I'm just a little quirky

[Weath Storhoi]

Weath walked into the kitchen; her long ginger hair was disheveled and a sleeve of her long floral nightgown slipped over her right hand as she rubbed one of her eyes with the other, stifling a yawn. It was around nine-thirty in the morning, which was early by her standards. The smell of coffee that had woken her up and brought her from her cozy bed and into the kitchen.

She walked towards the fridge and placed a hand on the side, glancing at a few reminders posted on little yellow sticky notes and a couple of photos. There was a card of a naked woman wearing an astronaut’s helmet near the handle. The pay-off line was: ‘very funny Scottie, now beam me up my clothes.’

One photo particular stood out against the rest. It was a photograph of a young man, barely in his mid-20’s and a young girl laughing at the camera; arms draped over each others shoulders; sea water dripping from their long hair. Weath could almost taste the salt on her skin and feel the waves of the cold water slushing the shingles.

The mouse that lived under the fridge chose that moment to appear. It was a very ambivalent mouse, scarcely bothering to lift its head to acknowledge her. And it didn’t seem to mind that her father Ernie kept setting mouse traps. Perhaps it knew that Weath disarmed them, taking off the cheese when Ernie wasn’t around.

The mouse finally looked up at her, as though about to complain about the lack of crumbs. Then it sniffed the hair and scurried away.

“G’morning, Trout” Came a weary voice from behind her. Her father, all long blonde curly hair, grey blue eyes and fisherman pants walked into view and settled down at the kitchen table. There was already a newspaper and a cup of hot coffee sitting there, denoting that he’d already been up for a short while.

“Happy Birthday, Old-Man.” Opening the fridge, Weath took out a carton of orange juice and unscrewed the plastic lid. She looked at her father, considered her options, and got a glass from the cupboard. As she filled the glass, she heard him grumble something about not being that old before she walked over and took a seat on the opposite side of the table.

“Don’t you like birthdays?” Weath asked, crossing her legs, she held her glass of orange juice with both hands on the glass. She could bend like a reed and move without making a sound.

“I don’t like teenagers who remind me of my age.”

“But we’re the future.”

“God help us.” He chuckled as he took a sip of his coffee.

“I’m going to make you a cake.” She announced.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“What sort do you want? Do you like chocolate? Everyone likes chocolate. How old are you again?”

“Thirty-five.”

“Thats old.” She teased. Thirty-five wasn’t that bad at all. After all, Ernie had been seventeen when he and Gracie had had Weath.

“You don’t count the years, you count the mileage.”

“What does that mean?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Weath uncrossed her legs and wrapped her heels behind the back of the chair, accidently bumping something. A pair of shoes.

Someone had spilled vodka on them. She wouldn’t mind so much, but they weren’t hers. She borrowed them, just like she had borrowed the night gown she was wearing, which was too big for her. At least her underwear was her own.

‘Never borrow money, or underwear,’ A friend of her fathers had once said, an addendum to her clean-underwear speech which involved a graphic descriptions of road accents and ambulance officers cutting the fabric off her thighs, as they were having breakfast. No wonder she had nightmares.

Weath looked up at her father, who glanced away quickly and took a swift sip of his coffee. Then, throwing back the last of her orange juice, she picked up the cup and walked over to the sink, rinsing it and placing it on the drying rack.

“I’m going to borrow twenty from your wallet.” She said, already opening the hemp billfold.

“Why?” He asked.

“Because when I take it from strangers they get cranky.” She tried to sound droll.

“What do you mean borrow, anyway?” He asked with a waggish smile that showed the small laugh lines forming near his eyes. “You don’t have a job.”

Weath smiled, secretly feeling a pang of guilt at the truth of his statement, and walked back towards him, planting a quick peck on his cheek. “Happy birthday.”

_______
Rain was drizzling down like mist as Weath stepped out onto the rain washed porch, taking in the fresh scent. She had just ran to her room to shower and change before she decided to go to the park for a while. It was a quiet day and with any luck the rain would have kept most of the residence of Forks inside so she could have the swing set to herself. She loved the rain - After living in it all your life you learn to...well, live with it. It was a windy day that was promising rain. Her house was made from wood, built inside the forest just outside of Forks. It was a large log house probably built for many people, but for now it was just Weath and her father Ernie. The ageing weatherboards were askew; they had suffered about 30 years of relentless sunlight and regular floods and somehow still stood.

She made a quick dash for her dad’s car across the driveway, kicking up mud as her feet hit the loose gravel. It was an old xc fairmont that her father been working on for years, nearly spent $15,000 working on it he’d once said. She sat inside it for a good minute or so waiting for it to warm up, enjoying the scent of the new leather seats that Ernie had installed.

