Night fell on the quaint town of Pleasantville. Adults were at home, getting ready to turn in for the night, but at The Factory, the town’s teens were up and partying. Tommy Dawkins, Merton Dingle, and Lori Baxter were bowling in one of the lanes located in the lower level of the building.
“Woo! Way to go Lori! That’s your fourth strike in a row!” Tommy exclaimed.
“Thanks Tommy,” Lori replied, “but don’t think I’m gonna go easy on you just ‘cause we’re going out.”
Tommy sat down behind the scoreboard and watched as Lori stepped up to bowl again.
“Merton,” Tommy said to his friend, “this is one of the best times I’ve had in a long time. I mean, no monsters, for the time being at least, no evil plots to destroy the world, and best of all, no werewolf to distract Lori.”
“You said it, Tommy.”
The sound of bowling pins hitting the floor called Tommy and Merton back to reality. Tommy congratulated his girlfriend and glanced around the crowded room for anything that would catch his eye.
“Hey, Merton, look,” Tommy said, sotto voice, pointing to a man across the room in adark hat and coat. He was pushing people away from him in an angry manner. Suddenly, Tommy saw a young girl leave through the back door, and the man quickly followed.
“Let’s go,” Tommy whispered to Merton. With Lori’s back turned, Tommy and his friend silently slipped out to ensure the dark man was not looking for trouble.
Back inside The Factory, Lori bowled a spare, and turned around to Tommy for support. But he was gone, as was Merton.
“Tommy? Merton? Guys? Oh, come on!” Lori called. She searched the room and found nothing except a shadow passing through a swinging door. Hoping to find the guys, Lori followed it into an empty alley. Hearing a familiar voice out on the street, she silently followed the two figures ahead of her. A few minutes later, Lori found herself in the park. The sound of fighting ahead caused her to slowly and stealthily approach the clearing ahead. Safely hidden behind a tree and bushes, Lori stole a peek at the seemingly unbelievable scene in front of her.
“The werewolf!” she whispered excitedly. There he was, larger than life, fighting a man in a black cape and hat. Looking around, Lori saw Merton. “What’s he doing here?” she questioned suspiciously. She returned her attention to the werewolf and watched in awe as he did a number on the man in the cape. With one final punch, the man doubled over and limped off in pain.
“Yeah!! Way to go Tommy! I must say, one of your best fights yet. Lori would be proud,” Merton said to the werewolf, as he emerged from behind a bush.
“Thanks man. I just wish she could have seen it. You know, I wish I could tell her,” the werewolf replied.
“Tommy,” Merton said, “how many times do I have to tell you? We don’t really know that much about her. She could be-.”
“I know, I know, she could be a monster, or a witch, or a werewolf hunter, or somebody out to make a few bucks. You tell me that every time we talk about this. I mean, what if she is just a girl who likes werewolves? I feel guilty not telling her.”
“Whatever Tommy,” Merton said.
Unable to control herself any longer, Lori sprang up from her hiding place.
“Tommy! I can’t believe it! Why did you lie to me?” Lori exclaimed.
“Lori,” Tommy whispered. Suddenly, he broke into a run and, without so much as a backwards glance, shot off down the street.
“Tommy! Wait!” Lori called. With that, she ran after him, leaving Merton by himself.
Before Tommy slowed down, he was already halfway to the nearby forest. He knew few people lived out this way, and hoped he would be able to find solitude. He sat down on the ground by a large aspen tree. Sure, it had been easy talking to Merton about telling Lori his secret, but he had known Merton since his first transformation. Anything is easy to do in your mind, but actually doing it was different. Merton’s paranoia didn’t really have any effect on Tommy’s decision not to tell Lori his secret; he just didn’t want to risk ending another relationship because of the werewolf. He kept it a secret from Stacy, and she left him; now that Lori knew, their love was also in jeopardy. Over and over again, Tommy went through the scene which had just played out before him. If only he could have convinced Lori to forget about the werewolf, then he wouldn’t have lost her.
The sudden realization that Tommy was, once again, alone moved him to tears.; so, under the aspen tree, he sat and wept, for all the times he had lost love because of his secret, and for all the times it would happen again, he wept.
Breathing heavily, Lori jogged around a curb, following an hour and a half old trail which she hoped would lead to Tommy. In her trek across town, the only thing which had kept her from giving up was the occasional werewolf sighting. She scanned the scene around her. Why hadn’t Tommy told her? Was she really that unpredictable? He knew she would never do anything to hurt him, didn’t he?
