Shownotes
A young teen tries to hide his… changes from his family.
Today’s story is "Secret" by Toledo who is a horse who primarily sketches, does photomanipulations, and writes when inspiration strikes hard enough to brave the prospect of plunking out a story on a giant keyboard with a single hoof.
If you're interested in basketball stories that aren't about basketball, you can find more of his writing in his FurAffinity or DeviantArt galleries. On DA he's Toledo-The-Horse, and on FA he's the oh-so-obvious 'out-of-the-boks'.
Read for you by Khaki, your faithful fireside companion.
Transcripts
You’re listening to The Voice of Dog.
Speaker:I’m Khaki, your faithful fireside companion,
Speaker:and today’s story is
Speaker:"Secret" by Toledo
Speaker:who is a horse who primarily sketches, does photomanipulations,
Speaker:and writes when inspiration strikes hard enough
Speaker:to brave the prospect of plunking out a story on a giant keyboard
Speaker:with a single hoof.
Speaker:If you're interested in basketball stories that aren't about basketball,
Speaker:you can find more of his writing in his FurAffinity or DeviantArt galleries.
Speaker:On DA he's Toledo-The
Speaker:-Horse, and on FA he's the oh-so-obvious 'out-of-the
Speaker:-boks' "Secret"
Speaker:by Toledo "Colin, your mother and I have noticed that you've been sneaking out of the house at night recently."
Speaker:He knew that this would come sometime.
Speaker:He always had to leave the window slitted slightly so as to facilitate reentry,
Speaker:and the consequent alteration in the temperature of his bedroom could be felt.
Speaker:He had been dozing off in several classes over the past few weeks
Speaker:after sleepless nights,
Speaker:his parents nearly giving up trying to rouse him earlier than the fifteen minutes he'd need
Speaker:to freshen up. Yawning,
Speaker:he'd wrap himself in his bathrobe,
Speaker:occluding the sight of any residual mud –
Speaker:but if they had taken any glance under his covers
Speaker:(he tried to avoid this by making his bed properly every day and thus allay suspicions),
Speaker:they would have seen streaks of humus brown
Speaker:where his feet would kick back and forth.
Speaker:He didn't know what he would say to them.
Speaker:Did they know what he was doing?
Speaker:Had they surreptitiously spied on him one night?
Speaker:"We're somewhat concerned,"
Speaker:said his mother, and their eyes met for a split second before Colin darted them back down to affix their gaze on a particular curlicue in the kitchen linoleum.
Speaker:His right hand dabbed the spoon into his cereal,
Speaker:getting additional flakes moist while others became more and more soggy and inedible.
Speaker:"We just want to make sure you're safe."
Speaker:"I know," said Colin,
Speaker:kicking the toe of one tennis shoe
Speaker:absent-mindedly against the floor.
Speaker:"We understand that things…
Speaker:happen at this age.
Speaker:It's natural. You shouldn't be ashamed about it; we've
Speaker:all had to go through it.
Speaker:I know it's hard,"
Speaker:his father paused, introspective for a moment,
Speaker:"but we're the ones you can trust.
Speaker:If there's anything you'd like to talk over, any questions,
Speaker:we're here to help.
Speaker:help." A firm grasp of a hand on his shoulder
Speaker:was more reassuring than
Speaker:Colin had expected it to be, and he looked up to meet his father's eyes.
Speaker:"But now you have to go to school.
Speaker:Stay awake in trigonometry!"
Speaker:A wink. "Even though it's insufferable."
Speaker:Colin gave a weak smile
Speaker:and followed his mother out to the car.
Speaker:The drive to school was short,
Speaker:and he was soon hopping out, slinging his bookbag over one shoulder
Speaker:and bounding toward the entrance after a quick goodbye peck from his ever-caring mother.
Speaker:All through the schoolday he fretted.
Speaker:On one hand, the constant worrying kept him definitively awake through all seven periods;
Speaker:on the other, however,
Speaker:he gleaned even less from the lessons than normal and his mind wandered through scenario after scenario.
Speaker:It didn't seem like they had been spying.
Speaker:But maybe he should stuff a towel under his door and hang a loose shirt over the doorknob to make sure of that – or
Speaker:even prop a chair against the doorknob in addition to locking it.