It took her a whole of five minutes to reach the Forks park. Ever since she was a child she had enjoyed playing there. There had always been so much to explore, so many things to see and do. The gardens where huge, a veritable jungle. When she was ten she saw Raiders of the Lost Ark. The gardens became a South American jungle and she was searching for lost Incan treasures, being chased by pygmies. Before that it was the swamp infested by the Alien Dead and she was defending the world from zombies. Or she was time traveling with a group of dwarves searching for treasure.

Her dad had been great too. Ernie did everything he could to see that Weath didn’t miss out. He took her to the park to play with ducks. She remembered he’d play dolls with her, and they’d make sock puppets. But she also loved to do allot of boyish things too, playing soccer with him. She remembered him running and running, his blonde curly hair flying out behind him, leaping and kicking for the ball, his legs in long red and green football socks. He brought home books on paper aeroplanes, and they sat in the kitchen table together folding and experimenting. Weath had the best paper aeroplanes of any kid she knew.

He was very different to her mother, whom she seldom saw. Out of choice really, she didn’t get along with her as well as she did with Ernie. Every time Weath got home to her father, the thing she most wanted to ask him (but didn’t, because he feared hurting his feelings) was why and how they ever got along well enough to have her.

Weath sauntered over towards the swing yet, sitting down on the wet seat as she let her feet push her back and forth. She wasn’t going to worry about getting a wet backside; she was wearing a long cream and red alpaca wool jumper over a floral, long-sleeve shirt, as well as a pair of thin-leg pale jeans and ugg boots with her rainbow toe-socks pulled up to her knees. She loved color, she loved beautiful things, probably because she didn’t didn’t think that she was very beautiful herself.

With a shoal of freckles all over her body, ginger hair and light green eyes, Weath really didn’t see anything that attractive about her at all. She was ‘as speckled as a trout’, as her father would so fondly put it.

A lady bug flew onto her knee and she stopped swinging for a moment to watch it as it crawled down her knee and down her leg. Reaching down, Weath placed a long, slender index finger in front of it and smiled as it crawled on, tickling her palm with it’s tiny feet as it crawled towards her wrist. “Hello little lady.” She smiled to herself.

[Anna Quinn]

Anna had been sitting inside the wood house listening to the rain on the roof since 6am when she had woken, she was a morning person, she didn’t know why but she was, she had a talking clocks throughout the house to tell her the time, one press of a button and she would know the time. The generic female voice would fill the room taking longer then needed to say 6am. Now though the rain had eased and stoped, she smiled as she felt a wet nose nudge her hand. Kara was ready for her morning walk they usually left at about 7am but due to the heaviness of the rain they had been forced to wait.

“Ok girl, you know what to get”

She said easily as she lifted herself from the kitchen chair and made her way blindly over to the kitchen sink washing up her bowl and placing it on the sink. She had to avoid the unpacked boxes but she knew where they were and it wasn’t hard, this was her 4th morning here and she still had a long way to go before she was officially moved in, but both her and Kara were ready to stretch their legs. It wasn’t long before she heard the white wolf pattering on the laminate flooring and she bent down. The wolf dropped two things into her hands, one was her stick, to help her skim the ground in front of her and avoid tripping and the other was the harness for Kara, so she could be led safely through the streets by the loyal wolf.

“Good girl”

She said with a fond smile as she blindly but expertly placed the harness around the white wolfs body securing the straps with ease she stood grabbing hold of her stick in one hand and the handle of the harness in another, then Kara led her gently to the counter where she picked up her mobile phone and keys. The phone was more to call the ambulance or someone similar for help if she got herself into trouble, she had no family to call. Pocketing both they headed out the door Kara stopping long enough for Anna to press the button and pull the door two, listening as it snapped into place and the lock engaged. She twisted the nob a few times just to be sure, and then they were off.

Anna lived a 5 minute walk out of the town her house backing onto the forest, sometimes they walked through the woods but she decided that they would go into the town today and to the park, there may be some kids there and Kara did love to play with children.

“Lets go into town today Kara”

She said gently, and she could feel as Kara turned right toward the town at the end of the driveway rather then left onto the forest trails. Anna loved their walks, she could hear the sound of Kara’s paws on the wet road and her own footfalls, but she could also hear the gentle dripping as the pools of water slowly dripped from leaves to the ground. The birds were singing and she could hear some scuffing noises of some animal, the gentle tapping of her guide stick as she checked every now and then to make sure she wouldn’t trip over a stick or anything. Not that Kara would let her, it was more habit from all those years without Kara.

