Secrets 3: The Road to the Future

When Devin and I woke up on Saturday morning, we headed over to the dining hall for breakfast before driving out to the hunting camp.  Devin pulled into the area as far as he could, which was right in front of the door to the cabin, so the SUV wouldn’t be seen from the road.  It was also to make sure that it would block anyone from seeing us when we exited the door, because we’d typically be naked at that point. 

Once that was taken care of, I unlocked the padlock on the cabin and we went inside and started to undress.  As soon as we were both naked, we folded our clothes and placed them on the bench that was located against the wall.  Then, while Devin transitioned into Bear, I stepped outside and did a quick visual scan of the area to make sure that no one was lurking about.  

Since the coast was clear, I called Bear outside to join me, and then I secured the padlock and hid the key in our normal hiding place before I transitioned.  Devin and I had discussed this the night before and decided that I should transition into a Peregrine falcon today, seeing I didn’t have a chance to do it when I was practicing transitioning into birds at the house.  Bear stood lookout to make sure no one snuck up on us while I did this and then I took flight. 

As soon as I was in the air, Bear raced down the trail and headed toward the field, while I glided in the air above him.  It was not only an exhilarating experience, but it also gave me a chance to check out the surrounding area from the air, as well as keeping an eye on Bear.  Even though the leaves on the trees were blocking out many of the details below, I was still able to identify a stream and the small field where Bear was currently racing about.  I was also able to confirm that there were no other buildings close by, which meant nothing had changed while we were gone and we’d be completely alone whenever we came out here for a run or to fly. 

As an additional precautionary measure, I flew along the opposite side of the roadway and investigated that area for a couple of miles in either direction.  I did this to make sure there was no one else lurking about.  Even though the hunting camp was posted, there was still a chance that hunters, nosey neighbors, or kids living nearby might wander into the area nonetheless.  They might even hang out in the woods on the opposite side of the road so they’d be able to spy on us, and we certainly wanted to prevent that from happing.  We’d just have to keep our eyes open, especially during the small game and deer hunting seasons.

After I finished my aerial surveillance, I landed in the field where Bear was frolicking about and transitioned into Buck, my Siberian husky canine counterpart.  Since I’d just verified that there weren’t any other humans nearby, I joined Bear as he chased the marmots, rabbits, and the birds residing or feeding at this location.  While we were frolicking about, we also picked up the scent of coyotes that had been roaming the meadow recently, but we didn’t happen to see any of them currently hanging around.  

Realizing that coyotes had been here recently also helped to clarify why the marmots were so quick to sound their warning alarms to alert others of their kind when we showed up.  This was most likely due to the fact that the coyotes had killed a marmot or two in the past, and possibly some rabbits as well, so they were all understandably upset when they saw us.  We might not be the same coloring as a coyote, but we’re about the same size and bore enough similarities to them while we were in this form to cause those animals to panic.

Knowing this, we suddenly felt badly for having chased them, so in order to lessen their fears, we quit running around and began walking toward the woods.  Before we reached there, however, we picked up the scent of something else, another animal that we recognized.  It was the scent of a skunk, but not the strong odor that would indicate it had sprayed something recently.  It was just the typical odor given off by a skunk, because just like every other animal they have their own scent.  Devin must have picked up on this fact as well, because he barked and made a quick move in the opposite direction, as an urging for me to follow him.  This time, however, he began running, not merely walking out of the field. 

I thought he was doing this because he found the smell offensive, but later I learned there was a different reason for his barking than what I’d first suspected.  After we were ourselves again, Devin told me that the scent of skunks can get embedded in a dog’s fur and will remain there for a considerable amount of time.  It even happens when the dog hasn’t been sprayed by a skunk, and that was a problem Devin wanted to avoid at all cost.   

When we got far enough away from where we’d smelled the skunk, we finally slowed down to a walk again and it gave us a chance to explore the area further.  Over the next few minutes, we discovered there were deer, opossums and raccoons living in the woods.  We also sniffed out signs that three different varieties of squirrels (grey, red, and fox squirrels) that also made their home here.  We didn’t pick up the scent of any large predators, though, such as bears, mountain lions, or wolves, but that might only be due to the fact that we hadn’t investigated the entire area yet. 

Now that we had a chance to investigate more of this location, Bear barked once again and then raced off.  I knew this meant he was ready to get some more exercise, so I followed him as we wound our way through the trees.  While we were doing this, we scared out a few of the animals that we’d previously identified by their scent as residing there, but we left them alone and didn’t chase any of them, at least not intentionally.  And as soon as Devin let me know he was ready to quit, we headed back to the cabin and where we’d left the SUV. 

