Sweet Charity

Charity: Chapter 5: Heightened Senses

My mom grabs her favorite mug from the cup tree. I can see all the pores in the ceramic and the way it's glazed. Have I always seen this well? I know my eyes have been really good before. I've never needed glasses to see and I also know that wolves do have heightened abilities. Am I just noticing this because I have shifted? Is this just my perception changing?

I don't pay attention to my mom pouring her coffee, but as soon as she opens the refrigerator for the milk, I wrinkle my nose. "Mom, you can't use the milk. It's about to be rancid." She sniffs it. She looks at the date on the carton and then at me. "I can smell it from here." I can tell she's judging the distance from the refrigerator to where I sit. I know it to be about six feet from my chair to the fridge.

"I will be right back." She leaves the kitchen. I start to smell other items in the fridge that are getting a bit gross. This is definitely a new sensation for me. I mean my sense of smell was already decent, but being able to smell from six feet in distance is new. I start to gather up the old food. My mom returns to me scraping food into the trash. "Come on, sweetheart. We're going out to breakfast. Just you and me."

I abandon my task of cleaning up and jump for joy. It's been a while since mom and I went somewhere alone. I run out the back door and jump in the car. She's laughing at my excitement. I love my mom's laugh. It's so warm and so much love inside the notes of her laugh. I buckle in and wait a few seconds for her to settle in. She places her purse beside my legs.

"Where do you want to go?"

I think for a moment. The three of us went to a restaurant when we had first moved to the area. Granted, it was about fifteen miles away. The food was good there. "Benny's?"

"Benny's serves breakfast?" She looks at me from the corner of her eye as she's backing out of the driveway into the alley behind our house.

"Menu said so." I start playing with the radio to find a station we will both like. I settle on a classic rock station and we both immediately sing along to the song that's playing. My mom has an amazing voice. I could listen to her sing all day if she would.

The drive from the house to Benny's take roughly thirty minutes. We sing so many songs together. Some of them I know, but I mumble as I watch the passing scenery. I can see the little veins in the leaves on the trees. This amazes me. What more is my brain in store for?

We arrive at Benny's and the waitress seats us. I start to hear singing. 'Where is it coming from?' I wonder. I start to mumble the words I am hearing. Within a minute I am singing a little louder than I first thought. My mom smiles at my singing. The waitress comes over to take our order.

"You can hear that? From the kitchen?" she seems surprised.

"Yep."

"That's twenty feet away, give or take."

"I just have good ears," I tell her a half-truth. She looks at me like she's impressed. She takes our orders.

After she walks away, mom looks at me quizzically. I shrug my shoulders at her. "I can hear it like it's close. I can also tell you the waitress isn't fully human."

"What else have you noticed?" mom asks.

"I see more details. I hear voices from a distance. Smells seem more...intense now. Like the milk earlier. Just everything is more." I say the last sentence as though I expect her to understand what I say. She surprises me by nodding her head.

She leans over the table and whispers, "The Moon Goddess told us you would experience this sense of everything magnifying. She told us quite a bit of what you should expect." She stands up to slide into the booth beside me. We talk in low voices, pausing when the waitress brings our food.

After we eat, mom switches back to her side of the table and we continue talking. The waitress walks right up to me and grabs my chin gently, forcing me to look at her directly. I notice that her eyes are a deep blue with a dark grey ring. "I knew it!"

Shocked at her boldness I respond with, "You knew what?"

"Forgive me, but you're Amber and Jax's pup, aren't you?"

"Um." How do I respond to a question that I really don't know the answer to? I didn't know their names. "Do you mean the Alpha and the Luna?"

"Yes, sweetheart. Jax was our Alpha. Amber the Luna. They passed fifteen years ago." I guess she can see my confusion. "Meet me at the park at noon. Bring your mom. I will tell you what I know and maybe that will help." She hands me her cell phone number and leaves.