Page 25 of Bear Strength

Dominick and I both nod. He just waves quickly, then his motorbike disappears down the street, swallowed by darkness.

“He’s a bit weird, isn’t he?” I comment, as I close the door.

“Well, you’d be weird, too if you were sold to the circus as a kid,” Dominick tells me, and at first, I’m not sure I heard it right.

“Wait, what do you mean?”

I catch up with him in the living room, and we both sit down on the couch.

“The circus?” I repeat. “Like, the real circus?”

“Not the funny clowns we have today.”

“Then what?”

“The old circus,” he continues to explain. “With the freak shows, where you’d pay to see something strange and unusual.”

“But, he’s not that old!”

“Mom,” he takes my hand in his, pausing a little. “These bikers… they are bear shifters.”

“What!?” I jump from the sofa. “You mean I just had a bear shifter in my home?”

“Yeah,” he nods, looking all relaxed.

“But, they’re dangerous!” I shout again. “You’re not going back there again! And… we’re moving… no way we’re staying in this fucked up town!”

I look around, feeling like a caged tiger. I paid for half a year on this place, and I’ve been considering buying it. But, I didn’t know any of this before. We can’t live in a shifter town. They stay away from humans. We say away from them. It’s been like that ever since we realized that we were all sharing this earth together.

Dominick walks over to me slowly, and he wraps his arms around me. I can feel his still growing chest pressed against mine, his heartbeat slow and steady. Unlike mine. We remain like that for a few moments. He’s waiting for me to calm down. When he lets go of me, I actually do feel a little better.

“Do the rest of the townsfolk know this?” I ask.

“Of course,” he smiles at me. “That’s not a secret they can keep for very long.”

“And, everyone is fine with that?”

“Well, what does it look like to you?” he asks me.

Now, it seems a little clearer. People are afraid. But, at the same time, they are grateful. They are taken care of. They are protected. Even if that means that the bikers do a little bit of damage here and there. There’s always a price to pay.

“Aren’t you afraid of them?”

I look at my son, my brave son who has survived more than a child his age should, who has seen more than a child his age should see. I watch him as he grows into a fine young man, who, like many of us, does tend to stray a little. But, if he remains on the right path, that’s all that matters.

“They’re actually not that bad,” Dominick tells me. “They’re like you and I. They’re normal. They don’t transform like every day. It’s actually very painful, Mason told me. They do it only if it’s utterly necessary.”

“That’s good,” I reply, not really sure what I wanted to say with that.

“And, they are very open. Like, you can ask them anything and they’ll tell you, straightforward.”

“I see,” I nod.

“That’s how I know about Adrian and his childhood.”

“The circus?” I remember.

“Yeah. Do you want me to tell you?”

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