stars?"
"If they were dead, Nathan, why wouldn't they be legends?"
"They are legends! Geez! You're about as twisted as this entire town!"
"Nathan, please. Your behavior is just the perfect candidate for being 
committed."
"I'll bet it is. You can't keep me here, just you try to stop me." Nathan 
hollered as he pointed angrily at the mellow-mannered doctor. He stormed out of 
the room before the doctor was able to stand to his feet. Breezing past the 
receptionist's desk and heading out the door, he could hear the sound of the 
doctor's voice call out. 
"Stop him, Sarah!" he yelled as he appeared in the main office. By the time 
Sarah could grasp on what was going on, the nervous patient fled the premises. 
The closing of the front door was the only sign of his departure. Nathan looked 
up quickly to eye the doctor's blue van, only finding to have it speckled with 
several yellow stars here and there.
"NOOOOO!" Nathan shouted and continued running along his way, not even looking 
back to the sound of the doctor shouting his name.
"NATHAN, WAIT!" the doctor called, but Nathan's feet continued to carry him away 
from the vicinity, not once stopping to look back. 

Chapter 14: Prehistoric Encounter

	Nathan ran through the nearby park and tried to catch his breath as he 
leaned against the trunk of a tall oak tree near a group of shrubs. He leaned 
his head forward and gazed at the ground as he tried catching his breath. His 
ears picked up the high-pitched sounds of a small animal rummaging through the 
underbrush next to him. Nathan stopped his heavy breathing and tried to peer 
into the foliage. The sounds of the animal continued to ring out as Nathan 
lowered himself into the thick foliage, trying to make out the mysterious 
animal.
"This can't be good." Nathan whispered to himself. As he spoke, his eyes caught 
sight of a small reptile emerging from under the brush. Its shape and form was 
identical to that of a prehistoric animal, known as Compsognathus, which was a 
breed of carnivorous dinosaur that lived in the Mesozoic era and fed upon the 
carcasses of deceased dinosaurs. Compys lived, hunted, and played in herds, and 
there was never one Compy without a group of them nearby. Their size was 
reminiscent to that of a chicken, and its tail was about as long as its entire 
body. One by one, the Compy's herd began to form in front of Nathan's eyes, and 
they gazed up curiously at him.
"What the hell are those?" Nathan asked himself, as he tried to kick dirt at the 
curious-looking group of reptiles. The Compys backtracked to avoid the flying 
debris of dirt, then reformed at Nathan's feet, making their high-pitched 
sounds.
"Go on, get the hell out of here, miserable lizards. Scat!" Nathan shouted and 
kicked another load of dirt at the reptiles. Most of them flinched and lowered 
their bodies onto their haunches for a quick moment as another wave of dirt 
passed through the herd. One Compy made a high-pitched call, and before Nathan 
had a chance to react, it leapt up into the air and landed on his lower hip. 
With its tiny, sharp teeth, the Compy began to chew at the flesh covered inside 
the shirt of the screaming young man.
"AAAAAAARRRRGH! GET OFF MEEEEE!" he shouted, as one by one, another Compy leapt 
onto Nathan's body, trying to get a piece of his flesh.
"AAAAAAAARRRRRRGHHHH! LEAVE ME ALOOOOONE!" he yelled as he managed to pull one 
of the Compys free. Angrily, he flung the prehistoric reptile at its friends, he 
reached for another one that started biting at his neck.
"You little frigging vampire!" Nathan shouted as he pulled the biting lizard 
from his shoulder. Quickly, Nathan ran away, leaving the group of Compys to give 
chase and run after him. He fled through the park in terror as the Compys 
started to gain up with Nathan's frantic running. He quickly changed direction 
and ducked behind another tree, in an attempt to catch his breath. From behind 
the tall group of pine trees, the ground underneath him began to rumble. He 
slowly followed his eyes behind him and looked up at the face of the largest 
dinosaur he's ever seen. Standing about fifty feet into the air and representing 
every bit of fear known to mankind from the last billion years, the 
Tyrannosaurus Rex growled deeply. The huge teeth of the Tyrannosaurus Rex was 
all Nathan had to see, before his entire body became paralyzed with fear. The 
Tyrannosaurus Rex let out a loud roar as he felt the presence of Nathan nearby, 
but since Nathan was paralyzed, the colossal dinosaur couldn't track his 
movement. He leaned his giant head down to sniff at the air around Nathan's 
body, which only made the petrified young adult even more stunned with fear. The 
sound of the Compys got closer and closer, which stirred attention in the 
prehistoric giant's perception, and proceeded to chase the herd of small 
reptiles down, leaving Nathan to watch the huge beast as he began to pick off 
each Compsognathus, one by one. Taking the advantage while he can, Nathan 
immediately charged through the rest of the vast park, until he reached the 
exit. A sign marked the entrance to the park, and as Nathan read the words, his 
eyes immediately grew wide.
"Dinosaur Preserve? What the flipping hell?" Nathan said as he saw the entire 
layout of trees and shrubs occupied by a dinosaur of all types, from the 
Stegosaurus, to the Triceratops. Nathan shook his head and continued heading 
down the street. Several faces turned as Nathan ran, catching glimpses at the 
opened gashes upon his body from the fierce Compsognathus. '
"What's the matter with you, haven't seen anybody being attacked by lizards?" 
Nathan bellowed as he saw the faces of the bystanders that eyed his wounds. He 
held his hand to the wound on his neck and applied as much pressure as he could. 
His body began to feel weakened as he wandered through the sidewalks of his home 
town, which was once a peaceful, regular environment, but seemed overrun by 
unusual occurrences that seemed to have suddenly taken over. As he tried to keep 
his eyes open, he tried to focus on the path that lay ahead. The landmarks and 
buildings he saw faded in and out of his vision, and before Nathan could blink, 
his entire world suddenly became black as his body fell to the ground. The blood 
from his neck continued to flow out of the open wounds as a group of people 
rushed to where he laid.
"Somebody call an ambulance!" one bystander shouted. A business-like woman 
reached into her purse and quickly dialed the emergency number on her cellular 
phone. In the matter of ten minutes, the sound of a siren blared nearby, and 
quickly approached the scene of Nathan's collapsing.
"Hurry up, come on, get him in, go, go!" the paramedics shouted to each other. 
They scurried to Nathan's side with a stretcher, and hoisted his body onto the 
stretch of canvas.
"Get him in, hurry up, move!" they continued to shout amongst themselves. Once 
the doors of the ambulance were closed, the remaining paramedics leapt into the 
back with Nathan's body, and as fast as they arrived, the attention-getting 
vehicle pulled away from the curb and headed down the road to the hospital 
nearby.

Chapter 15: The Patients of Room 205

	Doctors rushed to the aid of Nathan Cromwell as he entered the emergency 
wing of the hospital, accompanied by the several paramedics that arrived onto 
the premises with him.
"What's the problem, Gene?"
"We don't know yet. He's been reported by a bystander. All we know is that he 
fainted from blood loss. We'll have Megan prep him for body fluid restoration."
"Uh-huh." the doctor said through his closed lips as he jotted down a few quick 
notes on a clipboard. "Better find his wallet, too. Need to get some information 
on this guy."

	Nathan couldn't hear the voices that were shouting out amongst each other, 
for his mind was still wandering around in an unconscious state, trying to find 
its way back to its rightful owner. Nathan's body was attached to an ECG 
machine, and an intravenous needle fed from a plastic bag into his arm. The 
electrocardiograph beeped Nathan's slow heart rate as the doctors and nurses 
looked over the bandaged body of Nathan Cromwell.
"We've done what we could here. The rest is up to him. Let's go." one doctor 
said as he removed his face mask, dropping his latex gloves into an appropriate 
receptacle.

	Time went by for the inhabitants of Earth as normal as it ever was, but 
for Nathan, time seemed to stand still. Slowly, the cloudy image of a wolf 
running across a grassy field came into view. Each step the wolf took seemed to 
make the image that much clearer in the vision of Nathan's mind. Beside the bed, 
the electrocardiograph beeped quicker and quicker as the wolf's face came into 
Nathan's clear view. The grey-furred wolf gave a growl, snarled his lip, and 
gnashed his eyes as the vision remained in his head. The sweat from Nathan's 
head ran down his face, and lightly moistened the bandage around his neck as the 
wolf leapt forward, causing Nathan's eyes to open wide.
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!" he screamed, stirring attention with the other patients in the 
room. The doors to the hospital room were thrown open as a pair of medical staff 
members entered the room. They hurried over to Nathan's bedside, and gazed down 
at him.
"Wolves! Get them away!"
"It's all right, sir. You're safe. You've been in a coma."
"Coma? Where am I?"
"SeaTac Emergency Ward. You'll be all right. You've lost quite a lot of blood, 
but we're fixing that problem right up. The bites on your waist and neck were 
the most crucial, but your entire backside seemed to be pretty scarred up. What 
attacked you?"
"Lizards. At least a dozen of them."
"You weren't near the Dinosaur Preserve, were you?"
"I didn't know it was a dinosaur preserve. Dinosaurs were extinct, last time I 
checked."
"Not completely. They're endangered, not extinct."
"What?" Nathan screamed as he rose from the bed. The nurse softly grasped 
Nathan's shoulders and slowly pushed his body back down onto the bed. 
"You still need your rest. We phoned your relative and your place of business. 
They both know of your situation."
"Relative? Who? My relatives are way out in Montana. I don't have any relatives 
here."
"Oh? Well, we found this card in your wallet with the name Bruce Cromwell on it. 
We figured it was either your father or your brother. At any rate, he's on his 
way."
"Bruce Cromwell? I don't know any Bruce Cromwell. Can I see the card?" Nathan 
asked. The nurse smiled and crossed the room and opened the closet door, 
revealing a small cubby space where Nathan's clothes were being kept. She 
reached into the pocket of Nathan's trousers and procured his wallet. She closed 
the closet before returning to Nathan's bedside and passed the white card to his 
waiting hands. Nathan took it gingerly in his hand and looked at the back of the 
card. In blue ink, his own hand-written lettering was seen, and the words "Bruce 
Cromwell" written clearly, followed by a seven-digit number. He turned the card 
to the face and saw it came from a roofing company in downtown Tacoma.
"I don't get it. I don't ever remember getting this card." Nathan said as he 
handed the card to the nurse. She took it gently with her fingers, and 
accidentally dropped it to the floor. She bent down to pick it up, and Nathan 
stopped her from placing it back into his wallet.
"Can I see that again?" Nathan asked. The nurse nodded and passed the card back 
to Nathan's waiting hand.
"Nope, still the same. If you don't mind, I'd like to hang onto this."
"Of course. Will you be in need of anything else?"
"No, that's fine." Nathan said and waved the nurse away. She checked the ECG 
readout on the monitor and shook her head slowly.
"You must have had quite a scare, Mr. Cromwell. These readings are pretty 
heavy."
"I'm fine. Just had a bad dream, that's all. It's not the first time this 
happened."
"Okay, but you still need your rest. By tomorrow afternoon, we'll be able to 
determine whether or not to keep you longer. You just lie back and relax." the 
nurse said with a smile and left Nathan lying upright, his head facing across 
the entire hospital room. He couldn't see most of the patients, as the curtains 
were pulled around the beds, but his eyes flashed on the appearance of a hairy 
body in one of the uncurtained beds. Nathan performed a double-take as he saw 
the appearance of the patient, and he could easily see sharp teeth pointing from 
his upper lip.
"Werewolf?" Nathan asked as he tried to fix his eyes on the hairy body in the 
bed across the room. 
"That's a....that's a freaking werewolf!" Nathan whispered and placed his paw 
over his mouth. From behind, the electrocardiograph beeped slightly faster in 
tempo as he continued staring at the hairy body lying in the hospital bed.
"Yeah, shut the hell up, stupid machine." Nathan grumbled as he turned to face 
the ECG monitor behind him. Nathan rested his head back and contemplated his 
current predicament.
"Where am I safer? Out there, or in here? Seems I can't turn anywhere without 
seeing something unusual. Why me? What did I do?" Nathan whispered to himself. 
As he laid back with his thoughts, the nurse returned to the room and headed to 
the bed next to him. Nathan curiously leaned his head to the side to watch the 
action going on next to him.
"Mr. Turnbill, nice to see you've made it around." the nurse said with a smile. 
Nathan's eyes caught onto the sight of another hairy body, this one bearing grey 
fur, and as Nathan got a look at his head, he couldn't believe the shock when he 
saw the head of a grey wolf smiling at the muzzle. He lifted his canine head up 
and scratched behind his ear. 
"Thank you, Nurse Tucker. I'm awfully hungry. What's for tonight's dinner?" the 
wolf asked and reached his arms from under the covers. Nathan rubbed his eyes as 
he saw the appearance of the wolf's arms bearing the same shape and form as that 
of a human, with four fingers and a thumb on each paw.
"A wolf in a human's body? Oh, now I've seen it all." Nathan whispered as his 
eyes fixed on his neighbor. The patient looked over at Nathan and smiled, waving 
his paw in greeting. Nathan smiled and nodded his head in reply before he rested 
it upon his pillow.
"If a werewolf isn't bad enough, now we have an actual wolf in a human's body. 
I'm definitely not understanding something."
"You're not supposed to. You're Nathan Cromwell, after all." a voice seemed to 
loom from above. Nathan sprung his body around to gaze into the small, beady 
eyes of the crafty wizard looking down upon him. Zhane removed his hat and 
scratched at the silvery hair atop his head.
"YOU!" Nathan screamed. "Nurse! Nurse Tucker!"
"What is it, Mr. Cromwell?" the young nurse asked and looked up into Zhane's 
eyes. Instantly, she nodded her head and turned her attention back to the 
patient in the next bed.
"Wait!" Nathan said and held his finger up, trying to hail attention from the 
nurse.
"Now, where were we?"
"We? We weren't anywhere. You were just about to leave!" Nathan said and pointed 
towards the door.
"Oh, I'm sure you don't really mean to say that to your own brother." Nathan's 
eyes suddenly grew wide as he remembered the roofing company's card he held 
onto. He grabbed it into his fingers and held it up to his shocked eyes.
"Fooled you again, didn't I? Don't you know you can't ever run away from a 
master of deception?"
"You have five seconds before I take this intravenous bottle and break it over 
your head." Nathan said and grabbed the stem of the tall rack into his hand.
"Oh, come now. Even you know how unwise that would be."
"Why are you haunting me?" Nathan asked.
"Gee, I don't seem to haunt anybody else. Why? Oh yes. Mr. Cromwell doesn't 
believe in reality, does he?"
"What? Reality? You call this reality? You call that over there and that way 
over there reality?" Nathan said as he pointed to the two unusual patients in 
the hospital room.
"Why, yes. Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. What puzzles me is that you don't."
"Because I have enough sense to know what's real and what's phony, and I'm 
looking at a phony right now." Nathan said and glared his color-blind eyes at 
the sly wizard. Zhane replaced the hat onto his head and tipped the brim.
"One of these days, you'll hear the voice of a different tone. You just need to 
obtain the right set of ears." Zhane said as he turned and headed for the door.
"Creepy old freak." Nathan exclaimed. The nurse turned and faced Nathan's bed 
after Zhane departed.
"Are you all right, now? Can I get anything for you?" the nurse asked, her tone 
sounding in a slightly different pitch than what he was used to.
"No, that will be all." Nathan replied, his own voice sounding slightly 
different.
"What's that old man done now?" Nathan asked as he slowly placed his hands over 
the sides of his head, where his ears once were.
"AAAAAHHHH!" Nathan shouted. "NUUUUURSE!" The nurse turned and faced the scared 
expression on Nathan's face.
"What is it?"
"Where are my ears? Why don't I have my ears?" Nathan screamed.
"Oh, sir. Your ears are in the same place they've always been. On top of your 
head, silly. You really need to rest." Nathan slowly moved his hands to the top 
of his head and felt the pointed, furry ears atop his head.
"OOOOOHHHH NOOOOOOOO!" Nathan hollered.
"Sir, if you won't be silent, we may have to sedate you. I know you don't want 
that to happen, so you better keep it down. I can't have you disturbing this 
entire ward."
"S...sorry." Nathan said in a loud, whimpering tone and slumped his head down 
onto the pillow. He tried to close his eyes to find his sleepy state once again, 
but not before catching a glimpse of the anthropomorphic wolf beside him.
"You must have gone through a lot, haven't you?" the wolf asked. Nathan sobbed 
as he nodded his head.
"I think your ears are just fine, if you ask me. Glad to see a fellow being with 
some canine in him." the wolf said with a smile. "What are you in here for?"
"Reptile attack." 
"I'm having my tonsils taken out tomorrow. My family tells me not to worry, but 
I'm still a bit nervous." Nathan nodded and didn't say one further word to the 
friendly wolf lying next to him, and shortly after, he felt his mind begin to 
wander into his dream world.

Chapter 16: A Disturbing Ride Home

	At precisely two in the afternoon, Nathan stood at the main lobby of the 
hospital's emergency ward and signed the checkout clipboard. Giving a smile, he 
handed it back to the receptionist and headed for the doors of the hospital. He 
passed by a family of anthropomorphic wolves sitting in the row of seats along 
the wall and shook his head slowly.
"They must belong to that one wolf man they put me next to. As long as I don't 
see too many of them, I'll be all right." Nathan said as he placed his hands in 
his trouser pockets. His left hand brushed against a piece of cardstock 
material, and immediately, Nathan's heart sunk.
"Oh, geez." Nathan said as he pulled Zhane's business card from his pocket. As 
he looked at the embossed lettering of the card, Nathan whispered to himself.
"And, what sort of bad news are you going to bless me with today?" he said as he 
turned the card to the back, where the words "You haven't seen anything yet." 
were written in the familiar handwriting of the crafty wizard. Nathan dropped 
the card in a nearby trash receptacle before heading for the bus stop. 
"I used to think there was not that much to my life. Get up in the morning, go 
to work, do my job, come home, eat, sleep, then repeat again the next day." 
Nathan said as he waited for the bus. He looked out over the roads at the 
traffic that zoomed by him, but not one of them seemed to pay any mind to the 
new set of pointed, grey-furred ears atop his head, twitching involuntarily.
"This has really turned out to be a rather interesting life, I'll have to say." 
he said as he rose from the bench. The bus heading back into the run-down 
neighborhoods of Seattle arrived to take Nathan to his home. Nathan quickly 
stepped onto the bus and flashed his bus pass. The familiar bus driver, not 
seeming to notice the new change in the young man, waved him on board, and he 
proceeded to his usual spot in the back of the bus. From the seats behind him, a 
couple kids bounced on the seats, singing loudly.
"Old MacDonald had a farm, E, I, E, I, OH!" they both sang loudly.
"Kids, hush up over there!" a woman belted out, and Nathan figured that she was 
the mother of the two children.
"Hey, Cory! Look at these!" one of the children shouted and pointed to Nathan's 
twitching ears atop his head.
"How cuuute!" the other child shouted. "Come on, Tasha, let's pet them!" Cory 
said. 
"YEAH!" Tasha replied, and Nathan felt the tiny fingers of the two children run 
across the tips of Nathan's pointed ears. As an instant reaction, they twitched 
suddenly as the children's fingers dabbled at the pair of wolf ears. Nathan 
looked up at the heads of the two children peeking over the seat behind him and 
held a blank expression.
"Children! Enough!" the mother said and thumped the children on their heads with 
her thumbs. "I'm sure the man doesn't want you to play with his ears." Nathan 
tried not to impose on the children's fun, but he strongly agreed with the 
woman. He turned his head and looked at the two blond-haired children behind him 
and smiled back at their mother, as a subliminal message which seemed to say 
"yeah, you tell 'em."
"Let's do it again." Cory whispered to his sister. Tasha nodded, and both 
children reached their hands up to toy with Nathan's ears once again. Nathan 
instantly twitched his ears again, and let his body slump lower in the chair, so 
that the back of the seat obscured his entire head.
"I told you two that was enough! Do you both want a time out?"
"No, mom." the children replied in unison.
"Then sit down and keep your hands to yourself."
"His ears are neat, Mom. Why don't we have ears like that?"
"Because he was probably born with them, Cory." Nathan couldn't help but 
overhear the conversation the children were having with their mother and shook 
his head while covering his eyes.
"Born with them? Oh, heaven help me!" Nathan whispered to himself. "Doesn't 
anybody know wizardry when they see it? Why is it everything that happens to me 
seems to set itself into reality automatically? That's what I don't understand." 
Nathan thought to himself. After a couple blocks, the woman rose from her seat.
"Come on, kids. This is our stop." she said and took her children by their tiny 
hands.
"I'm so sorry for their behavior, sir. They just liked your ears, I guess, but 
they're just ears to me. Come on, kids." the woman said and ushered her children 
off the bus. Nathan raised his body upright once again and caught the glimpse of 
the children waving to the wolf-eared man. Nathan forced a smile to his lips as 
the bus pulled away from the curb, then held his glances on the passing 
structures that zoomed by the window.
"Born with them? Come on, lady. How could a freaking human possibly be born with 
ears like this? Get a clue!" Nathan said as he slumped his body forward, his 
eyes glued to the outside world that zoomed by. He saw the familiar van with 
yellow stars scattered upon the paintwork, and immediately sprang to attention. 
Nathan flashed his eyes at the driver and immediately turned his head into the 
opposite direction when he saw the short doctor at the wheel.
"What does that all mean? Is he Zhane in disguise? Why is he chasing me?" Nathan 
whispered and held his body slumped in the seat until the bus arrived to the 
stop. Nathan sprang to his feet and exited the bus from the back double-doors, 
and ran as fast as he could back to his apartment. He fumbled for his key and 
inserted it quickly into the doorknob. As he flung the door open, he felt the 
stuffy heat of the room lurch out to him, but he didn't care. He was glad to be 
home, and he wasn't planning on leaving again anytime soon. 