In ten minutes the crunching of her shoes on the road changed as she stepped onto spongy grass, she knew then that they were in the park and smiled as Kara led her through the park she heard the wolf bark happily in greeting to some people, but Kara never left her side or pulled on the harness, she kept to Anna’s side walking easily as she guided her blind owner through the park and toward the swings, where only one other person sat.

Anna knew, as they got closer to the swings that there was someone there, she could hear the slight squeaking of the swings chains, different to the others which blew with the wind. Anna had on an old pair of faded blue skinny leg jeans, runners a white halter-top and a black jacket today. She didn’t own very many colourful things, she asked the shop assistants to help her find black and white, brown and cream clothing, so she didn’t end up leaving the house with a horrific colour match.

“Do you mind?”

She asked as they reached the swings, motioning to one of the empty swings next to the other person, her blue eyes were on the space where she knew the other person sat though she had no way of knowing if it was a male or female, or their age until they spoke.

[Weath Storhoi]

Weath looked up with a cheerful smile, as she heard a young woman approach her, being led by a massive white wolf wearing a strange looking leash. The young woman who had approached her had a light-hearted expression…only she didn’t quite look at Weath; rather, she looked in her general direction. Even though she looked perfectly fine, wore pretty plain and sensible clothes, and had an easy enough smile, there was something about her look that seemed unusual. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

“Go right on ahead.” Weath spoke, still pondering over the strange look. She motioned towards the spare swing hanging beside her, accidently frightening off the ladybug that had been crawling along her palm. Well at least it might have brought her some luck, right?

Suddenly, it hit Weath. The way the girl looked at her seemed strange because she didn’t really look at her. Was she simply too timid to look her in the eye? Was it meant as a gesture of respect?

Suddenly, it was awkwardly obvious why she wasn’t looking directly at her.
She was blind.

She was blind. That meant that she couldn’t see her. She didn’t know how strange most people thought she looked. Or how freckled she was, or red her hair was. To be seen as a normal human being after so many years was quite staggering for Weath.

Weath fingered at a small hole a sleeve of her alpaca jumper for a moment and twisted her ugg boots in the grass as she waited for the girl to sit down - if she knew where to sit down - and looked at the giant wolf that she now realized acted as a seeing-eyes-dog.

“My name’s Weath. What’s your name?” Weath asked, addressing the girl but reaching out a tentative freckled hand towards the white canine.

[Anna Quinn]

Anna smiled warmly as she heard the women speak, she knew know from the voice that it was a women, maybe around the same age as her she wasn’t entirely sure, she didn’t have the young innocent voice of youth, and it also wasn’t the sound of a women who had lived many years. She also detected a slight difference in her voice that wasn’t completely openly welcoming, as if she was pondering something and was distracted slightly.

“Thanks”

She said warmly and took a few steps forward, tapping the air with the stick she soon found the empty swing and sat down easily, before she bent down, letting go of the halter type lead and slid it easily off to allow Kara her freedom, Anna would let her walk without a lead all the time if it wasn’t for the fact that she needed a way to hold onto her in order to find her way around more easily. Kara didn’t run off right away she sat next to her owner knowing she must wait to be excused.

Anna placed the stick and the halter on the ground beside her and the tones of the women filled her ears again, the tone of thought from her voice was gone and Anna could sense a small amount of embarrassment, even if the girl didn’t know it herself Anna could hear it in her voice, others would just see the smile and think she was completely comfortable but Anna knew better.

“That’s an interesting name Weath. I’m Adrianna, but people call me Anna its easier to remember. This is Kara, say hello Kara”

She said easily, and Kara looked at her at the mention of her name and knew what to do especially as she saw the tentative hand being held out to her. If wolves could smile then no doubt Kara would have as she sniffed the hand for a fraction of a second before licking it easily, and barking once. Anna smiled, and stroked the wolfs head easily.

“Good girl, off you go”

She spoke easily matching the words with a slight tap on the wolf’s back, Kara didn’t need telling twice that was her que she was allowed to leave her owners side and explore, and it wasn’t long before she had sought out some willing play mates, though their mother looked on slightly apprehensively. Anna closed her eyes for a moment as she sat on the swing not that it made any difference to the light let into her dark world.

“Don’t get many blind people around here do you?”

