The Real Housewolves of Suburbia

By: Ash Cinder and Domus Vocis

            Diego spent most mornings strolling through the woods while his mate Marcus went out hunting for food. It was a quiet day out in the wilderness. Some days Diego wished there’d be something to break up the monotony of the forest he’d been so accustomed to.

            He’d been wanting an excuse to get away with Marcus and experience what life outside the forest was like, but whenever he brought it up to Marcus, he always seemed hesitant.

            As he continued through the woods his nose caught a whiff of something, something delectable. It was so meaty and savory. He followed the aroma, weaving through the trees until he found the source. Stumbling out of the bushes and coming upon a very confused looking human sitting outside a tent, chomping on a bag of beef jerky.

The werewolf and human just stared at each other for what felt like an hour before the human broke the silence, holding out his bag in front of the werewolf.

            “Beef jerky?”

            Diego happily pulled some out of the bag and began chomping away at the bits of cured meats. “We don’t get many campers out here,” he pointed out.

            “Am I allowed?” Jonathan asked warily.

            “You already paid the toll,” Diego said, throwing the rest of his jerky in his maw. “I’m Diego.”

            “Jonathan.”

            The two sat around Jonathan’s campfire and just chatted. Jonathan had never met a werewolf in person before, and Diego hardly ever got to hear from regular humans about what life outside the woods was like.

            “So do live by yourself out here?” Jonathan asked.

            “Nope, there’s a whole pack of us that I hang out with, along with my mate, Marcus.”

            “You always been a werewolf?”

            “Sure have!”

            “So, you’ve never really experienced regular human life.”

            “Not really,” Diego said with a shrug. “I’ve wanted to maybe take a vacation and experience it, but Marcus doesn’t seem so sure about it.”

            “I live a little farther away from here, in a suburban neighborhood.”

            “What’s that?”

            “Just a little community, probably a bit similar to your pack, only we all have houses that are real close together.”

            “Sounds kind of relaxing.”

            “It is,” Diego agreed. “If you ever wanna experience it for a weekend, I’ve got a little guest room you and your mate could probably use at my place.”

            “You’d let us stay with you?”

            “Yeah, I love having guests over!”

            “I’ll go talk it over with Marcus! Will you still be here later?”

            “Yeah, till tomorrow morning.”

            “Cool! I’ll go tell Marcus and meet you back here before you leave!”

            And with that, Diego scampered off back into the woods.

            As the trees became thicker and further unkempt from humanity’s touch, the werewolf did not know what to make of the human’s proposal. Diego knew his wild instincts would have been shrieking in alarm should Jonathan have been lying to him, but after a couple of days having befriended the strange, friendly creature fond of ‘suburb’ life, he started to wonder if it did have benefits. He always was the adventurous type to try new things.

            However, he still needed to talk about it with his mate.

            “I don’t know, Diego,” Marcus thought it over. “Are you sure we’ll be welcome at this ‘suburb’ or whatever it is?”

            “Jonathan gave me his word it would be fun,” Diego replied to his worrisome mate, leaning forward to smile. “I mean, if Jonathan is so keen on inviting us, I’m sure the other people that live there will be just as friendly!”

            “It’s just, you know I get awkward in unfamiliar situations,” Marcus said, twiddling his claws.

            “Come on, it’s not like you’ll be going in alone, we’ll both be there,” Diego pointed out, putting his paws on Marcus’ shoulders and licking his nose. “We can trust him.”

            “Well, okay.”

            “Sweet! Let’s go and I’ll introduce you to Jonathan!” Diego giggled giddily as he pulled his mate out into the woods to go meet up with the human.

            Jonathan entered the two werewolves’ guest room.

            “Alright guys, just wanted to let you know I’m gonna start break—Oh shit!”

            Jonathan looked at the two lycans, still sleeping and completely naked on top of the bed. However, his main focus was instead on the shredded sheets on the bed, as if a storm of claws had brutalized the bed until all that remained were blue-and-white tatters. Funnily enough, after turning on the lights and staring at the damage, Jonathan could spot a few fragments embedded between one of the werewolf’s hindpaws. 

            “Aw man,” Jonathan muttered, “Those were my best sheets…”

He walked over next to the bed and looked the bed up and down.

“How did they fuck like dogs in heat without making a sound?” He pondered out loud.

He clapped his hands loudly.