Chapter 17: Through the Ears of the Wolf'

	Nathan closed the doors and instantly stripped himself of the work uniform 
he thought he would never get tired of seeing on his body. Leaving it in a heap 
on the floor, Nathan walked naked across his living room. He looked over at the 
scattered pieces of junk mail and torn cardstock upon his living room floor, and 
shook his head slowly. His eyes caught the glimpse of the broken bottle 
fragments on the kitchen floor, then noticed his pile of dirty clothes.
"I'll tell you one thing, these change of events sure has turned me into a 
walking pig-sty of a wreck." Nathan said and bent down to gather the trash from 
the floor. He pulled out the broom and dustpan from the skinny closet in the 
kitchen and swept up the sticky shards of glass on the floor, then emptying them 
into the garbage can. Ending his house cleaning by placing his clothes into the 
hamper, he sat back in his chair as he ran his hands over his semi-hairy, bare 
chest. Moving his hands up his naked torso, he passed them over the plainly-
built shoulders, and his left fingers brushed against the gauze wrapped around 
his neck. He felt again on the side of his head where his ears once were, now 
replaced by a patch of his blond hair, as if he never had human ears to begin 
with. He reached up to touch his furry ears atop his head and felt a few tears 
come to his eyes.
"First color-blindness, now this. What's happening to me?" Nathan said through 
his tears. He pictured in his head of the Optometrist he was planning to visit, 
and a man resembling every appearance to Doctor Franklin entered the room 
bearing a butcher's cleaver. The echoed voice of the doctor rang through 
Nathan's ears.
"Ears of the wolf atop a human head. Most unusual. They will eventually cut off 
the circulation in your head. We will have to amputate them." the doctor in his 
mind said as he ran his thumb over the sharp edge of the cleaver while giving a 
maniacal laugh. Nathan clutched his head with his hands and shook his head 
swiftly back and forth.
"NOOOOOOOO!" he screamed. He looked around nervously as the vision of his 
apartment quickly replaced the gruesome image he imagined.
"I'll have to deal with my eyes, now I have to deal with my ears. I'll keep the 
frigging things. I don't care. Sure beats having them cut off my head. Just 
thinking about that sends shivers down my spine!" Nathan said as if there was 
somebody there to reply. He felt his furry wolf ears once again and returned his 
hands to his sides. As he lay back in his chair, his ears picked up the sounds 
of constant scratching in the kitchen. Nathan's ears instantly perked up as he 
heard the sounds clearly from the living room. He rose from his chair and went 
to investigate where the sound was coming from. He searched around the kitchen 
for the source of the noise, and then quit moving to hear where the scratching 
came from once again. Hearing it coming from behind the refrigerator, Nathan 
lowered himself and tried to peer underneath the dark space of the refrigerator. 
Through his eyesight, he could see the shadowed outline of a small mouse 
scrounging the floor for edible tidbits.
"I have mice. Great," Nathan whispered, "and how was I able to hear..." Nathan's 
words were immediately cut off at the word "hear" and reached for the ears atop 
his head.
"Oh, no." Nathan whispered. He often heard that canines had an uncanny sense of 
hearing, but never did it ever dawn upon him as to how precise the perception of 
sound really was. From the ceiling, he could hear the sounds of light tapping, 
and figured that his upstairs neighbor was fidgeting around. The sounds from 
upstairs got louder and more constant, and mixing with the sounds of the 
scratching underneath his refrigerator, Nathan covered his ears completely and 
headed into the safety of his bedroom.
"How annoying!" Nathan shouted. "How long am I expected to deal with this?" As 
Nathan lay back, he caught a glimpse of his dresser. On the very top where his 
television sat, was a small, white card.
"Leaving me more presents, Zhane?" Nathan hollered as he went for the card. 
Having being used to seeing the card turning up at the most interesting moments 
of his life, Nathan shook his head and chuckled lightly. He read the back of the 
card and instantly quieted his chuckle.
"If it ever ended, all canines would be deaf." the card read. Nathan sighed and 
hesitantly cast it aside, wondering just how many more of Zhane's business cards 
he would be blessed with.
"If wizardry ended, I could return to living a normal life again. Why do I still 
see the world as the way it should be? Why does everyone around me accept every 
single weird thing in the world? Does everything just go without saying? If 
that's true, I could walk into a bank and use a vacuum cleaner and say that it's 
an alien from another planet and its only food source is money." Nathan said and 
chuckled softly as he rested his body onto the pillow. He reached across to his 
phone and picked up the receiver. 
"I guess I owe work a call, to let them know I've made it back." Nathan said as 
he dialed the number to Tanney's Hardware.
"Tanney's, Rob speaking."
"Rob, it's Nathan. Listen, I just got out of the hospital today. They still want 
me to take things easy for the next couple days."
"Of course, Nate, Rudy already told me you might be out for awhile. He says to 
go ahead and take the rest of the week off. Ya need it, man. Anything you need?"
"No."
"Hey, Nate, come on, you're not still lost in your own little world, are ya? 
Open up your wolf ears and listen to voices of reason! We ain't your enemy, you 
know."
"Wolf ears?"
"Yeah, you got 'em, don't ya? They workin'? They hear good? I wouldn't know what 
things sound like through wolf ears, but that's your bag, not mine. Anyway, you 
know you got friends. Don't piss them all away, okay?"
"Rob, do the words 'piss off' mean anything to you?" Nathan said and gave a 
little chuckle to show he wasn't being completely serious.
"Yeah, it means to get your color-blind ass up off your bed and find yourself a 
friend." Rob replied. "Hey, I gotta go. You just take care, okay?"
"Right." Nathan said and hung up the phone. "All week, eh? Great, what do I do 
for the entire week?" Nathan asked. From upstairs, the scratches and taps of the 
ceiling constantly moved around as his neighbor remained active upstairs.
"Dammit, Gabriel, whatever you're doing up there, you better knock it off." 
Nathan grumbled. The loud sound of tapping, followed by Gabriel's voice 
whispering the words "oh, shit!" rang through Nathan's ears, and he covered them 
tightly with his hands.
"That does it." Nathan said and rose to fetch a pair of thick earplugs. 
"This always used to help before. I just hope it works for wolf ears too. How 
did Rob know about my ears? I haven't seen him in over three days...never mind, 
I don't want to know. The less I know, the better." Nathan said and shoved the 
large plugs into his ears. The tapping sounds from upstairs seemed muffled and 
made it more tolerable for Nathan to try and sleep. From outside, the distant 
sound of a fighting cat meowed loudly through the neighborhoods. Nathan covered 
his entire head with his pillows and tried to find sleep in a world where sound 
seemed to have been turned up by an unseen volume control knob.
"Would be nice to have an ambient stereo. Don't like the sound of something 
loud, turn it down." Nathan muttered tiredly. Sleep came to him soon after.

Chapter 18: The First Sleepless Night

	The ambient sounds of everyday life overcame the night. Crickets chirped 
loudly through the neighborhood, and the occasional wolf's howl echoed over the 
land. Upstairs, Gabriel's constant light tapping kept Nathan from finding his 
realm of sleep. Nathan tossed and turned in his bed, but no matter how hard he 
tried to sleep, the sounds around him kept him awake. He raised his head from 
under the pillow and removed the earplugs from his ears.
"These things didn't seem to work." Nathan said and cast them aside onto the 
floor. "I don't know what Gabriel is doing upstairs, but he better cut it out." 
From the kitchen, the sounds of tiny paws scampering around the soft-tiled floor 
circulated through Nathan's ears. Nathan sighed as he picked up the phone and 
dialed Gabriel's phone. From upstairs, he could clearly hear his phone ringing, 
followed by the sound of Gabriel's feet marching over to the other side of the 
room to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Gabriel, it's Nathan. What the hell are you doing up there? I'm trying to 
sleep."
"What? You can't honestly say that my dart-throwing is keeping you awake."
"Darts? What are you talking about? Sounds like a giant typewriter keeps 
slamming its keys onto the floor with the way you're going on up there. Could 
you not do whatever it is you're doing and let me rest?"
"I suppose I could just let Nathan Cromwell have his way while the rest of the 
world is put on hold. Let's all put our lives on pause as Nathan Cromwell lives 
his secluded life, is that what you want?"
"Gabriel, as much as I would love to just pop you one with that comment, I just 
need to sleep!" Nathan hollered. "You know as much as I do that I've been 
through too much in such a short time, so please, keep the noise level down. You 
can play your lonesome dart game tomorrow when the light is better, I'm sure."
"All right, all right, you win. I'll give it a rest. Good-night, sweet Prince O' 
Give Me Peace Or Get Out Of My Face Cromwell." Nathan slammed the phone down at 
Gabriel's chuckle after uttering his final comment to his ears and gave out a 
low rumble from his throat.
"Sometimes he really gets to me." he uttered as he lay back in his bed. He 
buried his head under the covers to help muffle the sounds of the chirping 
crickets and tried to concentrate on sleeping.

	A brief five minutes later, Nathan's ears picked up the sound of something 
striking the floor of his upstairs neighbor. He held the pillow tightly to his 
ears as the tapping sounded more constant. 
"What is that fool doing now?" Nathan asked and got up from his bed. He rubbed 
his eyes as he made his way into the kitchen to retrieve his broom. Using the 
wide, bristled end of the broom, Nathan held it tightly in his hands, using the 
handle to tap against the ceiling.
"Oh, am I keeping you awake? Oops. Do forgive me." Gabriel said in a regular 
tone of voice. Nathan placed the broom aside the wall and waited for Gabriel to 
make further noises from upstairs. Shortly after, the sounds of light tapping 
returned to the ceiling, followed by a thump of a solid object striking the 
floor. 
"KNOCK IT OFF!" Nathan yelled and slammed the handle of the broom against his 
ceiling once again. Gabriel only chuckled as more light tapping sounded out, 
followed by the hollow sound of an empty box hitting the floor. Nathan slammed 
his body into the bed and covered his head in the pillows, trying to muffle out 
Gabriel's obnoxious sounds. The tapping was quickly replaced by the sound of 
off-key singing, which would be unheard by the human ear, but was easily heard 
by Nathan's new pair of ears.
"Oh, where can my little dog beeeeeeeee, she ran away from meeeeee, I saw her 
under the treeeeee, and all I have is her tiny fleeeeeeeeeea." Gabriel sang, the 
shaky melody drifting down through the floor, and hitting Nathan's ears like a 
wave of water running over him.
"I've had enough of that guy. Next time I see him, I'm putting a bullet in his 
head. I don't care." Nathan grumbled and slammed his fists into the pillows near 
his ears, only making matters that much worse. Nathan sighed softly from under 
the pillows and tried to block out the sounds that went on around him. From five 
blocks away, the sounds of two fighting cats echoed through the run-down 
neighborhood. Nathan's ears continued picking up the sounds of the neighborhood 
throughout the entire night; his system had not yet adapted to having the 
remarkable sense of hearing.
"How dogs manage to sleep at night, it's beyond me." Nathan whispered and sighed 
softly. He emerged from under his pillow and held his head in his hands. He 
looked up through the blinds in his window at the moon casting its glow into the 
room and remained in the upright position, hoping that the sounds would suddenly 
cease long enough for Nathan to get to sleep. He contemplated making another pot 
of coffee, in hopes to get used to having his new sense of hearing. Giving a 
slight nod of his head, Nathan stood to his feet and headed into the kitchen, 
feeling the freedom of being naked, and the sense of not having to don clothing 
while in the presence of another person in the apartment.

	Nathan counted the rounded spoons of ground coffee into the maker's filter 
and added an entire pot of hot water to the water chamber of the coffee machine. 
He flicked the power on and leaned against the wall, waiting for the grinding 
noise of the machine to erupt. Nathan's ears honed in on a tone from the coffee 
maker that his human ears were never able to catch. Hearing the sound of the 
grinding beginning quietly, he reached atop his head and touched his hands to 
the furry tips of his ears.
"I wonder if I'll ever get used to these things." Nathan said as the grinding 
sounds he was used to hearing rang through his ears. From beneath the 
refrigerator, the sounds of tiny paws scampered across the floor.
"I'll have to remember to get some mouse traps at the store when I go shopping." 
he said as he watched the grilled bottom of the refrigerator, hoping that the 
mice will make an appearance. He reached into his cupboard and procured a 
ceramic coffee mug. He set it down on the counter and looked inside the once-
empty mug. The corner of another card poked out from the mug, and with a grumble 
in Nathan's throat, he reached for another one of Zhane's tricky cards.
"Wolves love the taste of live mice."
"Ohhh, no! No, no, no, no. Not this boy. Not me! Live mice as food? Hell no! 
What fool does this idiot take me for?" Nathan said and tossed the card into the 
garbage, knowing full well he will only be blessed with another card later on, 
be it the same card or a different one. Zhane's magic was always unpredictable, 
and often stricken with fantasy beyond Nathan's grasp on the reality he grew to 
know. The grinding noises from the coffee pot died down as the last few drops 
fell into the pot. He poured a full helping of the caffeinated brew into the mug 
and took in the fresh aroma of the steam into his nose.
"Nothing like a hot mug of coffee to help keep an insane man awake." Nathan said 
and let out a gentle chuckle. Sipping hot coffee while standing naked in his 
kitchen, Nathan remained in the darkness of the small space while trying to 
identify the sounds his ears picked up, from the chirping crickets to the 
scattered sounds of vehicles driving down the neighborhood streets. Upstairs, 
the sounds of Didi's claws tap-danced across Gabriel's kitchen floor.
"This is going to be a very long night." Nathan whispered and finished the last 
swallow from his first mug.

Chapter 19: Gabriel's Peculiar Secret

	The sun's light hid behind the curtain of overcast clouds brought just 
enough light to the city of Seattle, and the empty pot of coffee rested on the 
kitchen counter. Nathan staggered as he walked, and underneath his eyes, one 
could easily note the bagginess the lack of sleep developed. Nathan didn't want 
to take a chance in looking at himself in the mirror, so he kept his head down, 
not even wanting to see the appearance of his new ears atop his head. He headed 
into the bathroom and started a warm shower for himself. As he stepped 
underneath the streaming water, the sounds of the droplets hitting the bare 
porcelain seemed to ring louder in Nathan's ears than ever before.
"How many nights will I lay awake, hoping to sleep through sounds like this?" 
Nathan asked himself as he reached for the soap. He worked up a good amount of 
lather and began to cover his upper torso with the creamy substance. Working the 
bar of soap over his chest, he could feel his ears get pummeled with the 
downfall of water directly on the delicate body part.
"I know this is going to get annoying." Nathan said and stepped away from the 
stream of water. He looked up as his ears followed the sound of Gabriel marching 
across the floor, accompanied by the sound of Didi's sharp claws tapping against 
the tiled floor. Gabriel's front door seemed to slam shut and Nathan tried to 
drown out the intensified sounds of Gabriel walking heavily down the concrete 
steps outside his front door.
"Must be 'take a loud, dumb animal for a walk week', it's just too bad Didi has 
to deal with that." Nathan said and chuckled as he lathered his lower body. He 
ran his lathery hands up to his crotch and softly massaged his soft genitals. He 
felt his erection slowly begin to harden to its six inch capacity before running 
his slick hands around its shaft.
"Pleasures of the flesh muddy the thinking, but what are we, a bunch of mindless 
robots?" Nathan said and let his cock slip through his sleek, lathery fingers.
"Mmmmmm, I almost forgot how good this feels." Nathan whispered and felt his 
heart rate begin to race. He spent most of his time trying to keep his grasp on 
the reality he was used to, that self-pleasure barely even reared its head. 
Nathan got a good grasp on what he was doing and decided to hold off on any 
further pleasure. He rinsed himself completely and shut the water to the shower 
off. He dried himself quickly, then headed into his bedroom to select his 
wardrobe for the day. Nathan was a plain-looking man in body, but his selection 
of clothes wasn't anything special either. He slipped a plain, white T-shirt 
over his torso and a pair of blue jeans upon his lower body, then reached for 
his comb. For the first time, Nathan looked up into the mirror at his new ears 
and watched as they involuntarily twitched.
"This is unnatural. How can anybody in their right frame of mind be able to look 
at these ears and not blink an eye? Geez, what is the world coming to?" Nathan 
asked himself as he dragged the teeth of the comb through his moist, blond hair. 

	Nathan worked on combing his hair for at least ten minutes, trying to 
figure out how to comb around his pointed ears. Finding a style he was happy 
with, he put his comb neatly in the medicine cabinet and shut the lights to the 
bathroom off. He hummed a tune to himself as he inserted his front door key into 
the pocket of his trousers and headed to the nearby park.
"One thing about Seattle. You sure can find a park whenever you need one." 
Nathan commented and stepped onto the green grass of the local park. From a 
distance, he could see Gabriel Harper playing frisbee with his Golden Retriever. 
Nathan watched for awhile as the large dog leapt into the air to catch every 
toss Gabriel made, then returning it to her owner. Didi bounced excitedly, 
waiting for Gabriel to toss the flat, circular object once again.
"I guess if I ever did turn into a full wolf, I would have to play stupid games 
like that, too." Nathan said and chuckled to himself. "I refuse to eat mice, 
though. That's just too disgusting. I have plenty of good food at home, why 
should I go hunt mice for? Ugh!"

	Nathan mustered his courage and advanced through the open park. He decided 
to overcome his uneasiness around large dogs by slowly approaching Gabriel's dog 
little by little. Didi saw the approaching man and immediately ran over to him.
"No, no! Didi, no!" Nathan shouted as Didi's paws quickly carried the golden-
colored body of the large dog closer.
"Nathan, look out! She's gonna attack!" Gabriel mocked. Nathan was all ready to 
leap up onto a nearby bench as Didi sniffed her nose at Nathan's hand. She gave 
it a soft lick with her flat tongue, then met up with her owner, leaving an 
astounded Nathan Cromwell behind.
"See? I told you she was friendly. Good God, what's on your head? You're going 
for the canine look? It suits you!" Gabriel said as he noticed the pair of wolf 
ears atop Nathan's head.
"You can see them?"
"Of course I can see them! How could I not notice?"
"You knew what I looked like before?"
"Umm, yeah, I think so." Gabriel said as he placed his finger underneath his 
chin, as if he was in deep thought.
"Come on, man. I'm serious. You...you can notice these changes in me?"
"How do you mean?" Gabriel said, changing the gaze in his eyes.
"Don't mess with me, man. You were the only one that noticed the change in my 
eyes, therefore you knew they were brown. You remembered what my ears used to 
look like, and now they're furry and pointed. Like dogs' ears."
"Actually, they look more like the ears of the canis lupus. Wolf, to be exact."
"I don't care!" Nathan said as he threw his arms up. "My point is, you notice 
the changes, when nobody else would. Are you in cahoots with Zhane?"
"Who's Zhane?"
"Come on, Gabriel, don't smart off to me. I'm having nothing but hell happening 
to me throughout the entire week already, and you're not making things any 
better."
"Perhaps, someday, you will understand. Isn't that right, Didi, yeeees." Gabriel 
said as he suddenly changed the tone of his voice while vigorously petting his 
Golden Retriever.
"I think...that Uncle Nathan is getting too peculiar, isn't he, Didi?" Gabriel 
said as he kept his eyes pointed into those of his pet's.
"What do I have for you? What is it?" Gabriel said, then gasped as he procured 
the frisbee from behind his back. Didi immediately leapt and bounced around 
energetically, hoping for another round of catch with her owner.
"Then, to hell with you!" Nathan said and started to storm away. "You don't want 
to help me, you don't have to. I'll figure this out myself! You can just enjoy 
your trip to Hell."
"Already been there, my friend. It's not very pleasant." Gabriel hollered back. 
Nathan scowled and continued along his way, not knowing what the day will bring. 
He decided to continue into the direction he headed, passing Apartment Row 
completely, and found himself in the vicinity of the run-down shacks and badly-
built houses of the poorer areas of the neighborhood Nathan lived in. As he 
started approaching the exit, his eyes caught sight of a large feline walking 
along its way. Nathan got a close look at its face, and noticed a pair of long, 
sharp fangs sticking out of the cat's upper mouth.
"Saber-toothed Tiger? No. This is too much. It's not real. It's not real!" 
Nathan hollered as he saw the large feline meet Nathan's eyes.
"Oh, no you don't. You're not getting to me. Do you hear me, Zhane? You're not 
getting to me! All I have to do is tell myself it's not real! One way or 
another, you are getting out of my reaches, you are GETTING out of my head!" 
Nathan screamed and pounded the sides of his head with his fists.
"None of this is real. It's just a dream."
"Oh, yes, just tell yourself it's a dream." a voice echoed through Nathan's 
ears. Nathan looked around quickly at where the voice seemed to come from, but 
the only one that was nearby was Gabriel Harper playing catch with his Golden 
Retriever.
"It is a dream. What, you're in my head now? You had enough of the cards and now 
you want to mess with me in my thoughts?"
"I assure you, it's not what you think. Someday, you'll be ready."
"Ready for what?" Nathan bellowed. "What do you mean?"
"You'll see. In time." the voice said. As Nathan headed back to the exit, hoping 
not to be seen by the Saber-toothed Tiger moseying around. From the center of 
the park, Gabriel Harper watched Nathan with a grin on his face, his dog lapping 
the side of his head with her large, flat tongue.

	Nathan looked around his neighborhood and contemplated about returning to 
the seclusion of his dwelling. As he stopped at the corner, the raindrops 
started falling faster from the sky. At this point, Nathan didn't care about 
getting wet.
"I've got to have something better planned for today. A walk in the rain sure is 
better than staying home doing nothing." he said to himself as the raindrops of 
the day fell upon the Earth. Nathan shivered slightly at the coldness upon his 
bare arms, but didn't seem to care about covering his shirt-clad torso with a 
heavy coat. He continued walking along as care-free and footloose as a schoolboy 
on an extended vacation.

Chapter 20: Where's Your Coat?