Suddenly, something caught her eye. A figure sat hunched over beneath a tall tree. She slowly approached it, yet it didn’t stir. Upon closer examination, she realized it was Tommy. Oh, how she wanted to explain to him how sorry she was, but the small puddle of tears on the ground told her this wasn’t the time. Instead, Lori sat down on the ground in front of Tommy and stared at him for a minute. Gently, she reached out one hand to him and touched his head. He shuddered at this and restrained his tears, but refused to look at her. Understanding, Lori moved her hand to Tommy’s cheek and kept it there. With her other hand, she began to pull Tommy’s head up so he would look at her. But then, Tommy jerked his head away from her grasp and refused to meet her eye. Undaunted, Lori once again took his face in her hands and pulled it up to meet her. She wished she hadn’t.
The face that looked back at her was not the face that she had kissed so many times. It was not the face of the guy she had shared her love with. This face was one of true misery, and one that actually made Lori feel sorry she had tracked him down. She never meant to cause Tommy any grief, but she couldn’t leave him now, not in his moment of unneeded sadness.
After a moment, Tommy began to pull away, but Lori held him fast.
“Let me go, please. There is nothing you can do to make me feel better, You know, now, what you wanted to know ever since you came to Pleasantville. I just want to go ahead and get out of your life. But, please, don’t tell anyone,” Tommy asked.
“Get out of my life? Why? No! I don’t want you to get out of my life! Do you think I’m mad, or disgusted? Never! You have saved my life on more than one occasion, Tommy. Why would I push you away?”
“Because,” Tommy said, “you can see for yourself. I am a monster. I don’t see how you can even look at me!”
Lori paused a moment to collect her thoughts. “Tommy, “ she almost whispered, “as you know very well, I’m not a normal girl. I’m not easily scared or disgusted. If I felt that way about you, why would I search for you? Yes, I admit, I am disappointed that you didn’t trust me enough to tell me your secret, but that doesn’t change the way I feel about you! It is going to take a lot more than this to separate us. I mean that.”
Tommy looked at her. The hurt still lingered in his eyes. “So, you’re not going to leave me?” he asked cautiously.
“Leave you? Haven’t you been listening? I love you! And I will not leave you, not after all we’ve been through,” she replied, a touch of sadness in her voice. With that, she extended her hand to him and helped him to his feet. She then embraced him in a hug and buried her face in his chest, whispering, “I’m so glad you’re back. I love you.”
In the distance, Tommy heard footsteps hitting the pavement. He pulled Lori behind the aspen with him to avoid them being spotted.
“Tommy! Hey, where are you?” the figure called in a loud whisper.
Tommy stepped from around the tree, “Merton?” he questioned.
“Hey T- uh, I mean, werewolf person I’ve never seen before,” Merton stammered as he saw Lori step out from behind Tommy. He was determined to keep Tommy’s secret just that- a secret.
“Merton, you can stop now; she knows,” he told his friend. “I guess it was kind of inevitable. She was gonna find out sooner or later.”
“Yeah, I can’t believe you guys didn’t tell me before. I mean, I love this stuff!” Lori exclaimed.
“Well, if anyone had to find out, I’m kinda glad it was you now. Now when I bail out on our dates, you know why,” Tommy explained.
“You guys think I’m gonna sit this out? No way! I’m gonna be out there kicking butt with you,” Lori stated.
“Are you sure? It can get pretty rough out there,” Merton said.
“I can handle it,” Lori countered.
The three friends stopped at Merton’s driveway to wish him good night. A she was walking to the door, Tommy, still wolfed out, motioned for him to come back.
“Hey Merton, I’ve been so hyped up this evening that I haven’t been able to calm down and de-wolf. Help me you before you go, would you?” Tommy requested.
“Well, I could help,” Lori volunteered.
“Thanks anyway, Lori, but I gotta calm down to de-wolf and, well, you tend to get me, uh, not calmed down,” Tommy said.
After reciting a few haikous with Merton, Lori was soon facing the Tommy Dawkins everyone knew. Leaving Merton, she and Tommy began to walk to her house.
“You have got to show me that some day,” she said to him.
“Show you what?” he asked.
“You know,” she said to him, “that thing, that wolf thing where you change into the werewolf.”
“Oh, that,” he said playfully, “well, maybe, someday.”