            “Hey! Werewolves! It’s morning now!”

            They didn’t stir a bit.

            “Guys, I need to know what you want for breakfast!” He yelled louder.

            Still nothing.

            “Hm… I wonder…”

            He cupped his hands over his mouth and let out a loud howl.

            In an instant Marcus and Diego sat up and howled in unison with him before all three stopped and looked at each other.

            “I can’t believe that worked,” Jonathan commented.

            “Good morning,” Diego said.

            “You guys must have had a wild night last night,” Jonathan said, scratching his head nervously.

            Marcus looked around, seeing the bed in shreds.

            “Oh geez… sorry,”

            “It’s alright, I mean we all get in the mood sometimes.”

            “Wait, ‘in the mood,’ what do you mean?” Diego asked.

            “You guys boned last night, right?”

            Both canines laughed.

            “Nah, we wouldn’t mate in someone else’s territory,” Diego said, getting up and stretching. “We just thrash around at night and… well we have claws.”

            He presented them in front of Jonathan, who nervously pushed them away.

            “Alright, I need to cook breakfast and I was wondering what you guys wanted. I was thinking maybe old-fashioned eggs and bacon for your first day here, but it’s your call.”

            “If it means we get extra bacon,” Diego said, tail wagging excitedly.

            Jonathan laughed.

            “I’ll make a note of that, until then, you guys can get your morning shower done.”

            And with that, Jonathan turned around and made his way back to the kitchen before they could ask about the shower. They both looked at each other nervously.

            “Have you ever used a shower?” Marcus asked.

            “Nope. How different could it be from a bath though?”

            They both stepped into the bathroom. Diego inspected the shower, looking at the two dials. Seeing the two labeled H and C, he figured it was more straight forward than he thought. Marcus got in as Diego turned on the dials and he nearly jumped back out in surprise, as the water shot out onto his head through the nozzle.

            “Well, that’s different…” Marcus commented.

            “How’s the temperature?”

            “It’s getting warmer, I think it’s okay.”

            Diego joined his mate and the two began lathering up their fur with the shampoo Jonathan had left available to them. They took the time to hold each other close while they cleaned each other, enjoying the feeling of the warm water running down their fur. It took them a while to wash all of their fur, but during that time, quite a bit of it had made its way into the drain and now water was starting to pool up to their ankles. As they finished up lathering Diego looked down and noticed all the water building up.

            “Oh man,” he exclaimed, shutting off the water and stepping out of the shower and frantically looking around for anything to fix the problem.

            “What do we do?” Marcus asked. Dripping water on the floor.

            “I don’t know! Try pulling our fur out of the hole!”

            Marcus reached down and pulled as much of it out as he could, but still the water remained.

            “Oh god, we broke it! What are we going to tell Jonathan?” Diego panicked with his paws on his head.

“Well, he’s going to find out eventually, we’ll just have to tell him… Let’s just go out and dry off first…”

            Marcus walked out of the bathroom, with Diego shuffling behind him. The two left a trail of water behind them as they stepped out into the front yard and began to shake off their fur. The water misted off their fur, creating a rainbow as they shook their bodies.

            “Ah, that feels much better,” Diego sighed.

            Marcus looked over to the sidewalk to see a young boy on a bicycle looking at them in confusion.

            “Jonathan got new dogs?” He speculated.

            “Oh, we’re not dogs, we’re just staying with him for the weekend,” Diego said with a chuckle.

            “How come you guys are all wet?”

            “We just took a shower,” Marcus explained.

            “But you guys could have just used towels…”

            “Towels?” Diego asked.

            “Guys!” They heard Jonathan call from the front doorway.

            He ran out and grabbed their shoulders.

            “You guys need to put some clothes on before you come out here.”

            “Good morning Jonathan,” one of his neighbors greeted. “I didn’t realize you had some new friends over.”

            “Hey Mr. Krasinski, this is Diego and Marcus, two werewolves I met on my camping trip. They were curious about what life in suburbia was like, so I had them stay.”

            “Well, isn’t that interesting. Can’t say I’ve seen many werewolves around these parts. It’s a shame, it’s so plain here. Interesting neighbors would definitely bring a bit of color to it, you might say.”

            “Right…” Marcus trailed off.

            “Well, I gotta get these guys inside, they haven’t even had breakfast yet,” Jonathan said, pulling them back to his house.