	As the raindrops seemed to get larger, the weather grew colder, and Nathan 
slightly shivered as he walked the streets of his home town. The late-afternoon 
light was quickly shrouded by the dark clouds that continued passing overhead, 
and darkening the illumination of the atmosphere. Nathan wrapped his arms around 
himself as he continued to walk onward, his mind not yet knowing where to spend 
the rest of the day. Atop his head, the fur of Nathan's ears quickly became 
drenched, and he could distinguish the smell of the wet fur as the rain 
continued to fall. He stopped at the corner and looked around the main strip of 
his neighborhood, where the restaurants, discount stores, and video stores all 
stood in a row. 
"I could always rent a movie." Nathan said to himself and crossed the street at 
the green light. He headed directly into a small building in a constantly-vacant 
shopping center, which was marked with large, red lettering of the sign. 
"Duncan Video. Can't find it, Duncan'll get it." Nathan whispered to himself as 
he recited the video store's slogan. The electronic door buzzer rang out through 
the store, and the burly-looking proprietor smiled from behind the counter.
"Hiya, comin' in from the rain?" he asked as he kept his toothy grin.
"Yeah, you could say that." Nathan said and swiftly ran his hands through his 
blond hair, being careful not to be too rough with his furry ears.
"Well, take your time and look around. Need any help, lemme know."
"I think I can handle it." Nathan uttered as he looked through the many shelves 
of video cassette boxes lining the shelves. He hadn't set foot into a video 
store in over four months, but even a newcomer would know how to pick out a 
video. Nathan shook his head in disbelief after the proprietor's words left his 
lips.
"Do I look like I need help? Am I wearing a sign saying 'retard' or something? 
Geez." Nathan whispered under his breath as he ran his finger along the many 
Science Fiction movie boxes.
"Don't see anything I want here, but why do I need to watch Sci-fi? I'm living 
in a Sci-fi world as it is." he uttered as he motivated towards the Horror 
section. He saw a few of the movie boxes before making a hasty retreat.
"No thank you. I've seen enough horror going on as it is. I don't need any 
more." he said as he discovered the Musicals section.
"Seen it, seen it, that one sucked, that one should be burned, seen it, don't 
want to see it, she's a bitch, he's ugly, she's ugly, seen it..." Nathan said as 
he went through each box individually, and commenting on each one as he moved 
onto the next in the shelf. Upon reaching the end of the shelf, he accidentally 
brushed his arm against the shoulder of the same small, elder man that kept 
following him.
"You again? What do you want?" Nathan asked as he glared angrily at Zhane. The 
small wizard lifted the brim of his pointed hat slightly so that he could get a 
good look at Nathan's angry expression.
"What, you're here renting movies, too? I don't think so. You're here to 
intimidate me. You followed me into Jack's, you followed me around my workplace 
neighborhood, and now you just so happened to show up here when I was in the 
mood for a video."
"You know, you really should bundle up outside. It's raining." Zhane said as he 
slowly lifted his staff. Nathan saw the hilt and noticed it had returned back to 
normal.
"No kidding? Gee, that explains why I'm all wet, doesn't it? Get a grip, old 
man. This is Seattle. You got that, you freaky old geezer? It's Seattle, not 
Disneyland, not Medieval Times, and certainly not a Memory Lane Grill, 
understand me? This is frigging Seattle!"
"You look cold. You should really dry up before you go back outside. After all, 
a young man like you could catch his death of cold out there, without a coat." 
Zhane said in a soft, frail voice, not catching a single word of Nathan's 
comments.
"Look, I've had just about enough of you. Either get to a point or piss off!" 
Nathan said, giving the old man a shove to his shoulder. Zhane smiled his sly 
grin and gave a small friendly bow before exiting the building. 
"Creepy freaky old timer! Gets on my freaking nerves." Nathan said as he 
shuddered. He eyed a copy of "Fire Dancing" and reached for the box. The first 
thing Nathan noticed was that his arm was suddenly covered with grey fur, 
bearing a few white patches in various areas. Nathan froze as his eyes picked up 
the vision of the new fur coat that sprouted from his flesh. He raised himself 
upright and held his hands in front of his eyes, only to find them covered with 
the fur of a grey wolf.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Nathan screamed as an instant reaction. He stomped his foot 
and shot an angry look at the front door, but Zhane Tarnsworth was long gone.
"What is it? Something wrong, sir?" the proprietor asked as he rushed up to 
Nathan's side.
"I....no. No, I'm not fine!" he said angrily.
"Hey, you sure dried off in a hurry. Makes me wish I was born with a fur coat 
like yours."
"It's not mine. I wasn't born with it. You saw me walk in here with flesh. You 
can't tell me you didn't see it for yourself!" Nathan said in a grumbling tone. 
The proprietor held his perplexed expression as he slowly shook his head, 
keeping his eyes staring blankly into Nathan's.
"You're full of it! This whole city is full of it!" Nathan said and pointed his 
eyes directly forward. He happened to see the tip of something he's never seen 
before. Slowly raising his paws to his face, he felt around his chin, then 
running them across his muzzle, giving his black nose a gentle touch with a paw 
pad.
"What....WHAT HAPPENED TO MY FACE?" Nathan screamed and almost fell over into a 
rack of video cassette boxes.
"Sir, are you all right?"
"NO! Do I LOOK all right? Look at my face! FOR GOD'S SAKE, LOOK!" Nathan said 
and pointed an angry finger at his face. The proprietor of the video store 
looked over the furry body before him, and took notice of the fur pattern of the 
wolf's head. The main color of his fur was a medium-grey, which faded into white 
under the muzzle, and ran down under the neck of Nathan's shirt. A few light 
stripes of black adorned the back of his head, and his ears were grey-furred, 
with white fur growing out of the inner-cavity. The proprietor shrugged as he 
looked over the body of the anthropomorphic wolf and shrugged his shoulders.
"Yeah? So what?"
"So what? SO WHAT? Oh! I don't believe this!" Nathan screamed as he raised his 
arms up into the air. He stomped out of the door and headed back for his house. 
The heavy smell of wet fur immediately filled his canine nose, which mingled 
with the strong aromas of the city.
"Great. Just great. It's bad enough I'm turning into a wolf, now I have to deal 
with the instincts of one too?" Nathan asked himself. He tried not to breathe 
too heavily as he made his way back home, for his system had not yet adapted to 
the new acute sense of smell. 
"Hi, Nathan." Gabriel said as he waved his hand, heading upstairs to his 
apartment.
"Hi, Nathan. Is that all you have to say to me? Why not make a lewd comment like 
'oh, hey, Nathan, how do you like your new fur?' or 'are you wet enough with 
that furry coat of yours?' You know something, I know what's going on. You ain't 
pulling the wool over my eyes. I know exactly what's going on."
"Sure, you do." Gabriel said with a smile and entered into his establishment. 
Nathan sighed as he lowered his head in the pummeling raindrops as he slowly 
walked around to his front door. He flung it open angrily and stomped inside, 
then shaking his body briskly of the moisture of the rain. Nathan stopped as he 
caught himself shaking his body like a wet canine and grumbled. 
"This is nuts! There's no way I'm turning into a frigging wolf. A wolf of all 
creatures." Nathan said as he headed into the bathroom. He couldn't help but to 
gaze up into his reflection as he went for his towel. Looking over the fluffy 
towel, Nathan gasped as his eyes saw his canine appearance. Slowly, Nathan began 
to remove his clothing and saw the different shades of color in his fur as it 
got closer to his chest. Upon his face, he bore the exact facial features of an 
average grey wolf, and his blond hair was replaced by a head full of grey fur. 
Nathan gave a snarl as he gazed at his reflection, and cast his wet, white T-
shirt aside. He hesitated removing his trousers, for he wasn't sure if he would 
like what he might see. 
"Nope, I have to know what that bastard did to me." Nathan said and shoved his 
jeans down his legs. His boxers were last to come down, and Nathan stepped out 
of the surrounding clothes around his furry ankles. He got a good look at his 
bare foot paws, which appeared to be the same size as his human feet, only the 
toes were slightly bigger, and a claw emanated from the tips of each toe on his 
foot paws. Nathan ran his paw pad softly over the tops of each toe and tried to 
feel for his toenails, but they seemed to have been replaced with fur. He rose 
back into an upright position and continued inspecting his furry body. Standing 
completely naked in the mirror, Nathan could see his entire body bearing the 
appearance of an anthropomorphic, grey wolf. He placed his paw over his sheath 
and gasped in surprised. 
"Oh, God DAMMIT!" Nathan shouted. "What did he do to me? My frigging manhood? 
It's gone!" Nathan shouted. He ran his finger up and down his new furry shaft 
and could feel the length of the hidden manhood underneath.
"Great, so now I get to piss like a wolf too! What next, Zhane? What else will 
you be humiliating me with?" Nathan asked as if the small wizard was nearby to 
hear. Nathan picked up his pile of clothes and noticed that he was without a 
tail, but his rump looked almost the same as it used to when it was fleshy. Upon 
removing the wet pile of clothes from the bathroom floor, Nathan's eyes caught a 
rectangular piece of cardstock.
"What now?" Nathan asked as he angrily cast his clothes aside, letting them hit 
the wall with a loud "thump." He picked up the card bearing Zhane Tarnsworth's 
insignia on the face and immediately turned it over to the back.
"Hey, you got a really nice tail." the card read.
"Huh?" Nathan said as he looked at the card strangely. He placed the card into 
the small trash can and raised his head up, noticing that he now had a wagging 
tail to finish the wolfish ensemble of his body.
"Oh, bloody hell." Nathan uttered under his breath. His tail continued wagging 
involuntarily as he left the bathroom, and stomped through his apartment, 
growling furiously.

	Outside, the thunder began to light up the sky as the rain seemed like 
bullets that clashed on the roof of the apartment complex. With every loud 
rapping of the raindrops outside, Nathan's ears twitched even more. He walked 
into his living room and began to ease down into his easy chair, noticing that 
his tail seemed to slip through the backrest. Surprised, Nathan rose to his feet 
and got a closer look at the sudden modification made to the chair. An archway 
seemed to have been created, to allow Nathan's tail to slip comfortably 
underneath. He inspected the rest of the chair and could easily identify it as 
his old easy chair, from the grape juice stain on the side of the chair.
"How the hell did this get here? This thing was solid, now it's altered. What 
the hell?" he asked himself as he sat back into the chair, his tail slipping 
through the small archway.
"I'm curious." Nathan said as he rose to his foot paws once again. He went into 
his room to retrieve the very pair of jeans he had on earlier, and noticed a 
sizeable hole had been made into the seat of the trousers for his tail.
"Unbelievable." Nathan remarked. "Reality sets in again, only why do I still see 
me as the way I used to be? Why isn't it set for me?" Nathan asked himself. He 
looked at a pair of work pants from the hamper and saw an identical hole in the 
back.
"Yep. Just as I figured. They've all been fixed." Nathan said and flung the 
trousers back into the hamper and headed into the kitchen for a bite to eat. 

Chapter 21: Nathan's Hunger

	Nathan's stomach growled as he opened the door of his refrigerator. He 
placed his paw over his thin stomach and searched through the stocked shelves 
for something to eat. He passed up leftover chicken and Macaroni Alfredo, trying 
to find something his stomach was hungry for.
"Nothing seems good." Nathan whispered and went for his pantry, looking through 
his dry stock. He flipped through envelopes of instant oatmeal, noodles, and hot 
chocolate, but nothing seemed to call out to him.
"What could I possibly want to eat?" Nathan asked as he procured an envelope of 
Three-Cheese Noodles.
"An old favorite." Nathan smiled at the pleasant-looking envelope of starchy 
contents. He laid it down onto the counter and stooped down in one of his lower 
cabinets for a saucepan. He held his crouched position as motionless as an 
animal of prey in the eyes of a fierce predator as he contemplated his hunger. 
His head slowly turned into the direction of the refrigerator's grilled bottom 
and picked up the sound of the mice's tiny paws scampering around on the floor. 
His canine nose inhaled the aroma of the mice's bodies, and immediately leapt to 
the front of his refrigerator. He sniffed his nose feverishly under the grill of 
the refrigerator, trying to get a better sense of aroma that drifted from 
underneath the large appliance.
"Come here, you little bastards." Nathan grumbled as he removed the grill 
covering, exposing a gap just barely big enough for his paw to slip through. 
Nathan fumbled around in the darkness underneath the refrigerator and tried to 
use his nose to track the small rodents wherever they scampered off to.
"Oh, no you don't!" Nathan growled and snarled as a small trickle of drool 
appeared at the corner of his muzzle. Nathan's upper-canine teeth were almost 
fully exposed as he tried to inch his paw further under the refrigerator. 
"Grrrrrr, you little rodents are putting up a hell of a struggle for me, aren't 
you?" Nathan said and wagged his tail swiftly as his paw pad trapped the long, 
pink tail of a mouse onto the floor. The sound of high-pitched squeaking rang 
loudly in his ears as the mouse tried to plead for his life. Nathan slowly drew 
his paw back, trying to keep his grip on the mouse's tail as he slowly edged his 
paw closer to the sights of his eyes.
"Gotcha, you little twit." Nathan growled and immediately began to feed upon the 
small creature. He chewed on the furry bit of meat in his muzzle a few times 
before swallowing the morsel down his throat. Nathan rose to his feet and caught 
himself as he realized what he had done.
"I...didn't...." Nathan uttered. He looked at the refrigerator's grill lying on 
the floor and then tasted his breath.
"Oh, God, I think I'm going to be sick." Nathan said as he eyed the envelope of 
noodles on the counter.
"Thank you, Zhane. You just ruined my appetite for all of eternity. You happy 
now?" Nathan said, recalling a past encounter from the sly, old wizard. Nathan 
looked again at the refrigerator and saw a small, furry, brown nose peeking out 
from the darkness. Nathan grinned widely and immediately leapt for the floor as 
he resorted to his quick reflexes to stop the second mouse from scurrying away 
from his grasp. Just as fast as he consumed the first mouse, the second one 
didn't last long either. Nathan patted his furry stomach and let out a small 
burp as a sign of enjoyment from the tidbits of food. He wagged his grey, furry 
tail slowly back and forth as he listened for any further commotion within the 
dark hiding space.
"Well, if anything, their scratching won't keep me awake." he uttered as he 
turned and headed into his bedroom. As he lie on his side, Nathan continued to 
contemplate his current predicament.
"On the other hand, I don't know what will happen to my appetite. Suddenly, 
fried chicken and Macaroni Alfredo doesn't sound good at all." Nathan said and 
rested his eyes, getting the first amount of sleep he's had in a stretch of 
forty-eight hours.
"Good thing I don't have to work until next week. It'll at least give me time to 
get used to a body I never even asked for." he uttered sarcastically, yet 
tiredly. He closed his eyes softly, and almost immediately found his state of 
sleep. During the night, Nathan's stomach growled, which kept him close to the 
world of the living. The growling in his stomach became louder and louder, until 
finally, Nathan threw the blankets onto the floor and stomped into the kitchen. 
Not hearing any more rodents under his refrigerator, Nathan gave the gaping 
space a few sniffs to make sure he had gotten them all.
"Must be smelling their presence. It's not as strong as it was before, though." 
Nathan commented and replaced the refrigerator's grill. His head pointed up 
slowly and stared at the ceiling. A smile immediately came to Nathan's muzzle, 
as he picked up the sounds of light scratching and scampering ringing through 
the ceiling, into Nathan's hungry ears. 

	The anthropomorphic grey wolf donned a fresh change of clothes, being 
careful with sliding his tail into the appropriate hole in the back of his 
trousers, and looked at himself in the mirror.
"Clothes make the man, but I had no idea it made the wolf." Nathan uttered, 
hoping to bring himself some humor to relieve the tension of his situation. He 
headed for his front door, not bothering to lock it.
"Eh, I'll just be upstairs. Gabriel might have a little...mouse problem." Nathan 
said with a huge grin on his muzzle, his sharp, pointy, canine teeth exposed. 
From overhead, a flash of lightning and a clasp of thunder appeared in the sky. 

	Nathan slowly approached the door and knocked upon the woodwork softly 
with his furry knuckles. His ears picked up the sound of Gabriel's feet walking 
towards the door.
"Come on, Gabriel. Wolf is hungry." Nathan whispered to himself. The door 
cracked open and Gabriel's eyes were seen peeking through the small opening.
"Yeah?" Gabriel said, his voice traveling through the front door.
"Gabriel, can I come in?" Nathan asked as a flash of lightning lit up the sky 
behind him.
"What's this about?"
"I'm hungry, and....look, I know this is going to sound funny to you, but I'm 
totally serious." Nathan said and scratched at the fur behind his ear.
"So, why not make something to eat?"
"You don't get it. My appetite changed with this change."
"What change?" Gabriel said. Nathan could easily see Gabriel developing a large 
smile on his face.
"You know damn well what I'm talking about. You're the only one that knows of my 
changes, other than me and that creepy Zhane Tarnsworth."
"So, what do you want, a little tea party in honor of this fact?"
"I don't care what the hell it is. I just...I need food, and the only food that 
appeals to me now is mice. Do you have any?"
"Nice. Real nice. Why don't you let me call my exterminator and tell him that I 
found his replacement."
"I don't give a horse patootey what you tell anybody, just let me have some 
mice. Please! I'm starving!"
"So you expect me to let you into my apartment, scrounge around the floor, 
getting your canine nose into my furniture, just so you can get something to 
eat?"
"I'm serious, Gabriel. What else am I supposed to do?"
"You're a wolf now, so obviously you have the instincts. Use them. Geez, do I 
have to do all the thinking for you?"
"No, I just...couldn't I just grab one? You obviously have a mouse problem, I 
have to lie back and listen to the critters running around on your floor."
"You see that field over there?"
"The park?"
"Yeah. Mice live in dark areas, so use your senses. I'm not going to hold your 
paw and do it for you. Good luck, Nathan. It's time for my show."
"Yeah, you don't want to miss out on Seance Talk." Nathan mocked and immediately 
turned his head. He heard Gabriel's door close behind him, followed by a soft 
chuckle that emanated from his throat. He walked over to his large cage and 
procured a couple white mice and ran his thumb over their heads.
"You make your Uncle Gabriel very happy. And did you sweet, furry critters love 
your freedom on the floor? Did you?" Gabriel said in a playful voice. The mice 
twitched their noses and whiskers in response as Gabriel placed them back into 
the cage with the rest of them. He closed the door and looked back at the 
several hundred tiny mice that were all huddled in the cage, some slept in a 
cluster with each other, while others were rolled up into small, furry balls. 
Another group was found eating from one of the many food bowls lining the cage 
wall, and several more partook of the water from one of many water bottles 
attached to the sides of the cage. He reached out for Didi's head and ran his 
hand through the long hair of the Golden Retriever.
"You do a good job too, that's right. That's right." Gabriel said in a happy, 
pleasant tone of voice as Didi panted. Gabriel smiled as Didi licked his nose 
with her large tongue.

Chapter 22: The Hunter or the Hunted?

	The raindrops seemed to pour down onto the Earth like a waterfall as 
Nathan headed out towards the nearby park, where he encountered the Saber-tooth 
Tiger. The fur on Nathan's head and arms were immediately matted to his body. 
"It's raining like a sonofabitch, but I don't care." Nathan grumbled as he 
walked through the entrance to the park. He looked around and tried to use his 
sense of hearing, but the sound of the falling rain drowned out any other sounds 
his ears would be used to hearing.
"Great, how am I supposed to find mice if I can't hear them?" he grumbled as he 
searched under the bushes. He placed a paw pad to his nose and sighed softly.
"I'm going to look so stupid!" Nathan said as his stomach growled. He placed his 
paw against his tummy and grumbled in a low tone. He used his wolf nose to sniff 
out the scent of mice in the area and crouched down onto the ground.
"I never thought in a million years I would be wallowing through the mud to look 
for food. I mean, this is what homeless people do!" Nathan exclaimed as he 
crawled through the mud on his paws and knees. His ears picked up the sound of a 
high-pitched squeak, which quieted Nathan's commentaries down in an instant. He 
inhaled the air and picked up the smell of the mouse pawing through the moist 
dirt underneath the thick shrubs. Nathan inched his muzzle closer, being careful 
not to startle the mouse, and used his quick paw to catch the small rodent into 
his paw. In one gulp, Nathan swallowed the mouse, and then stood to his foot 
paws in search of another mouse to consume. He followed his nose around the 
inner perimeter of the park where the shrubs grew thick, hoping to find more 
live tidbits to consume. 

	As Nathan caught and consumed a few mice in the area, he reached his paw 
out for the sixth one, when he heard the sound of a deep growl coming from 
behind. His body froze in shock and slowly turned his head, finding himself 
staring directly into the eyes of a fierce-looking Saber-tooth Tiger. The tiger 
growled deeply and opened his mouth slightly ajar, allowing a long stream of 
drool to drip from his long teeth. Nathan, still frozen in shock, could only 
open his eyes widely at the fierce, prehistoric beast. The tiger attempted to 
snap at Nathan's arm, which caused an instant reaction in Nathan's body to rise 
to his feet and retreat towards the center of the park, where he was joined up 
with two more Saber-tooth Tigers. Both tigers shared an identical look in their 
eyes as they encircled the frightened wolf. Nathan backed up slowly as the 
tigers approached, and spoke out to them as if they could hear.
"No. You are not real. I refuse to believe in you! None of you are real!" Nathan 
shouted, but no matter what he said, it didn't seem to help the situation any 
better. Nathan ducked out of the way as one tiger attempted to pounce his body. 
Instantly, Nathan lashed forth with his claws and batted his paw at the face of 
the prowling tigers. He caught one of them aside its face, and several 
noticeable scratches appeared. Nathan flipped around and tackled another tiger 
that was standing behind him, and used his new canine teeth to bite into the 
tiger's neck. The tiger yelped out in pain as Nathan's teeth dug themselves into 
the tiger's neck. Using his claws, he tried to jab the tiger's eyes to make it 
difficult for it to see. The other tigers leapt to its defense and tried to fend 
off the anthropomorphic wolf's attack. Nathan scratched at the two tigers behind 
him with his foot paws, which were fortunately bare. Using as much effort as he 
could, he managed to severely damage the face of one tiger with his strongest 
foot. The other tiger latched onto Nathan's right foot paw with its mouth and 
bit down as hard as it could.
"AAAAAAAARRRRGH!" Nathan screamed out and leapt to his feet. He dove on top of 
the attacking tiger and applied the same form of attack, the flavor of the 
tiger's fur tasting strong in his mouth. The moisture of Nathan's teeth were 
combined with his saliva and the blood that ran from the Saber-tooth Tiger's 
neck. Feeling the tiger had enough, Nathan stood to his feet and immediately 
headed back to his apartment. He entered the quaint dwelling space and slammed 
the door loudly and breathing heavily through his muzzle. From upstairs, the 
front door to Gabriel's apartment opened. He looked down into the direction of 
Nathan's apartment and smiled an evil-looking grin before returning inside, 
himself. Just before he reentered the apartment, a bright flash of lightning 
illuminated the dark, black sky.
"Now it's time for the lonely hunter to experience annoyance." Gabriel whispered 
and reached into the large mouse cage, and procured five mice.
"All right, my little furry friends, it's time." he whispered and let the mice 
loose in his apartment. Their small paws scampered across the tiled floor of 
Gabriel's apartment and went for another handful inside the cage.

	Downstairs, Nathan's head felt pounding with a headache that constantly 
lingered within the lobes of his brain, and hammered against his head like a 
consistent migraine.
"This is what I get for going out into the rain without decent protective 
clothing." Nathan said as he sneezed. 
"I figured as much. I can't sneeze like a human anymore, now I have to push 
everything out through my nose and jolt my head downward. Gee, just like a real 
live wolf." Nathan said sarcastically. He removed his wet, soiled clothes and 
left them in a pile on the floor. Slipping into the bed, Nathan closed his eyes 
and gently laid his head on the soft pillow, hoping for a good night's rest, and 
one that was overdue and desperately needed.

