Page 6 of Jacob Michaels is Not Crazy

“Because I’m telling you, ya’ shithead.” She snorted. “For a while, I suspected the little shit was a damn virgin or something. Especially after he got all pissed off when I tried to set him up down at the center. Then a week after you come to town, he’s gettin’ some strange on his living room floor from ya’. I mean, I knew he talked about you a lot whenever we watched your movies or saw you on the T.V., but who knew he was wanting to play ‘Hide the Sausage’ with you?”

“Is this real right now?” I shook my head and looked up towards the heavens. “This all has to be a fucking coma dream or something. I must have fallen and hit my head and I’m in a hospital ward somewhere.”

“Stop being so damn dramatic.” She waved me off.

“Dramatic?” I snorted. “Try apoplectic, lady.”

“I don’t even know that word.” She snorted. “There you go, being all fancy again.”

“It’s in the goddamn dictionary, Oma.” I snapped. “Look it up. Suffice it to say, you should be glad you’re not Andrew right now because I am far from happy and I’m about a day’s hike, a canoe ride down the river, and a helicopter ride over the mountains from calm.”

“Was he good at it?” Oma leaned slightly forward.

“Are you for real right now?”

“Just curious.” She stated defensively. “Not like I got a lot of people to talk about these things with.”

“I’m sure some of the ‘boys’ at the center would love to carry on with you.” I rolled my eyes. “But, yes. He was very good at it. All three times.”

“Three?!” She practically squealed. “When was the other two times?”

“Before he brought me home today!” I shouted. “I fucked him twice more trying to forget about goddamn werewolves and…”

I trailed off, stopping myself from saying what it was that I really wanted to say. Consciously, I gathered myself up and walked over to the kitchen table, picking up the chair Andrew had knocked over when I had punched him, then plopped down into it. I put my head in my hands and rubbed my bleary eyes, then ran my hands through my hair as Oma sauntered over and sat across from at the table. She folded her arms over her chest and watched me as I had my internal debate over what my next course of action should be.

“Well, I guess a good fuckin’ did ya’ good.” She said.

“Don’t start with me, Oma.”

“Well, when’s the last time you had a little strange, Robbie?” She shrugged. “Maybe that’s part of what you needed? You said you came here to find some love…and I guess you found it.”

“I don’t love Lucas.”

“Hm.” She appraised me. “We’ll see. Funny what a little tickle will do to a fella after all.”

“I’m nearly twenty-seven years old, Oma.” I sighed. “I think I’d know if I was in love, right?”

“You think he loves you?” She asked.

I looked up at Oma. Before I knew what I was doing, I slammed my fist down on the table. She didn’t so much as jump. I guess a finger jab is unsettling but a fist slamming into a table isn’t.

“Don’t,” I growled at her. “Don’t act like this is settled, Oma. You lied to me, and…”

“I didn’t lie about shit.” She spat. “I didn’t know that the little shit was a werewolf, so that’s not my fault.”

Rapidly, my conversation with Oma the previous day before Andrew had come to pick me up rushed through my head.

“But you suspected it.” I snapped back. “You were worried about me getting home after dark because you knew it was the first night of the full moon. Don’t try to lie.”

“Fine.” She relented. “Maybe I suspected that he got a little hairy ‘round the full moon. But it wasn’t like I could just ask him. The were-community is notoriously tight-lipped about their status and for good reason and…”

“The...were…community?”

I knew the disbelief and shock were painted all over my face.

“Well, yeah.” She replied. “Andrew ain’t special or nothin’. Surely you figured that out for yourself already.”

I frowned at her. I didn’t know if I was shocked, scared, dumbfounded, or resigned to the fact that things were even crazier in Point Worth than I had originally known. Growing up in the small town there on Lake Erie, I knew that the place wasn’t exactly…normal…but I thought it was just because it was full of country people. Obviously, there were other things going on in the tiny little town that I had absolutely no clue about. Or…had I just chose to ignore those things when they drew my attention?