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Chapter 6

The next three months until my discharge crept by like a cold snail. We finished Winona, and much to my roommate’s disappointment I began to live in it. Several other times I had a dream where I was running, and Bark was there, running besides me. I found I could talk to her, and her to me, so that when I was forced to work over the weekend in preparation of my departure it was no great loss.

“Perhaps I’ll see you tonight then” she had said after I had explained over the phone that we wouldn’t be able to do anything.

“In your dreams,” I retorted, and she chuckled softly at the bad pun.

“I have a lot I need to get done over the weekend too, but you have to promise to go camping one last time before you go.”

I agreed.

The following Friday I was discharged, my time officially expiring that Sunday. I packed the rest of my belongings from my room into Winona and headed over to Rebecca's house.

It was after dark by the time I arrived at her house. The living room lights glowing through the curtains. I climbed the steps and knocked on the door. A minute later she opened it, her reddened face tear streamed.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, stepping inside. She hadn’t looked like this sense her dad had died.

“I...I was fired. The company was forced to downsize by that new law and I was one of the ones they let go.”

Ouch, that sucked.

“But surly there must be other construction companies around, aren't there?”

She nodded, “There are, but they have all been forced to do the same thing. I don’t know what I’m going to do...”

I gave her a hug as I tried to think of a solution. The notion of her following me back home came up, but I dismissed it at first. She needed a job, not to follow some nut case into the wild. But the more I thought about it the more appeal it had. Why not? She was as interested in the subject as I was, and there were plenty of jobs where I was from anyway. She could probably use the break from working every day as much as I did, and we’d be in a perfect place to find work afterwards. In the end I presented the idea.

“Hey, I’m leaving Monday to go back home as you know, why don’t you come with me.”

She looked up into my face, “I couldn’t do that to you..”

“Let me finish,” I cut her off, “I have an obligation to my self to fulfill from before my enlistment, a minimum of one year in the woods. After that there are plenty of manufacturing jobs available. I was going to look for work at the airport near my hometown and as it’s a growing area I’m sure there is a demand for carpenters. You wouldn’t be a burden on me at all, I enjoy your company very much, hopefully as much as you enjoy mine. Besides, I’m still thinking about your offer.”

“Your sure?” she asked.

“Damn sure. Think about it.”

She did think about it, plunking herself down on the sofa, her head in her hands as she stared at the floor. I pulled an atlas out of my bag and went about figuring my rout home on the coffee table, where I would stop, rest, refuel, and things like that. I was about half way across Colorado before she said anything, making me jump.

“All right. I have to give a few things away to my friends and then I’ll go.”

I gave her a smile. “When do you think you’ll be ready?”

“Tomorrow evening.”

I almost fell off the sofa. “Wow, that’s fast.”

She shrugged, “I don’t have much to deal with. Give away the computer, the rest either came with the house or I can put in the bus. After that I just have to close my savings account and notify the landlord and newspaper and we’ll be golden.”

“What about your truck?”

“Sold it this morning after I found out I was fired,” she said, “I figured I’d need the money and can always walk or ride a bicycile.”

She lay back on the couch as I went back to my maps. “So tell me, what’s Wisconsin like...”

****

It wasn’t until early in the morning that I finished making all the plans for the trek back home. Even then a lot could go wrong, and we’d be spending the first few weeksparked behind my parent’s place. Not that it mattered much, they would be overjoyed to have me home, and probably get a long well with Bark.

I stood to leave and notice Bark sprawled across the sofa. I bent over and picked her up gently, carrying her to the bedroom door. I had never been in her room before, she never let the door open and I never had any reason to enter. Once I found the light switch I saw why she might be inclined to keep the door shut all the time. There were pictures of forest and woodland scenes covering the walls, along with a heavy layer of golden fur imbedded in the carpet. Mixed in with the woodland scenes on the white walls were pictures of everything from raccoons to semis, mud puddles to linen on a clothesline, a rifle and valve spring compressor, to the full moon and even a bondage scene. She must have kept the dog in here, judging by the fur coating the floor. I shook my head as I lay her on the unmade bed. She was definitely different. I pulled the covers over her and was about to leave when a thought I would later regret drifted through my thick noggin. Bending over I undid the collar about her neck whispering in her ear.

“I will show you how to be free.”

With that I walked out to Winona, climbed into bed and promptly fell asleep.