Chapter 23: Gabriel's Fun

	Nathan's ears picked up the sounds of Gabriel's mice running rampant on 
the floor above him as he attempted to find a comfortable unconscious state. The 
mice scampered across Gabriel's floor in all different directions, causing 
Nathan to constantly stir.
"What the hell is he doing?" Nathan grumbled and cast an angry glare at the 
ceiling. Gabriel set another ten mice free and mocked as the sly neighbor 
continued releasing more of the tiny rodents onto his floor.
"Let's show our pleasant neighbor the meaning of the word 'suffering.'" he said 
in a quiet tone as he continued setting more mice free from their cage. 
Gabriel's floor seemed to be carpeted by the small rodents, which caused a loud 
enough disturbance with their tiny paws. Nathan slammed his fists into the 
mattress of his bed and threw the blankets onto the floor.
"GABRIEL, THIS ISN'T FUNNY ANYMORE!" Nathan hollered as he pointed his head up 
to the ceiling. The only reply he received in return was a soft snicker from 
Gabriel's throat as more and more mice scampered across the floor.
"More. More. Go ahead. Run rampant, my small, furry friends." Gabriel urged onto 
the mice as if they could understand. Nathan paced back and forth in his 
apartment while he covered his ears with his furry paws, trying to drown out the 
scratching and tapping of tiny mouse paws.
"I'm going up there right now. I don't care." Nathan grumbled and threw a soft 
robe around his body. He lowered his tail to prevent having his lower half 
exposed, and headed angrily out of his apartment. He stomped up the concrete 
steps and pounded on Gabriel's door loud enough to stir attention by occupants 
of the nearby apartments.
"Gabriel, it's not funny anymore! Get out here right now!" Nathan hollered, only 
hearing a silent response, as empty and lifeless as a desert night.
"Gabriel, get out here right now!" Nathan yelled. His furry paw pounded against 
the solid woodwork of the front door, but could not hear a single response. He 
placed his ear to the door in hopes to hear Gabriel moving around inside, but to 
no avail.
"GABRIEL! If you're not out here in five seconds, I'm beating this door down!" 
Nathan screamed. From across the way, the door to the apartment room opened, and 
a tired-looking young adult woman came to the door.
"Hey, some of us are trying to sleep!" she yelled. Nathan turned and faced the 
woman with an angry glare in his eyes. He snarled his upper lip, exposing his 
canine teeth, which was stained pink from the blood of his hunt. The woman 
turned her nose up and closed the door behind her, leaving Nathan standing alone 
before Gabriel's door.
"I'm calling the frigging police on him, then. He's not making a fool out of 
me!" Nathan shouted and headed downstairs to his apartment, only to find the 
door locked tight.
"Oh, dammit!" Nathan grumbled. He tugged and pulled on the doorknob wildly, but 
the door wouldn't budge. He reached into the pocket of his robe, hoping to find 
his house key. His paw pad brushed against a piece of cardstock paper.
"NO! I've had ENOUGH of this!" Nathan bellowed as he pulled Zhane's card from 
his pocket.
"Things aren't always what they seem." it read.
"Nice going, old man, you already gave me this one!" Nathan said and cast the 
card angrily to the side. He adjusted his robe and headed for the landlady's 
apartment. Knocking calmly on the door, he waited at the doorstep as his robe-
covered body stood in the pouring rain. The fur on his head was matted and 
dripping frantically with the moisture of the raindrops, and gave him the look 
of a poor, helpless dog trying to come in from the rain. Nathan sighed and 
knocked once again on the door, hoping to bring enough attention to the 
landlady.
"Come on, this can't be happening to me." Nathan whispered and attempted a third 
knock, much louder than before. Having no further luck with the landlady, Nathan 
heaved a heavy breath through his black, canine nose and gave a swish of his 
tail as he stormed away.

	Nathan returned to his own doorstep and sighed in a low tone. He looked at 
Zhane's business card lying near the wall, which displayed the hand-written 
words of the crafty wizard.
"Things aren't always what they seem, huh? If that's true, then my front door 
would be unlocked instead of locked." Nathan whispered to himself. He turned the 
doorknob and found his door opening with ease. A surprised, happy expression 
developed on the anthropomorphic wolf's face as he stepped into his apartment 
and closed the door behind him. He concentrated on the sounds of the ceiling 
above him and could not hear a single sound.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to this." Nathan said as he headed tiredly 
into his room. He dropped his fluffy robe to the floor and climbed into the bed. 
The instant Nathan's head hit the pillow, the sound of scratching and tapping 
suddenly appeared, as if the mice were watching Nathan's actions. Nathan covered 
his ear with the pillow and tried to resume his pursuit for sleep, but the 
constant scratching from the mice's paws still rang through his sensitive ears.
"Somebody help me. Please. I don't care what happens to me anymore. I just don't 
care. Just as long as there are no more disturbances like this!" Nathan said as 
a tear developed in his eye. Nathan curled his body up into a tight ball, and 
tucking his tail between his legs. He opened his eyes momentarily to eye another 
business card lying under his pillow. Nathan emerged his head from underneath 
the soft pillow as he gazed upon the card. He wiped the moisture of his tears 
from his eyes and read the hand-written message.
"When the wolf that walks on four paws howls at dawn, an answer just may come." 
it read.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Nathan asked, having asked the same 
question quite often.
"Well, if an answer is coming, I'm all ready to receive it. I'll...I'll do 
anything. Just for an answer." Nathan said through his tears. As he broke down 
on the floor in a downfall of his tears, the sound of Gabriel's mice scampering 
across the floor slowly faded away. Nathan perked his ears up, hoping to have 
heard the last disturbance of the night, and eased his anthropomorphic body into 
the bed.
"That's good. Oh, that's really good." a voice seemed to whisper, but with 
Nathan's tiredness taking its toll, he didn't seem to hear the unseen whisper.

Chapter 24: Doctor Franklin Returns

	Nathan awoke for the first time in three days feeling fully revitalized, 
ready to look towards the day to come with strength and vim. He stretched his 
muscles as he stood onto his foot paws and felt the joints in his arms crackle. 
Starting the day his usual way, he headed into the bathroom and started the 
shower. He tested the water against the back of his furry paw and then proceeded 
to step into the tub, ready to lather his fur-clad body. 
"I'm seriously in need of this." Nathan said, still feeling sticky with the 
combination of sweat and rain water that dried into his fur the previous night. 
He took his time lathering his upper body, and with his slick paws, he glided 
them over his crotch. He gave his genitals a soft massage, which allowed 
Nathan's sheath to grow hard, and his pink shaft of maleness to peak out of the 
furry opening.
"So, it does work after all." Nathan said as he aroused his sheath for the first 
time. He wrapped his paw around his sheath and gave it a gentle stroke. He felt 
his knot begin to swell as his cock reached its utmost length and hardness.
"What the hell?" Nathan said and gave his knot a gentle squeeze. "Damn, looks 
like Zhane gave me the works!" He tried to get used to the new growth as he gave 
his sheath a gentle stroke, his cock spurting out waves of precum with every 
upward stroke.
"Well, if I'm going to live the life of a wolf that can walk and talk like a 
human, I might as well get used to every aspect." Nathan said to himself. He 
gripped his leg tightly with his paw as the intensity rose in his veins. His paw 
began to pick up speed, and he threw his head back, moaning deeply.
"Ohhhhhh, yeah." Nathan moaned ecstatically. His shaft flopped frantically as he 
stroked his sheath as fast as his paw could move, and letting out a loud cry of 
pleasure, he began ejaculating onto the tiled walls.
"Ohhhhh, yes!" Nathan yelled, his voice echoing through the small, steamy room. 
He cleansed his fur of any sticky wolf cum that landed on his body before 
cutting off the water in the shower. With quivering legs, Nathan stepped out of 
the shower and immediately shook himself free of the moisture from his fur. The 
drops of water flew in all different directions, and the smell of wet fur filled 
Nathan's nose.
"I've always hated this smell. I've always hated big dogs, too. I never thought 
I would live to see the day where I would become one." Nathan commented as he 
grabbed a soft, fluffy towel from the rack on the wall. He patted the towel 
against his furry body to finish drying, and then ran a comb through the locks 
of fur atop his head.

	Nathan selected his casual wardrobe for the day and quickly donned his 
body of the clothes he last wore as a plain-built human being. The 
transformation of his new wolf body seemed to fit into the clothes just as well, 
for even after the addition of fur, his body still maintained the same sizes and 
features. He headed into the kitchen to look through his cupboard for something 
to eat.
"Mice are right out of the question. I am never going through another night like 
I did last night. No thank you. I'll force myself to eat other things." he said 
as he poured himself a bowl of cereal. He topped the dry food with a heaping 
serving of milk and took the bowl to his kitchen table. His tail slipped 
comfortably through the gaping spaces in the chair's design as he seated 
himself. 
"You hungry, stomach? You eat what I say you can eat. No more mice." Nathan said 
as he began to consume the bowl of breakfast food before him. He could easily 
notice the change of appetite with his new transformation, but as unappetizing 
as the food seemed, Nathan never gave up. He still felt he had a will of his 
own, but his instincts of the wolf begged to differ, and they made sure Nathan 
would adapt to them. He finished the bowl of cereal and patted his tummy softly.
"That wasn't as bad as I thought." Nathan said and let out a tiny burp. He 
rinsed his dishes and placed them in the dishwasher, and advanced to the living 
room to take an interest in his classic rock music enjoyment. Nathan hoped he 
wouldn't hear the cunning voice of the evil-intended wizard, but he figured that 
if he expected Zhane to make an appearance, chances are, he would be free from 
his presence. The phone next to his chair rang and Nathan reached over to pick 
up the receiver.
"Yeah?" Nathan said, still preferring not to say "hello" to anybody that called 
him.
"Nathan Cromwell?" a mellow-sounding voice said.
"Y...yeah, is this..."
"Doctor Franklin. Yes, it is I."
"What do you want? I told you before I don't need any doctor. I'm not crazy."
"Nathan, you need help. I should know. I've seen enough patients come and go, 
and you definitely need it."
"I don't need any of your hypnotism or crazy doctor tricks. I'm fine, really."
"You know, those that deny themselves of having a problem are the hardest to 
help. I'm on your side, Nathan. If you would open up a little, it would make my 
job a lot easier."
"I'm sure it would, but I know I don't have a problem. I'm a man that keeps to 
himself. I don't cause anybody any trouble."
"You're in need of help, you just don't want to admit to it. Besides, you are 
far from being a man. You're a wolf."
"I am not a wolf. I was given a wolf body by a wizard, which reminds me, Doctor 
Franklin, what's the deal with your van? I know I didn't see stars painted on it 
before."
"Stars?"
"Yeah...stars...yellow, five-pointed stars. Like the stars that were decorated 
on Zhane's cloak and hat."
"I assure you, my van does not have stars painted on them."
"It can't be...that would mean..." Nathan said in a stuttering tone.
"Things are not always what they seem, dear boy." The voice of the doctor's was 
easily replaced by the sound of the frail voice of Zhane Tarnsworth.
"NO! DAMMIT, WHY CAN'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE?" Nathan shouted and hung the phone 
onto the cradle. His paws began to quiver as the music from the radio blared the 
tail-end of a classic rock and roll tune.
"Hey, Seattle residents, Bill Blazer here with another grrrreat block of solid 
rock. It's almost ten o'clock, and you know what that means. If you're still in 
bed, you must have rocks in your head. Better do what I said or you'll wind up 
dead! Oh, I'm on a roooool. This next hour, I'll be bringing you the hottest 
sound of the classics, guaranteed to make your body move and groove, so if that 
last hour was too dreary for you, baby, you ain't heard nothin' yet! If the 
Seattle rain keeps bringing you down, never fear. Things aren't always as they 
appear. Through the drops of dreary rain, you can still find happiness as bright 
as the sun. The sun, you know, it's a huge ball of radiance in the stratosphere. 
Ohhhh, someone stop me." the announcer said in an energetic tone of voice. 
Nathan sat back in his chair and contemplated on the events that continued to 
stump his mind.
"I don't know who to believe anymore. Anybody could be Zhane in disguise. It's 
obvious that flipped-out doctor was Zhane the entire time, but the radio 
announcer, too? What does he have to do with it? No, this is just Zhane's way of 
messing with me. I know he has to have something to do with Gabriel Harper. 
He...he's watching me. It has to be! Gabriel's the only one that knows my 
movement around the city. He knows when I come and go, and he knows when I'm at 
home listening to the radio or watching television. He knows when my body 
changes, and he remembered what I had before. What does Gabriel have to do with 
this situation. Both him and that old man are unusually similar.  They have to 
be the same person!" Nathan said as he tried to figure out his situation. Just 
then, the sound of a soft knock appeared upon Nathan's door.
"Grand entrance. It's probably Gabriel. Knowing him, he must have heard me 
talking about him." Nathan said as he rose to his foot paws. The knock sounded 
once again as Nathan reached for the knob.
"Yeah? Who is it?"
"Nathan, it's Doctor Franklin. I hope I'm not intruding."
"No way, you're not getting in here!"
"Nathan, please, you need help, and I am willing to give you that."
"Can't you understand English, Zhane? I don't need your help, and I don't need 
you constantly bothering me and changing me into things I don't want to become. 
You've violated my privacy, haunted every move I make, changed my body, I've had 
enough!"
"I assure you, I am Doctor Franklin. I don't know any Zhane that you speak of."
"Yeah? Then how did you happen to know where I lived?"
"I asked Rudy Jackson, your boss. He was hesitant to give me your address, but 
I'm glad he did."
"You're Zhane Tarnsworth. You called me this morning and he spoke to me while 
you were on the phone."
"I didn't call you, Nathan. I assure you, I didn't."
"How do I know that?"
"Nathan, please let me help."
"You're the one that needs help, old man."
"Old man? Now I know you're in need of help. I'm only thirty-four."
"You're that old geezer. Nobody can pull the wool over this man's eyes." As 
Nathan finished, the radio blasted the last few notes of a heavy rocker of a 
classic song. Expecting to hear the start of another song, the radio immediately 
cut to Zhane's voice.
"Oh, Nathan. Are you looking for me?" the old man's voice spoke.
"Nathan, open the door." the doctor called. Nathan turned his head back into the 
direction of his front door as Zhane's voice boomed through his radio.
"Nathan..." the old man uttered in an eerie tone.
"Nathan!" the doctor shouted.
"Go away! Go away! GO AWAAAAAAY!" Nathan shouted as he clutched his head tightly 
with his paws. He picked up the nearest object he could find and flung it across 
the room, and struck the front of the radio, causing it to knock it over. 
"Nathan, please. You are unstable, and if I have to break this door down, you 
will allow me to administer proper treatment."
"You're not administering anything!" Nathan screamed and ran to his telephone. 
Quickly, he dialed the nearby police station's number and waited for an answer. 
Doctor Franklin pounded on Nathan's door in hopes to gain entry into the 
establishment.
"SeaTac Police. Sergeant Higgins speaking."
"I need help. Please! There's a guy at my doorstep and he's trying to force his 
way into my apartment!"
"Calm down, sir. Where are you?"
"Madison Street! The Dewdrop apartment complex! Room 305!"
"Where is the perpetrator?"
"He's outside! Please send somebody now!"
"We'll send someone. Just hang tight."
"Oh, thank you so much. Thank you!" Nathan said nervously and quickly hung up 
his phone. The sounds of Doctor Franklin's pounding quieted completely as Nathan 
slowly approached the door.
"If you're still here, I'll have you know I phoned the police. I have every 
right to have you removed from my apartment."
"If I did that, you would seriously regret it." the small doctor said. Nathan 
flipped around to find the white-clothed doctor standing behind him and slowly 
approaching.
"How did you get in here? I never invited you inside! You better get your ass 
out of here now!" Nathan screamed as he reached for the doctor's shoulder. His 
paw passed through the doctor's body as if he was merely an apparition.
"You're not real! You are not real!" Nathan screamed and passed his paw through 
the body of the doctor once again.
"You're just in my mind! You're not real!" Nathan shouted, his voice started to 
sob with fear and sorrow as he stared at the motionless doctor.
"If you are quite finished, I believe we should get down to business." the 
doctor said and reached out for Nathan's furry arm, giving it a firm squeeze.
"Ow! Hey!" Nathan shouted. While keeping his grip around Nathan's arm, the 
doctor led him over to his sofa and laid him down.
"All right, now we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. The choice is 
yours." Doctor Franklin said as he procured a hypodermic needle from his coat 
pocket.
"I told you those things give me the creeps!" Nathan said as he shuddered at the 
sight of the needle between the doctor's fingertips.
"Look, I'm only going to tell you this one more time. I don't like doctors. I 
don't like needles. I'm not crazy, and you're Zhane Tarnsworth in disguise. Why 
don't you just show your true form and be done with it?"
"You still think I'm somebody else, don't you?"
"I know you are! Things aren't always what they appear to be!" Nathan shouted 
and glared his eyes angrily at the short doctor. The sound of constant rapping 
came to Nathan's door, followed by the muffled voice of the patrolman.
"Hello, it's the police." the voice said. Nathan turned his head into the 
direction of his door and then back to his chair where the doctor was seated, 
but found his apartment free of his presence. 
"Figures. I knew that little sneak would do this." Nathan whispered to himself 
as he proceeded to answer the door. He slowly eased the door open and caught 
sight of the tall, burly police officer standing at his doorstep.
"You placed a call with us?" Nathan nodded his head in silence.
"Well, it seems like the place is clean. No suspicious characters at all."
"He was here. He was right inside my apartment."
"I may have to take a report here."
"NO!" Nathan said and held his paw out.
"Sir?"
"No...I mean, it's not necessary. He's gone now. He was...just an annoying 
creep. He's long gone now."
"Are you sure I can't help any further? I still might need to file a report if 
this character gets too out of hand."
"It's all right, officer, really. If he comes around again, I'll let you know. 
Thank you for coming." Nathan said and slowly closed the door. He looked around 
his apartment for the young doctor, but he was nowhere to be found.
"Suspicious." Nathan uttered as he moved his paw across the seat of the chair 
Doctor Franklin was seated in. "Suspicious and strange!"

	Nathan turned to where he knocked the radio from its shelf and lifted it 
from the floor. He gave it a vigorous shake and could hear several loose parts 
inside rattling within the hollow device.
"Great, there goes my good entertainment." Nathan said as he tried to work with 
the tuner and volume knobs, hoping to get a signal.
"Damn. The whole thing's worthless now." he said as he tightened the grip of the 
radio with his paws. He breathed heavily through his nose and thought of the 
only man who was responsible for his ongoing nightmare.
"If it wasn't for that Zhane Tarnsworth, none of this would have happened! I 
have to keep running away from this guy, but it doesn't do me any good!" Nathan 
hollered as he cast the radio across the room, causing a noticeable dent in the 
wall. He held his paw to his forehead and felt a bit of moisture start to 
develop. From the farthest reaches of the room, he heard a small, whispering 
voice, uttering a single name repeatedly.
"Nathan..." the voice whispered. Nathan raised his sorrowed head and perked his 
ears up to track where the sound was coming from.
"Nathan..." the voice whispered again, using the same tone of voice. Nathan 
slowly walked across the room where his broken radio laid in a shattered mess on 
the floor. He picked up the radio and gazed upon the speaker grill.
"Nathan..." the voice whispered once again.
"What do you want? Why can't you leave me alone? Please! I've done all I could, 
and my body is altered enough, thanks to you."
"You need help." Zhane whispered in his frail-sounding voice.
"Oh, no I don't. I don't need help from anybody. I just have to get used to 
looking at the world through color-blind eyes, to hear the voices through the 
ears of the wolf, and to sniff the air around me as the very canine I have 
become. I used to have a normal life. Go to work, come home, then go to work 
again, then come home again. I was secluded, but now I'm forced to interact, 
against my own will. Why did you choose me?"
"Everybody needs a change for the better."
"You call this for the better?"
"You'll soon see. One of these days, you will thank me." Zhane said, trying to 
sound comforting, but his eerie tone of voice didn't seem to help much.
"Until that day comes, they'll be having snowball fights in the depths of Hell. 
I'd much rather dive head-first into a swimming pool filled with hydrochloric 
acid before taking advice from you. I'm going to ask you one more time. Will you 
please leave me alone and let me live my own life?" Nathan asked, but the 
silence of the radio was all he got in reply.
"Zhane?" Nathan called, but still didn't get a reply.
"ZHANE?" Nathan gritted his teeth and walked across the living room and into the 
kitchen where his garbage can resided. He opened the lid with his foot paw and 
gave the broken radio a long, sorrowful stare before dropping it into the bin 
full of waste. He sighed softly and returned to his quiet living room and sat in 
his chair, wondering what will become of the future. He reached behind him and 
scratched at his back, and as he returned his paw to the armrest of his chair, 
he felt it brush against another one of Zhane's mystic business cards. He sighed 
and read the back of the card out loud.
"You still have a lot to learn. Let the final lesson be taught, for the mind of 
a man bearing unpleasant thoughts still lives within you."
"I'm getting more and more intimidated, the more I have to read these damn 
cards!" Nathan shouted as he flung the business card across the room. Nathan 
stood up and immediately felt his body drop to the ground.
"What the..." Nathan started. Suddenly, he was struck with an unbearable, uneasy 
feeling as his body began to tingle uncomfortably. Nathan closed his eyes 
tightly and screamed as he clutched his body into a tight ball.
"NNNNNNNNNGGGGHHHHH! MAKE IT STOOOOOP!" Nathan screamed. As he held his eyes 
tightly closed, the visions of a grey wolf pack raced back and forth in his 
mind. One of them, shown as the alpha wolf, gave a loud howl as he called order 
to the pack. The wolves all stood arranged in a row and stared back into the 
eyes of Nathan's mind.
"No....NOOOOOO!" Nathan shouted as the wolves charged towards him. There was a 
quick flash of light before he woke from his trance. Nathan immediately sprang 
to his feet, but the first thing he noticed was that his entire lower body no 
longer stood upright like a human. He walked on four paws like a wolf, but he 
still possessed his upper torso , arms, and head of his previous anthropomorphic 
state.
"W...what....what happened to me?" Nathan said as he looked himself over. His 
clothes were also altered to fit his new wolftaur body, for his red polo shirt 
fit upon his torso, but his trousers came up to the lower quarters of his body, 
leaving his back and chest fully exposed.
"The final lesson. Would it have anything to do with this?" Nathan asked as he 
looked his new body over once again. Using his four paws, he walked towards the 
bathroom mirror to get a better look at his new body.
"I don't like this. I really don't like this one bit." Nathan said as he looked 
at himself from all different angles. "If there's a lesson to be learned for my 
own actions and keeping to myself, I don't see what it could possibly mean. Does 
it always have to lead to this?" Nathan asked himself as he pointed to his new 
body. He returned to his living room where his easy chair was quickly replaced 
by a long chaise lounge, just long enough for his body to ease upon.
"Reality sets in. I should have known." Nathan said as he climbed upon the 
lounge and held his head down in sorrow.
"Why is this happening to me? Why? I've always kept to myself. Why does this 
happen?" Nathan asked through his gentle sobs.