            “Okay, see you later neighbor!” Krasinski said. “Let me know if there’s anything I can do to make things more to your liking…”

            They slowly shuffled away from him.

            “He was weird,” Diego said under his breath as they made it through the front door.

            “Sorry for going out there to dry off,” Marcus said, eating a strip of bacon.

            “We’re still kind of getting used to life outside of the woods,” Diego explained.

            “It’s alright, at least you didn’t seem to freak too many people out when you were out there.”

            “That one kid thought we were new dogs you got,” Marcus said with a giggle.

            “Don’t want to scare people off before I introduce you to the neighborhood at the barbeque later today.”

            “Barbeque?” They both asked in unison.

“I had a feeling you guys hadn’t been to one before,” Jonathan said.

            “What’s that?” Marcus asked, his ears perking up.

            “You’ll love it, it’s a great way to meet everyone in the neighborhood, and enjoy some good food.”

            “What kind of food?” Diego asked.

            “Meat…” Jonathan said enticingly.

            Both their ears perked up.

            “I already RSVPed the three of us, it’ll be this evening at six. There will also be a pool so you can bring some swim trunks if you want.”

            “Sounds fun!” Diego said, tail wagging.

            “Before that… we have to tell you something…” Marcus said, looking at Diego.

            “We kind of… broke your shower…”

            “What?! How?”

            “The water kept building up and stopped going down…” Diego explained further.

            “Ugh, I should have anticipated all your fur would have clogged the drain! That’s totally my bad,” Jonathan said, pulling out his cell phone. “Let me see if the plumber can come by before we head out later…”

            Both lycans looked to each other.

            “What the hell’s a plumber?” Marcus asked.

            Six seconds. That was how long it took before Marcus and Diego were noticed by everybody, all of whom stood in surprised silence and a few even discreetly pointing at them in hushed, surprised whispers, once they silently followed Jonathan past the fence gate and into the neighborhood’s barbeque party. Even the group of human pups—kids, that was what they were called—paused their active playing to stare in awe at the furry guests.

            Jonathan smiled and awkwardly walked to the party’s host while his friends were not too far behind. Marcus curled his tail and nearly folded an ear at the number of confused or curious eyes directed at him, while his mate took the time to grasp his paw and squeeze it gently. They exchanged a quiet gaze and exchanged smiles before they started walking close to Jonathan, still nervously waving and nodding to the occasional neighbor as they passed.

            “I don’t know if I can do this…” Marcus whispered.

            “Don’t worry, my love…Jonathan promised us we would have fun,” he replied in the same low tone. “Don’t listen too much to them.”

            Unfortunately, they couldn’t help themselves. Thanks to their biology, the lycans were able to distinctly hear almost anything over the chirping birds or the human chatter.

            “Oh my God, Jonathan wasn’t joking!”

            “Werewolves, really?”

            “They’re so scary!”

            “What was Jonathan even thinking about inviting them over?”

            “Please tell me that you remembered to lock the dogs inside, Brad.”

            “Don’t go over to them, Alan. They might be dangerous.”

            “They aren’t dangerous, Mommy!”

            The canine outsiders had expected those reactions. Each member of their pack had grown accustomed to it over the years, from scared campers to immature teenaged humans trying to capture images of the ‘monsters in the woods’, to documentary film crews trying to document their existence. The first responses to seeing them always amounted to startled awe or downright fear. Yet as the humans started to slowly return to their conversations, Marcus and Diego could hear the topics change or evolve.

            “Never thought I’d see one in my life.”

            “Do you think it’d be rude to ask if they howl at the Moon?”

            It took strength to Diego not to snicker at that comment.

            Besides humans, the entire backyard was filled to the brim with various smells and scents that neither Marcus nor Diego had ever experienced before. It made their maws drool almost uncontrollably and caused their tails to wag against their jean-clad ankles. Fresh meat, some herbs and spices, all of it came from the tender meats burning on the large ‘grill’ near the far corner, where a large friendly man stood wearing an apron and holding a ‘spatula’.

            “Chad, it’s been a while!” Jonathan shook hands with the other older human.

            “Jonathan, glad to have you back here! I hope your camping…trip…” he turned to look at Marcus and Diego over his shoulder, eyes widened at their height and appearance. “Wow, when you said you were bringing back some werewolf friends of yours, I thought you were texting me while high.”

