Secrets 2: Looking Through Different Eyes - 4. Chapter 4 S2

Chapter 04 – Red Flags

Things were going fairly well for us during the first week of classes, so we decided we could spare the time to drive to the University of Colorado for the CSU – Colorado football game. The University of Colorado is in Boulder and only about 60 miles (97 km) away from Fort Collins, so the drive should only take a little over an hour to get there. We also decided to invite a few of our friends to go with us, including Barry, since we felt it wouldn’t make much sense to drive all that way with only two of us in the SUV. Devin and I wondered if Barry would want to join us, since he was a senior (4^th year) and the rest of us were all sophomores (2^nd year), but he didn’t have a problem with hanging out with us.

It was a sunny fall day, although it was slightly chilly, and there was a decent crowd from CSU in attendance to cheer on the Rams. There were even more University of Colorado Buffalo supporters and the school actually has two mascots. There’s Chip the Buffalo, a student dressed in a costume like most other schools have, but they also have a live buffalo named Ralphie that its handlers run onto the field before most home games. Before the game ended, I believe the team wished that Ralphie could have played for them, because they ended up losing to CSU, much to our delight.

In the end, we were all glad that we did this. Not only did CSU win its second game of the season, but we had a chance to become even closer to the other guys who went with us. They also chipped in to help pay for the gas, which was much appreciated, although not requested. The only negative outcome from the day was that it had taken up so much time for us to drive there, watch the game, and then drive back, that Devin and I had to spend nearly all of Sunday hitting the books.

As the third week of classes started, Devin was finding it difficult to control his desire to go outside and run around as an animal, and he explained it to me like this.

“The courses I’m taking this semester are a lot harder and I need to find a way to unwind. What I’m saying is that I want to start going out for a run every now and then, possibly even every day, to help me release the tension.”

“I suppose I could drive you out to the hunting camp so you could run around there for a while.”

“No, that would take up too much of my study time for you to drive me there, let me run around for a while, and then drive me home after I’m done.”

“Then what if I drive you to the dog park instead?”

“That would be better and would take up even less of my study time, but if I just go out and run around the backyard instead, it would save me even more time. You could even join me, if you want.”

“Wait! The neighbor lady has to be home from work by now and Gramps and Pops said it would be best if we didn’t let her see us running around as dogs.”

“But then they added, unless we transition into dogs that look like street mutts, instead of the dogs we’d normally transition into.”

“Ok, but maybe we should wait until after it gets dark before we do it.”

“And we’ll turn off all the lights in the rooms at the rear of the first floor first so it doesn’t attract her attention or seem as if we’ve anything to do with the dogs outside. As soon as we’re ready to go outside, we’ll look to see if the light is on in her bedroom before we do this, and if the light isn’t on in her room, then we’ll get undressed before going out the backdoor to the small enclosed area outside of the backdoor. It was built to protect those of us living here from the wind and the rain, but it also helps to keep the neighbors from seeing us.”

“Obviously, it was meant to keep one particular neighbor from seeing what was going on over here, even if it is a different person now.”

“Yes, I suppose you’re right, but we’ll have to be naked when we go outside, since we won’t be able to open or close the door as dogs. We’ll transition before we leave the enclosed area, and when we’re satisfied that we’ve run long enough, then we’ll reverse the process as we go inside, so this should work out fine. We just have to make sure she doesn’t see us coming out of that area as dogs or going into it when we’re done.”

“I just hope you’re right about this, but we’ll still have to go to the dog park or hunting camp on the weekends, because she’ll be home most of the time.”

“Yes, and I don’t have a problem with doing that.”

We undressed and made our way outside, and then we peeked around the side of the enclosed area to see if her bedroom light was on. It wasn’t, but we still cautiously made our way along the rear of the house and against the hedge as we moved toward the middle of the backyard. When we finally felt it was safe to start our run, we raced into the yard and started chasing one another.

We were having a blast doing this because a dog can stop and change direction to get away better than we can as humans, so we chased each another for over an hour. Even as we were doing this, I kept an eye peeled on the neighbor’s bedroom window to see if the light came on. It never did, but if it had I was planning to nudge Devin and let him know that we should move into the shadows and stealthily make the reverse trip back to the house. We would also have to make certain that she wasn’t watching us before we did this, and then we’d go inside, get dressed, and start studying.

Since we never saw the light in her bedroom come on while we were outside, we thought we had pulled this off successfully. We had been careful to watch for her so she wouldn’t see us running around as dogs, returning to the house, or transitioning, but I still wasn’t feeling good about having done this. I decided to mention this to Devin once we were inside again.