Chapter 25: Drastic Changes

	The days passed quickly for Nathan as he tried to allow the new changes of 
his wolftaur body to take its toll. His fur bore the same patterns as it did in 
his anthropomorphic form, but Nathan was already used to having his body covered 
in grey and white fur. Although he hadn't touched the flesh of his body in over 
a week, Nathan didn't seem to miss the human body he once possessed. He took 
awhile to get used to walking on four legs, but once he got used to his new 
appendages, it seemed like second nature. Nathan stepped into the tub that was 
once shallow, now seemed three times wider to accommodate his body. He was still 
able to reach the items he stored on a higher shelf, but the contents in his 
cupboard required the aid of a step-stool. His appetite, although set strictly 
by instinctual urges, seemed curtailed by the consumption of regular foods he 
kept in his refrigerator. At times, Nathan would crave the sweet taste of rodent 
meat in his mouth, but he quickly settled for what his refrigerator had to 
offer. Applying clothes to his body was also an interesting trick. Putting on a 
shirt was the easy part, but to get his legs into his trousers, he had to lie on 
his side to hold the trousers open with his arms, and tuck his hind legs inward 
so that they lined up with the legs of the fabric. He pulled them up his hind 
legs, making sure to allow his tail to slip comfortably through the access hole 
in the back, and buckled the trousers around his waist. He had given up on 
wearing underwear, since the trousers were difficult enough to put on. He 
grabbed his wallet and house key, looking forward to returning to work, and 
hoping not to have any further uneasy encounters while trying to perform his 
duties. 

	The bus arrived on time, and the first thing Nathan noticed was that the 
swinging double-doors of the bus were much wider than before, and the aisles 
have been altered to allow his wolftaur body to pass through. He looked around 
the changes he wasn't used to seeing, and his eyes caught the glimpse of the 
seats located near the front of the bus. In black lettering, the sign read 
"Please offer this seat to the elderly or those with limited mobility. All taurs 
must follow these guidelines and may stand in the aisle when offering their 
seat. Thank you."
"All taurs? That's a new one." Nathan said under his breath as he read the sign. 
He seated himself across the long bench-like seat that adorned the front of the 
bus and held his gaze out the window, in hopes that his day didn't give him any 
unbearable occurrences. He almost lost his nerve and his control the last time 
he was at work, and because of his devotion, Nathan planned to take any bit of 
unusual oddities as best as he could. 
"Even if our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, came through those doors, I will try 
not to let it get to me." Nathan whispered as each block the bus drove brought 
him closer to his workplace.

	Nathan disembarked at his usual stop and started heading towards his 
workplace. As he crossed the parking lot, a dark shadow passed over his head. 
Instantly, Nathan gazed up into the sky to see the passing body, and was staring 
at the majestic body of a red dragon flying overhead.
"I'm not seeing that. Nope, not seeing that at all. I'm not going to lose my 
mind, it's just a dragon." Nathan said mockingly, hoping not to be drawn into 
the negativity of his grasp on reality. He stood before the hardware store's 
doors and noticed right away that the doors were slightly wider. 
"Kinda figured." Nathan whispered as he pushed the doors open and eased his body 
through the ajar space.
"Nate! You're back! It's about time you came back around!" Rob said as he waved 
happily to his co-worker.
"Rob, you don't know how long it's been." Nathan said in a low, saddened tone of 
voice. He maneuvered his body behind the counter, and was glad to notice the 
ample space between the front counter and the shelves of back-stock.
"It's about time they fixed this! I was getting ticked off for awhile!" Nathan 
happily announced.
"How's that?" Rob asked as he approached the wolftaur. Nathan shook his head 
swiftly as he caught himself speaking aloud.
"Nothing, Rob. I was just...noticing the brackets on this lower shelf. It's 
fixed." Nathan said, trying to cover up his discovery. Rob nodded blankly and 
reached for his time card. He inserted it into the slot and pressed down on the 
lever with his paw. 
"You know, Nate, you look a lot better today. You must have really needed the 
time off." Rob said, not even noticing the severe change of appearance in his 
co-worker.
"I...guess so." Nathan said and tried to force a smile on his muzzle.
"Well, I hope you're ready for a slow day at work. Business has been getting a 
bit deficient lately."
"Yeah, but I could use the kick-back day. Am I on Register Two again?"
"You know the routine, bud." Rob said and tended to his own responsibilities. 

	As Nathan worked on straightening up the store and fixing displayed items 
on the vestibule, he started humming the tune of a classic rock song. His mind 
seemed lost in a daydream as he worked, arranging items correctly on the 
shelves, dusting the tops of the boxes, and assisting an occasional customer on 
his cash register. Working at his own pace throughout the afternoon, Rob 
approached the content-looking wolftaur.
"Hey, Nate, I'll take over for ya here. Why don't you go on break now?"
"Sure." Nathan said in a low tone and started to head off to the back room when 
the electronic buzzer sounded. Nathan looked up to see the new arrival with a 
soft smile on his muzzle. Standing about five feet, ten inches tall, stood a 
buxom woman dressed in a light-blue blouse and matching skirt. The heels of her 
pumps clomped upon the clean-tiled floor as she approached the counter, and from 
the looks of her eyes, Nathan could barely distinguish the woman had recently 
recovered from a heavy tear-shed.
"Yes, miss. Can I be of service?" Nathan asked.
"Hey, Nate, why don't you let me take this one?"
"It's all right, Rob. I'll take my break after I assist this woman." Nathan said 
and then returned his gentle gaze into the woman's glimmering, blue eyes.
"What can I do for you today, miss?"
"What do you have in the ways of security devices? Do you sell any types of 
security alarms?"
"Yes, we carry several types. Come this way." Nathan said and emerged from 
behind the counter. The young woman eyed the body of the wolftaur as he walked 
slowly across the spacious vestibule of the store's display area until he came 
to the security section of the hardware store.
"I need something I can install and program a key code into, like what my 
friend, Ginger has."
"Well, here's the most popular line we carry. This infra-red indicator is a 
motion detector. It will send a signal to the main terminal, which is installed 
in the lines that run through your walls. The signals all tie together with your 
phone line and these keypads. With the keypad, you can turn on or off the alarm 
as you wish, and you can input a pass code to disable the alarm from sounding 
when you enter or exit your home. If there is any unauthorized movement in your 
home, after two minutes, a call will be placed to the detector's dispatching 
facility, which will contact local police with the instruction to be on the 
lookout for intruders." 
"That's perfect! How much?" the woman asked as her eyes seemed to light up.
"This model sells for ninety-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents, plus tax."
"Do you accept credit cards?"
"Sure do."
"Wait, what if I need help in installing it? See, I live all alone, and I was 
just robbed of my valuable possessions and half of my furniture. Is it easy to 
install?"
"Well, it would require the aid of someone with some expertise in the field of 
electronic wiring. We do offer this service as well, and installation runs about 
forty-five dollars an hour."
"I don't care how much it runs. Just as long as I can secure my house. I'll take 
it. Could you add on the installation costs as well?"
"We will need a separate bill for that, ma'am. We won't know how long the job 
will take." Nathan said as he escorted the woman back to the cash register. He 
punched the amount into the numerical keys of the cash register and ran the 
woman's credit card through the charge machine. Before returning the credit card 
back to the woman, he managed to catch her name.
"Sylvia. A rather nice name. That's my mother's name." Sylvia nodded silently as 
she held her eyes on the attractive body of the wolftaur before her while she 
waited for the credit card receipt to print out. Nathan awaited the completion 
of the machine's printing and ripped the carbon paper out of the feeder.
"Sign here, if you will." Nathan said and handed her a ball-point pen. Sylvia's 
handwriting was written neatly and clearly, which seemed to match her outer 
appearance.
"Thank you, umm, Nathan." Sylvia said as she read the name of the wolftaur's 
name tag. Nathan smiled and placed the security package in the large bag for the 
curvaceous woman and smiled softly. He also handed Sylvia a business card for 
Tanney's Hardware, and wrote his name upon the face of the card.
"When you're ready to install the security system, call this number during 
business hours, but after seven o'clock, you can reach me here. Just ask for me. 
I'll be able to install it for you no problem." 
"Thanks again. You've been a great help." Sylvia said and walked gracefully 
across the vestibule. Nathan watched as the shapely woman exited the building 
and noticed Rob standing off to the side, watching the gentle look on the 
wolftaur's face.
"Well, I've often said it takes an awful lot to get Mr. Nathan Cromwell to 
emerge from his shell. Looks like it came in the form of a gorgeous woman, eh?" 
Rob said and gave Nathan a playful nudge to his shoulder.
"What? What are you talking about? She wanted a security system, and I sold her 
just what she wanted. What makes this different from any other transaction?" Rob 
chuckled aloud and shook his head.
"I saw how your eyes looked. I've worked with you for two years. I can tell when 
something's different."
"Come on, Rob, knock it off. I'm not falling for her, if that's what you're 
thinking."
"Yeah, suuure, buddy. I believe you. You, the only guy I know that turns down 
Friday Night Happy Hour at Jack's Pub just to go back to your lonesome home to 
stare at the same four walls, has finally found that eye-opener."
"You're crazy, Rob." Nathan said and proceeded to the back room to partake of 
his break. He noticed a long sofa standing alongside the wall of the employee 
break area, and noticed it was the right size for Nathan's wolftaur body to ease 
upon.
"Now, this is comfort!" Nathan said as he rested his aching bones upon the firm 
cushions.
"Funny you should mention that now, Nate. We've always had that couch, and 
you've always used it for your breaks. I think you're in love."
"I am not." Nathan said and rested his head down onto the couch.
"You can say what you want, but you can never disguise the truth that lies in 
your eyes." Rob said with a snicker. "Sounds like I just wrote a song. Now I 
know what inspires songs like that. People hanging around you too much." Rob 
said jokingly and continued with his work.
"Falling in love. What next?" Nathan said and chuckled lightly and used his hind 
paw to scratch at his waist. Nathan sat out the remainder of his break and 
closed out the remaining duties of his shift before heading back home. He 
started to get used to seeing unusual situations and occurrences that happened 
through his home town, but he still had a difficult time accepting them into the 
reality that seemed to continue unfolding before him. As he rode the bus home 
that night, Nathan happened to look up at the pair of eerie-looking men sitting 
in the back of the bus. Their faces seemed as pale as the moonlight, and they 
both wore a black cloak with dark-red inner-lining. A pair of sharp fangs peeked 
out from their upper lip, giving the obvious appearance of being vampires. 
"I know I have a lot left to learn, but there is no way I'll accept vampires and 
werewolves and dragons as real." Nathan thought to himself as he turned his 
attention away from the pair of vampires, and concentrated on the road back 
home.

Chapter 26: Sylvia McDowell

	Sylvia returned to her vast property and rode her horse-drawn carriage 
towards the large house that stood atop a grassy hill. Her front gate had been 
mangled by vandals, and she fidgeted with her front door from being broken in a 
few days prior.
"Fran? Fran, I'm back." the woman said as she entered the foyer of her spacious 
mansion-like home. A rotund woman dressed in black and white slowly walked 
towards the large entryway and held her hands together in front of her.
"Miss McDowell. I took the liberty of steam-cleaning your bed sheets today, and 
if you don't mind, I would like to rest after tending to the garden."
"Very well. Oh, Fran, before you continue, there will be a man to come and 
install the new security system I picked up."
"Very well, madame." the humble maid said with a small bow. As the large woman 
exited the foyer, Sylvia entered into her kitchen, where the robbers failed to 
plunder. She picked up the sheet of paper lying on her counter and almost felt 
her tears reforming in her eyes.
"One hundred thirty-seven thousand dollars in damages and stolen goods." Sylvia 
said through her crying. She pulled Nathan's business card from her purse and 
picked up the telephone.
"The sooner I get this installed, the better." Sylvia said and punched in the 
number Nathan scrawled upon the face of the business card.

	Nathan was still walking through the remainder of his trip home as his 
phone rang, trying to find a way to accept the pair of vampires he saw. 
Overhead, the sky grew dark with overcast clouds that obscured the moon's light. 
Nathan looked around as he continued along his way. From the midst of the dark 
shadows, Nathan could barely make out the silhouetted movement of nearby shadow 
dwellers.
"Who's there? Zhane?" Nathan called, but didn't receive a single response. He 
shrugged and continued walking through the run-down neighborhoods, until he came 
to an old, abandoned building near Apartment Row. Nathan slowly looked up at the 
building, knowing of its existence, but never caught a single tinge of interest. 
He heard the sounds of hissing echoing within the hollows of the building, and 
his ears picked up the sounds of footsteps romping across the bare, wooden 
floors. From behind a nearby shrub, a pale-looking vampire leapt from out of 
hiding and opened his arms out wide, allowing his cloak to become fully 
unfurled. He gazed widely into Nathan's eyes and immediately transformed his 
body into a small, brown-furred bat. Flapping his wings swiftly, the bat 
achieved flight and swooped over Nathan's head, giving out a high-pitched 
shriek. Nathan closed his eyes tightly and covered his ears to block the 
deafening sounds. More bats seemed to cluster in the sky and hovered over 
Nathan's head from above.
"No wonder why this building hadn't been torn down. It's a regular rest home for 
vampires!" Nathan exclaimed, and immediately used his swift wolf legs to carry 
the wolftaur body on his way, and not once stopping until he reached his 
apartment. Quickly, he dug for his keys and inserted it into the lock with 
trembling paws.
"Come on, come on." Nathan said in a quivering voice as he took several glances 
around the area. The vampire bats watched every action and movement Nathan made 
as they remained stationery in the dark, night sky. Nathan channeled his courage 
together and managed to shove the key into the lock and opened the door. 
Nervously entering the quaint apartment, Nathan breathed heavily as he stood 
before his closed door, hoping that the vampires wouldn't try to enter.
"Zhane! This isn't funny! I'm sick of your games, and I'm sick of your tricks! 
I'm doing my best to accept it, now, but you have to give me the benefit of the 
doubt!" Nathan hollered as if the crafty old man was right there in front of 
him. From inside Nathan's trash can, the sound of the wizard's voice was heard.
"Oh, yes. You think you can block everything out just by using your will? I'm 
sorry, Nathan. That is the wrong answer."
"Dammit, Zhane! What do I have to do? What would make this all go away?" Nathan 
screamed as he lowered his lupine head to gaze at the broken radio. 
"When you are fully ready, an answer will come." the voice said, sounding just 
as frail as the words of a dying man on his death bed. Nathan sniffled a tear as 
he eased up from his angered and tense position over his trash can, and headed 
over to his chaise lounge. He rested his head onto his paws and slightly 
shivered as the visions of a hundred vampire bats swarmed around in his mind.
"How can I ever learn how to accept this? How?" Nathan said. Just then, the 
phone rang, which caused Nathan to jump from being startled of a sudden, loud 
noise in the room. With a quivering paw, Nathan answered the phone.
"Yeah?"
"Yes, is this Nathan?" the soft, sorrowful voice of Sylvia McDowell asked.
"Yes, this must be Sylvia."
"That's right. Listen, I'm ready to have this system installed as soon as 
possible. When is it convenient for you?"
"Anytime, really."
"Tonight?" the saddened woman replied, and as she spoke, Nathan's heart seemed 
to strike a note that his emotions never heard before.
"If you wish. I can leave right away. Where do you live?"
"The McDowell Estate. North end of Seattle."
"Ritzy place." Nathan commented.
"I can send my chauffeur to pick you up if you wish."
"I'm not sure I'll be able to fit my wolftaur body into your automobile, 
though."
"It's a horse-drawn carriage, and yes, I suppose you're right about that." 
Sylvia said, emphasizing in her sorrowful tone of voice.
"Hey, don't worry. I'll bus it up. The busses are wide enough, I'll be right 
over."
"134 Crescent Street. The McDowell Estate." Nathan quickly jotted down the 
address on a blank slip of paper, folded it up, and quickly pocketed the 
address.
"I'll be by in forty-five minutes at the latest."
"Thanks again, Nathan." Sylvia said, sniffling a teardrop from her eye.
"A...anytime." Nathan replied in a soft, gentle tone of voice. He slowly 
returned the phone to the cradle and wiped a tear from his own eye.
"Naah. It can't be. I can't be falling in love with anyone." Nathan said to 
himself as he rose from the lounge and grabbed his small toolbox. He forgot all 
about the swarming vampire bats that followed him home, as his heart beat with a 
different tone, which was unusual for Nathan to pick up right away. 

	The slim wolftaur left his apartment and headed into the direction of his 
usual bus stop, not seeing a single interaction with the nearby vampires that 
occupied the vicinity. He caught himself humming a gentle tune to himself as he 
walked, and immediately stopped himself from indulging in a daydream. The bus 
that went into the north end of the city approached the stop. Nathan flashed his 
bus pass and was waved on board by the stout bus driver. He was a man of large 
abundance, and looked to Nathan as if he had any trouble finding a decent enough 
restaurant that had enough food to accommodate him. Nathan shook his head slowly 
as he took his seat at the front of the bus, and looked around to the other 
boarders of the transit system.
"Nope. No vampires tonight." Nathan said with a gentle smile. From the sky, the 
full moon's glow peeked out through the scattered overcast clouds, and one by 
one, the passengers of the bus slowly began to develop fur of different colors. 
Three of the passengers bore black fur, while a few more sprouted scruffy brown. 
Each passenger gnashed their teeth, and Nathan could easily see their human 
teeth slowly transform into the teeth of a canine element. He looked into the 
other direction and saw the obese bus driver had already completed his own 
transformation, and let out a loud howl as he concentrated on the road. The 
remaining passengers joined in on the howl, and Nathan sat motionless on the 
bench-like seat, feeling slightly frightened, and still questioned the realities 
around him.
"Werewolves...in Seattle. Sure, why not?" Nathan asked himself as he rested his 
head onto his paws. "As long as they don't kill me as part of their culture, I 
don't care if they sprouted wings and took to flight while shooting tiny bullets 
out of their noses." Nathan said to himself, trying to find a humorous moment in 
his times of fear. The bus stopped at a corner halfway between Nathan's 
destination, and all at once, the group of werewolves unfurled their wings, and 
flew off the bus in a straight line. Nathan's eyes widened with shock as he 
witnessed each werewolf disembarking from the bus.
"How did I know that was to happen?" Nathan asked himself. He laid his head down 
once again, only to come across a discarded piece of cardstock on the floor of 
the bus. Nathan fixed his eyes on the hand-written text that appeared.
"Feels good to be in command of a supernatural power, doesn't it?"
"No, Zhane. I'm not like you." Nathan replied. The furry bus driver cocked his 
head into Nathan's direction.
"Hey, boy. You all right back there?" 
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm just fine. Just great." Nathan said, showing a tone in his 
voice that deep down inside, he was really feeling low, scared, and disoriented.

