Dawn of the Sun Wolf

Chapter Four

I woke up the next morning feeling good, though I was still kind of shaken by what had happened Friday. The last two days had been really good for me, but I couldn't shake the feeling that it was all going to come crashing down on me. I took a shower and did the rest of my routine, then proceeded downstairs; Mark and Kathy were already eating breakfast when I walked into the room.

"Morning," I said to both of them.

"Morning" they both responded.

"So, what are you two gonna be up to today?" I asked.

"Well I'm going to watch Austin practice today, he has a lesson with his trainer," Mark said. "After that, just some boring work on the computer."

"And I'm doing some shopping, and before you say no, I know you only came with those two duffels. So what would you say to some new clothes?" Kathy finished.

"Oh, I don't want to impose..." I started to say before Kathy cut me off.

"Nonsense! You're not imposing!" Kathy stated.

"Okay then; thank you so much!" I replied. Just as I finished, Austin lumbered into the room.

"Morning, guys" Austin mumbled as he sat down with a bowl of cereal.

"Morning, Austin; you have your lesson in an hour," Mark said.

Austin just replied with a groan, almost a growl. I laughed and looked around the room, the last couple of days have been different for me. Austin not approving of Logan, annoying as that might be, showed he cared, Mark as well. Maybe I did have a family here; maybe this was all going to be okay. With a smile I looked over at the TV; today's headline read "Coroner Rules Wolf Attack in local hiker death." That was weird; we didn't have wolves in Maine; I remembered something I read online that we haven't had them in any kind of number in 150 years. I tried to listen in closer to the news as Mark and Austin talked tennis--something about Federer and the US Open. "Police are saying that this attack is extremely rare for Maine, even though in the past fifteen years there have been more and more wolf sightings. Police are saying residents shouldn't be concerned and that a local group of hunters has been tasked with finding and putting down this wolf. Back to you in the studio"

"You seem to be paying close attention to that," Austin said, sitting next to me.

I was surprised at first, but gained my composure. "Well, yeah, it's interesting. We haven't had wolves in Maine in any real numbers in over a century. So, to have one here, let alone have an attack is cool. Well, not cool, but weird."

"Although there was that time some years ago up the coast in that creepy old fishing town...what was the name?" Mark mused to himself.

"They confirmed it was a wolf attack?" Austin asked, sounding slightly worried.

"Yeah; really weird, right?"

"Yeah, weird" Austin responded, seeming distant. I watched as Austin then quickly got up and left the room; boy, was that weird. I put in my headphones and threw on some music to pass the time while waiting for Kathy; after a few songs, she came in and we walked out to the car. She drove first to the GAP store; I was a bit sheepish at first, but after some poking and prodding, I picked out a couple nice short sleeve, button down shirts. We then went to Abercrombie and Fitch, where I got some nice pants--a little more colorful--nothing flashy and outrageous, but not blue jeans, either. We then went to the grocery store and picked out food for the next week. Kathy wasn't afraid of spending money; between the three places she spent well over $800. Each time she paid, she didn't even look at the price.

It was also great to get to know Kathy better.

"So Kathy what do you do, exactly?" I asked.

"Basically, I develop online marketing campaigns for local companies and even some others in nearby towns," Kathy answered.