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c a n i s
"...WEREWOLF?"
During the whole ride, my father's voice was all I could hear as we were hauling through the labyrinth of paths leading towards Canis City. His nonstop chattering lulled me into a peaceful daze. The pleasant atmosphere in the car was complemented by the various shades of greenery on each side of the roads we were passing. Judging by the endless rows of pine trees, Canis City, towards which we were headed, was in the middle of the forest.
It took me a short moment to realize the change of air when my father's voice got swallowed in the silence. Taking my eyes off the road for a moment, I looked towards the passenger seat.
"What?"
My father wore a pretended frowning grimace on his face, as he had tilted his head towards me. Clearly, some of the things he said were in questioning form expecting me to join into the conversation. Unfortunately, I had no idea what he said as I shut him off for the last hour ... or two.
"Did you hear at least half of the words I was reading?"
"Probably, not. Come on dad, you know how I feel about those folklore stories."
I dared to steal another glance, already finding him looking at me with a fake offended face and with his hand pressed over his chest in his famous 'don't bother me' diva style. Unable to contain myself with his childish behavior, I chuckled. There weren't even a few seconds later when he joined me.
"You don't know what you are missing, Isa. Anyways, where was I?"
Clearly unbothered by my lack of interest in the topic, my father continued with his story-telling. I didn't have it in my heart to stop him, not when his eyes danced vividly around the pages of the old book laid over his lap.
"Ah here, it says that Canis City is home to the largest pack of wolves in the country. It is believed that they are descendants from the original werewolves who lived hundreds of thousands of years ago."
"Dad, just a few days ago you were convinced that in our neighbor, Uncle John's old cabin there was a vampire hiding. Now werewolves - honestly, I think old age is getting to you."
I shook my head in disbelieve. My father had a weird, I'd dare to say, fetish towards the supernatural creatures. After early retiring from his work as a history teacher, he fulfilled his life reading books about the most abnormal things he could dig from the library. At times, I wondered if maybe after my mother left us, she took a piece of his sanity with her. But I adored him, and as he was my only family, seeing that reading those books made him happy, I didn't want to be the one to that take away from him.