She asked but it was more of a statement her voice was full of amusement. In the beginning she had found it hard to talk about the fact that she was blind and there was no way she would ever have made jokes about it but now it was just a part of who she was, and she was at ease with it now. Besides it had made her an excellent judge of character and she could pick up on the emotions of others from their voice that those who could see their postures wouldn’t have noticed.

[Weath Storhoi]

“Hey Kara,” Weath grinned as the white wolf licked her open palm and yiped at her. Anna found her seat, with more ease than Weath had expected, which relaxed her as she sat down. “She’s beautiful.” Weath marveled at the wolf’s ivory fur, the way that she bounded off to explore her surroundings, soon finding a couple of children to play with. She noted a few parents anxious faces as Kara played with their children.

Weath smiled wryly at Anna’s comment in regard to her name. “It was my fathers idea.” Her smile turned into a wry grin, and a light chuckle escaped her lips. “He’s the sort of person who rejects the established culture and advocates extreme liberalism in politics and lifestyle...a hippie, as it were.” She rolled her eyes, smiling, before realizing the futility of the action. Anna couldn’t even acknowledge she’d done so.

“I can’t say that I’ve met very many blind people.” She agreed, and wondered briefly how it had happened. Had Anna been born that way? Or did it just happen sometime recently? She seemed quiet at ease with it. Weath had even spotted a hint of humor in her tone as she had asked the question. If it had happened not too long ago, maybe it was possible with the help of an operation, she could see again. But Weath didn’t want to ask. She started to push herself back and forth on the swing, allowing her red hair to dangle around her face. “I didn’t even noticed you were blind at first, to be honest. If it weren’t for the fact you weren’t looking directly at me when you’d spoken to me I would have thought you were just some sort of animal whisperer taking her giant white wolf out for a stroll.” She shrugged.

Why make things more awkward than they had to be? Anna was blind it wasn’t like she had another arm or two noses or something. After the initial surprise wore off Weath was starting to feel a little more relaxed now. As if she was talking to anyone, just that that anyone couldn’t look directly at her while she was speaking.

“Are you new here? I haven’t seen you around before?”

[Anna Quinn]

Anna smiled as the young women’s words flowed easier now, it was funny how meeting Kara could ease people. It was funny really since most people on first sight are daunted by the wolf, she can always hear it in their tone, but once she introduces them to Kara properly they usually calm down. She could tell that the sun was slowly coming out a little, but not because the park got lighter, because she could feel the weak rays of the sun warm her face she was silent as she let the other women’s voice fill the air around them. As she spoke of her father and the fact he was a ‘hippy’ she noted the change in tone, she may not be able to see the eye roll but she could hear it in her voice, the way the tone of her words changed ever so slightly. Portraying the humour of the statement, some times she liked being blind, it made her rely on her other senses more and she was able to detect things that others missed, because they were fooled my the mask of movement and actions. To anyone who could see they would have only seen the humour in the girls statement and the eye roll, but by focusing on the tone of her words Anna picked up on the admiration in the words, although she joked about her hippy father he meant the world to her.

“I found her when she was only a cub, the foster home I was at then was surrounded in forest, one of the days I was out walking by myself sick of my foster mothers constant company and fussing, I heard her yelping in pain. When I found her I could feel that she was stuck in a trap and I bundled her up in my jacket and brought her home, my foster dad got the trap off and I nursed her back to health, I’ve never been able to see her for myself but my foster mother described her too me many a time, she had a wonderful way of explaining things, while she spoke it was almost as if I could see again. Since then Kara has been my best friend, she helps me get around and I spoil her rotten.”

She spoke easily staring blankly off into the distance, that had been one of the better foster homes, before that one they had been pretty bad, but once Kara came along the others were better no one was game to do anything bad to her for fear of Kara ripping them to shreds. She had often wished that Kara had been there at the earlier placements, some of the foster dads could get quite a bit too friendly for anyone’s liking. She smiled as she heard the women’s next comments; about not realising at first that Anna was blind and then about not seeing her around before, A smile lit up her features easily before she spoke humour laced her words.

“I haven’t seen you around before either, but does that mean you haven’t been around? Even those who see can miss people, but yes I am new, this will be my 5th day here”

She said emphasising the seen, just for the sake of it, it was not a rude question at all Anna just couldn’t resist having a little fun and pointing out that little fact she sat there smiling at her own joke and listening to the world around her, most prominent was the laughter of the children and an odd happy barking of Kara in the playground, as she no doubt raced in and out around the children, she had been known to climb the ladders and go down the slides as well at times.

