Werewolf Skin

6

Aunt Marta invited Hannah to stay for dinner. The four of us squeezed around the small kitchen table and spooned up big bowls of steaming chicken soup.

“You make the best soup!” Hannah told my aunt.

Aunt Marta smiled. A little broth dripped down her chin. She reached for her napkin. “Thank you, Hannah. I just throw everything in it I can find.”

“Sorry we were late for dinner,” I said. “I lost track of time. I didn’t want to leave the woods. It was so interesting.”

Uncle Colin’s eyes moved to the kitchen window. He stared up at the rising moon. Then he lowered his gaze to the Marlings’ house next door.

“I photographed an awesome-looking tree,” I told him. “It was wrinkled and bent over like an old man.”

Uncle Colin didn’t reply. His eyes were still focused out the window.

“Colin-Alex is talking to you,” Aunt Marta scolded.

“Huh? Oh.” He turned back to the table, shaking his head as if shaking away his thoughts. “Sorry. What were you saying?”

I told him again about the old tree.

“I’ll help you develop those shots,” he offered. “Maybe tomorrow. I set up a darkroom in the little bathroom in the attic. We really need a bigger house. Especially with all the work we’ve been doing lately.”

“What are you photographing now?” I asked.

“Creatures of the night,” he replied. His eyes wandered to the window again. I followed his gaze to the Marlings’ back window. Totally dark.

“We’re photographing nocturnal animals,” Aunt Marta explained. “Animals that come out only at night.”

“You mean like owls?” Hannah asked.

Aunt Marta nodded. “We’ve found some wonderful owls in the woods-haven’t we, Colin?”

Uncle Colin turned back from the window. Silvery light from the full moon washed over the windowpane. “The night creatures don’t like to be photographed,” he said, spooning up a carrot and chewing it slowly. “They are very private.”

“Sometimes we wait in one spot for hours,” my aunt added. “Waiting for a creature to poke its head up from its hole in the ground.”

“Can I come with you one night?” I asked eagerly. “I can be real quiet. Really.”

Uncle Colin swallowed a chunk of chicken. “That’s a fine idea,” he said. But then his expression grew solemn. And he added, “Maybe after Halloween.”

I turned and saw Aunt Marta staring out at the Marlings’ house. “The moon is still low,” she said thoughtfully. “But it’s so bright tonight.”

“Almost like daylight out there,” Uncle Colin said. What was that expression that quickly passed over his face? Was it fear?

My aunt and uncle are both acting so weird tonight, I decided. So nervous.

Why do they keep staring out the window? What do they expect to see at the Marlings’ house?

I couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Is everything okay?” I asked them.

“Okay?” Uncle Colin narrowed his eyes at me. “I guess…”

“Are you two thinking about your Halloween costumes?” Aunt Marta demanded, changing the subject.

“I think I’m going to be a pirate again this year,” Hannah replied. She finished her chocolate milk and licked the chocolate syrup on the edge of the glass. “You know. I’ll wrap a bandanna around my head and wear a patch over one eye.”

“Colin and I might have some funny old clothes you can wear,” Aunt Marta offered. She turned to me. “How about you, Alex?”

I still wanted to be a werewolf. But I remembered the last time I’d told that to my aunt and uncle. Uncle Colin had nearly cracked up the car!

So I smiled and quietly told them, “Maybe I’ll be a pirate too.”

I spooned up the last of my soup.

I had no way of knowing that in a few hours, when the moon rose to its peak in the sky, I’d be nearly face-to-face with a real werewolf.