Mom was not happy. "What are you doing here?"
"I was in the neighborhood, doing a little investigating when I got a funny tip," said Dr. Flint with a smirk. "Can I come in?"
"No. I want you to leave now."
She was about to close the door when Dr. Flint blocked it with her foot. "That wasn't a request."
"Lady, if you don't get out, I'm calling the police," Dad said angrily.
"That's not a good idea," Dr. Flint said. She wasn't intimidated by Dad's threat at all. In fact, it just made her amused. "In fact, I would say going to the cops might be the worst thing you can do considering you're doing something illegal."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Bringing South American marsh deer to Florida? That might end up damaging the ecosystem in Fever Swamp, wouldn't you agree? As a scientist, I thought you'd know that. We've already got enough problems with the Burmese pythons."
"Excuse me," Mom said, coming to Dad's defense. "We checked with the game warden and he approved of our experiment! Otherwise we wouldn't have moved here in the first place!"
"Really? There are other ways of discrediting your husband, Mrs. Tucker," Dr Flint said. "All I have to do is make one little phone call and you and your husband will look like fools in front of the scientific community. We wouldn't want that to happen now, do we?"
I growled and scratched the table with my claws. Dad exhaled in defeat and said, "Just let her in. She's not going to leave us alone unless we do her interview."
"Glad to see things my way, dearie," said Dr. Flint as Mom let her in and she sat at the table. We noticed her cameraman Jeff pointing the shoulder-mounted camera at us and we immediately felt uncomfortable. "Ignore the camera."
"What is it you want," Dad demanded to know.
"Straight to the point. Love it. As you are aware, there have been some...strange stories regarding Fever Swamp. Do you know why it got its name?"
"Yeah," I said. "My friend Will told me that there was fever that swept through the first settlement of Fever Swamp, drove everybody mad."
Dr. Flint smiled unpleasantly when I said that. "What if I told you that's not the whole story? What if I told you the people didn't contract a fever, but rather, they were cursed into becoming werewolves by setting up shop in Fever Swamp? And what if I told you some of those people left Fever Swamp to find new homes across America? The Rougarou of New Orleans, the Beast of Bray Road, and the Michigan Dogman, are just examples of those people."
"There's no such thing as werewolves," Mom said.
Dr. Flint turned to look at her and said, "Really? Then how do you explain the attacks that had been going on for a few years?"
"Must have been a bear or something," Dad said. "A rabid fox."
"Did you know that they found Ed Warner?"
"That hunter who disappeared in the swamp? No, we didn't."
"Well, we found him recovering in the hospital and he had a nice bit of information to share us with. He claimed he was attacked by a, and I quote, man-shaped wolf. Care to explain that?"
I drummed my fingers nervously. I hoped Will was far away from Fever Swamp, far away from this crazy woman.
"Like I said, it was probably a bear," said Dad. "Or a coyote."
"Another interesting fact," Dr. Flint said. "The attacks only stopped when you Tuckers came to Fever Swamp about a month ago. Why is that?"
"We were attacked, too," Mom said. "One of our deer was killed and we thought it was our dog, Wolf. But we were wrong. Grady ended up getting bit by the animal that attacked the deer and Wolf saved him."
Dr. Flint's attention turned toward me and her eyes narrowed. "Really? And what did the animal look like?"
"Bear," I said immediately. I did my best to hide my fear.
"Really? That would have left quite the scar, and a big one at that. May I see it?"
"No," I said, not liking where this is going.
"Leave him alone," Dad said, standing up. "We did your interview, now get out!"
Dr. Flint growled at him, and it looked like she was about to hit him when Jeff said, "Can we hurry up? This camera is running low on batteries."
"What?! I told you to buy more!" Dr. Flint exhaled and snarled at us, "It's fine. I got enough anyway. We'll go." And with that, she and Jeff left. She closed the door behind her and we breathed a sigh of relief.
"Finally," Dad said. "That woman had a lot of nerve asking questions like that. You and Emily are avoiding her when you go to town, right?"
"Yeah, don't worry," I replied. "I always hang out in Fever Swamp with Wolf and Cassie anyway."
"Maybe you should stay out of the swamp," said Mom. "At least until she leaves."
I didn't like it, but I agreed with her.
Emily later returned and we told her what happened. As it turns out, she had a run in with Dr. Flint after she left the house. Emily and Clarice had finished watching "Beetlejuice" at the drive-in when that crazy woman cornered them and interviewed them. Clarice scared her away, however, by grabbing Jeff's camera and throwing it in the street just as a car was passing by. Dad decided to to call the police for harassment, but since Dr. Flint technically didn't really hurt us, they couldn't do much.
The rest of the day was uneventful. Mom and Dad checked on the deer's progress, Emily played Final Fantasy II and I stayed in the backyard playing with Wolf. After that, we had supper, watched TV in the living room and went to sleep. Except for me. I couldn't think about what Dr. Flint said about the swamp. Did American werewolves originate in Fever Swamp hundreds of years ago? Maybe I should ask our resident werewolf expert tomorrow.
Or maybe now. I heard Wolf barking outside and I looked out the window to see Cassie. I put my casual clothes and shoes on and quietly snuck outside. "Cassie, you will not believe who came to our house today."
"Let me guess," she replied. "Dr. Flint."
"Yeah...how did you know?"
"She's been going around town interviewing people and making a nuisance of herself. What did she say to you?"
"That there is no fever in Fever Swamp, but a curse that transformed all the people who first came here into were-folk. And apparently, that's where the other werewolf stories across the country originated!"
Cassie made an uncertain look, then said softly, "Maybe I should tell you a story. Come on, let's head back to the Burrow."