Then she heard the crying of a child, who must have fallen, she rose instantly she knew Kara would go over to the child wanting to ease their pain, and that wasn’t always received well, bending down she fumbled and found her stick and the halter, but as she took a few steps and headed toward the playground she heard the sickening thud and the slightest cracking sound accompanied by a whimper as the boot of a powerful man collided with Kara’s ribs.

“Get away from my kid!”

His thundering voice echoed around the park and he kicked again, Kara unable to move away as her body was kicked over and over Anna was running now

“STOP! PLEASE STOP!”

She yelled as she ran toward the voices, the thuds and the yelps of pain, she knew Kara wouldn’t fight back she was a peaceful wolf, tears were running down Anna’s cheeks as she ran blindly, she couldn’t stand hearing the painful yelps and whimpering from her best friend.

THUD!

The ground came rushing up to Anna as she was nearly there she didn’t know their was a step up to the playground and she had tripped on it, the wind was knocked out of her but she scrambled to her feet and she felt the bush tail near her and scrambled over. She felt the breeze as the boot narrowly missed, her as the man tried to avoid his next kick from hitting the girl as she placed herself in front of the animal. She had no breath to speak or yell as she more wanted to do right now instead she gently ran her hand over the animal, Kara whimpered often when Anna touched a tender spot, and she had the uneasy suspicion that a few ribs were broken. Finally she got her breath back and stood up not sure exactly where the man who had struck her Kara was but ready to yell at the top of her lungs until he owned up.

“What’s your problem! She did nothing to your child! I’m blind and I can see that! If she was a threat you wouldn’t have a leg anymore! Instead she just lay their taking your beating! And you didn’t even stop! You don’t deserve to call yourself a father if you are that quick to attack an innocent creature!”

She yelled into the area around her not even sure if she was facing the right way in order to yell at the right person but hopefully if she wasn’t the person she was facing would understand after all she was blind.

“That thing wouldn’t leave my child alone!”

She heard the same male voice still angry but this time she sensed that he was feeling slightly rebuffed but didn’t want to admit that he may have been wrong. She had been yelling into the wrong space and turned to face where the voice had come from.

“Did she hurt your child? NO! She would have been nudging your child gently when she started to cry! It’s her way of asking if you are ok! She was checking on your child for you! And you repay her by breaking her ribs!”

Anna was wild she knew she was rambling but now that she had found her voice she was ready to give to this man everything he deserved for his cruelty. She knew though that her priority had to be Kara and she turned. Lowering herself to the ground again next to Kara her back to the man and the children and mothers around them. She pulled out her mobile phone and punched in the numbers for the vet. She had asked one of the nicer movers to read out the numbers for the local vet, hospital and police when she had first arrived and used her special brail typewriter to copy them down until she knew them. She held the phone to her ear and waited for someone to answer.

“Hello, Forks Veterinary Clinic, this is Rachael.”

A pleasant yet slightly bored voice came onto the other end of the line.

“Hi, I’m in the park, a man has just taken to my dog with his boot and I think some of her ribs are broken, is it possible for someone to come and bring her to the clinic, I don’t have a car.”

Anna spoke easily trying to keep her voice calm though she couldn’t stop herself from almost spitting out with venom the part about the man.

“Yes no problem I will come personally if no one else is free”

“Thank you”

Anna said and as she hung up the phone she could have sworn she heard the women mumbling about animal cruelty. She sat there in the sand stroking Kara’s face gently trying to block out the mumblings around her, then she heard the soft shuffling of a childs footsteps coming closer.

“Is Wolfy ok?”

The young girl asked, her voice was shaky and Anna knew right away that this was the mans child, she could hear it in the girls voice that she had recently shed tears and was still fighting them back.

“I hope so”

[Weath Storhoi]

Weath continued to swing gently as Anna spoke, telling her about how she’d found Kara and raised her from a puppy. It was quite a unique story really. One of a kind. It sounded like Anna had a wonderful pair of foster parents by her side at that time, but it also made her curious. What had happened to Anna’s biological parents, and again, how had she lost her sight?

She looked directly at Anna as she spoke, even though Anna did not look at her. It was just something her father had taught her at a young age. That, and don’t chew with your mouth open.

Weath was the sort of person who would show a different face of herself in different situations. Sometimes people would say she was like a lava lamp; she was always changing, but she was always colorful and interesting. She was sociable, but she’d always wander, which made her a good friend to allot of people.

Weath was the sort of person who’d treat love and friendship like a small creature trapped in a blizzard, fighting for survival. She was always trying to free herself from social restrictions. To choose her own way and find her own meaning of life. Probably why she got on so well with so many different people.

