Coyotes: Denis

Chapter 4: Family of None

   In the following weeks, things started to change drastically.

   I knew that my mother didn't have a secret coffee jar stowed away with valuables, and she wasn't taking charity from our neighbors.

   No, instead she had taken odd jobs for other people. My siblings were basically living next door because my mother could never be home for long, and I was still in recovery.

   She had one job of doing laundry for an elderly couple, and this took up her mornings. She started before the Sun woke up.

   She had another in the afternoon of cooking for the hospital patients on the other side of the territory.

   And, when she came back home in the wee hours, she cleaned the house next door after my siblings had wreaked their havoc during the day.

   Her efforts were paying towards the food that our neighbor fed my siblings, and what she brought over to me as well. I could only pray that my mother had a spare moment to eat at some point during her jobs. She only slept for a few hours, and I didn't see her enough to tell what kind of toll it was taking on her.

   But, it tortured me. I used to recoil at the thought of taking another creature's life, but sometimes I found myself missing the thrill of a hunt, or the blood between my teeth after a killing strike. If only to give my mother some respite.

   Benoit still came occassionally, but never for the entire day like before. I always had an excuse for him about where everyone was, because I was ashamed at how we struggled.

   He wasn't rich, but his father's status in our tribe left them comfortable. They received a stipend for his efforts in times of hunger or battle as a younger man. His mother was part of a team that crafted the costumes of, and taught classes for, our ceremonial dances. That brought in a little extra.

   I only know this because one night, while we shared a cup of coffee around the firepit, I dared to ask more about him.

   When I posed a question that he could give general, almost clinical answers to, he was willing and able. It was when I dug deeper that he began to shut down.

   Because of this, I felt that my privacy was important, too. But, I wished that we could better connect with each other.

***

   I was starting to get around much better, and so today I broke the cycle of monotony by hobbling over to the neighbor's house. I could hear Marion, Antoine, and Damien from my place on the porch, so I had to knock with a bit of force to be heard over them.

   My neighbor came to the door, looking a little disheveled, but her smile was bright. "Come on in Denis, we were just getting ready for lunch." She shuffled past the toys on the ground to find her way back to the kitchen.

   My siblings all shrieked once they realized who had come in, and I had to put a hand against the wall so that I wasn't toppled over by the force of their hugs.

   "Mrs. Maria! Save me!" I fake-cried, and my siblings started in with evil cackles.

   Maria came in from the kitchen, balancing plates on her arms, and gave a stern look to the little ones. "You know the drill. Butts in chairs, and say thank you."

   They grumbled thanks to Maria, their hunger winning over, and decided to all race to the table and see who could get there first.

   I carefully made my way over, wincing slightly, and lowered myself into a vacant chair.

   "Today, we played Cats and Wolves!" Damien, the second oldest of us four, proudly announced. "I was a Wolf! And I beat these two dumb Cats! Awooo!!"