****

The sun beamed through the window, burning my eyes. Half awake I rolled over and into midair. The bus was still bounding on it’s suspension as I picked myself off the floor. I snatched up my pants and shirt from yesterday and pulled them on before putting on my socks and boots and walking out and back up the steps to the front door. I half considered just walking in, but I knocked instead.

“GO AWAY!” shouted a lower voice from inside.

Wait a minute, that didn’t sound like anyone I knew. This was Bark’s address right?
It was, so I knocked again.

“PLEASE GO AWAY” came the voice again.

It sounded kind of like Bark, yet completely different. What the heck was going on?

I envisioned a pale man, frantically wiping the blood off his hands on one of her shirts and make his way silently toward the back door. I saw him stop as I called, doing his best to recall what the young woman had sounded like and mimick it. Sweat dripped off his brow as he prayed the man at the door wouldn’t open it to find him there with the deed.

“Bark?” I called, “Are you ok?”

“Yes,” replied the voice, “I’m fine, please just come back later.”

I silently tried the door, which was locked. I took a couple of steps backwards on the porch.

“Are you sure?” I asked, “You don’t sound fine.”

“Yes, I’m su-

BAM!!

Splinters scattered the carpet as the dead bolt was torn from the door frame. The door swung open, my dusty boot print visible above the doorknob. Movement caught the corner of my eye and I turned my head in time to see a blanket settle over a tall lump on the couch. The shredded pair of pants and shirt on the floor made my heart jump from high into overdrive.

“What’s going on?” I said, my thumb unsnapping the sheath on my knife.

“Please Steve,” begged the voice from under the blanket, “I’ll explain all of this later, I need you to go now. I beg of you.”

“No,” I said, “I need to know what’s wrong. Why are you hiding Rebecca? What happened to your voice? Are you sick? You know I don’t care what you look like. If your ill please let me help, I can take you to the doctor if you need to.”

“I’ll be ok, I just need a little time to myself.”

I growled, “Well your not going to get it until I get some answers. What’s going on?”

“Stop! Ok, I’ll show you what’s going on. I look a bit different, so please don’t do anything rash. In fact, go sit in the closet in my room. Once I explain everything I’ll let you out. I swear it.”

I stopped edging twards the lump at this. Should I just stick my knife into now?

“That has to be one of the dumbest suggestions I have ever heard!” I shouted, “I don’t even know if you are Bark, and the more I listen to you the less I think you are. Her clothes are ripped up and on the floor, for all I know you are an intruder who tried to rape and kill her last night! I may be a Marine, but don’t let that make you think I’m completely stupid!”

I lunged at the lump, the knife clenched in my sweaty hand. My heart pounded as I reached out to catch the blanket. Once I latched onto the cloth I snatched it back, retreating in a swift motion.

“Don’tdoanythingstupidplease!” yelled the lump as the blanket lifted off.

I stood there awestruck. In front of me was a completely impossible creature, and yet I had no doubts now who she was.

Rebecca shook with fear from where she huddled on the couch, golden fur that matched the covering on the floor in her room and old truck quivering. Her ears were flat against her head, her tail tucked between her legs and she gave me a terrified look with amber eyes.

I stood there for a moment, awestruck. Then,

“Aw Bark, I’m sorry.”

I dumped my knife on the floor and came forward with an embrace.

“I didn’t know. I heard a strange voice from within and I thought you were in trouble. You should have told me you could do this before.”

I felt a pair of oddly shaped hands press against my back.

“Whoa, you can hug back!”

“Your right,” she said, “I should have told you sooner. I’m sorry. I was going to show you before we left today anyway... It’s just the last guy I went out with acted all cool with it at first too, then shot himself later that night after he had left.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to go and do anything like that” I said.

“That’s what he said too,” she whispered, “and I’m determined not to let that happen again. I planned on showing you before. You won’t do anything stupid if you have some time to think through and let things settle.”

I chuckled, “I’m still not going to lock myself in a closet, but if your that concerned you’ll be able to keep an eye on me while we take care of what you need to. How long have you been able to do this?”

“I first did it when I was about sixteen. It took a lot of concentration and practice on my part, but after I did it once I found I couldn’t control when it would strike next. I could smell my mother bring in a steak from the grocery store, and the next thing I knew I’d be like this. One thing I found though, is this part of me cannot stand any type of control. It craves absolute freedom. After about a couple weeks I found that if I wore something around my neck and couldn’t take it off I couldn’t shift, even if I tried. It burned like hell and I hated it, but it was the only way I could keep myself from growing fur in the middle of math.”