“Maybe we should just go to the dog park every morning before our classes start for the day. We can always take turns being the dog or ourselves, and I’ll even let you be the dog on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday every week, and then we can go to the hunting camp on the weekends and run together. That way you’ll get to run five days each week as a dog, and if you need to do it more often than that, I’ll even give up Tuesday and Thursday as well and just run with you on the weekends.”

“No, I don’t want to take up all of your time on the weekdays. I’ll manage to live with what you proposed, if that’s what we decide to do.”

“I do, and I don’t mind doing this, because I don’t need to run as often as you do.”

“Let’s just keep doing it this way until we have a problem, but we’ll run before she gets home from work from now on.”

“Ok, as long as we do it before she gets out of work.”

I were feeling good about this, because we now had a plan so Devin could run most days, but then something unexpectedly changed our plans. As we were walking home after eating supper at the dining hall the following evening, a car pulled up next to us and stopped, and then the driver lowered the passenger window and spoke.

“I want you boys to answer a question for me,” the voice said, and we immediately recognized that it was the lady that lived next door. She was apparently on her way home after work, although she was later than we’d calculated she’d be doing this, so it’s possible she had just finished running a few errands as well. “Why is it that I never see any dogs in your yard except for when you or the two older gentlemen are staying there?”

We were suddenly stunned and panicked by her query and I didn’t have an answer for her, so I merely asked a question in return. “You saw dogs in our yard?”

“Yes, last night, and I want to know where they came from.”

I was trying to think of a way to answer her question when Devin beat me to the punch.

“My grandpa and his brother like to go fishing and hunting, and once in a while they’ll bring whatever they caught or killed back here with them and clean everything in the backyard. They put all the stuff they aren’t planning on using in a bucket so they can dispose of it later, but they eventually discovered that wasn’t enough. At first they didn’t consider the smell from those items would attract some of the dogs from the neighborhood, because they didn’t think the dogs would be able to get into the yard, but they soon learned they were mistaken.

“The dogs must have found a way to get into the yard, either by gnawing their way through the hedges or digging a hole to avoid the hedges or the fences. It’s possible they might have also squeezed through the bars in the wrought iron gate at the front of the house, but no matter how they got in, they suddenly started showing up on a regular basis. One evening while my grandpa was cleaning some fish, he went back into the house to get something, and while he was gone the dogs knocked over the bucket and gorged themselves on what was in it. Now, they tend to show up whenever someone is staying at the house, even if no one has been hunting or fishing.”

“Yeah, it’s kind of like an unintended Pavlovian response, except the dogs aren’t just salivating,” I added. “They come over to the house and wait for someone to fill the bucket so they can get in it again.”

“I see,” she said skeptically, “and although you make it sound quite plausible, something still isn’t adding up. I’ve never seen any dogs running around this area at any other times, and I even called animal control and asked them about it. I was told that they don’t have much of a problem with dogs running loose in the city, which they attribute to the leash law and stiff fines for violators. On the other hand, they told me they have picked up plenty of stray cats and other animals throughout the city, although they haven’t noticed any particular problems in this neighborhood.”

“I don’t know what else to say,” Devin responded, “but that’s what we think is going on. Maybe those dogs live near by and stay in their own yards most of the time and only come into our yard when they hear noises that indicate someone is staying here.”

She still didn’t appear convinced, but she rolled up the passenger window and continued driving to her house. Devin and I didn’t say anything about the encounter as we continued walking the rest of the way to the front door, but as soon as we got inside and shut the door behind us, we both breathed a huge sigh of relief.

“She’s pathetic,” I spat out now that we were alone. “She must have been sitting in the dark alone in her room and looking out the window to see if she could catch us at something. She needs to get a life.”

“You mean a life that doesn’t include spying on us.”

“Yeah, and that was quick good thinking on your part and I liked how you explained things to her, but I’m not sure it was good enough. The explanation sounded feasible to me, although she obviously didn’t buy it. How did you come up with it so quickly?”

“I didn’t. I thought it up long before tonight because I felt I might need an explanation for what was happening. Even though we didn’t see her turn any lights on in her bedroom, she must have been standing or sitting in the dark and watching our yard. She obviously has been trying to catch us doing something she can complain about.”

“Yes, it seems as if that’s exactly what she was doing.”

“Yeah, and since I remembered Gramps and Pops had talked about her doing something similar with them, only her bedroom light was on at the time, I figured I’d better have a good excuse for her. You did a great job too, because you made my explanation sound even better when you referred to it as a type of Pavlovian response.”

“I guess it paid off that I chose to take the psychology course last year to fill one of my Core Curriculum requirements.”