After checking the immediate area to make certain we were still alone, I transitioned into myself, retrieved the key, and unlocked the padlock on the cabin door.  As soon as I opened it, I let Bear inside and then I followed him, closing the door behind me.  Once Devin had also transitioned, we retrieved our clothes and got dressed.  As soon as we were presentable, we exited the cabin, secured the padlock, and then I put the key in the SUV’s ashtray before we headed back to the house.

As we were leaving the hunting camp, we saw a group of boys, that appear to be between 13 and 16, riding their bikes down the road.  I eyed each of them as we passed by, then swiveled in my seat so I could look out the back window to see if they might have turned onto the trail leading to the cabin.  However, by the time I asked Devin to slow down, we were too far away to tell if they had passed that area already or hadn’t come to it yet.  Hopefully, they’ll just keep going to wherever they were headed when we first saw them.   

“What did you think of today?  Did you enjoy yourself?” Devin asked, and I believe he did it to make me stop worrying about those boys.

“I thought it was very interesting and we know what to expect when we’re out there now.  We’ll still have to watch out for hunters during the different hunting seasons, unless we want to stop going out there during those times.”

“No, we won’t have to do that, because there’s a plethora of ‘posted signs’ nailed to the trees all around the hunting camp that spell out the large fines and possible jail time for trespassing.  We know the guy who owns the camp had those put up to keep hunters and others away from that area, and I don’t think anyone would be foolish enough to ignore the warnings.”   

“But what if others sneak onto this property because they know the owner doesn’t come around there any longer?”

“Gramps and Pops still go there to hunt deer occasionally, and they also like to go there to run whenever they’re in the area, even when we’re not here to join them.  They feel that being seen hanging around the hunting camp is a good deterrent to keep others away.”  

“And what if they know Gramps and Pops aren’t around very often either?  Don’t you think others might be tempted to go there?”

“Nah, we also know the sheriff’s department and game warden keep an eye on that place as well, since we had run ins with both of them before, when we first started going there.  They realize the owner has the hunting camp posted and the penalties for ignoring them are severe, so I don’t expect we’ll be seeing anyone attempting to go there.”

As soon as we got back to the house, we cleaned up quickly before going to the dining hall for lunch.  After we finished eating, we headed over to the football stadium to watch the first game of the season.  We assumed it wasn’t going to be much of a contest, since the team usually schedules a non-conference opponent that’s not as good as they are for the home opener.  They merely use the game to work out the kinks and jitters as they prepare for the conference schedule to begin. 

Devin and I were going there because we’re interested in seeing who else is at the game.  We’re hoping to run into people that we know, even if they’re only acquaintances, since it’s always more fun to interact with others while watching the action on the gridiron.  That’s why we always enjoyed sitting with Barry and his friends, even when Gramps and Pops were there as well. 

When we got to the stadium, we made our way to the student section and started looking around to see if we noticed anyone that we knew.  It didn’t take long before Devin spotted a couple of guys that he knew from his engineering classes, so we went over to where they were sitting so Devin could speak with them. 

“Here are some guys I know,” Devin said and then they exchanged greetings.  “Do you guys usually come to the football games?”

“Most of the time, and we’ve seen you guys here before as well.”

“Oh, I guess I must not be as observant as you are.  That’s probably because we had other friends we sat with last year, but they’ve all graduated.  By the way, this is my cousin, Mac.”

“Actually, my name is Mike, but he calls me Mac because of my surname.  It’s nice to meet all of you.” 

After they introduced themselves, they invited us to sit with them whenever we were at the games, and then they asked a question.  “Who were those older gentlemen we saw you with at a couple of the games last year?”

“Oh, that was our grandfather and great-uncle.  They’ve been coming to Rams games for like forever.”

“Do they live in Fort Collins?”

“They used to, and my great uncle graduated from here, and they still own a house in Fort Collins.  That’s where Mac and I live now, and they stay with us whenever they come to attend a game.”

“Hey, it sounds like a fair trade, if they’re not charging you to stay there.”

“No, they let us live there for free and we get along really well with them.  They usually even take us out to eat whenever they’re here, because they still know a lot of people that live in the area.  They like to go out to eat to see if they might run into a few of their old friends while they’re here, and we always get a good meal for free.”