	Making the stop on time, Nathan left the bus and took a look around his 
surroundings. From across the distance, Nathan could barely make out the form of 
Zhane Tarnsworth walking towards him, using his large, wooden staff as a walking 
stick. Nathan's nerves started to flare as his eyes made out the wizard's 
figure. He rubbed his eyes gently with his paws, and when he returned his gaze 
to the old man, the atmosphere was completely free of his presence, as if he was 
never there. Nathan placed his trembling paw to his furry forehead and headed 
into the direction of Crescent Street. He looked around the widespread 
neighborhood and caught a substantial glimpse of the large house standing atop 
the grassy hill. He matched the address on the mailbox with the memo he took 
down, and heaved a soft breath through his nose as he slowly approached the 
large house. He gave a gentle knock on the door, and after a small struggle to 
open the door, Nathan stared into the eyes of Sylvia's maid.
"Yes?"
"Sylvia McDowell, please. I'm here to install her new security system." Nathan 
said and held up his small, red toolbox, and giving the large woman a gentle 
smile.
"Oh yes. Miss McDowell is expecting you. This way, please." she said and held 
the door open wide enough for Nathan to enter. After his tail passed through the 
opening of the door, Fran eased it closed, and made sure the door was latched.
"Looks to me like you'll need a new front door, too." Nathan commented. Fran 
nodded a soft smile and looked up as Sylvia gracefully entered the room.
"Mr. Cromwell. Thank you so much for coming." Sylvia said as she wiped her eyes 
with the white, silken handkerchief. She led Nathan through the vestibule and 
into the kitchen, where the new security system sat in its large packaging, 
completely untouched by her soft, gentle hands.
"All right. I'll start right away." Nathan said and immediately went to work. He 
returned to the front door and installed the infra-red motion detector near the 
foot of the front door. He followed through with hooking up the wiring that 
connected to the keypad. He gave it a quick test and made a few necessary 
adjustments. As Nathan worked, Sylvia spoke to the busy wolftaur.
"I must have sounded like a blubbering buffoon on the phone to you. I have never 
been robbed before."
"It happens, sometimes. It's why you have systems like this to prevent them 
happening again. After all, it takes a few mistakes in life in order to become 
wiser."
"I guess that does make sense. Can I get you anything to drink?" Sylvia asked as 
she held her gaze to the attractive-looking wolftaur.
"No thanks. I'm all right." Nathan said as he switched tools.
"Mind if I stick around and talk to you? It tends to get rather lonesome around 
here, and I don't have anybody. I used to think it was my life-long ambition to 
be lonely and isolated, but I tell you. After you start to latch onto having 
occasional visitors around the house, it sure grows on a person. Especially 
after being robbed of most of your possessions, you tend to latch onto the 
sympathies and concerns of others." Nathan gently placed his screwdriver into 
the metal toolbox and turned his head to face the gentle woman.
"I definitely hear you there. I was always happy just going to work and coming 
home. The less I socialized, the less damage I could do, but up until a couple 
weeks ago, I got the bitter taste of life's many strange mysteries. Just one in 
a many lesson I'm trying to learn from." Nathan turned and picked up another 
screwdriver and made a few more adjustments in the keypad's mechanism.
"You mean, you've never been social either? I mean, you're a very attractive 
wolf, and you seem to have a heart of pure gold. You intend to keep it all to 
yourself?" Sylvia asked as she slowly approached the busy wolf.
"Miss McDowell, there is a lot you don't know about me."
"Sylvia, please." she smiled and stood closer to the wolftaur.
"Sylvia. Oh, and please, call me Nathan."
"All right, Nathan."
"Sylvia, can I ask you something?" Nathan said and replaced his tool neatly in 
the box.
"Of course, Nathan. What is it?"
"Have you ever gone through life unsure of the existence of reality, even when 
it's justified in the faces of others?"
"How do you mean?"
"Well, like being born a human and then suddenly waking up to a body of a 
wolftaur, for instance."
"Well, I've always learned to accept the hands you've been dealt with, and play 
it through until the game is over."
"Your family owned a casino, didn't they?" Nathan said with a wide grin on his 
muzzle.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, they did. I guess it shows in my own experiences in 
life." Sylvia said as she smiled softly. Nathan rose to his four paws and tested 
the keypad, and an LED readout displayed the appropriate number sequence Nathan 
punched in.
"All right, it's working now. Whenever you want to program a password, you have 
to hit this mode button twice. When you get the green light here, input any 
combination you wish. Then, after you're done, press this red enter button. The 
system is powered on and off with this switch here. Now, it's always best to 
leave it switched on. Any time you enter the house, enter your password into the 
keypad within fifteen seconds. You can't forget this, otherwise the system will 
place a call to the system's dispatcher. There's an identical keypad right 
outside the door, where you will need to follow the same procedure when you 
leave the house." Sylvia nodded as Nathan pointed out the security system's 
features. 
"It all seems difficult."
"Oh, it's very easy once you get into the swing. If you have any questions, 
refer to this book that came with the security system." Nathan said as he 
pointed to the instruction manual. "Oh, yes, and make sure that you let everyone 
in the house know what the password is, in case they come and go frequently."
"Oh, I don't get many visitors, and I'm the only one here, other than Fran or 
Patterson, my chauffeur."
"That's fine. Don't forget to tell them what the password is." Nathan said as he 
slowly reached for the door's handle.
"Nathan, wait." Sylvia said.
"Yes?"
"Could you...show me how to put in my password? Once it's all set up, I'll feel 
a lot better." Nathan smiled and released the door handle from his paw's grasp.
"Sure. In fact, let's see you try it and I'll walk you through it. It will make 
you feel better about having a new piece of equipment in the house."
"I guess you have a point there. What do I do, now?"
"First, press the green mode button twice."
"Like that?" Sylvia asked and looked to Nathan's eyes.
"Perfect. See? You have a green indicator. Now, enter in a password. It could be 
any numerical combination you wish." Sylvia raised her hand to touch at the 
keypad and thought to herself.
"Umm...no, that won't work. Hmm, no, that one's too obvious." Sylvia said as a 
few numbers cluttered her mind.
"Want to make it easier? Think of a birthday or anniversary, that way the number 
sticks with you and you won't ever forget it."
"What's today's date?" Sylvia asked. 
"Oh, let's see." Nathan said and checked his watch. He pressed the button on the 
side of the watch's face to display the current date.
"It's October 24th, 2002."
"Great." Sylvia said with a smile and proceeded to enter the date into the 
keypad. As she touched the first number, the green indicator light flickered and 
beeped heavily, then quickly shut itself off.
"What's happening?"
"Oops, you took a bit too long. After a couple minutes, the system automatically 
returns to the main mode."
"Okay. So press mode twice." Sylvia whispered to herself and smiled at the 
small, green indicator light.
"All right, here goes. 10-24-02" Sylvia said as she pressed the six-digit number 
into the keypad. 
"Now, what?"
"Hit enter." Nathan instructed. Sylvia nodded swiftly and pressed the red 
button, and the LED digits disappeared.
"What happened?"
"It's all right. You just set your password. The numbers disappeared when the 
system returned to the main mode." Nathan smiled a soft grin in Sylvia's eyes 
and picked up his red toolbox once again.
"Are you sure you'll be able to memorize the number?" Nathan asked. 
"Oh, yes. I will." Sylvia said, her voice sounding gentle like the sigh of an 
angel.
"All right. Your security system is now installed." Nathan said and worked with 
the front door to get it to open."
"Geez, this is a tough struggle. Whoever robbed you must have really done 
something to the door frame."
"Yes, I've been meaning to get this fixed as one of the early projects to have 
done around here."
"Well, if you ever need further assistance, you have my card." Nathan smiled and 
gave a soft grin. 
"Wait a minute! Let me give you my number in case you need it."
"Okay." Nathan said. He watched while Sylvia scrawled her phone number on a 
small, blank card and handed it back to Nathan, her fingers coming dangerously 
close to touching his paws. 
"Thanks." Nathan said and accepted the card and placed it into his breast 
pocket. Sylvia nodded and waved her gentle farewell to the helpful wolftaur. 
Once the door closed, Sylvia whispered as she touched her hand against her 
heart.
"I wager I will be calling you again soon." Sylvia whispered. As Sylvia stared 
blankly at the door, Fran entered into the vestibule and broke the flowing woman 
of her concentration.
"Miss McDowell. Is it fixed?"
"Huh? Oh, yes, Fran. It's ready." Sylvia said and gave a soft sigh.
"What's the matter, Miss McDowell, if you don't mind my asking."
"I don't mind, Fran. There's something about that wolftaur that 
seems...attractive to me." Sylvia's maid giggled to herself as she heard Sylvia 
speaking from her soft-beating heart.
"Him? Miss McDowell, he's not exactly high-classed material. What do you see in 
him?"
"Some people can see the truth through the cloud of what is shown on the 
outside."
"Whatever you say, Miss McDowell. I'm finished here, by the way. Do you need 
anything more?"
"No, Fran. Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow." 
"Farewell, Miss McDowell." Fran said as she fumbled for the door.
"Oh, Fran. When you come back, you have to enter a password into this keypad to 
disable the alarm. The password is 10-24-02."
"Today's date? Whatever for?" Fran said. Sylvia sighed softly and recalled the 
vision of Nathan's attractive, grey-furred body, and smiled gently into Fran's 
eyes.
"Call it...call it the day of an awakening."
"Yes, Miss McDowell. Goodnight." Fran said and eased the door closed, making 
sure it was latched tightly.
"Night." Sylvia whispered. She imagined one final thought of Nathan Cromwell's 
presence in her mind before heading up the winding staircase that led to her 
large bedroom. She slipped out of her clothes and crept into the single-sized 
bed, curled up tightly, and slowly drifted off to sleep, as the last vision she 
had was Nathan's presence slowly leaving her home.

Chapter 27: Denying the Face of Love

	The wolftaur employee of Tanney's Hardware rose to greet the dawn the way 
he usually did, and started to grow quite adapted to his new form. The 
strangeness that occurred around him still made his troubled, delusional mind 
still brought discomfort to his nerves. As he rode the bus into town, he 
couldn't help but to look over the busload of passengers with a strange look. 
Some of the passengers consisted of anthropomorphic animals of all sorts. Foxes, 
jackals, oxen, horses, and hyenas shared the ride with Nathan as he traveled to 
his workplace.
"This is a bit much, isn't it?" Nathan asked himself. Knowing he would only get 
a smart answer in response, he held back in searching for Zhane Tarnsworth's 
card. He faced forward, trying not to draw too much attention for his non-
believing eyes, and held his trance-like stare out the window until he arrived 
at his workplace.
"I just have to say I believe all this stuff, but there is no way I'll ever look 
at this like it's nothing." Nathan said to himself as he watched the bus pull 
away from the stop. He turned into the direction of the hardware store and tried 
not to consider the small flock of Pterodactyls flying overhead. Instead of 
ignoring the prehistoric, flying predators, Nathan picked up his pace and began 
racing towards the building as fast as his wolf paws could carry his body. 
"Nate, what's up? Man, you look like you've seen a ghost. Your sweat is 
practically matting your fur. You all right?" Rob asked as he welcomed the 
arrival of the wolftaur.
"Yeah, just fine. I always feel like this whenever a flock of dinosaurs fly over 
my head!" Nathan said in a harsh tone and stomped off to the back room to punch 
his time card.
"Geez, man. Get a grip, already! I know it's migration season for Pterodactyls. 
Just trying to have a joke with you. Is that so wrong?" Rob said and diverted 
his concentration to his work.
"It is when those beasts are supposed to be extinct!" Nathan shouted.
"I know you don't like them, but even they have a right to live. Have some 
respect for the endangered."
"A right to live? No! You're totally missing the point! They're already gone! 
They've always been gone! Wiped out of existence completely!" Nathan shouted. 
Rob had always felt sorry for Nathan's lack of understanding, and felt it was 
his obligation to reason with him. He placed his hand upon Nathan's shoulder and 
shook his head slowly.
"Sometimes, Nate, I wonder about you. Um, you have a customer." Rob said and 
directed Nathan's attention to a new entrant to the establishment. Nathan looked 
up to see a Pterodactyl standing before his register.
"AAAAAAHHHHH!" Nathan shouted as he took his first glance at the blank look in 
the Pterodactyl's face.
"Sir, please try to calm yourself." the Pterodactyl said as he crossed his arms 
across his mid-section.
"I'm not seeing this!" Nathan said and walked angrily to the back of the store.
"Never mind him. He's just had a rough day." Rob said and tended to the 
upstanding Pterodactyl's needs. With wide eyes, Nathan watched from behind the 
gaps in the shelves until the prehistoric being left the store.
"He's gone now, hero. You can come out now." Rob said. Nathan walked slowly 
towards the front counter with the same ghastly look in his face. Rob looked to 
Nathan as a subliminal message that seemed to say "it's just a Pterodactyl."
"Stop it. Just stop it, Rob."
"What? What did I do? Did I say anything?"
"No, but you were about to. You can forget it. There is no way I'm believing 
that!" Nathan said as he pointed to the Pterodactyl slowly heading across the 
parking lot.
"Suit yourself, man, but it's like I told ya. You live in your own shell, and 
you're prone to pushing yourself clean out of existence."
"More like the other way around." Nathan whispered as he proceeded to fix the 
shelves of the vestibule appropriately. 

	As the time went by, Nathan hummed a soft tune, following it up with 
another, until his work was finished. He gazed up at Rob's sudden appearance and 
almost dropped the pouch of wrenches onto the floor.
"AAH! What do you want?" Nathan asked as he placed the pouch in its proper 
place.
"Nothing." Rob said with a grin, as if to say "yeah, suuuure." The thin, brown-
haired co-worker headed back behind the counter and flashed another soft, wide 
grin at Nathan.
"What?" Nathan asked angrily as he approached the counter.
"You."
"What do you mean by that? What's the problem?"
"You're in love."
"Whatever are you talking about?"
"Come on, man. You know. Gentle, flowing woman coming in here, jumping at the 
chance to install her security system, singing soft love songs under your 
breath. You're in love."
"Rob, I always hum to myself. You know that!"
"You're in love." Rob said again and continued with his own responsibilities.
"No, I'm not!" Nathan said as he threw his arms up, admitting defeat in a 
useless argument.

	For the next few hours, the two workers quarreled back and forth about 
Nathan's change in attitude, and Nathan fended off the words of accusation by 
stating his own beliefs about how he really felt. Neither side gained a solid 
ground in the debates, and Nathan decided to ignore any further words of 
criticism. The phone rang for the first time, and Rob reached across to answer 
the call.
"Taaaaaaney's Hardware, Rob here." Rob said harmoniously. "Yeah. Oh, yes, I 
remember. Right. Here he is. Hey Nate. Phone for ya, man." Rob said and placed 
the receiver on an empty overstock shelf. Nathan grumbled as he reached for the 
phone.
"Yeah? Oh, yes. I suppose I could do that for you, sure. What, they just left 
the door and that was it?" Nathan said and pulled the phone away from his ear to 
shake his head slowly. He returned the phone to his wolf ear and continued.
"Okay. When would you like me to come up?" Nathan asked as Rob leaned forward 
and rested his head on his upright arms, and casting a soft, desiring look in 
his face. Nathan returned the gesture with an angry look in his eyes and turned 
his wolftaur body slightly, hoping to block out the vision of his mocking co-
worker.
"I suppose that'll work. Sure. No problem. Always willing to help. Yeah, you 
too. Goodbye." Nathan said and hung the phone onto the cradle. He gave a quick, 
taunting punch to Rob's arm.
"Idiot!"
"You're in love, man. No doubt about it."
"I am not. She called me, didn't she?"
"Well, she's hot for you, then."
"Yeah, right."
"What? I'm serious. Why do you think she wants you to replace her old door for? 
She's setting all this up for ya."
"She is not. The delivery people can't install stuff at the same time. Their job 
is to deliver the goods, and that's it. Sylvia McDowell just doesn't have 
anybody there to help her."
"A knight in shining wolf fur to rescue her from distress." Rob said in a gentle 
tone.
"Will you cut that out?" Nathan asked and slammed his fists into the counter. 
"Let's get one thing straight here. I'm not falling in love with anybody! 
Sylvia, to me, is just another customer. She just needs a bit of assistance."
"Yeah, nice assistance, making house calls and tending to her every wish. You're 
in love." Rob said and then hurried over to his station before Nathan could make 
another fist.

	For the rest of the day, Nathan continued through his shift until the end. 
The shift change occurred at five that afternoon, when Rudy Jackson arrived to 
work, and freed Rob and Nathan of their daytime duties.
"Nathan, how are you faring?"
"Just fine, Rudy."
"No more crazy stuff?"
"No more crazy stuff. No way." Nathan said and shook his head. Rob gave a 
snicker as he left the establishment, causing Nathan to sigh heavily.
"That's good to hear. About time I got my old employee back."
"Yeah, but things could be a lot better, Rudy."
"I'm sure they could, but it's life, man. Sometimes you just gotta deal with 
things as they come. I'll see you tomorrow." Rudy said and commenced the store's 
paperwork. Nathan nodded and headed towards the bus stop to head to the North 
end of town where he performed his knowledgeable hardware skills to the gentle 
woman's home.

	As he stood before the vast property, Nathan looked to his left and right 
for signs of Zhane in the vicinity.
"If you're here, old man, you best be showing yourself." Nathan whispered. 
Seeing that the neighborhood was free of his presence, Nathan proceeded upon the 
walkway leading up to the large mansion before him. The horses from the carriage 
neighed as Nathan approached the front door, which was still barely on its 
hinges. He knocked softly and waited a short moment for Sylvia to appear in the 
doorway.
"Nathan. Good to see you again. Please, come in. Can I have Fran get you 
anything?" 
"No, that won't be necessary." Nathan said and gave a smile to Sylvia's only 
servant.
"Well, let me show you where the door is." Sylvia said and led Nathan around the 
spacious foyer, where the wide door leaned up against a bare wall.
"Why is it all the way over here?" Nathan asked.
"Oh, I asked the delivery men to set it here. This is the next area I need to 
have remodeled, and I wanted the foyer untouched. Not one single scratch." 
"I see." Nathan said, not buying the excuse given to him by the love-stricken 
woman.
"Well, I'll get started here. I don't want to keep you from what you need to 
do."
"Oh, don't worry about that. I think I'll manage." Sylvia said as she breathed a 
heavy sigh from her smooth, gentle lips. Nathan closed his eyes tightly as he 
lifted the heavy door from the shiny, clean, tiled floor and tried not to leave 
any scuff marks.
"I really appreciate your help, Nathan. I really do." Sylvia said in a gentle, 
seductive-like voice, hoping to drop a subliminal hint to the hard-working 
wolftaur.
"Hey, it's what I live for." Nathan said with a smile and allowed the door to 
rest against a post in the mansion's antechamber.
"Is this okay?" Nathan asked while pointing to the door.
"Oh, sure, of course." Sylvia said happily. As a force of habit, Nathan reached 
for his waist, then realized he came unprepared.
"Oh, I can't believe this." Nathan said with a chuckle. He slowly turned his 
head to face Sylvia and smiled a sheepish grin.
"What is it? Did you forget your tools?" Sylvia asked.
"Yeah. I forgot 'em all right." Nathan said and gave a soft chuckle.
"What do you need?"
"Flathead screwdriver, a large one, and a heavy mallet. I need to knock out the 
doornails and take the old door down completely."
"Oh. I know I have some tools around here somewhere. Let me check." Sylvia said 
and slowly headed across the entryway. Nathan smiled a soft grin as he watched 
the classy woman walk across the floor, then caught himself in his gawking 
stare. Shaking his head swiftly, Nathan chuckled softly.
"Falling in love. That's ridiculous. I am not falling in love, that's for sure." 
he told himself. He placed his paw across his furry forehead and slowly wagged 
his tail to and fro as he waited for Sylvia to return.
"If she has what I'm looking for, that will impress me." Nathan said jokingly to 
himself. He looked up at the sound of Sylvia's high-heeled feet clomping across 
the tiled floor, and in her hands, she carried the two main tools Nathan needed. 
He held his eyes open widely as Sylvia approached him.
"Is this what you're looking for?" Sylvia said, trying to sound like she didn't 
know a hammer from a seashell. Deep down inside, Nathan could easily identify 
Sylvia's cover up.
"Yeah....yeah, that's it." Nathan said, shaking his head swiftly, and freeing 
his mind from his perceptive trance. Nathan reached his wolf paws out to accept 
the items, and as Sylvia placed the tools in his open furry palms, Nathan could 
feel the woman's soft, gentle hand brushing against his pads.
"T...thank you, Sylvia." Nathan said quietly and gave a gentle smile. Sylvia 
returned the smile with one of her own as Nathan turned his attention to 
removing the door from its hinges completely. After freeing the three doornails 
completely, he noticed a couple of them had been bent out of shape. He held them 
before his eyes and looked at the disfigured doornails from different angles.
"Yeesh, they really did a number on your door, didn't they?" Nathan asked and 
set the warped doornails aside. 
"Oh, yes. It got to the point where the front door refused to open all the way." 
As Nathan reached for one of the fresh doornails that accompanied the new door, 
he stopped and rolled his amber eyes into Sylvia's direction.
"Sylvia, tell me something. If you've had contractors coming through here, why 
couldn't they install the new door?"
"Oh, well..." Sylvia stopped and tried to think of an immediate excuse, then 
wondered how Nathan could come to a conclusion such as the one he had made.
"How did you know the contractors were over already?" Sylvia asked. Nathan 
smiled and pointed to a stack of carbon paperwork lying atop a nearby table and 
smiled.
"Seattle Contracting. Pretty obvious clue." Nathan said with a smile, followed 
by a light chuckle.
"Honestly?" Sylvia said with a sigh. Nathan nodded his head and awaited a reply.
"Okay. The reason why I wanted you to come back was because...well...I guess I 
have been feeling a desire for decent company. Something happened last night. 
Something I never expected in my turbulent life. I...was hoping to get closer to 
that." Sylvia said and slowly took a step forward. Nathan instantly placed his 
hind leg back, but withdrew moving his body backwards one step away from the 
slow-approaching woman.
"To tell you the truth, I...I find you rather attractive."
"Me? Why me? I'm probably the most plain-looking being in this whole city. Why 
me?" 
"Your fur, the pattern of your fur, your soft muzzle. That's what attracted me 
at first, but then I saw your mind, your intelligence, and your skill. 
Everything you presented last night...it attracted me more to you. I had to 
bring you back here." Nathan blinked his amber eyes softly as his tail 
hesitantly waggled back and forth.
"I still don't see what you could possibly see in me, Sylvia, but there is a lot 
you don't know about me. I'm boring, I'm dull. I don't socialize with anybody. I 
just do my job and that's all. I couldn't be attractive to you in that aspect."
"Maybe so, but you still managed to help open my eyes away from isolation. You 
seem to understand what it's like."
"I'm different, Sylvia. I'm happy with it."
"So was I, but only now, in this late hour, do I realize what my true heart 
really desired. I started opening up."
"Well, I'm sure you will later find that there are just no single similarities 
between you and I. Right now, I just want to install this door." Nathan said and 
held the door in place with his lower wolftaur body and began pounding a 
doornail into the hinges.
"Perhaps I did try to come on a little strong. I admit that."
"Well, I appreciate your honesty." Nathan said and flashed the same type of 
smile Sylvia found attractive. As Nathan picked up the second doornail, his nose 
picked up on the smell of the fresh wood and exhaled a strong sneeze through his 
nose while thrusting his head forward. Nathan sniffled and started to rub his 
large, black nose upon the sleeve of his uniform.
"Here, let me get you a tissue." Sylvia said and reached into her nearby purse 
and procured a travel package of tissues. As she pulled the small, rectangular 
package from her small, black purse, a small handful of business cards flew out 
onto the floor. She handed the package to Nathan and proceeded to remove the 
cluttered mess from the floor. Upon picking up the last card, Nathan caught 
Sylvia turning the card over to read both sides, then giving a shrug and placed 
them all back into her purse. Nathan turned his attention back to his work and 
finished placing the other two doornails in place. He turned the door's handle 
and opened the door as wide as it could go, then closed it once again.
"Looks like it works to me." Sylvia said with a smile. From Nathan's stomach, a 
conspicuous growl erupted from his stomach at the smell of Italian food 
emanating from within the kitchen. Nathan patted his stomach and reached for the 
tools to hand them back to the smiling woman.
"Thanks." Nathan said in a gentle tone. 
"Anytime. If you could do one other thing for me, I would really appreciate it."
"What's that?"
"Actually, two things. First of all, could you take the old door outside and 
place it at the side fence? That'll help me out a lot."
"Sure thing. What's the other thing?"
"Stay for dinner and help me consume a third helping of spaghetti." Sylvia said 
with a smile.
"Are you asking me to a date?" Nathan asked and flashed a wide grin.
"Not really. Just...a request."
"Well then, count me in." Nathan said and patted his growling stomach softly 
with his paw. Sylvia held the door open for Nathan as he carried the old, 
tattered door outside the mansion. As Sylvia watched his distorted figure 
through the thick, decorative, diamond-shaped glass around the door frame, 
Sylvia sighed softly.
"What I wouldn't do to tell you how I truly feel." she said with a sigh. She 
turned her head and gazed up at the top of the stairs and stared into the 
emptiness as if she was in a dream, then gave a gentle nod of her head.
"I know. I must wait. I will." Sylvia said and then turned her attention back to 
her new front door as Nathan stepped through it. He made sure to punch the 
password into the keypad of the security system to prevent a false alarm and 
then joined up with Sylvia, still appearing like she was in a trance.
"All finished. You now have a door and a new security system." Nathan said with 
a smile, and looked around the vestibule, waiting for Sylvia to ask the wolftaur 
to help install something else.
"Yeah, sure looks like it. I'll write you up a check now." Sylvia said and 
pulled her checkbook from her purse, making the second check Nathan accepted 
from the woman. He smiled and placed the check in the pocket of his trousers and 
gave a soft smile to the gentle woman. Sylvia's eyes seemed to be lost in 
Nathan's plain, amber glare for a brief moment before shaking the trance from 
her head.
"Um...Fran...Fran's almost finished with the dinner. Why don't we get ready?"
"Sounds great, Sylvia." Nathan said and accompanied the shy woman to the dining 
room, where the room was softly illuminated by the chandeliers that hung from 
the ceiling. The furniture smelled of new oak wood combining with the aroma of 
fresh finish. In the center of the long, rectangular table, two candlestick 
holders were set at both ends of the table's center. The walls were bare, except 
for the few nails that stuck out from the walls where Sylvia's treasured 
paintings once hung.
"They stole most of my furniture. I just got this table and chair set this 
morning. I have yet to replace the paintings."
"You'll get them back, I'm sure." Nathan said and smiled, his paws hanging 
loosely at his sides. Sylvia hesitated as she tried to reach out for Nathan's 
paw, but kept holding herself back. Instead, Sylvia gave a soft sigh as she 
removed a chair to make a place for Nathan to stand his wolftaur body at the 
table. She took a seat nearby, and the two sat in silence as they waited for the 
mouth-watering cuisine to finish cooking.