“I don’t expect you would, I...” Weath started to say, before the sudden, high-pitched wailing of a child cut her off. She watched as Kara trotted towards the child, and Anna rising to her feet, fumbling to find her walking stick. Several other people were also getting to their feet to watch the sudden confrontation in front of them.

Several locals were standing close now, few of them even considering going too close to the giant wolf and the angry man. Weath wasn’t too sure which they were more hesitant of; the wolf who was obviously in no condition to attack anyone anyway, or the dark haired angry man who looked as if he was about ready to explode.

There was an elderly American couple standing the closest to the confrontation. There were also about a dozen of English tourists who had come for tea, sitting at a bench not too far away. Teatime was a sacred time for the English. Once their cup of tea had been poured, they withdraw into their own little world. They permit absolutely nothing to come between them and their cup of tea. The Earth may quake, bombs may fall, flood or fire may threaten them, but their tea must be drunk before the dash to safety.

Anna looked a nervous wreck as Weath looked at the English tourists. It was not an easy decision to make for them to go over and see what the commotion was about. The tea was scalding hot. If they gulped it down, they would burn themselves painfully. If they left it on the table, it might go cold and not taste too good when they got back. Then one of the older Englishmen had an idea. Picking up his cup and saucer, he marched carefully up to the people staring at the dispute.

Weath heard a yelp as Kara was kicked,

“Get away from my kid!” The man bellowed down at the whine canine. He continued to kick as Anna raced blindly towards the sound. Weath ran forwards as Anna tripped, before scrambling to her feet and rushing towards the sounds again, nearly receiving a boot to the head in the process. But it helped. Anna forced herself in front of her pet, to protect her, looking almost directly up at the man as she practically screamed at him with a ferocity that she had not expected. Weath was at her side now, though she didn’t even expect that Anna would even acknowledge so.

“That thing wouldn’t leave my child alone!” As if that justified what he had just done. The child had latched herself onto the back of her fathers leg, looking up at Anna with large, fearful eyes. Weath had to fight the urge to try and comfort the girl, it may make things worse.

Anna screamed at him again this time stooping low beside Kara, taking out a mobile with small bumps where there should have been numbers and dialed. The Vet Clinic of course. Weath eyed the man as Anna spoke, knowing who the guy was. She had instantly recognised him as soon as she’d heard his voice. He’d given her father trouble before a few months ago, again, over his kid.
Her father was a carpenter, so he made cabinets, bed-frames, drawers, tables, chairs etc. The man had ordered a chair off of Ernie but had returned it. Apparently his child had gotten a splinter from trying to climb onto the chair. It would have looked almost comical, watching her tiny father growling up at the 6 foot man, but she defended her father, threatening to call the police if the man did not leave their property immediately.

“You’ll be lucky if I don’t charge you, Blondie!” The guy spat over at Anna once she hung up the phone. The little girl let go of her fathers leg and tottered over towards Anna and Kara.

“Oh piss off, Mark!” Weath scowled at the olive-skinned man, stepping closer and facing him directly. She was taller than her little father. “Or would you rather I call the cops again? First threatening a man on his property and now abusing an animal? Are you sure that the sort of things you want to be teaching your daughter? ”

Mark bit his tongue and simply scowled at Weath, his face growing red underneath his olive complexion, as she turned and knelt down on the other side of Kara. Weath could tell she was going to have to get prepared to hear an ear full about this once his kid was out of ear-shot. “Wolfy’s going to be fine.” She tried to placate the little girl, forcing a small smile.

[Anna Quinn]

Anna had began to calm down but only slightly after hanging up from the vets and answering the little girl as calmly as she could but at the mention of the cops she couldn’t stop herself she was on her feet facing in the direction she hoped he was in.

“Charge me! For what telling you how much of a coward you are for brutally attacking a wolf! One, which was doing nothing but playing with the children and checking to see if your daughter was ok? Go for it, call the cops to report me because I’m sure they would love to hear the story about the big brute that nearly killed a seeing eyes dog and then tried to charge its blind owner for stopping him! You’re the one that would end up being charged and then where would your daughter be!”

Anna spoke with venom no longer yelling, her voice was full of acid and hate, and she knew it, it even shocked her how hateful her voice sounded but she didn’t show it on her blank features, her startling blue eyes staring slightly to the right of where the man actually stood, but she was pretty close.