“Damn, a free place to stay and occasional free meals at a restaurant too.  It sounds like a great deal, and I’m sure it beats eating at the dining hall or whatever you fix at the house.”

“Yeah, it’s a nice change of pace whenever they’re in town.”

As soon as the game started, we all got into watching the action on the field and had a good time cheering on our team.  Just as we expected, the other team wasn’t the same caliber as the CSU team, but the contest gave the players a chance to work out the kinks.  That’s because they used the game to get their timing down and ensure everyone was on the same page when running the various plays. 

Overall, the team looked pretty good too, although it was difficult to judge how good they were going to be, seeing the other team was so weak.  By the time the game ended, our team had won by more than four touchdowns and nearly everyone who’d suited up had gotten a chance to get into the game.  The real test, however, will come next weekend when they face their first conference opponent. 

“Is next week’s game home or away?” Devin asked before we said goodbye to the others. 

“It’s a home game and it should be a lot closer than this one.”

“Good!  This game was fun to watch, seeing our team was doing so well, but it got kind of boring in the second half.  That’s because the other team didn’t offer much of a challenge from the opening kickoff, but it was still fun to watch our team doing so well, especially at the start of the game.”

“That won’t be the case next weekend and it should be a much tougher game.”

“Yeah, and thanks for letting us sit with you.  We’ll look for you when we get here next week too.”

“We’ll save you seats if we arrive first, or you can save us seats if you beat us here.”

“Sounds like a plan,” we agreed.

When we returned to the house after the game, the old biddy from next door was standing on the sidewalk in front of her place.  When she saw us walking down the sidewalk and before reaching there, her face contorted into a sour, nasty expression before she turned her back on us and walked away.  If she thought that was going to bother us, she was mistaken.  Her actions didn’t affect either Devin or me in the slightest and we were just happy she didn’t turn the encounter into another confrontation. 

“I’ve got an idea,” I said as we entered the house. 

“Does it have anything to do with our neighbor?” Devin asked. 

“Not directly, but it does concern some of the things she does.  I think I should transition into a Canada jay and fly over to her property so I can judge how much she can see from her windows.  I want to see if Louella can look into our house if we open the windows to get some fresh air, and I want to know how much of the property she can see.  That’s important, especially if we decide to transition and go out the back door, like I plan on doing now, or if we just want to run around the backyard as dogs.”

“You mean you’re going to transition into a Canada jay right now?” Devin asked.  “But she’s home and she’ll see what you’re doing.”

“No, I’ll do that tomorrow, because I think we should hit the books again and try to read as much as we can from the textbooks to make certain that we keep ahead of things.  It’s better than falling behind, because this may be a difficult year for us and we don’t know if we might feel the need to help with another problem, like happened last year.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” 

We did that for the rest of the day and only took a break for supper.  Doing that was mentally exhausting and a lot of eye strain, since we hadn’t done much reading over the summer, so we were ready to head up to bed early.  However, we did take time to make love first, before we hit the shower and got ready for bed, and then I spooned up behind Devin as we fell asleep.

We slept a little later on Sunday morning, and after we got up, we hurried over to the dining hall before they stopped serving.  We made it with only a few minutes to spare, but we had to eat quickly, since they were cleaning up and most of the help was getting ready to leave.  After we finished up there, we rushed back to the house and then headed over to the dog park. 

Devin transitioned in the backseat as I was driving there, like he’d done ever since he had the windows on the SUV tinted.  As soon as we reached the dog park, I got out and let Bear out of the backseat, and then we headed over to the gate.  As we were walking in, I saw Preston and Bailey coming in our direction to greet us. 

“Hello, Bear.  Bailey’s been anxiously waiting to see you again.  I’ve been telling her all week that we might see you today.  And Michael, it’s nice to see you too,” Preston added as Bailey and Bear were getting reacquainted with each other.  “Bailey’s been miserable since you went home and someone else was taking care of getting Bear some exercise.  Even though there were other dogs around, she just didn’t seem to hit it off with any of them, at least not as well as she does with Bear.”

“I’m glad they get along so well, but this is our senior year, so Bailey won’t be seeing us around after we graduate.”

“I know and I’m not sure how I’m going to handle that situation.”

“Hopefully, you’ll find a way.”

“If I’m lucky, she’ll make friends with one of the other dogs and become as close to that dog as she is with Bear.”

“Yes, I hope for your sake that happens.”

