Desperation

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Dinner was homecooked but simple. Nothing like the spread his mother would have put on the table if someone new was joining them. You have to stop comparing everything to home. You chose to walk away. Mom’s cooking doesn’t make up for the way they were treating you.

With a smile, he settled into the last open seat at the table and said, “It looks good.”

“Dig in,” Rob said.

There was a flurry of activity as everyone served themselves and started eating.

“So, Patrick, what’s it like down south?”

“Warm and wet,” he replied.

Beside him Heidi snickered. He blushed. It hadn’t sounded dirty in his mind, but now he wondered if Karen and Rob had picked up on the innuendo. If they had, they didn’t give any indication.

“No hurricane this year?”

Patrick focused back on the conversation. “No, thank god. We got through the rainy season with nothing more than a tropical storm. At least we didn’t have buildings blowing over or water up to the windows. This time. There’s always next year.”

“Sounds like some of the winter storms we get here,” Karen said. “I remember not being able to open the front door from all the snow.”

“Is that common?” Patrick asked.

Karen shrugged. “Common enough, I guess.”

“How big is the pack you left?” Rob asked. He was watching Patrick intently.

“Big enough I suppose,” Patrick said. “I don’t even know exactly how many wolves there are. Full moon gatherings were pretty big, but we had the non-shifters with us too, at least for the meal. I haven’t seen your pack all together, so I can’t really compare them.”

“We saw on the news that New Orleans had two violent encounters with the Human Order.”

“Three, actually. They tried to assassinate the mayor.”

“Did they claim that attack?”

Patrick nodded. “Then there was the attack on the werebear clan and the more recent attack where they tried to hit us as well.”

“How could they manage that?”

“Well, a pack hall is a lot harder to hide. Our packs are just too big and too many spouses and kids and kids’ spouses know about it. There’s something to be said for the smaller size of the bear clans.”

Rob pressed on. “But they hit the bears first?”

“That was Brock’s fault. Brock Tandell is the second in the werebear clan, though I think a lot of people assume he’s the local chief. He ran for mayor a few years ago and during his campaign an ex-girlfriend came forward claiming he was a shifter. He won anyway. The Human Order didn’t like that.”

“Why did their attack shift to your pack, if they were so focused on Mr. Tandell?”

“The pack helped the clan with a hostage situation at their clan … hall.” Patrick knew it was just a warehouse in the old industrial district but didn’t want to explain that difference to the Brants. “During the Human Order’s first attack. I guess they didn’t want us coming to their rescue a second time.”

“You helped them?” Karen sounded shocked. “I’m not sure I’ve even met any of the werebears.”

“There’s a clan in town?” He shouldn’t have been surprised, since he and Philippe had planned to move together and there’d have to be a clan to take him in, but Theo hadn’t mentioned them.

“No. One town over. These small towns are too small for two shifter packs. There’d be nothing but shifters after a while.”

“You’d be surprised,” Patrick said. “The werebear clan in New Orleans has five members. Most have twenty or fewer. I think there’s only one or two clans in North America with thirty or more members.”

“You know a lot about the werebears,” Rob said. “I’m impressed. You’re sharp, Patrick. You’ve got a bright future ahead of you.”

“Uh – thanks.” No need to mention that he and Philippe had been friends for years. That was in the past now. He shifted the conversation away from New Orleans. “So, I have to start looking for work in the morning. Anywhere I should start?”

“Anything along Main Street,” Karen said. “Someone might need a sales associate or shelf stocker. There’s a few restaurants, the grocery store, and the gas station is full-serve so they might need attendants.”

“What do you do?” he said.

“I work at the school,” Karen said. “Librarian. Rob is an accountant. He works for the grocery store doing payroll and such.”

“You can try applying there,” Rob said. “But I haven’t seen any job postings recently. Still, the worst they can say is ‘we’re not hiring’, so what does it hurt to bring in a resume, right?”

“Right. Uh, I’ll need to print some of those out. For the places that don’t take electronic copies.”

“Sure, we can work that out,” Karen said.

“Any other leads?” He didn’t like the idea of pumping gas in a place where winter lasted until April and the snow got deeper than the front door was high.

“You could try the surrounding farms. They might need help. Mechanics, drivers, general labor. I hear the pay is good but it’s hard, heavy work. Shouldn’t be too hard for someone like you,” Rob said.

“Thanks. That gives me somewhere to start at least. What about housing? I didn’t see any apartments in town.”

“There are a few rental places around town,” Rob said. “Some duplexes, the town houses here. There’s a small condo building a block off Main Street but I don’t know if they have openings.”

“Oh. That could make things difficult. I was hoping to get a cheap apartment.”

“Sometimes people rent out basement rooms,” Heidi said. “Might have more luck there.”

The idea of living in some old lady’s basement with his computer semi-permanently packed in a box made him inwardly cringe. It’s a start. I only get three months here and then I NEED somewhere else to live. Once I have work, I can put money away and move up to a better place. This would have been easier if Philippe had come with me.

“Did you ever go to Mardi Gras?” Heidi asked.

“Every year unless it landed on a full moon,” Patrick said. “I mean, we started going to little community events that were family friendly, but I’ve been to the big parade a few times. I don’t usually stay late though.”

“Smart,” Rob said. “Early to bed, early to rise, I like that.”

