"I'm telling you, the thing is a monster, its no normal wolf." Scott sat raving as constable Marvin listened to his account of the vicious assault on him, "I mean, look at this bite."
"I see it sir," the short and slightly chubby, constable eyed the pulled back bandages on Scott's leg, "I'm not sure what I can do."
"Couldn't you at least go out there and do something to get rid of that thing? It's dangerous, it attacked me for no reason and who knows when it'll turn on Mary."
"I'll go out there and check it out, we don't want anything bad happening to Ms. Morstan." Marvin nodded to himself as though the prospect of facing down a giant wolf by himself wasn't daunting in the least.
"Thank you Marvin, I couldn't bear it if something happened to her." Gratitude seemed to pour off of Scott as he smiled broadly at Marvin.
"Yeah, yeah." Marvin waved him away, "I'll go up there this afternoon and see what it looks like."
Mary sighed and pushed her hair back from her face where it had fallen over her eyes. Her manuscript was finally finished, and she hoped that her editor would be happy with it.
She moved out of her study and glanced into the backyard where Thunder had been lying peacefully in the sun. Now however the massive wolf was glaring at a butterfly which kept landing on his nose and ears. Mary laughed and opened the door, "Thunder, is that butterfly being troublesome?" Her voice shook with laughter as the wolf shot her a stare that clearly read he did not find this a laughing matter.
"Come on big guy, how bout a nice cool drink and some lunch?" Mary held the door open for Thunder who stalked inside after snorting at the pesky butterfly one last time. Mary shook her head and followed him in.
It was almost three o'clock when Mary heard a car pull into the driveway just moments after Thunder's ears went up and then back. "I wonder who it is." Mary opened the front door just as the bell rang.
"Constable Marvin, how nice of you to drop by." Mary felt some confusion as to why the cheerful constable was on her doorstep.
"Good afternoon Ms. Morstan, I am sorry about intruding but I'm afraid I've had a report of a vicious animal living on your premises and need to check things out." Constable Marvin smiled in apology.
"Oh, a vicious animal?" Mary knew immediately that the weasel Scott had squealed to the constable about Thunder's attack, "Thats not good at all, what kind of animal?" She decieded that playing dumb was her best option.
"By the eyewitness report it's a monstrous wolf." The constable shifted nervously back and forth as if he expected the wolf to appear out of nowhere and bite his leg in two.
"Oh, they must have seen Thunder out and about," Mary turned and called into the house, "Thunder come here boy." Mary stepped aside as Thunder filled the doorway, "I just got him a few days ago."
Constable Marvin almost fainted at the sight of the massive wolf before him and he asked weakly, "Is it safe to have him around?"
Mary laughed, "I'm safer than I've ever been constable, don't worry about me."
"Right then, I think I'll be going since everything is clearly just fine." Constable Marvin almost squeaked the last part of his sentence out before beating a hasty retreat.
Mary leaned on the door frame amused as the constable did a quick march back to his car where he fumbled with his keys, dropped them once, then managed to get into the car before almost dropping them again.
"Well that was interesting." Mary shook her head and glanced down at Thunder who looked up at her at the same time and she could see the amusement in his deep eyes before he dropped his head and went back inside to his bed by the hearth.
John had almost gagged when he had bitten into the man, Scott's, leg. The taste of blood brought back too many painful memories but what had disturbed him most of all had been the expression on Mary's face. He had seen a mixture of horror and fear that terrified him, he had thought that it was all over and she was going to make him leave.
But then all she had said was that he needed a bath, John laid on the bed she had gotten him and thought about all the kindness Mary had shown him. The pain he had been feeling before he had met her had diminished, indeed, he felt that he could almost return to normal except for the fact that he didn't know how she would react.
Perhaps it is time to stop hiding from myself and come to terms with what has happened, but the question is will she accept me? Because if there is anyone in this world I want to spend the rest of my life with it would be her.