Behind her Kara whimpered quietly it was almost a whine as if to say that’s enough, there is no point arguing with a man like him. And Anna turned back to her best friend and knelt back down knowing she shouldn’t let people get to her. And knowing that the man was defiantly not worth the breath of the stress of yelling at him, but he deserved it, he deserved much worse. In her mind he deserved to be ripped to pieces by wolves for his actions, but she would never voice it. She was proud of Kara though, for even though she was being beaten with severity that was unnecessary she didn’t do anything to provoke the man further. She hadn’t done anything to provoke him in the first place.

“Is everything alright here?”

A middle aged male voice said from behind Anna, his voice sounded self important like the way a police officer spoke, Anna turned her head in the direction of the voice.

“Sorry who’s there?”

She asked wanting to know the identity of the speaker before she addressed him appropriately she thought he might be a cop from the way he spoke but she couldn’t be sure. The man was taken back only for a minute by the question and then he noticed the guide stick and halter beside the blond women and how although she looked in his general direction she didn’t look right at him.

“I’m officer Charlie Swan’, I was alerted to a disturbance in the park”

He spoke easily, then he noticed the giant white wolf laying battered and pathetic looking on the ground whimpering and the way Mark stood defensive glaring at the blood women on the ground next to it. She stood up again this time looking in the general direction of the officer and not in Marks direction.

“I’m sorry about the disturbance officer Swan, I was just trying to stop that man from killing my seeing eyes dog with his brutal attack.”

She spoke easily pointing in the general direction of where the mans voice had been last time, Weath had spoken his name she was sure but she had been too wild to be paying enough attention to that. Charlie looked over at Mark where the girl had pointed, of course Mark was involved, and she was definitely blind calling the wolf a seeing eyes dog just made it perfectly clear to him.

“And your dog did nothing to provoke him? And didn’t fight back while he was doing this?”

He asked though afterward thought it was pretty stupid to ask her, how would she know she wouldn’t have been able to see what had happened, this could end up being an interesting one.

“No, she was playing with the children I could hear her, not rough, then his daughter started crying, Kara would have gone to see if she was ok that’s what she does and then I heard her yelp and him yelling, she wouldn’t have fought back its not in her nature, Weath was with me, she might have actually been able to see what happened.”

She answered and Charlie nodded, for someone who cant see she sounds like she knew pretty much exactly what was going on but he turned to look at Weath to see is she agreed with what this girl had said or if her story of things was different.

[Weath Storhoi]

Weath wasn’t really paying close attention to the confrontation happening above her anymore as she was crouched down beside Kara, and the little girl. She didn’t like the fact that girl was being spoken about like this while he was in ear shot. And clearly, neither did the girl, who now had large tears steaming silently down her tanned cheeks and dripping off her chin, looking miserable.

Weath had an arm around the girls little shoulders, trying to placate her but to little success. “See? Wolfy is going to be just fine.” She murmured quietly, petting Kara’s white mane of fur around her neck. With a sniffle, the little girl started to pet Kara’s fur too. “There. See?” The little girl offered a wry smile.

“Is everything alright, here?” A males voice came from behind them, causing Weath to turn her head back to look. It was Officer Swan, one of the local policemen living in Forks. Weath knew his girlfriend Sue, stopping to say a quick hello from time to time while Charlie was working.

Anna turned to speak to him now, as Weath sat, trying to remain unobtrusive as she observed his reaction when he realized that she was blind. There was a brief look of shock on his face before he managed to pull the mask in place and focus again on why he was called here in the first place. Weath’s lips tightened slightly, dire to the fact that his poker face had seemed allot better than hers had been. Or perhaps she only thought that way because she could see his.

Her grey/blue eyes shot up when she realized she was being addressed now and she looked directly into Officer Swan’s gaze. Giving the little girl a pat on the shoulder, Weath stood slowly before she answered. “Kara...the dog, did absolutely nothing to provoke Mark’s beatings.” She shot a quick glare at the olive-skinned man. “I was with Anna the whole time. The little girl here,” She placed a hand on the teary-eyed girls head briefly. “tripped and Kara just came over here to investigate.”

Officer Swan looked at the little girl now, kneeling down on one knee so that he was eye-level with her, he spoke in a gentle voice. “Is this what happened?” The little girl looked at her father, and then at Weath and Anna before she nodded slowly. “Wolfy wanted to see if I was okay.”

“This is ridiculous!” Mark boomed behind them and Weath pulled the girl a little tighter to her. Mark saw her action and scowled. “Give me my kid, you have no right to touch her like that!” Weath didn’t argue then, as Mark took the girl by the arm and pulled her towards him. Officer Swan however didn’t seem as hesitant in asserting his authority.