Patrick opted not to elaborate that he went home to play video games because of the tournaments and challenges that always went up for holidays. He’d scored some impressive gear, and he hadn’t done it by going to bed early. He’d had to suffer through some long shifts on next to no sleep to do it, but it had been worth it. He had some of the best weapons and armor in several online games, and huge protection and damage bonuses earned through experience points. But somehow that didn’t seem like something to brag about in front of these people. Instead he just smiled and shoveled more food into his mouth. I left New Orleans to get away from all the judgement. I guess all grown-ups are the same.

“Hey, I’m going out with some friends tonight,” Heidi said. “That all right?”

“Sure,” Karen said. “You know what time to be home.”

“Which friends?” Rob asked.

“School people,” Heidi answered. “Just hanging out, you know? Maybe put a movie on or something. Probably be at Elishia’s place.”

“Maybe Patrick wants to go with you?” Karen suggested.

“Oh,” Patrick said. “I’m feeling kind of jet lagged, you know? Time change, too much to take in, I’m wiped. But maybe another time.”

Heidi looked him over and said, “Your loss.”

Is she checking me out? Is she flirting with me? In front of her parents? He stole a quick glance at Karen and Rob but their expressions hadn’t changed. Either he was imagining things, or they hadn’t noticed. “Could you get my phone set up for the wi-fi before you go? I’d like to check my email and what not.”

She shrugged. “Yeah, hand it here.”

He fished the phone out of his pocket and handed it over. She tapped away at the screen for a few minutes, muttering about the different operating system and not being able to find all the settings she needed, then handed it back. “You’re good to go.” She grabbed her plate and stood. “I’m out of here then. Night.” She dropped her plate in the sink and headed for her room. A minute later she was at the front door pulling on a jacket and a worn pair of combat boots. The door slamming announced her departure and for a moment there was silence.

“So, what’s your pack like?” Rob asked. “Did you like your Alpha?”

“Sure,” Patrick said. “He was good, fair. When you’re in charge you can’t always be nice, you know? But he wasn’t cruel or anything. The pack was all right, but we had a problem with some of the wolves harassing younger ones. They went after my sister when she reported it. He had to crack down on that pretty hard.”

“That’s not a small matter,” Rob said. “I’d like to hear more about that one day.”

“Oh, sure. I don’t know much, though. I wasn’t really involved, except for backing them down from my sister the one day. I know that once the Alpha was aware of the situation he handled it quickly.”

“Was the council made aware?” Rob asked.

“I don’t know. I wasn’t involved with pack politics. I’m not a juvenile anymore, but I was still pretty young and not high up the pack ladder.”

“So, it’s an older pack?”

“We have a lot of wolves your age, abouts,” Patrick replied. “Fair number of younger ones too, my age, and just turning. So, I guess it’s a fairly balanced pack. What about this pack?”

“What about it?” Rob asked, suddenly sounding a lot less interested in the conversation.

“I don’t know much about it. Theo gave me some phone numbers, mature wolves who could help me if I had any problems in town or whatever. How many wolves are there? Are there going to be many my age?”

“Heidi’s roughly your age,” Karen said. “She has a few friends in the pack. There’s a group of wolves our age, a group of wolves too old to be our kids and too young to be our peers, and a group of their kids, wolves that have just started shifting in the last few years. I guess your peer group is the smallest. Strange how those fluctuations happen, isn’t it?”

“What about the non-shifters? Do they come to dinner at the pack hall on full moons?”

“We don’t have dinner at the pack hall,” Rob said. “You’re supposed to eat before you arrive and find childcare for any underage children.”

“Oh. That sounds more like what the werebear clan does,” Patrick said.

“You really had non-shifters in the hall?”

“Sure. My older brothers came until they were living on their own. They still come once or twice a year for the Winter Solstice moon and other big events.”

“But they’re not pack,” Karen asked.

“They are family,” Patrick said. “There’s not much difference between family and pack. Family is just the pack you live with all the time.”

“Perhaps,” Rob said.

“What if Heidi hadn’t started shifting?”

“It’s not my place to question the Alpha,” Rob said. “Besides, I’m sure she’d love to be free of the restrictions – those two evenings a month don’t seem like much to me, but to her? It’s always a fight.”

“Rob,” Karen said.

He frowned but stopped talking.

“I met Theo already,” Patrick said, changing the subject. “Is he a hard man to deal with?”

“No, why would you ask that?” Rob asked.

“I didn’t meet with him long. Not enough time to really get a feel for what kind of person he was, expect that he was very efficient.”

“Efficient,” Karen echoed. “Yes, that’s a good word to describe him. He’s orderly.”

“Not such a bad thing,” Rob said. “We’ve been safe and prosperous here. No hint of the Human Order.”

“I hope it stays that way,” Patrick said. “They aren’t fun people to deal with.”

“Well,” Karen said, “I should start tidying up.”

“I can help,” Patrick said. Not that he wanted to, but it was the polite thing to say.

“That’s sweet,” Karen said. “But I’ve got it today. Go check your emails and get settled. I’m sure you’re exhausted.”

Patrick nodded and retreated to the basement. He pulled out his phone and stared at it. He wasn’t expecting messages from anyone, not anyone he wanted to talk to anyway. He didn’t have anyone he wanted to message either. He had a few games on his phone but he’d been playing them in the airport and on the plane and was bored of them. What he wanted was to set up his computer and play a real game, but his computer was back at the pack hall and there was no room here to set it up anyway. He sighed. At least I made it here. I can figure the rest out.