	Sylvia, Fran, and Nathan all had a rather quiet dinner in the spacious 
dining room, and Nathan never thought in his young life he would ever have a 
classy meal such as this. The spaghetti sauce was made from scratch, with the 
right amount of herbs, spices, sausage and ground beef to make its flavor just 
right. The noodles were prepared fresh, and would become perishable if they 
weren't used after a certain date. Nathan sipped his glass of red wine between 
the bites of Italian delicacy with a benign approach, in an attempt to fit in 
with the classy motif of the dinner. Sylvia did most of the talking as the three 
ate, speaking about her recent catastrophe of coming home to her home being 
robbed. Nathan assured Sylvia that after having the security system installed, 
crime at her homestead would diminish to a standstill. Sylvia seemed to hold 
herself back from wanting to say something more to Nathan, to show him how much 
she really felt inside. To prevent the confrontation of being rejected, Sylvia 
was quick to drop any intention of speaking her heart. Nathan, on the other 
hand, didn't feel any different being in the gentle woman's presence, other than 
the fact that he didn't try to remain silent or antisocial. Although he kept to 
himself, Nathan also knew the right time to dispose any attempt to speaking his 
own mind about wanting to be left alone.

	After a much-enjoyed dinner, Nathan stood at the door and thanked Sylvia 
for the wonderful meal. Sylvia smiled softly and reached out for Nathan's paw. 
She gave it a gentle rub with her thumb as she shook the wolftaur's paw and gave 
a gentle smile.
"Until we meet again, Nathan." Sylvia whispered. Nathan smiled and stepped 
backwards through the door's opening. Sylvia closed the door behind her, leaving 
Nathan free to venture back home. Nathan had been quite preoccupied with the 
evening's engagement of home service and succulent meal, and hadn't allowed one 
single thought of Zhane Tarnsworth enter his thoughts. As Nathan walked along 
the quiet, clean sidewalks of Northern Seattle, a maniacal laugh in the shadows 
of the dark evening changed the calm atmosphere rather quickly. Nathan turned 
his head quickly in all directions, trying to follow the laughter, and he could 
barely catch a glimpse of the old man in the corner of his eye. By the time 
Nathan's head turned, Zhane appeared in a different area. Nathan held his head 
with his paws and screamed out.
"NOOOOOOO! YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HAUNTING ME ANYMORE!"
"Oh, come now," the voice echoed, "I never said anything about that, did I?"
"I don't believe in you! I don't believe in any of this!"
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You sure are quite edgy. You shall get what is rightfully coming 
to you." Zhane said. There was a sudden gush of wind, which made Nathan's fur 
blow back, and his body was pelted by flying debris, dirt, paper, and leaves 
that adorned the street. Nathan covered his eyes with his paws to shield his 
eyes from the flying waste. He let out a loud yell, and the fierce wind died 
down to a stop. Nathan slowly uncovered his eyes and breathed deeply through his 
lungs. Shortly after Zhane's outburst, the bus arrived on time at the stop to 
take Nathan back to his lonesome apartment.

Chapter 28: A Cry For Help

	Nathan Cromwell returned home and sighed gently as he started to undress. 
As Nathan crouched down to pick his uniform shirt up off the floor, his mind 
began to enter instantly into a dream. His early encounter with Zhane Tarnsworth 
was still fresh in his mind, even after the quiet bus ride. His thoughts took 
Nathan to the northern part of town where he had just come from, and the quiet 
wolftaur wandered aimlessly around the quiet suburban streets. His sights picked 
up Zhane's figure as he materialized in and out of view. Each time Zhane's body 
appeared, it seemed to be a few steps closer to where Nathan stood.
"No!" Nathan shouted, but Zhane had no intention of following Nathan's word.
"Get away! Please! Just stay away from me!" Nathan hollered as Zhane got closer 
and closer. Nathan covered his eyes and shouted out into the darkness around him 
as Zhane got within an arm's reach of Nathan's body, and upon uncovering his 
amber eyes, Nathan breathed heavily through his lungs, as the wizard remained 
hidden within the shadows.
"Why are you haunting me even still?" the Nathan Cromwell of his thoughts asked. 
"I've had enough."
"Perhaps your plea should be heard by the right set of ears." the frail voice 
spoke and seemed to come from all different directions. Nathan tried to follow 
his head in the directions the voice was coming from, but couldn't lock onto 
Zhane's whereabouts.
"How? How should I get help?"
"Funny, you should admit to yourself of your problems."
"I...I'm admitting it now. I'll admit I need the help now. Please, tell me how 
to get the answers."
"They'll come to you."
"NO! Tell me now!"
"My dear boy, the time shall soon come, for the true calling within your heart 
still needs to be heard by the right pair of ears."
"I know that already! You've stated your case, and I'm willing to ask for it! 
Please, I'll do anything. I'll give you anything. Please tell me what I need to 
know." Nathan sobbed heavily as his body wrapped itself into a large, furry 
ball, his tail curled around his lower half.
"Zhane?" Nathan called through his sobs, but the voice was clean out of range to 
hear.
"Zhane!" he called again, hoping for the first time to hear the sound of the 
wizard's voice in return. 
"ZHAAAAAAANE!" Nathan screamed, but darkness was the only world he saw.

	As Nathan curled up on the floor in his bedroom, his sobs grew heavier, 
and his tears matted to the fur under his eyes. Within his mind, the uneasy 
encounters he once endured came rushing back to him in a quick, fleeting moment, 
and only causing Nathan to cry harder. To break free from the hot flashes, 
Nathan held his head up and gave out a loud, ear-piercing howl of sorrow and 
mourn, followed by another loud howl, until the visions eluded his imagination. 
Once reality returned to his amber eyes, he rubbed the moisture from his face 
and sniffled. 
"You need help, son." a voice loomed over Nathan's body from behind. Nathan 
stopped howling and slowly turned his head. He sniffled softly and made out the 
black-clothed body of his upstairs neighbor standing behind him.
"Gabriel. Thanks, but no thanks. I need to get help. I need to find the answers 
to my burning questions. You'll only insult me or joke around."
"There is no joking matter. That was merely an incentive in wanting to achieve 
the truth. I do believe you are ready to understand."
"What is the truth?" Nathan said as a stream of tears continued falling from his 
eyes.
"Yes. Well, perhaps it's time to truly reveal myself. I am called Gabriel 
Harper. That much you know. What you did not know was the fact that I hold a key 
to great importance in the world of reality."
"You? You mean, you're responsible for all of this?" Nathan asked as he rose to 
his paws.
"I'm afraid so."
"Then Zhane Tarnsworth...that wizard...he's not really real?"
"Oh, he is, Nathaniel. I had to create him into my own image to carry out my 
precise measures. It also helped me to remain secluded from the situations at 
large whenever they reared their heads nearby. Zhane has a will and a mind all 
his own. Have you ever wondered why he seemed to know exactly where you were 
everywhere you turned?" Nathan slowly nodded his head. Gabriel merely smiled.
"You...mean you monitored my movement? You saw me come and go! You knew where I 
was going and when I would get there! That explains....wait a minute, how did 
you know I would be out in other areas I never even went to? How did you know I 
was at Jack's Pub or the pizza place in the north-end part of town?"
"You forget, dear boy. I have eyes that see reality, and all the inhabitants 
thereof."
"Then, you didn't need to watch me leave the apartment?"
"I'm afraid not. You see, not only do I hold the key to the doors of perception 
and reality, but I'm also a watcher of all the life. I came here to make sure 
you learned the toughest lessons of life."
"Why? Why only now did you come?"
"You didn't need me until now, but had I come any later, it would have been too 
late. Your mind would have been deteriorated within a shell of itself. The world 
around you would have been affected. Your job would have been on the line, and 
you would only sink deeper into a world of your own demise."
"What about the cards? They're his, aren't they?"
"They're mine. I kept leaving them in spots where you were most likely to find 
them."
"Then, why didn't you do all this yourself? Why send that wizard? Why did you 
feel you had to seclude yourself? You would have had the same results, wouldn't 
you?"
"Come on, Nathaniel, my dear, dear, boy. Even you're smart enough to know why. 
Besides, I had to be able to go into hiding until just the right moment. Think 
about this. If I was haunting your every move, I wouldn't be here now to tell 
you what you needed to know, wouldn't I?"
"I would have figured it out eventually."
"Oh really? When? When you're too old, too senile, and too maniacal to do 
anything? Come on, I had my own work to do, in my own little secluded way. 
Surely, you can figure out the rest."
"So, instead of doing it yourself, you had me worked up in feeling vengeful for 
that wizard, so that you could move about freely!"
"See? You're not as inferior as you appear to be." Gabriel said with a smile and 
sat on the end of Nathan's bed.
"Why did you select just me?"
"Oh, Nathaniel, there are others that needed the same treatment. You're the only 
one you know of."
"But why me? Why did I still see the reality as the way it was before? How come 
I only knew of the changes?"
"Because, my dear boy, you needed to learn the harshest lessons in life, but 
your mind was too care-free and relentless. You thought too much of your 
entrapment into your own world. Something had to be done."
"And because I kept to myself, you felt you had to teach me something?"
"Nathaniel, there are many around you that wished to befriend you, even love 
you, but you never gave into the chance."
"What do you mean? I'm just a lonely guy. A rebel."
"Exactly. One that locks himself in his own world the way you have, will 
eventually find that even the occurrences of a normal reality can't even exist 
within those walls. You just needed a hard lesson of overcoming it."
"Well, it worked, but why so many unusual things?"
"I had to play into your head. I had to dig out things you knew couldn't be 
possible, just to make you see the light."
"Light? You call all of this light? You robbed me of my sleep! You robbed my 
body and replaced it with this one! You even used that crazy wizard to haunt me 
through those cards! You call that the light?"
"If I didn't show it to you this way, you would have gone on your own life 
barely affected. Drastic measures are called for times like this."
"And what of the rest of this town? What of them?"
"What about them, Nathaniel?" Gabriel said as he continued to speak in his 
gentle-sounding voice.
"Have they ever seen the way things were before?"
"I'm afraid not. You see, if everyone around you saw the way things were, you 
wouldn't feel alone the way you have been, but it's that very feeling that you 
held through your life to really see the true enemy behind isolation. The only 
way to make you understand this is to make sure you remained truly alone, even 
in the face of the unusual."
"Another reason for me to see the light, huh?"
"Yes."
"Gabriel? Why did you only wait until now to show me the way, even after I tried 
to accept the alternative realities?"
"You didn't need me until now, and you weren't quite accepting it. You were 
ignoring the alternate realities that happened around you. You needed to truly 
accept it into your heart before you can understand why."
"My heart." Nathan said and placed his paw over his wolf heart beating wildly 
within his chest.
"Yes, you do have one. It's not missing, you just didn't know how to feel it, 
but within that very heart you possess, it is possible to allow others to enter. 
I wager you know who I'm talking about." Gabriel said as he stood motionless 
before the wolftaur.
"Sylvia? But what's she have to do with this situation?"
"Sylvia is just like you, Nathan. Well, she was, anyway."
"Was? Did you put her through the same treatment?"
"You're starting to get smarter by the moment."
"Then, Rob must have known something."
"Robert Haddock? Sure he did." Gabriel said with a light chuckle.
"Were you...talking to me through him?"
"Hey, I manipulate reality, I don't possess. Rob just knew something you 
didn't."
"So, I really was falling in love with her."
"Congratulations. Nathaniel Cromwell, you really do have a heart. How does it 
feel?" Gabriel said as a smile developed on his face.
"But I knew...I knew for a fact, I wasn't in love with her. It never got to me 
like that. I was pretty sure I wasn't in love with her." Gabriel held his hand 
up to silence the confused wolftaur and whispered a "shush" from his lips.
"What?"
"You've never felt love, nor seen love in your entire life, not the ways two 
beings can come together as such. Close your eyes."
"What?" Nathan asked again.
"Trust me. Close them." Nathan nodded and softly closed his amber eyes.
"Channel your feelings into your chest, where the entity of your existence 
dwells. Do you feel it?"
"I can't feel it." Nathan whispered.
"Try harder. Center yourself. Picture in your head of what your heart desires 
the most." Nathan concentrated his thoughts, and a blurred vision of Sylvia's 
appearance slowly came to view.
"It's her."
"Of course it's her. The problem was, you still felt so isolated, that you would 
have missed out on experiencing your true belonging in the world, hadn't it been 
for me."
"Is this love?"
"It's a desiring. True love takes time to develop. That's something that even I 
cannot create."
"I still don't understand something. How does everything seem to coincide into 
one another whenever a strange occurrence happened?"
"Reality sets in. You know the rest." Gabriel replied and started to head for 
the bedroom door.
"Hey, wait!"
"No, my friend. My work is finished."
"Wait! Don't leave yet! Just answer me one question!" Nathan said. Gabriel 
stopped moving and gazed down at the seated wolftaur.
"What will become of me and Sylvia?"
"That's up to your heart's desiring to decide. Do you love her?"
"I don't know, but I would like to experience that world."
"I'm not anybody's matchmaker. You did all that talk on your own, and so did 
she. For that, you did not need my power."
"Then, what will happen when you leave?"
"That depends on the realities you accept into your heart. If you want to 
experience more, including the gentle feelings of love my powers led you 
towards, you will have to make that decision whether to continue, or to return 
to the world you grew to know."
"A decision? You mean, if I wished of it, the entire world could return to the 
way things were?"
"As I said, my work is done."
"And Sylvia?"
"She is a part of this alternate reality that you've come to see. My powers 
helped develop your feelings, your meeting, your coming together, and the 
feeling of the alternate realities coming to life. My dear boy, you started to 
come to her for advice on how to deal with it, and accepted what she had to say. 
However, if you wish of it, you can experience life just as you've always had, 
but everything goes away. Your wolftaur body, the werewolves, the vampires, the 
dinosaurs, your knowledge, your hardships, and your opening of heart. The good 
and bad parts of the alternate reality that you faced will not even exist, not 
even as a spark in your memory. Everything goes. Your life will merely return 
back the way it was when I found you."
"And Sylvia?"
"She goes too, Nathan. Your knowledge and your heart found her, and if your 
reality was to return, your realization within your heart will go to. Sylvia 
won't ever exist in your mind, your heart, or your emotions. Since you met her 
through the alternate realities, and I helped her see the light as well, it'll 
all be over once I return things to the way they were."
"But if I choose to continue?"
"You must first accept this alternate reality into your heart. Then, you will 
know what your true heart desires." Nathan thought of the hardships he endured 
over the past two weeks, and then thought of a vision of Sylvia McDowell, the 
only woman in the entire world that could maintain the opening in Nathan's 
heart.
"I...I don't know. I don't know if I can ever learn to accept it. Will these 
alternate realities continue to show up? If it did, would I still see them the 
way I do now?"
"Oh, my dear, dear, confused and misunderstood boy, you ask a lot of questions. 
I could sum it all up in just one sentence. To find your way to the top, you 
must first learn how to climb. When you find your happiness, you'll be willing 
to take all that goes with it. So, such is life."
"It still seems strange to me now, but I'm sure, if I started to accept it as 
being real, I'll eventually grow accustomed to it."
"You've already started, my dear boy. The instant you give up is the very 
instant you give me the word to return reality back to the way you remembered. 
The truest courage in your mind is also responsible for keeping your grasp on 
reality intact. Opening your heart and your mind was the toughest lesson in life 
you were ever faced with."
"Well, I think I did a fair job overcoming the blockage, but it's still all so 
new to me."
"Of course it does! Think of it this way. Everything in the world was always 
once new to someone, but it all depended upon the time it took for reality to 
set in before it became normal in their eyes, their mind, and their heart. You, 
my dear boy, have just learned to use the very elements that thrive deep inside 
you."
"Can you give me time? Please?" Nathan pleaded.
"And you were doing so well, too." Gabriel said as he shook his head and placed 
his hand upon his forehead. 
"What's wrong with wanting a little time to get used to it?" Nathan asked.
"Nathaniel, some things in life require you to make a decision right on the 
spot. Your mind will need to be able to make those decisions. You seem 
disillusioned, my dear boy. I've done what I could. Get some sleep, for when you 
awaken, you will notice your world returning to the way you have already 
accepted as your own reality." Gabriel said as he walked towards Nathan's front 
door. Nathan quickly rose to his feet and pursued the man dressed in all black 
attire.
"Wait!" Nathan hollered. "I...I've made my mind up." Gabriel held his eyes 
slightly wider as Nathan spoke.
"I...I accept it."
"Are you sure? You do realize that once you accept something as reality, you 
can't change it on your own if it's not natural to you."
"I've learned how to adapt to my new changes and the unusual occurrences that 
happened recently. I've learned how to adapt, just like reality when it sinks 
in. I...I choose to keep it."
"You're sure?"
"Yes. It must be so that I can keep the light of reasoning fresh in my heart." 
Nathan said with conviction and flashed a serious glare in his eyes. "I know I 
may have come across too eccentric in my life, but I am sure of this. I will 
accept it. I...I will." Nathan stuttered and a gleam of hope appeared within the 
amber-colored gloss of his eye.
"Very well." Gabriel said as he reached for the doorknob.
"What do I do now?" Nathan asked. Gabriel opened the door to Nathan's apartment 
and saw the sight of a blinding light shining through his doorway as Gabriel 
held it open.
"I shouldn't have to tell you. You already know. Ask your heart." Gabriel said 
and gave a pleasant smile and turned his direction into the blazing, white 
radiance that shone through Nathan's door. Gently, Gabriel closed the front 
door, leaving Nathan's wolftaur body alone, but less confused. He quickly went 
for the door and opened it widely, but the atmosphere returned itself back to 
normal, and the blinding, white light quickly dissipated, and replaced by the 
morning of a new day. He walked out onto his doorstep and looked up at the 
apartment Gabriel occupied and found the door wide open. Nathan walked up the 
concrete steps and peeked inside, but the only thing that could be seen was the 
darkness of an empty apartment, with no signs of the occupant or his belongings.
"Oh, Mr. Cromwell. Thank goodness. Would you be a dear and close that door for 
me? That sneaky old door must have sneaked open by itself after I showed it off 
to the Derowitz family." the Scottish landlady said as she rounded the corner. 
"Of course." Nathan said with a smile and reached for the doorknob. He gave a 
quick glance around and eyed a small, white rodent amongst the darkness, softly 
cleaning its whiskers with its paws. The mouse stood up on its hind legs and 
sniffed the air. Nathan stared at the small rodent, and gave a gentle smile. The 
mouse returned to its four legs and scampered off into the dark shadows of the 
apartment.
"Good-bye, Gabriel...and thanks." Nathan whispered into the darkness of the 
apartment and closed the door
"Something wrong, Nathan?" the landlady asked.
"No. Nothing's wrong. Nothing at all." Nathan said soothingly and cast another 
look into the direction of the apartment Gabriel once occupied. "Everything's 
going along the way they should be."
"Ya, well looks to me like ye'll be having yourself an upstairs neighbor soon. 
So much for quiet nights, I think."
"Oh, I won't mind it." Nathan said with a smile. "I could use a little noise in 
my life." Nathan waved his farewell to the pleasant landlady and looked up into 
the direction of Gabriel's empty apartment, heaving a heavy sigh. From far away, 
a figure dressed all in black eyed Nathan standing within the open areas of the 
apartment complex. He waved his hand silently at the wolftaur, and was quickly 
joined up by the small, elder wizard, and both of them watched from afar at 
Nathan's figure. Nathan felt he was being watched, and turned his head to face 
the park across the street, but the two figures quickly dematerialized out of 
sight. Nathan felt a tear develop in his eye as he returned the wave to the 
empty park.
"Thanks again. Both of you. For opening up my eyes." Nathan said. He reached 
into his breast pocket and procured a small business card. He read the hand-
written words on the back of the card with a smile and a light chuckle.
"I told you that you would thank me someday." Nathan laughed loudly as he turned 
the card over to the front, where the logo of Tacoma Roofing Company was seen. 
Nathan turned the card over once again, only to find the words of Gabriel Harper 
had vanished, and the phone number of Sylvia McDowell was replaced. With a soft 
sigh from his throat, Nathan placed the card back into his pocket and headed 
along his way. From above, the hazy clouds of the late October morning parted, 
allowing the rays of the sunlight to shine onto the town of Seattle for a brief 
moment, before slowly becoming obscured once again. 

Chapter 29: Awakenings

	Nathan stood in the center of the apartment complex with a feeling of 
great peace and warmth flowing through him, as if a fresh ocean wave rushed over 
his body. He heaved a soft sigh through his lips and smiled as he held his gaze 
towards the vacancy of the park across the street. Turning his attention away 
from the peaceful moment, Nathan checked the digital face of his watch, and his 
grasp on his own consciousness quickly returned.
"Well, it's still early. I think I'll take the scenic route to work today." 
Nathan said as he headed into the middle of SeaTac before heading to work. He 
noticed the dinosaur preserve across the street and decided to make sure reality 
didn't start to revert. Upon standing before the tall fence around the preserve, 
Nathan watched in awe and peace as he witnessed the many prehistoric beings 
frolicking together with their own kind. He looked down through the fence and 
saw a small congregation of Compsognathus looking up at the wolftaur curiously. 
Nathan smiled down onto the group and waved a furry finger at the reptiles. The 
Compys emitted a high-pitched sound from their throat as Nathan walked by, as if 
to greet the presence of the wolftaur. Nathan smiled and continued along into 
the distance, where a large van was seen parked in front of a small doctor's 
office.
"Good morning, Nathan!" a small man in a white suit called out. Nathan looked up 
and noticed Doctor Franklin waving to him in the distance. "Staying out of 
trouble, right?"
"You know me, Doc." Nathan hollered back and continued along his way. As he 
proceeded onward through the city, Nathan took a quick glance at his watch, then 
performed a double take.
"AAH! I'm going to be late for work!" Nathan hollered. He looked over the 
uniform he wore the previous day and shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, there's no time to change into a clean uniform even if I was covered with 
mud and crap." Nathan commented with a chuckle, then immediately headed into the 
direction of the closest bus stop that followed the route to his workplace. Upon 
his arrival, Nathan waved his paw at the slowly departing bus and yelled out, in 
hopes that the driver could hear him.
"WAIT! STOP!" Nathan called. The bus came to a quick, abrupt stop and the front 
doors whooshed open.
"Glad you made it, son, I was just about ready to leave." the driver said and 
gave Nathan a friendly smile. 
"Thanks a lot. I was running a little late." Nathan said as a thought of Gabriel 
Harper and Zhane Tarnsworth ran through his mind.
"You know something, Winston? I've really learned a lot these past couple 
weeks." Nathan said as he held his smile upon his soft, white-furred muzzle.
"We all learn a lot about life, Nathan. That's why they call it 'life.' If it 
were any easier, it would be called something else." Nathan nodded in agreement. 
His mind suddenly grasped on the fact that he never knew the name of the bus 
driver, nor did the bus driver ever know his. The feeling of Nathan's heart gave 
him an involuntary, subliminal message as if to say "it's always been this way, 
but you were wrapped up in a world of your own self too much to notice." Nathan 
sat back on the bench seats at the front of the bus and looked out the window at 
the many different styles of cars that zoomed by. His eyes caught the 
interesting design of a futuristic-looking craft and a glass dome atop its 
space-aged body. As Nathan got a glimpse of the driver, he smiled a soft grin 
and wondered how a large-eyed, green-headed alien spends his days in downtown 
Seattle. 
"Probably the same as everyone else." Nathan whispered to the question his mind 
asked. 
"All right, Nathan, here's your stop." the bus driver said, breaking Nathan from 
his pleasant thoughts.
"Thanks, Winston. See you tomorrow." Nathan said as he waved. 