            They laughed, and Jonathan held a presenting hand directed to the lycan duo. “So, these two are Marcus and Diego. Marcus, Diego, this is Chad Danvers, my neighbor and who you have to thank for this BBQ.”

            “Nice to meet you, Mr. Danvers,” Diego held a paw out.

            Chad hesitated, then shrugged and eagerly squeezed it back with his free hand. “So, you two are new to the neighborhood?” he asked, putting some patties on the grill.

            “You could say that,” Marcus mentioned.

            “We lived out in the woods for a while,” Diego explained, picking up a raw patty sitting on the table, “but we thought we’d give suburban life a try.”

            Chad gave an uncomfortable look as he watched the large canine chew it. A few other neighbors watching either snickered or traded shocked awe with confusion. Especially for the cook himself.

            “Uh, don’t you want to wait until I cook it?”

            “Was I supposed to?” Diego asked, confused.

            “I mean, that’s kind of the point of a barbeque,” Chad explained between smirking and trying not to sound too judgmental, “We cook some meat on the grill and enjoy it when it’s done… it might taste better that way.”

            Diego thought about it and scratched the back of his head.

            “Sorry,” he said, ears folded over in embarrassment.

            “Eh, that’s fine,” he sighed before returning to the grill, “You’re not going to get sick from that?”

            “Nope,” Diego licked his chops and chuckled, “I used to hunt my food and eat it raw all the time. Frankly, I was a little surprised when Jonathan told me why he keeps food refrigerated in the first place.”

            Jonathan laughed midway through eating a cooked burger, “Don’t even get me started on what they did to my bedsheets…”

            The evening went on without much hassle. After the humans started to become more used to their presence, Marcus and Diego were equally surprised how welcoming they started to act. This became noticeable when a middle-aged brunette named Mrs. Olsen offered them plates of her neighborhood-famous ‘potato salad’, which they eagerly took a scoop full off once Jonathan was finished describing the various ways to organize a burger and its respective ingredients. Onions, pickles, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes or sauces such as mustard.

            “Ack!” Diego yelped mid-bite, then swallowed it down and winced as Marcus struggled not to snicker as he chewed his hamburger, “That’s really spicy…”

            Chad and Jonathan, along with a few other male humans at the table, laughed with the lycan once he finished swallowing.

            “Isn’t it true that your kind’s tongues are sensitive?”

            “They are, but I didn’t know mustard was considered spicey!” he half-laughed, then glanced to see Marcus had already finished his meal. “You going to get another meal?”

            “Can you blame me? The food is great, Chad!”

            “No problem!” he raised a beer up in the lycan’s direction. “Eat as much as you two want! You’re all welcome here!”

            “Fair warning to you, Chad,” Jonathan added with a sly smile, “They will eat everything!”

            “I said I was sorry about eating all of the snacks earlier, okay?” Diego laughed in embarrassment, then raised his third beer bottle to his muzzle and chugged it effortlessly down. “Ah! Is it weird that I’m not getting drunk yet?”

            As the three of them talked over the grilling meat, variously bringing up differences or similarities between human and lycan cultures, Marcus tried not to be awkward. Or at least, awkward enough to warrant more attention than he and his mate were already getting.

            However, his very presence seemed to earn the undivided attention of the neighborhood kids at the barbecue. Just about everywhere he went in the backyard, at least two of them were there, just staring at him.

            “So, you’re like a real werewolf?” one of the boys asked, a lanky preteen with brunette hair. “God, you’re so big!”

            “Yeah…” Marcus nodded along to the smaller humans. Almost all of them stared in awe when he confirmed their suspicions, “though that is what you call us. We do not transform from humans into wolves. It’s all just myth.”

            “So, you’re like giant dogs?” Another brunette boy asked.  

            Marcus sighed a bit. “Yes, we’re like giant dogs,” he said sarcastically.

            “So… do y’all like belly rubs?” The brunette preteen from earlier asked.

            “Ugh, no!” Marcus said, insulted by the notion. “No, we don’t!”

            Diego chimed in, overhearing the conversation. “Yes, he does. He’s like total putty in your paws when you rub it.”

            “I do not!” Marcus protested with a small growl.

            Giving the other lycan no warning, Diego sneakily reached out and touched the fur on Marcus’ shirtless chest and began to rub it. His mate’s tongue instantly flopped out of the side of his mouth and let out a relaxed sigh as he rubbed his belly.