I chatted for quite a while with Preston, since it was Sunday and neither of us had any classes to rush off to, but eventually we said goodbye to one another and headed out to our cars.  And once we were all safely in our vehicles, we drove out of the dog park and turned in opposite directions.

When we arrived back at the house, I quickly told Devin what I was going to do.  “I think it’s time to transition into a Canada jay and fly next door to carry out my plan.”

“Aren’t you afraid she’ll see you?”

“Nah, I don’t think she’ll pay much attention to a small bird, especially one that is common to this area, and she certainly won’t suspect the bird is me.”

“How, exactly, do you plan on doing this?” 

“I figured I could fly over there and land on her window sills so I can judge how much of this property she can actually view from her place.”

“But she’ll be looking from higher up than the level of the window sill, so she’ll be able to see more than you can even if you do this, so it won’t tell you what you want to know.”

“I know, so I figured I’d also land on the ledge at the top of the casing for each window as well.  If I check out how much I can see from both vantage points, then it should give me a fairly good idea about how much she can see from each window.”

“So, you want to do this on all of the windows on her house?”

“No, just the windows on this side of her house.  From what I can tell, there are only a couple windows on the second floor and two more on the first floor.”

“Ok, and I agree that you should be able to get away with doing that now and it shouldn’t take you very long.”

“Then go upstairs and open the blinds and pull back the drapes on the windows that we’re concerned about.  While you’re doing that, I’ll get undressed, and by the time you’re done with the windows on the second floor, you can head downstairs and do the same thing with the widows on this floor.  By that time, I’ll be finding out how much I can see from each of Louella’s windows.”

After I went out the back door, I transitioned into a Canada jay and flew next door and began to check out each of the windows on Louella’s house that faced Gramps house.  Once I’d assessed her vantage point from each of those windows, I flew back to the covered back entranceway and transitioned again, went inside, and got dressed. 

“Other than parts of the backyard, it doesn’t appear that she can see very much,” I explained to Devin, “so even if we opened any of those windows, she still wouldn’t be able to see what we’re doing.”

“That’s good, but will that change once the leaves fall off the trees in a couple of months.”

“That would only be from her upstairs windows, because the fence blocks her from seeing anything going on over here from the windows on her first floor.  We’ll just keep the drapes closed on the windows on that side of the house once the leaves begin falling off the trees  and we’ll leave it that way throughout the winter, just to make sure.  It will also help to keep those rooms warmer and shouldn’t really make much of a difference, since we don’t get a lot of sunlight from any of those windows at that time of the year.”

“Ok, it sounds good to me.”

“Are we going to the dog park tomorrow morning?”

“Sure, I don’t see why not.”

“What are you going to tell Preston about why you’re not there, since you’re going to transition into me.  Didn’t you tell him before we left for the summer that you wouldn’t be coming to the dog park this semester?”

“Yes, I warned him before school ended that I’d have morning classes this semester and wouldn’t have time to take Bear to the dog park, so I’ll just tell him that you’re covering for me.”

“That sounds confusing, so I hope you don’t get mixed up about who you’re supposed to be.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll remember that I’m supposed to be you when we go to the dog park.”

“Why are you doing it this way?  Why don’t you just go as yourself and tell him you course times got switched?”

“It’s because Preston has been bugging me about meeting you, so this way he’ll know who you are without being tempted to come to the house or trying to track us down on campus.  I think this will take care of his curiosity and he won’t attempt to track you down and possibly see something he shouldn’t.”

“Ok, I guess that makes sense.  Well, sort of.”  I just ignored his last comment.

As soon as we finished our discussion, we noticed the time and made our way to the dining hall for lunch.  And when we finished eating, we walked back to the house,

The rest of the day was fairly quiet and we spent most of the time getting our things ready for the first day of classes and we also did some more reading from our various textbooks.  We anticipated this was going to be a grueling year academically and we wanted to get ahead of things so we’d get off to a good start. 

Later, before we went to bed, we made love again, because we didn’t know how busy we were going to be during the week.  Since we figured the professors are going to be really tough on us this year, it meant we won’t have much free time for making love.  Therefore, we took our time today and made the most of it before we finished and then we went through our nightly ritual.  When we were ready for bed, we returned to our room and cuddled before we drifted off to sleep. 

When we woke up in the morning, we hurried over to the dining hall for breakfast, and then we got in the SUV and headed over to the dog park.  Seeing we both needed to transition this time, I drove over to a part of campus where there wouldn’t be a lot of traffic at this time on a Monday morning and transitioned while I was driving. 