“Yep, because I would’ve never thought of anything like that, and I don’t believe this will be the last time we’ll be hearing from her about it.”

“No, I’m sure you’re right about that, so maybe you might want to reconsider going to the dog park every morning or running around the backyard as cats instead ”

Now that we’d temporarily dodged a bullet, we both grabbed our backpacks so we could complete our reading and other assignments before the next class sessions. I know it took me a while before I was able to concentrate on any of those things, because I was still slightly shaken by the encounter, and it appeared that Devin was having a similar problem. It took each of us about an hour before we began to calm down enough to actually focus on our work and get anything done, and then we worked on our assignments until we went to bed.

We didn’t go out for a run in the backyard the following night, and instead we talked about alternatives from now on. After spending an hour in deep discussion about what we were going to do, we finally agreed on a plan.

“Since I don’t have the desire to run as often as you do, I’ll take you to the dog park every morning, and then we can go out to the hunting camp on the weekend so we can both run around.”

“Ok, that works for me, if you’re ok with it.”

“I am, but now we’ve got to figure out something else. Where are you going to transition?”

“Hmmm, I can’t do it at the house, because I don’t want the neighbor to see me coming out of the house as a dog, so I guess we’ll have to drive around and find a place where I can do it. We might be able to locate a place near the dog park where I’d have enough privacy to transition, and if not we’ll just look for another place.”

“Ok, we can check out your idea tomorrow, and if we don’t find a place like that, then this weekend when we go to the hunting camp we’ll look for any other places where you might be able to transition.”

“Ok, I’m sure we’ll be able to figure something out that will work for us.”

“We’ll head to the dog park tomorrow morning and maybe we’ll spot an obvious solution along the way.”

“Ok, but why are we doing it in the morning before our first classes, instead of in the afternoon after our last classes?”

“I feel it will be best, because there probably won’t be any other college students there at that time, and hopefully there won’t be a lot of other people there either.”

“Ok, I guess that makes sense, as long as there are other dogs I can run around with.”

“I’ll bring a ball just in case, so we can play fetch if there aren’t any other dogs for you to run with.”

Before we went to sleep, however, we attempted to think of any other issues that the neighbor lady might ask us about so we could figure out an answer for those questions before she asked them. Once we’d done that for a while, we went through our nightly ritual before cuddling in bed and falling asleep, because we were too emotionally drained to make love.

When we woke up the next morning, we decided to go to the dog park before we ate breakfast. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any secluded spots where Devin could transition before we got to the dog park, but we won’t give up and we’ll keep looking when we go to the hunting camp. When we pulled into the parking lot at the dog park, though, Devin made a comment.

“I guess I’ll have to transition in the men’s room. I’ll do it in one of the stalls.”

“Ok, I’ll let you enter first, and then I’ll come in a couple of minutes later to give you time to undress first. I’ll have my backpack so you can hand your clothes to me under the partition or the door to the stall, and after I put them in my backpack, I’ll leave the men’s room and wait for you just outside of the door.”

“Ok, that sounds like a plan.”

Devin then handed me the key to the SUV, got out, and then headed directly to the men’s room. I quickly emptied my backpack, except for one item I’d intentionally put in there earlier, and then I followed him to the men’s room a minute later. I entered the second stall, the one between the stall Devin was in and the urinals, and a few seconds later Devin handed me his clothes and shoes under the partition. After I put them in my backpack, I quickly left the men’s room and waited just outside the door. Devin, or should I say Bear, came out a few seconds later and he followed me over to the gate leading into the dog park.

There was only one other man and his dog there at the time, and Bear and the other dog began sniffing each other as I nodded at the other man. He was probably in his fifties and he immediately began chatting with me. He was asking me a bunch of questions, and some of them were quite personal, and this made me more than a little uncomfortable. I quickly advised him of this fact, but it didn’t stop him from continuing to ask these types of questions, so I moved away from him.

At the same time, I called to Bear as I was digging something out of my backpack. Fortunately, I’d been wise enough to place a rubber ball in there in case there was no one else there and I had to keep Bear occupied by chasing the ball. After showing the ball to Bear, I threw it as far as I could.

Bear raced after it, with the other guy’s dog chasing after him, and before long he was bringing it back and dropping it at my feet. I picked it up and threw it again, and once more Bear raced off after it. We did this a few more times, and obviously the other guy got the message that I wasn’t interested in talking to him, so he called to his dog and they left. This meant Bear and I were now there alone.