She sighed, then kept going. “I stared with one of those choke chains. It was easily concealable, but I still had to change for gym class and it brought up a lot of questions. After a while I said screw it and just used a regular dog collar. It was more accepted with my normal goofy nature and people didn’t question it as much. I still needed to lock it at first to keep my self from just taking it off, but after about a month I got used to not being able to and got rid of the lock.

“Last night you took off my collar didn’t you? I woke up this morning staring down my muzzle and my clothes around me in shreds. I had just gotten into the living room when you started knocking on the door. I figured if I stayed quiet you’d just let yourself in, and I didn’t think to just lock the door until after I had spoke.”

We were silent for a few minutes and I absent mindedly found myself playing with the fur on her leg.

“Well,” I said, getting up, “should we start taking care of business? I don’t supposed you can shift back now, can you?”

She shook her head, “I’v been trying, but I haven't let myself loose for so long I think I’m going to have to wait a while. Until then I suppose we can start going through stuff in here.”

We spent the morning throwing things out and putting anything she wanted saved in the living room. It wasn’t much that we moved out there. The camping equipment I had given her, a sculpture she had made of an eagle out of clay. Pictures of her family and a scrap book. The rifle from under her bed and about six or so magazines from the drawer in the kitchen. She brought out the plates and cups and silverware from the cupboards to use as the bus didn’t have any. Several books and a journal. A lamp and a radio.

It took the two of us to carry her box of tools into the living room. After that we stopped for a break, everything was separated and all that was left was to move them to there respective places. I looked at the clock, which gave a little past noon. Bark was sitting on the floor against the wall, her eyes closed. I moved to go get something to eat when she put up a paw to stop me.

“Hold it, your not going anywhere. Give me a moment here. I think I can shift back.”

I stood there a few minutes and watched as nothing happened. Suddenly she went tense, and took a few breaths to relax herself again. Then it started. Slowly at first, then gradually picking up speed her fur began to retract. Her muzzle got shorter and tail shrank. Fifteen minutes later she was sitting there, stark naked on the kitchen floor. Snatching her collar from the counter she buckled it on before standing up.
Realizing what I was looking at I turned around. She giggled.

“What, have a problem with me naked now? I wasn’t wearing anything before you know,” she joked.

“You had about three inches of fur before,” I said, my face growing warm. I thought I must have been pretty red and tried to quell my embaressment. She laughed as she walked from the room. “We’ll load up the bus and then stop someplace for lunch,” she called back.
I heard the door of her room close and found my way into the living room, the small pile of belongings on the sofa that would be going with us to my folk’s in Wisconsin. I shrugged and picked up a box of her clothes. Might as well start.
I made it about two steps from the door before she yelled through her closed bedroom door.

“Don’t even think about it you. Your not off probation yet.”

I couldn’t help but smile and set the box down where I stood. That left me only one more item on my to-do list.

I stood there, letting out a quiet groan of relief as all the tension in me flowed through the air and into the toilet. The door burst open.

“Hey, that looks like a penis, only smaller!”

I jumped, splashing droplets all over the wall. “Whoa, hey, what’s the deal with walking in on a man while he’s peein’?” I shouted back.

She grinned as I zipped up my pants and redid my belt, “Now we’re even.”

I felt my face go red again.

I wiped the sweat from my face as we closed the rear hatch of the bus. That was the last of it. Thank God too, it was starting to get hot out. I walked around the side where Bark was using my cell phone to call her landlord and inform him that she wouldn’t be renting the space next month. I motioned to her that all was loaded and she gave a nod.
I climbed into the driver’s seat and began my regular startup procedures. The function part of the bus was a bit simpler sense I had removed the computer, but therefor the operator had that much more to do. The engine kicked over as Bark climbed aboard, finishing her conversation with the land lord.

“Where too?” I asked.

“I dunno, let’s get some food and then head to goodwill, after that the dump and then I’ll guide you to Megan’s place.”

We stopped at a McDonald's and while I ordered our meals Bark ran a hose to the waste grease bin and pumped it dry. We got some odd looks from the car behind us as she coiled the hose back up and hung it inside the back door, and security would probably be puzzled as they watched thier black and white screens, replaying what happened to all their refuse cooking oil. I seriously doubted that anyone would ever really mind us disposing of their garbage for them.
After feasting upon the artery clogging food we continued on to the thrift store. The young man at the back door was friendly but not overly helpful, and it was a few minutes until we had everything unloaded and I gave Bark the wheel.