While I was transitioning in the driver’s seat, Devin transitioned into Bear behind me, and when I’d completed the process, I headed over to the dog park.  After we arrived there, I parked the SUV, hopped out, and let Bear out of the back, and we made our way over to the gate.  Preston and Bailey were walking toward the gate again to greet us.

As I reached them looking like Devin, Preston blinked a couple of times before he spoke.  “At first, I wasn’t sure if Michael had dyed his hair a little darker, but then I realized that you must be Michael’s roommate.  I’m Preston Armstrong and this is Bailey.”

“Yes, you’re correct, I am Michael’s roommate, and it’s nice to meet both of you.  Michael’s told me all about you and Bailey, and I believe that he said you’re a professor.”

“That’s true, but while we’re here I’m just Preston.” 

 “I’m glad to finally meet you, Preston.  I’m Devin McCaskill,”

“Michael told me that he was going to have morning classes this semester and wouldn’t be able to bring Bear here in the morning.  He also said that you wouldn’t be able to bring Bear here either, since you had morning classes as well.”

“That’s what my original schedule indicated, but there was a last-minute scheduling change when one of the courses I thought I’d be taking was postponed until next semester.  The course I chose to replace it isn’t until later, so it gave me enough time to bring Bear here first.”

“I hope the change didn’t create any problems for you, but it appears that it made Bailey and Bear happy.  She loves it when Bear is here.”

“That’s what Mac told me.”

“Who’s Mac?”

“That’s what I call Michael, since his last name in MacPherson.”

“Ah, I understand now.  As I told Michael yesterday, Bailey’s been fairly miserable all summer, since Michael went home and someone else was taking care of getting Bear some exercise and we didn’t get to see him.  Even though there were other dogs around, she just didn’t seem to hit it off with any of them, at least not as well as she does with Bear.”

“I’m glad they get along so well, but this is our senior year, so Bailey won’t be seeing Mac and I, or Bear, around after we graduate.”

“I know and I’m not sure how I’m going to handle that situation.”

“Hopefully, you’ll find a way.”

“Or if I’m lucky she’ll make friends with one of the other dogs and become as close to that dog as she is with Bear.  By the way, Michael tells me you’re an engineering major.”

“Yes, I’m majoring in both mechanical and aerospace engineering.”

“Damn, it must be a really tough having a dual major, and I imagine there’s quite a bit of higher-level math and physics involved as well.”

“Yes, there is, and I’m lucky to have Mac as a roommate, because he helps me with the math whenever I’m having difficulty.”

“I’d say you’re very fortunate to have him around then.”

“Yes, I am,” I replied as I gave myself a verbal pat on the back.

We kept an eye on Bear and Bailey as they raced about and went through their paces on the agility course.  Eventually, they got tired of doing those things and came back to join us, so I used their return as an excuse to leave. 

“We’d better get going so I can prepare for my first class.  I don’t want to be late and upset the professor on the first day.”

“I agree that wouldn’t be good, and hopefully we’ll see you every morning for a while.” 

“Only on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, because I have another early class on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”  

“Ah, and does Michael have an early morning class on those days as well?”

“Yes, he’s got an early morning class every day of the week.”

“Oh, that’s too bad, but I suppose it’s better than not seeing Bear at all, although I’m not sure if Bailey will understand.”

“Yes, that’s definitely a problem with dogs.  They don’t always understand what we’re trying to tell them.”

After Bear and I got in the SUV, Devin transitioned in the back again and then got dressed.  I waited until we got back to the house and transitioned before I got out of the SUV. Devin and I then got out of the SUV on the same side and I hoped that no one had noticed that Devin got out of the back, not out of the driver’s seat. 

“How did it go?” Devin asked, seeing he and Bailey had been running around while I’d been chatting with Preston. 

“It went quite well,” I replied, and then I explained to him about the things I’d told Preston about him, just in case they ran into each other on campus or somewhere else. 

“That’s fine, and most of what you told him was fairly accurate, except for the comment about you helping me with math.”

“Hey, I helped you a couple of times.”

“Yes, you did, and I appreciated it, but you made it sound like you helped me all of the time.”

“I didn’t think I did that, and if I did, I certainly didn’t mean to.”

“It’s ok, because now I’ll be able to come to you more often if I’m having difficulty,” he added before releasing a devilish laugh.

“I guess I deserve that,” I responded concerning his laugh.  

We grabbed the items we’d need for the rest of the day, and then we started walking to campus, ready to begin our senior year.