            “What’d I tell you?” Diego asked with the smuggest of grins. “I believe the human saying goes that he’s like putty in your hands.”

            “You jer—Oh! Oh, that’s the spot!”

            Marcus began to shake his leg and his tail wagged wildly. Diego giggled, enjoying the way the neighborhood kids were amused by him with his mate. Finishing the rub and planting a small peck on his cheek, Diego then turned around and headed to the drink cooler, leaving Marcus alone for a while with the new little friends he was making.

            He pulled a Coke out of the cooler and instead of pulling the tab to open it, bit two holes into the top with his fangs.

            “Wow, your fangs are really that sharp?”

            Diego turned to see a teenage boy looking at him with a big grin on his face. He partially stood apart from the other humans not just due to his age. His long, unkempt hair partially covered an eye. The teenager’s jeans, his pattern-covered shirt and painted nails were almost as black as his hair too, the latter of which seemed unnatural on him. In past encounters with humans, Diego recalled how they could easily paint the fur on their head with some sort of strange chemical called’ hair dye’.

            “Yup, they are,” he answered the curious teenager, who now stood a little too close to him for comfort. “Um, I’m sorry, but do you have another question?”

            “It must be pretty cool…” the unnamed teen mused aloud, “being a big wolf and all…”

            “Uh, yeah, it’s got its perks,” Diego nodded with an easy smile and a wag of his tail, “but I don’t usually get to go to anything like this. The food is great though.”

            “Did someone bite you or…” the boy questioned him moments later.

            “No,” he casually shook his muzzle, “me and Marcus were born like this.”

            “But you can still get it from being bitten, right?”

            He paused his drink to look at the boy, now staring at him with hopeful eyes, with wary judgement. “Uh, yeah, that’s generally how most people know about lycanthropy…” Diego answered, sipping his soda.

            “Uh, I’m Robbie by the way,” he introduced himself.

            The lycan awkwardly nodded. “Diego…”

            “It must be a lot more exciting where you guys live,” he sulked while reaching for a soda of his own. “The suburbs are so boring. Nothing cool happens around here.”

            “Oh, I don’t know, this whole barbeque thing is pretty exciting,” Diego debated, “and tasty.”

            “Speaking of which…” Robbie suddenly asked, “do you think you could…like…bite me?”

            “What? No!” he stared incredulously at the young man. “Absolutely not.”

            “Oh, come on!” he pleaded to the lycan with hands clasped. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to be and I know I’m absolutely ready for it!”

            “Being a lycan is permanent,” Diego curtly explained to the naïve teenager, crossing his arms after crushing the can. “You won’t be able to transform back and forth like they say in the movies. You’re a kid and you have your whole life ahead of you.”

            “I turn eighteen in like two years!” Robbie still tried to argue.

            “I am not biting a sixteen-year-old, and that’s final,” Diego held his ground and frowned at the pouting teenager, “Now go talk to someone else before I figure out who your parents are. I mean it.”

            Without giving the human lad another chance to plead his case for the transformation, Diego stormed off to join his mate and the other adults converging together near the tables. He hoped they had even more cans of beer to drink before the evening ended.

            Hours passed. Between drinks and leftover burgers to scarf down while the other humans, most of them stuffed or inebriated too much to be hungry for more, slowly returned home until the backyard emptied of partygoers. They were all too worn out from the event to stay behind into the night. Even Robbie—who boldly tried asking Marcus for permission to bite him, only to be given the exact same answer again—found himself dragged back home by his mother for school the next day. So, only four remained in a circle of chairs around the dying fire pit on the main stone porch. Mosquitoes danced in the cool air, and a dragonfly tickled Marcus on his nose, yet it made the lycan still feel like they were back at home in the woods with the rest of their pack.

            “Whooo, that was something…” Jonathan sighed, patting his filled stomach. “Mr. Krasinski, I think those burgers added some pounds to me. What’d you fill them with?”

            “Haha,” he drunkenly laughed in a nearby seat, clutching his next bottle, “My sister-in-law mentioned this hippie store that, turns out, sells the best damn meat this side of the state.”

            “I can,” Marcus suddenly belched beside the welcoming human, “I can attest to that…”

            “Uhuh…yessir, we can!” Diego snickered in his seat, his tail knocking over the ten empties cans and five bottles he drank over the course of the evening, “I love burgers.”