	The sky looked like a scene out of a biblical movie, with a majestic-
looking cluster of clouds, and the sun's light peeking over the summit as Nathan 
stopped to gaze into the beauty of the late-morning stratosphere.
"Looks like it'll be another great day. I can already feel it." Nathan said and 
walked humbly towards the hardware store.

	The vestibule looked exactly the same as Nathan remembered it the previous 
day. From behind the counter, Rob smiled over at the wolftaur as he entered.
"Hey, Nate! What are you doing here?" Rob asked and closed the manilla folder 
containing his paperwork for his week's sales.
"It's that time again, I wager."
"No, it isn't. Rudy gave you the day off."
"Did he?" Nathan asked and headed towards the back room and looked at his 
schedule. He followed his finger down the rack until he came to his own card. 
Attached to the long, off-white card was a note, held together with a large, 
metal paper clip. Nathan removed the paper clip and placed it on the top of the 
time clock. He unfolded the sheet of paper and read the note left by his 
manager.

Nathan,
There comes a time in someone's life when they realize the things that are 
around them. Although I have monitored your work, I felt at this point there was 
not much I could do about it until now. Nathan, after realizing this neglect, I 
have decided to award you for your deeds, your accomplishments, and your 
devotion to the company. Therefore, I am adding a $1.00 per week raise to your 
salary, and am hereby giving you the rest of the week off, which you will return 
at full pay. Use the rest of your vacation, you really deserve it. 
Congratulations, Nathan, and thank you for your hard work.
Rudy

	As Nathan read the note, the door to his manager's office opened slowly, 
and the tall figure of the kind, dark-skinned gentleman stepped out into the 
back room. He held his large hand out for Nathan, and with a gleam in his eye 
and a wide grin on his muzzle, Nathan graciously took Rudy's hand into a 
friendly shake.
"I've never been proud of any of my employees I've ever had, until now." Rudy 
said and smiled a wide grin from his large, supple lips.
"Ah, Rudy. I'm just doing my job, that's all." Nathan said and was joined up by 
his co-worker.
"I have something to say as well." Rob Haddock said as he placed his arm tightly 
around Nathan's shoulder.
"I'm glad to have gotten to know you, not only as a co-worker, but also a good 
friend to have." After the tender moment shared between the three workers of 
Tanney's Hardware, Rudy spoke.
"You all done with your books?" 
"Yep. Got them all added up and written down." Rob said and handed the manilla 
envelope to his manager.
"Great. Well, I can take it from here. You're free to go now, Rob. Thanks for 
coming in on your day off to do this."
"Hey, it's devotion to the company, right?" Nathan cut in with a smile and 
returned Rob's friendly gesture, placing his arm around his co-worker's 
shoulder.
"Yeah, but even leisure must rear its head sometimes. Hey, speaking of which, 
let's go to Jack's." Rob said and returned the friendly gesture. Arm in arm, the 
two Tanney's Hardware employees headed out the door, leaving a smiling Rudy 
Jackson behind.
"God bless America." Rudy said to himself as he held his grin on his face as he 
watched Nathan and Rob walk out of the store together. "This looks to me like 
it's going to be a great day."

	Rob approached the table where Nathan found a suitable seat for his 
wolftaur body to use, and set two tall mugs of foamy beer onto the table top.
"Drink up, man. This round is on me." Rob said. Nathan smiled and held his glass 
up.
"A toast." Nathan said and looked around at the smiling, talkative patrons of 
the pub. He returned his gaze to Rob's eyes and continued. "To the endurance and 
pursuit of a better tomorrow amongst friends."
"I'll drink to that." Rob said and clinked his mug with Nathan's. Nathan took a 
generous gulp of the bitter-tasting liquid and wiped the moisture from the fur 
on his upper-muzzle. 
"Oh, come on, Rob, you can drink a bigger gulp than that! Come on!" Nathan said 
teasingly and guzzled a couple more large swallows of his beer.
"Oh, really?" Rob replied sarcastically. He raised the mug to his lips and began 
to guzzle the entire contents into his mouth, quickly taking every last drop 
down his throat and into his stomach. He slammed the empty mug down onto the 
table and wiped his lip free of the froth that collected. 
"Yeah...really!" Nathan said and proceeded to guzzle the remainder of his mug 
down his throat. He followed Rob's motion of slamming the empty mug onto the 
table top and wiped the sudsy head from his muzzle.
"Damn, Nate. We should hang out like this more often!" Rob said and chuckled. 
Nathan reached across and gave Rob a playful punch to his shoulder and chuckled 
along with his co-worker.
"We will, man. We will. Now that I have a reason to be happy." Nathan said, 
remembering the awakening morning he had, and keeping the feeling of sheer peace 
forever in his heart.
"Oh, that's right!" Rob said and then looked to Nathan with a soft look in his 
face.
"What?"
"You and Sylvia. Sylvia McDowell! What is she, Nathan, your first girlfriend?" 
Nathan smiled and nodded his head swiftly.
"Yeah...my first one." Nathan said with a gentle sigh.
"Tell me, what's she like...you know..." Rob said and made a notion with his 
hands in accordance to a sexual motion.
"Oh, you are such a perv, Rob! We haven't done anything yet. We're barely even 
dating."
"What? Why not? Isn't it natural to mate on the first date?" Rob said jokingly.
"Maybe the way you do it, but I've realized the true meaning that lies behind 
love. Just use your heart." Nathan said and rose from his seat. "I'll get the 
next round."

	Rob watched as Nathan walked across the floor of the bar and ordered up 
another couple of frosty mugs. He carried them back over to the table and sat 
one of the mugs in front of Rob's folded hands atop the table's surface.
"So, when are you seeing her again?" Rob asked as he looked over the rim of the 
foamy mug of brew.
"I don't know. Tonight, perhaps. I'm thinking of catching a movie."
"The typical date, huh?" Rob said and took a sip of his beer, wanting to take 
his time enjoying the liquid.
"Yeah, you could say that. I guess I'm just old-fashioned."
"Man, no wonder why you get women like that. Sylvia's very high-classed."
"What gets to me is that you're always with the hood rats and grabby, whiny, 
bitchy women."
"Hey, beggars can't be choosers, they're all pretty good in bed." Rob said and 
sipped his beer. Nathan shook his head and chuckled to himself.
"What? Did I make any joking comment?" Rob asked as he saw the expression in his 
wolftaur friend's face.
"No, it's just that, well, here we are, both of us almost alike, yet in a 
completely separate world when it comes to love."
"Hey, it's never strange when it all works out so well. Remember that." Rob said 
with a smile.
"Oh, I won't ever forget." Nathan replied and took a generous sip of beer into 
his muzzle.

	As Rob and Nathan drank, their conversation ranged from the opposite sex 
to football. Nathan took a small interest in the sport, but never enough to 
become a fan. Still, he kept his attention in Rob's conversation, and showed 
just what a good friendship is supposed to be. Two young, American adults, 
sitting in a gathering of their peers to chat freely about anything, and sharing 
the comfort of a few drinks. 
"Nathan, I want you to know something." Rob said as he finished the last of his 
ninth mug, and speaking in a slurred tone.
"What's that, Rob?" Nathan replied, his own feelings seeming enhanced by the 
intake of the alcoholic beverages.
"I've known your wolf-tailed ass for two years now. There is something I want to 
say, man. We've been through a lot together, and I will never forget the good 
times we've shared. I'm not gay at all, man." Rob said as he reached for 
Nathan's shoulder to give him a tight, one-armed hug. "You understand what I'm 
getting at?" Nathan smiled and softly shook his head while staring into the 
blitzed eyes of his co-worker.
"I...don't say this to everyone, even though I know, I know, even by looking at 
what I do with women, you would do I think." Rob said and pointed his finger 
aimlessly at Nathan's chest.
"What? Dude, you're kinda jumbled."
"Sheeeit, man, I'm trying to say, Nate, that I really love you, man." Rob said 
and dizzily laid his head on Nathan's shoulder. Nathan rubbed Rob's back and 
softly gave his reply.
"I love you too, Rob, but you're really toasted!" Nathan said with a light 
chuckle. Rob returned to his chair and shook the dizziness from his head.
"I think I drank too much, Nate. I'm really toasted."
"No kidding." Nathan whispered, keeping his drunken activity to a minimum.
"No kidding." Rob repeated, then held a coy look in Nathan's eyes. Rob suddenly 
burst into hysterics and slammed his opened palm down onto the table.
"Damn, we really have to do this more often." Rob said and rose to his feet. 
"Listen, I really do want to wish to I could stay and play, but I..home, I 
should get."
"Good thing you only live down the street from here." Nathan replied.
"No, your body could drive me home. I just get up and ride you to my house on 
your back." Rob said and emitted a loud, drunken laugh. Nathan couldn't help but 
to share the humor of his friend. Nathan watched while Rob staggered and swayed 
as he walked towards the door. He squinted his eyes as the afternoon light shone 
into the dim establishment and then turned to finish off the last few swallows 
of his own mug. He rose from his seat and headed for the bartender to pay the 
tab and headed outside, shielding his eyes from the blinding light of the cloud-
scattered sky.
"God bless America." Nathan whispered to himself as he watched Rob head 
drunkenly down his street. 

	Nathan decided to celebrate the rest of his accomplishments by taking the 
bus to the North end part of the city and walked past the beautiful-looking park 
he once visited, where all the dogs were on leashes. They looked up at Nathan 
and wagged their tails happily as he walked by. Nathan smiled and waved to the 
small line-up of dogs being walked on the pathway through the beautiful flower 
gardens near the park's edge. He waved in greeting to the large canines before 
heading into the direction of his favorite pizza restaurant.

	The parlor was exactly the same as Nathan remembered, from the smell of 
mouth-watering delicacies in the kitchen to the smell of fresh vegetables from 
the nearby salad bar.
"Hey, Nate. Good to have you back." the young cashier said. "What's it been, a 
week already and you're hungry for more?"
"You know me, Eric, I can't stay away from this place."
"The usual?"
"The usual." Nathan replied.
"Here's your number, and watch your spiders this time." Eric said and chuckled 
loudly. Nathan recalled the spider-stomping dance he performed on his recent 
visit and slowly formed a grin on his muzzle.
"Eric, you're too classic, man."
"Hey, gotta bring the customers back somehow. If it's not my hot looks, then 
it's got to be my winning personality and my charming smile."
"Yeah, but too bad you'll be an asshole for the rest of your life." Nathan said 
jokingly.
"Oh! I'm impressed! You'll be getting better than me before too long." Eric said 
and tended to the food cooking in the kitchen. Nathan took his usual seat at the 
booth and felt the sheer feeling of peace flowing through him, and the thought 
of how everything that turned out so wrong could work out so well in the long 
run.
"I thought I was a fool to believe this stuff then, but as it turned out, I 
would have been a bigger fool if I never learned. I wonder...will I ever see 
those two again?" Nathan asked himself as he thought of the gothic-looking 
neighbor and the small, sly wizard that turned his nightmares into rays of 
light. Just then, a pair of gentlemen dressed in identical suits and ties 
entered into the establishment. Nathan looked up and saw the whiskered face of 
an elder gentleman accompanied by a tall, clean-shaven, young man.
"Gabriel? Zhane?" Nathan called and looked up at the two new arrivals.
"Are you referring to us, sir?" the young gentleman asked and gazed a perplexed 
expression in the wolftaur's eyes.
"No...I guess...you both look a lot like somebody I know."
"Ah, I see." the man said and continued heading towards the counter.
"I could have sworn it." Nathan whispered. From across the room, Nathan 
overheard the voice of the old man, sounding just as frail as he remembered.
"Things aren't always what they appear, son." the old man said to his cohort. 
The young man looked back at Nathan, who sat at the table with his head pointed 
down at the table top, and gave the wolftaur a soft smile before turning back to 
face the counter. Just before Nathan could blink an eye, Eric arrived to his 
table, and placed a large platter of pizza before his hungry eyes, followed by a 
pitcher of his favorite root beer.
"Thanks, Eric." Nathan said and gave the clerk a friendly pat on the shoulder.
"Anytime, Nathan. Eat up." Eric said, then stopped himself before leaving the 
vicinity.
"Oh, by the way, somebody left this for you." Eric said and pulled out a small 
slip of paper. Written in pencil were the following words:
"Someday, we will meet again. Someday." Nathan sniffled gently as a tear came to 
his eye. He looked up at the front counter, only to find the pair of gentlemen 
had disappeared. He looked around the restaurant to try and track their 
appearances, but neither one was seen.
"Maybe using the bathroom. Too much beverage sure does it to a person." Nathan 
whispered and began to dig in with his paws to partake of the scrumptious meal 
before him.

	Eric returned a half hour later to retrieve the empty platter and pitcher 
at Nathan's table. He cast a small grin as he hesitated while looking into 
Nathan's amber eyes.
"Come on, where is it?"
"Where's what?"
"You know, the patented Nathan Cromwell belch? You always did belch the loudest 
after eating a meal like this. Come on."
"You're crazy as the Son of Sam, you know that, right?"
"Come on." Eric taunted. Nathan smiled a sheepish grin and shrugged his 
shoulder. Nathan looked up at Eric's mocking expression as he arched his head 
back. He opened his muzzle slightly, and let a loud belch escape his throat.
"Yeah! That's what I like to see." Eric said and removed the empty dishes from 
Nathan's table.
"Hey, great seeing you again, Eric."
"Right, Nathan. Take care." Eric called as the wolftaur exited the 
establishment. As Nathan left the pizza restaurant, he noticed the afternoon sun 
seem miles away from the environment, giving the settlers of Earth a sign of the 
late-afternoon's existence. Nathan smiled a gentle grin as he patted his 
stomach. He wagged his tail happily as he walked along the high-classed streets 
of Northern Seattle. 
"Time to meet the lady." Nathan said and smiled softly as the view of the 
McDowell Estate loomed in the distance. He inhaled a deep breath through his 
nose, twitched his whiskers, and strutted his four wolf legs towards the large 
house.

	Nathan looked up at the mansion in its completely restored state and ran 
his paw over a nearby horse's head. The horse shook his head swiftly to and fro, 
and gave a hefty neigh as a form of greeting. 
"Where's the lady of the house, huh?" Nathan asked in a pleasant tone. The horse 
neighed once again and nuzzled its head into Nathan's open paw.
"You're awfully sweet." Nathan whispered and planted a gentle kiss on the 
horse's cheek. The door to the estate opened widely and Fran smiled upon the new 
visitor.
"Nathan, good afternoon."
"Good afternoon, Fran." Nathan replied and gave a small, respectful bow.
"Sylvia's in the study, but she will tend to you in a moment. I'll tell her 
you've arrived. Please, come in." Fran said happily and held the door open for 
the wolftaur.
"Thank you, Fran. You're a true credit to the estate."
"Why, thank you for saying so, Nathan." Fran said and hummed a gentle tune to 
herself as she headed through one of the large rooms in the lobby of the large 
house.
"Miss McDowell, Nathan's here to see you."
"Great!" Sylvia said with a large smile on her lips, exposing her pearly-white 
teeth.
"I sure do like him, Miss McDowell. Might I say, you have a great taste in your 
men, or wolves in this case." Sylvia sighed in a loving tone and nodded her 
head.
"Thank you, Fran." Sylvia said and draped a white, feathery shawl around her 
neck. She stepped gracefully across the floor, her white, flowing dress lightly 
waving from the forces of her legs in motion. Her white high-heeled shoes 
clomped loudly upon the white-tiled floor as she stepped off the large, 
authentic rug that adorned the study floor. Fran procured a silk handkerchief 
from her uniform pocket and touched it to Sylvia's face to remove any excess 
cosmetics, and then smiled as she looked at the gentle splendor of the beauty in 
Sylvia's face.
"Thank you, Fran." Sylvia whispered and gave a gentle smile. The large maid held 
the door open, allowing Sylvia to pass lithely over the threshold.
"Sylvia." Nathan said as he rose to his wolf paws. Sylvia smiled gently as she 
approached the happy-looking wolftaur, and leaning his head upward, he proceeded 
to kiss the gentle, red lips of his heart's desiring. Sylvia closed her eyes and 
pressed her lips to the wolf's muzzle, then pulled gently back to gaze into the 
eyes of her love.
"I've been thinking about you all day." Sylvia whispered.
"As I have, you, my love." Nathan whispered. He reached his paws out to take 
Sylvia's small, gentle hands and held a gaze of deep love and passionate 
desiring in his eyes of amber.
"What shall we do tonight, my love?" Sylvia asked.
"Just let me look at you. Let me bask in the warmth of your radiant beauty." 
Nathan whispered.
"Nathan, it's almost like you haven't seen me in years."
"It sure seemed that way, Sylvia." Nathan said and gave a gentle sigh.
"Okay, so what do we do after that?"
"Oh, I don't know. Head over to the movie theater, sit way up in the balcony, 
and enjoy the entertainment of a new movie while we share the warmth of each 
other's embrace."
"That sounds beautiful." Sylvia whispered and gave Nathan a soft, gentle kiss on 
his muzzle. Nathan closed his eyes softly and wrapped his paws around Sylvia's 
back to hold her close, and shared the fervor of each other's love in a gentle, 
romantic moment together. Sylvia slowly opened her mouth to allow Nathan's wolf 
tongue to enter into her mouth, and Nathan slowly inched his tongue into the 
slightly ajar opening. Sylvia and Nathan shared a gentle murr of love and desire 
as they held the passionate moment together, and in the center of their chests, 
both lovers could feel their hearts beating softly against each other. Sylvia 
pulled slowly away from the kiss and opened her eyes partway. Nathan inhaled 
through his nose and smiled softly as he looked up into Sylvia's shade of baby 
blue, speaking in a gentle whisper.
"I love you so much, Sylvia."
"I love you too, Nathan." Sylvia whispered back. As quiet as the loving couple 
seemed to be, Fran could hear every word uttered, and sensed every feeling of 
love shared.
"Young love. Never shall it dissipate." the corpulent maid said with a gentle 
smile on her lips.
"Fran, send for Patterson. We'll be going out tonight." Sylvia said as she 
looked up at the obese woman standing in the background of the large vestibule.
"Right away, Miss McDowell." Fran said and left the room, leaving the love-
stricken couple to share another moment together in warmth, love, and passion.

	Five minutes later, a gentleman in a black suit joined up with the loving 
couple.
"Miss McDowel." the chauffeur said, but the couple was lost within each other's 
warmth.
"Ahem!" the chauffeur said as he cleared his throat. The couple broke free of 
their kiss and gazed up at the benign-looking man.
"Oh, Patterson, it's you." Sylvia said in a startled tone.
"Yes, Miss McDowell. Your coach awaits you. Good afternoon, Mr. Cromwell."
"And a good afternoon it is, Patterson." Nathan said with a smile and slowly 
returned the gaze to his heart's desire. Sylvia blushed slightly and smiled a 
tiny grin in response.
"Oh, bother. Is there any sign of dignity for the lost souls?" the chauffeur 
said.
"Very little." Sylvia replied back and gave a gentle chuckle. Nathan rose to his 
paws and helped Sylvia rise to her feet.
"Shall I escort you out, ma'am?" Nathan asked.
"Oh, Nathan, you're too much." Sylvia said, and arm in arm, the loving couple 
followed the slow-walking chauffeur out of the door. Nathan smiled and punched 
the security code into the number pad of the security system.
"10-24-02" Nathan announced happily.
"The day we first met." Sylvia finished. Patterson helped the gentle, young 
woman to the back seat of the carriage, and then went around to help Nathan into 
the widened seat, which seemed to have been built to accommodate his wolftaur 
body perfectly for maneuverability. Nathan wrapped his arm around Sylvia's 
shoulders as Patterson hoisted up into the front seat. He grabbed the leather 
reins and slapped them against the horses' backs. The horse-drawn carriage 
slowly rolled out of sight, leaving Fran watching out of the front bay window, 
and a smile that seemed eternally painted across her face. Nathan looked gently 
into the eyes of his true love and smiled as the carriage headed down the road 
to the Metro Movie House, where the opening night spotlights danced back and 
forth across the sky. Upon arrival to the theater grounds, Nathan and Sylvia 
stepped down from the carriage and gazed up at the towering theater before them.
"Opening night. Looks like we picked a good time to arrive." Sylvia said and 
walked towards the ticket booth while holding onto Nathan's paw. Nathan smiled 
as he leaned his head forward to speak out to the attendant sitting behind the 
booth of glass.
"Two tickets for 'Rebel's Dance', please." the wolftaur spoke happily. Nathan 
pushed the admission price through the small opening at the counter of the 
booth, and accepted the pair of tickets in return.
"Rebel's Dance. They sure did finish the movie in a hurry." Sylvia said.
"Did I tell you James Dean and Greta Garbo both came into the store while they 
were filming this?"
"Did they? That's quite a rare opportunity."
"Sure was." Nathan whispered as he escorted the gentle woman through the doors 
of the theater. Overhead, a small group of dragons soared through the sky and 
gave out scattered calls amongst one another. In the nearby distance, the 
appearance of a majestic-looking white stallion steed stood atop a hill 
overlooking the ritzy community. On his back was the recovered knight of Sir 
Grisham, and he looked up into the sky as the massive bodies of scales and wings 
flew by.
"God bless America." Sir Grisham whispered under his breath as guided his horse 
into the opposite direction. Upon reaching the open stretch of land around him, 
the white steed sprouted its wings majestically and took to the skies. As Sir 
Grisham flew, the massive body and wide-winged red dragon which belonged to 
Magmus flew alongside the mighty knight. He looked over at Magmus's horned head, 
and a smile slowly developed on his face. Magmus gave a loud call and seemed to 
smile back as he flapped his mighty wings to keep up with the winged horse. Both 
heroes from opposite sides of the war that once occurred, now friend to one 
another, Sir Grisham and Magmus flew across the late-afternoon Seattle skies  to 
return to their homes, where they will enjoy a large meal, a sense of close 
friendship, and a time to frolic in the nearby, open plains. The entire city 
seemed to be at peace from high above the skies, and the settlers within the 
vast area will soon rest up, in preparation for another day in everyday Seattle 
life.

The End