Check Under My Bed For the Monsters -- October 1987

I was a mere little girl of the age of five or so.  It was really storming outside and I needed Daddy to check under my bed!  I needed to make sure there were no monsters under there... but I knew the moon was big and round tonight - so that meant that he had to be away.  Or at least he wasn't able to be the monster-checker.  I had my blanket and I padded around the house looking for him.  I didn't want Mummy... or Will.  I wanted Daddy.  He was the only one who could scare the monsters away.  I walked down to his office and knocked on the door.  "Daddy?  Are you in there?  You need to scare the monsters away!" I said, opening the door a creak to peak inside.

It wasn't quite late enough for me to change yet, but it was getting close. I heard a little voice outside my office and the door opening up. "Lucy," I said, walking over to let her in. "I thought I told you that you had to stay upstairs and out of my office when the moon was big and round." I lifted her up into my arms and I hoped I'd be able to get her upstairs before I changed. I didn't want her to see me like that, even if I was a tame wolf.

"But Daddy," I said, hugging him as he walked with me. "You didn't scare away the monsters under my bed!" I said it in a way that made it so obvious that he forgot to do his job. "You always do that... no matter what." I looked at him and crossed my arms, keeping hold of my blankie.

I laughed a little bit at how stubborn she was. "Alright," I said, seeing as we had just gotten her to sleep in a big-girl's bed. I didn't want to ruin that now with not checking for any monsters. I knew my time was running thin, I just hoped she'd let me do this quickly. We got upstairs to her bedroom and I set her in bed and tucked her in. Kissing her forehead, I told her, "Now... Daddy has to be a little quicker than normal tonight, baby girl."

"Okay, Daddy," I said, letting him tuck me in instead of trying to tickle me or anything like that. We could do that another night.

I made the show of checking the closet and under the bed for monsters. I felt the familiar warmth going through my body and felt some of the bones start to practically rearrange themselves for me to change form. "Honey, Daddy's got to go downstairs. I love you," I told her, heading toward her door quickly.

"I love you more," I told him with a grin. Then a crack of thunder and flash of lightening made me jump. "Daddy, please stay!" I looked at him with my big round eyes filling with tears of being afraid of the storm. I could hear the wind whipping the rain up against the side of hte house.

I wanted to stay with Lucy, but I couldn't even answer her. I felt the wolf take over and I changed and was soon on all fours. I had control due to the potion, but the wolf wanted to go sniff her. It had never been this close to another human besides Chloe in a long time. But I didn't want it to... I feared I would frighten my daughter worse than she was. The wolf whimpered a little bit at that thought.

I stared at where my daddy had been standing... where now a wolf sat. That's what they meant when they mentioned him changing when the moon was big and round. "Daddy? Why are you staying over there? Sleep with me like you do when I'm scared," I informed him, wondering why he had forgotten what he did to ease my fears. Another loud crack of thunder made me pull my blankie up to my face. "DAddy... come on..."

The wolf stood up and walked over to Lucy. I let it sniff her, but being quite a bit larger than the average wolf, her bed just wouldn't hold us. We curled up right next to the bed, though. I thought that the wolf would hate this... sometimes I did run around at night to appease it -- obviously not hurting anyone or anything. But surprisingly, the wolf was content. It's young, was my children. Lucy did have a part of hte wolf running through her veins -- even if it was more predominant in Will than Lucy. We looked up at her and I wished I could've held her hand or hugged her with the scared look she had on her face. But instead, the wolf licked her cheek.

I giggled when Daddy licked me. I wish he could be in bed with me. So I clambered out of my bed with my blankie and sat down next to him. I curled up and laid my head on the dog's stomach and started petting it. "You will most definitely keep me safe tonight! You're so big and furry and soft... but you look like a toughie. No monsters would dare mess with my daddy tonight!" I told him, snuggling up into the fur even more.

I couldn't believe how much I did not have to fight the wolf tonight. It seemed content in just laying their with my daughter. I had expected it to want to run wild -- especially since last full moon I hadn't let it run and be as free as it could be without causing any damage. But here it laid with my daughter. If only I could laugh at the way she was just completely comfortable with me being a wolf. She reminded me of her mum tonight, she really did. The wolf laid its head down around Lucy to help keep her warm and safe. I felt Lucy drift off to sleep and the wolf never closed it's eyes; it wanted to be sure to be aware if anything would come near any of us.

The sun started to peek through my window and shine right into my face. I opened my eyes and saw that I was laying on Daddy's stomach on the floor. Weren't we just silly? Sleeping on the floor! I knew he had been too big to fit into bed with me... but still! I let out a little giggle as I unwrapped myself from Daddy's arms. He looked really tired. I thought that maybe I could go get him something to eat! I thought I was being quiet but he groaned a little bit and smiled at me. Oops... maybe I wasn't so quiet after all. I sat back down next to him and smiled. "You kept all the monsters away, Daddy," I informed him. I had only one dream last night: I was running around with Daddy... though he was his big ol' wolf. And we were splashing in Grandpa's pond having a really fun time.

I propped myself up and leaned against her bed. I didn't sleep at all last night - it happened every tiem teh wolf came out. It was awake and wanted to stay that way. I didn' tknow how I did it sometimes. It was nice when I had been younger -- I could handle lack of sleep. But with two little ones... it was definitely difficult. "Well, I'm glad I was able to do my job," I told her, stretching to try to loosen my muscles.

I crossed my arms and looked at him. "Daddy... why have I never seen you like that before? That was so cool!" I exclaimed, thinking how awesome it would be for me to tell my friends that Daddy could kick any monster's butt.