“Mr Little, I’d appreciate it if you refrained from yelling. This is a public park and I’m afraid if you don’t calm yourself I’m going to have to arrest you.” He spoke sternly. Mark’s mouth opened and shut like a fish gasping for oxygen for a moment before it set tightly and he let out a frustrated growl, his grip was firm against his daughters arm.

“I’m going to have to ask you all to accompany me to the station so I can get official statements. Ladies, would you like me to call your families, tell them where you’ll be?” He asked a little more kindly. It was fairly clear who’s side of the story he was leaning towards believing. Weath pursed her lips. The last thing she really wanted was her father coming down to the station and making a scene. Besides it was his birthday. What a gift that’d be ay? Happy birthday Old Man, can you pick me up at the station?

But she didn’t know how long they’d be, and no matter how jolly the guy usually was, she knew how prone to worrying he was at times, especially about her. With a resigned sigh, she nodded. “My dad, Ernie Storhoi. I'm Weath.”

“Ahh, you’re the carpenters daughter.” He nodded, writing down what she assumed was her fathers name on a note pad. “Sue’s spoken of you before. And your name Miss?” He then directed his gaze towards Anna this time.

[Anna Quinn]

Anna wasn’t too sure about what was going on but she briefly heard Weath trying to comfort the little girl and felt suddenly guilty for loosing control like she had. Not being able to see the little girl or her reaction, and because she had been so quiet, her anger at the treatment of the animal had driven the child from her mind. Had she been thinking straight and had she not been blind she may have been more sympathetic to the child and not flown off the handle with her yelling and seething voice.

She could hear people murmuring in the background, obviously they had drawn a bit of a crowd and that made her feel suddenly self conscious. She was generally a pretty happy go lucky, private person who chose to keep mostly to herself to avoid people obsessing over the fact that she was blind. Some people would be overly cautious around her, hovering thinking she couldn’t do anything for herself.

Closer to her she could hear the conversation between the officer and Weath, interrupted by the father again obviously Weath had been trying to comfort the child and he had snapped again. It shocked her how he could behave so badly in front of his daughter, this thought only made her feel guilty though as she had behaved worse in a way, yelling at her father the way she had, in her defence she was blind and it was easy to forget about the people around her.

It took her a moment to realise that he was addressing her again her thoughts had wandered as she sat beside her wounded friend absently stroking the soft white fur. She looked up in the general direction blankly, only knowing the general direction of the officer.

“Adrianna Quinn, and no there is no one to contact”

She said looking down, it was true there was no one to contact not anywhere, she had no family, the only thing she had was Kara, and now she didn’t know what was going to happen to her either, she looked up suddenly realising what the officer had said.

“I can’t go the station, the vet will be here soon, and I can’t leave Kara”

She said slight panic creeping into her voice, how was she supposed to be stuck in a station while Kara was in this condition.

“Who called the vet clinic about their dog?”

Someone asked as they joined the growing gathering, Anna recognised the voice from the phone, obviously no one else was free so she had come herself.

“I did”

She said turning her head slightly to the side to stare into the darkness where she thought the voice had come from. Rachael stood wondering for a moment why the women had such a blank look on her face, no that was the wrong way to explain it, her face was full of anguish but her eyes were somehow blank. In that she didn’t look at Rachael but rather in her general direction. It didn’t take her long to realise that the women was blind and she looked past her to the white form on the ground, and it was no dog it was a huge wolf.

“Whoa, umm, ok lets get her to the car, and we will get her to the clinic, anyone want to help me move her?”

She asked glancing around briefly most of the people there seemed hesitant to go near the wolf and to be honest so was she but she knew it had to be done, besides the wolf was in no fit state to do anyone any harm.

“I will, you will just have to direct me”

Anna said from where she sat on the ground, the arrival of Rachael had pushed the thoughts of having to go to the station from her mind and she was once again only focused on Kara.

She rose to her feet and soon had the wolf in her arms, she was already struggling under the weight and was waiting for someone to lead her to the car when the wolf was taken from her arms.

“Allow me”

The voice of the officer spoke as he took the wolf from her and headed toward Rachel’s car. Anna fumbled around on the ground trying to find her cane and the halter she had discarded, she found them and as she stood felt a femenin hand helping her up and leaving her off out of the park.

“This way, I assume you will be joining her at the clinic”

The girl Rachael spoke easily at her side, Anna paused for a moment and turned and spoke not sure where the girl she was aiming it at was even still there.

“Thank you Weath”

She said easily before allowing herself to be lead to the car, it wasn’t often that she allowed people to lead her but without Kara showing her the way she was slightly lost.