Despite the fact that the trip lasted only a few minutes I found myself dozing in the heavy heat of the co-pilot’s seat when Winona lurched to a stop. I pulled my face out of the puddle of drool dripping across the navigator’s table and looked out the dust coated window. I managed to make out a battered brown shingled house in a desperate of a coat of paint before I was yanked backwards by the collar of my shirt.

I found myself staring into Bark’s wild gray eyes. She broke into a smile as she saw the drool on the table and my face.

“Stay up a little late last night?” she giggled.

“Yep,” I half-yawned, “planning the trip.”

“Come on,” she said, trying to hoist me out of the chair by my shirt, “ give me a hand bringing that old computer in. You can sleep while I take care of everything else before we go.”

I yawned again and groggily walked to the back of the bus where the harness normally used for sleeping while the vehicle was in motion had been used to keep the monitor safely on the bed. Bark lifted the tower from where it had been bunged to the wall and I followed her out and up to the front door of the house.
She was just about to knock when the door opened and a round, younger woman wearing an Oiler’s T-shirt and sweatpants appeared. She scratched her frazzled red hair for a minute before she looked up.
“That’s one hell of a new toy Bark, yor piston pounding woke me up. I thought it was a road crew at first... So what’s new- Oh who’s this? Your not Steve are you?”

She had noticed me, standing off to the side and trying to keep my sweaty fingers on the slippery plastic.
“Yep,” I nodded, eager to set my load down before I dropped the ancient thing and sent it smashing into the floor. She noticed as it broke free momentarily before I caught it up again.

“Come on in,” she said, holding the door open.

I followed Bark into the house, my eyes quickly trying to adjust to the dim light.

“Steve,” said Bark, finding a vacant corner in the piles of clutter that lay strewn about and dumping the computer, “this is Megan, a close friend of mine sense... oh man, first grade?”
Megan nodded, “Nice to meet you Steve, I’v heard a lot about you. For Bark to pick up a friend that fast either means your one heck of a guy or she’s lost her mind.”

I set the monitor down next to the tower and wiped my hands off on my pants.

“I’v actually come to say good-bye as well Megan,” began Bark.

“Your what?!” interrupted Megan, “Leaving? But why?”

Bark moved a pile of laundry over and sat down on the couch.

“I lost my job yesterday,” she said, “Steve here just got discharged and was about to head back to his home state. I guess there are a lot of jobs there and he invited me to go with.”

The coffee table stacked with piles of various magazines groaned as Megan sat on it. It was very warm in the room so I sat on an enormous pile of clothes in the corner and leaned back against the wall.

“So your tagging along?”

I closed my eyes. With women talking, this could go on for hours. I began to drift off as the two went on. Suddenly someone was close, my body sensing them approach and pulling me back to consciousness.

“Huh?”

“I said your in for a bundle of surprises living with this one.”

“Oh trust me, I’v already found that out for myself,” I said, half opening my eyes. Then I realized what I had said and mentally slapped myself for doing so.

“Really,” said Megan, eyeing Bark, “which ones? She has more things that just pop up than a grade B porn site.”

I tried to beg Bark for help with a look while I replied. “Well, ah, there was the time we drank some of her grandma’s special thinking it was moonshine and it knocked us out for a good twelve hours. Um, I was surprised at how eager she was to learn survival stuff, like hunting and trapping. Not many females know how to build a cabinet... Uh-”

Bark held up a hand, “It’s all right Steve, she was there the first time I shifted.”

“You know about that then?” cackled Megan, “Ho ho, I have to hear about this. When did you find out?”

“Er,” I said. I wasn’t sure really where to begin. That dream we had shared was pretty intense, and probably the reason I had remained as collected as I had so far. It was when I had learned that she had that side to her, but never did I think that it was physically possible.

“Actually,” interjected Bark, “ he found out this morning. Last night I fell asleep while he was looking at maps. He thought he was being chivalrous by carrying me to bed and for some reason he removed my collar as well. You can imagine what happened when he came back this morning.” She then leaned over and whispered something into Megan’s ear, the two of them looking like a pair of teenaged gossipers.
I closed my eyes and went back to sleep. I didn’t care.