When Bear eventually barked to let me know that he’d done this long enough, I led him over to the gate, opened it, and he raced into the men’s room ahead of me. I followed behind and handed him his clothes, because he’d already crawled under the door, into the stall, and transitioned by this point. After I handed him his clothes, I told him that I’d drive over and pick him up in front of the building before I walked out to the SUV. I quickly placed the items back into my backpack that I’d removed earlier, and then I drove over to pick Devin up.

Once he got into the SUV, I headed back to the house. Along the way, Devin started a conversation.

“You didn’t talk to the other guy for very long, so was there a problem?”

“You might say that. He was asking me some very personal questions and I thought he was trying to hit on me.”

“Ah, that explains why we started playing fetch.”

“Yes, and this weekend I want to buy an extra backpack so I don’t have to keep emptying mine out each day so I can put your clothes into it. We might as well buy some tennis balls at the same time, because you pretty much chewed up the rubber ball.”

“I didn’t mean to, but it just happened when I was picking it up and running back with the ball to give to you.”

“I know, but your teeth put so many holes in the ball that it’s about ready to fall apart.”

“Ok, because I’ve heard tennis balls will hold up better when you’re using them with dogs, because they aren’t as easy to puncture with their teeth.”

After I pulled the SUV into the garage, I handed Devin back the key before we went in the house to get the other items we’d need for the day’s classes. As soon as we had everything, we walked to the dining hall for breakfast, and then we went our separate ways to our first classes.

We planned to meet up later for lunch, and then we’d hook up again at the library after our last classes ended. We’d do some studying while we were there, and then we’d go to the dining hall for super before we walked back to the house to work on the remainder of our assignments.

Later, after we finished working on those items, we talked for a little more about the dog park and if transitioning in the men’s room was going to work out.

“I don’t mind transitioning in there, unless a lot more people are at the dog park on other days. I’d hate for someone to walk in there while I’m transitioning, and I don’t know how we’d explain about me walking in there and then a dog coming out later. It would be just as bad if they see the dog walk in there before we leave and then I come out a short time later.”

“Yes, that would be a major problem, so hopefully not a lot of people will show up in the morning while we’re there. If more people start showing up, then we’ll have to figure out another option for you to transition.”

After we went through our nightly ritual and before we went to sleep, Devin and I would try to think of even more issues the lady next door might ask us about. We’d then put our heads together and try to come up with an acceptable answer before we went to sleep.

We even came up with a way to explain how we were both Gramps’ grandsons, even though we had different last names and didn’t look anything alike, so outwardly it didn’t appear as if we were related. We did this because we were worried that she would see the picture of us as Santa’s elves this year and read the article about it. In the end, we decided to merely tell her that Devin’s dad was Gramps’ son, and my mom was Gramps’ daughter. We felt that shouldn’t be too difficult for her to understand and accept, and we’d tell Gramps the same thing when he came to play Santa for us, just in case she confronted him about it as well. As we were talking about this, I came to another realization.

“Hey, why didn’t she question our parents about why they were staying at the house when they came here for Parents’ Weekend last year?”

“I’m not sure,” Devin responded. “Maybe we all left the house before she was up each morning, and then we always got back late enough each night that she felt it was too late to confront them. I doubt any of our parents spent time in the backyard, so she wouldn’t have seen them there and then been able to go over to speak with them about it.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s possible, or could she have confronted them and they just didn’t mention it to us?”

“Oh, I’m sure they would have said something if anything like that had happened.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right, but we’d better ask them about it the next time we talk.”

“Ok, and I know my parents will understand why I’m concerned about her doing this, but how are you going to explain it to your mom and dad?”

“I’ll just tell them that she’s a nosy neighbor who was giving us grief about being at the house until she talked to your grandfather, so I wanted to know if she had bothered them as well.”

“Ok, I guess that will work, but you might want to inform your mother that we told the neighbor that she was my grandfather’s daughter, since we’d told her that we were both his grandsons.”

“Yeah, good point.”

“You know, this is almost like you’re taking an independent study course on ‘how to be deceptive’.”

“Yeah, but it won’t show up on my college transcript and its one course I won’t tell my parents about.”

“That won’t be a problem for me with my mom and dad, because being deceptive is just a part of life for us, since no one outside of the family can find out about our secret.”

“Yep, so I’d better get used to doing this if we’re going to be together.”

“You should be an old pro at doing things like this by the time we graduate.”

“Yeah, but it’s kind of strange, though, because my parents always taught me that honesty is the best policy. However, this is certainly one of those situations where the rule doesn’t apply. Honesty in this case could get us both killed, as your grandfathers have pointed out many times.”

“Yeah, but we’ll always be honest with each other. Right?”

“Absolutely.”

Once this had been agreed to, we started thinking ahead about other things.