Speaker:He should be much more careful to wipe his feet when he came in –
Speaker:maybe he could pilfer an extra doormat and store it under his bed.
Speaker:The musings continued past the final ringing of the bell
Speaker:that signaled the end of last period, and Colin,
Speaker:feverish now, decided to skip his extracurriculars
Speaker:and call for his mother to pick him up.
Speaker:Even if he was able to conceal the evidence of his
Speaker:nightly excursions,
Speaker:he would probably be confronted one night,
Speaker:exposed and alone
Speaker:and unprepared for the response.
Speaker:He'd need a pair of fangs.
Jot down:joke or costume shop,
Jot down:maybe $5?
Jot down:Maybe some hair dye?
Jot down:Who would ever dye their hair grey, though?
Jot down:Maybe melanistic.
Jot down:Hair care section of Wal-Mart: $???. Maybe he could steal a little of his mother's mascara for the rest.
Jot down:He hoped this would work.
Jot down:Upon returning home,
Jot down:he convinced his parents that he had developed an awful headache (which he had,
Jot down:just not a physical one)
Jot down:and was incapacitated for schoolwork.
Jot down:He retreated to his bed on the second floor,
Jot down:where he curled up with good book
Jot down:while his mother delivered chamomile tea and chicken noodle soup on a tray.
Jot down:The book was not the anthology of werewolf literature that had always been his favorite.
Jot down:He had picked up Harry Potter instead.
Jot down:Someone finding out he's different than everyone else?
Jot down:Check. This is a good thing?
Jot down:Well… The hours dragged on,
Jot down:but the late autumn sunlight was shortened by the onset of daylight savings
Jot down:(or was it the removal?
Jot down:he shrugged) and darkness soon fell.
Jot down:Colin must have been drowsy lying in his bed:
Jot down:Harry Potter's pages were spread out, splayed under his face,
Jot down:and a miniature pool of drool had enveloped the trio of heroes as they cooked a botched potion
Jot down:in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.
Jot down:Colin's stomach began to burn as it twisted.
Jot down:Oh no, here it came.
Jot down:He quickly threw off the covers and leapt –
Jot down:not without jerking a bit, clutching his belly –
Jot down:to the door, closing in as softly as he could while rushed
Jot down:and locking it. He shoved a blanket under it with one toe
Jot down:and pulled his desk chair against it with one hand.
Jot down:He ran through his other safety and secrecy precautions,
Jot down:including those he had formulated early that day.
Jot down:Another spasm gripped him.
Jot down:His hands and feet were stiffening.
Jot down:Quick, soon! He pulled off his tee
Jot down:and shorts as his fingernails began to thicken and harden,
Jot down:and threw open the window in another swish.
Jot down:He turned his hand over in the moonlight that was now streaming in from outside.
Jot down:It was full now. Tonight would be more complete,
Jot down:more intense. His fingers were merging into two clumps,
Jot down:ends pointing, wrist getting boxy.
Jot down:An itching erupted all over his body
Jot down:as follicles formed and spat up hair –
Jot down:thick it was, fur really.
Jot down:Not straight or gray, though.
Jot down:White. Coarse. Curly.
Jot down:Matted. He could feel his feet stretching.
Jot down:It was coming faster than he expected.
Jot down:His nose pulled away from his face,
Jot down:his teeth becoming broad and
Jot down:flat. Ears lengthened
Jot down:and flopped limply on either side of his face.
Jot down:Pupils became ovoid.
Jot down:He vaulted himself awkwardly onto the ledge outside his window,
Jot down:and from there jumped down
Jot down:(quite ungracefully)
Jot down:onto the lawn. Staggering off toward the woods behind the house,
Jot down:he wished fervently that no one would catch his scent out here tonight.
Jot down:He didn't want to know what his family,
Jot down:all of them normal, run-of-the-mill lycanthropes, might do.
Jot down:He was, after all,
Jot down:a weresheep in werewolf's clothing.
Jot down:This was "Secret" by Toledo,
Jot down:read for you by Khaki, your faithful fireside companion.
Jot down:Thank you for listening
Jot down:to The Voice of Dog