            “Holy cow,” Jonathan mused aloud, “Did we actually succeed in getting a werewolf drunk?”

            “Well, I sure am not sober,” Diego countered, his mate rolling his eyes amusedly nearby.

            “I think we ought to get you two back to my place,” Jonathan groaned to his feet, then assisted in getting Diego to his footpaws alongside Marcus. “So, what did you two think? Did you enjoy the barbeque?”

            “Hell yes we did!” Diego cackled while wrapping his arm around Marcus’ shoulder, then Jonathan’s. “But…But we should tell ‘em our choice, Marc…We should tell ‘em before they get the wrong idea…”

            “Yeah,” Marcus opted to tell the two humans, “unfortunately, we decided suburban life just isn’t for us. We’re really happy you brought us here, but we’ll be leaving for home tomorrow.”

            “We’re sorry,” Marcus explained as he held Diego, still swaying between him and Jonathan in their grip. “This place is nice for a visit, the food is wonderful, and the neighborhood is full of nice humans, but we prefer to get back to what we’re used to.”

            “That’s alright,” Jonathan smiled at the two lycans. “I’m glad you came over, but you better get a P.O. box or something so we can keep in contact.”

            Marcus smiled along with the other lycan giggling in his arms. “We’ll make sure of that, Jon!” the former replied, wagging his tail behind him. “Maybe we can return in the future and get this big lug drunk again, huh?”

            “Hehehehehe!” Diego grinned, “I love the beers here!”

            “Either way, you’re both still welcomed back for next time!” Krasizki offered them a toast and sipped the rest of his bottle down, “Ah! It’s a pity. Having some werewolves in the neighborhood would’ve driven the prices way up, y’know? Still, have a good night!”

            “Good night, Mr. Krasinzki!”

            “Night!”

            “Nighty-night, human!”

            The next morning, they said goodbye to the neighborhood. Despite how freaked out some of the neighbors had been when they’d initially saw the two canines at the barbeque, a lot of them were kind of sad to see them go after only knowing them for twenty-four hours.

            “It’s a real shame suburban life isn’t for y’all,” Mr. Krasinzki chimed in. “All the kids are really going to miss you.”

            “I can tell,” Marcus said with a chuckle, overwhelmed by all the dozen-or-so kids piling on top of him with hugs.

            “You all sure know how to party,” Diego said as Jonathan got their things in the car, “but I think we’re better suited for forest life.”

            “Think you’ll come back and visit sometime?” Chad asked.

            “I’ll be sure to let you guys know about any barbecues we have planned for special occasions if you wanna come again.”

            “Of course!” Diego said enthusiastically.

            “Just be sure to warn us ahead of time…” Chad said nervously. “Want to be sure to have enough food for everyone.”

            Robbie walked up to say goodbye.

            “I’m still not biting you!” Diego clarified.

            “I know, I wanted to say that I’m sorry for trying to get you to, and I hope you had fun while you were here,” Robbie said.

            “Wow, that’s really nice of you Robbie, thank you,”

            Robbie held out his arms for a hug and Diego accepted.

            They hugged and Diego began smelling something on the teenager’s shoulder.

            “Did you put dry rub on your shoulder?!” Diego asked before pushing him off.

            “Heh… can’t blame a boy for trying…” Robbie said with a shrug.

            “Get your ass out of here!” Diego said in an annoyed tone.

            Robbie gave a playful wave goodbye before running back to his house.

            They said their final goodbyes to the neighborhood before getting in Jonathan’s truck and speeding off for the forest.

            “Glad I could have you guys over for the weekend,” Jonathan said as he drove, “hope you weren’t scared off by all the weirdos in the neighborhood.”

            “Heh, well Robbie certainly didn’t help,” Diego said in an annoyed voice.

            “Yeah, that kid is really determined.” Marcus agreed.

            “But still, we had a lot of fun.”

            “Yeah, I think this would be a nice little vacation spot for us.”

            “I’d be happy to host you guys again, maybe for 4^th of July?”

            “Isn’t that when all the fireworks come out?” Marcus asked with a slight expression of dread on his face.

            Jonathan gave an awkward laugh.

            “Heh, yeah… well… maybe we’ll invest in some earplugs first…” Jonathan replied.