Yale Wolf

And Her Pack

Mill (Millicent) River Wooster sniffed the trunk of a dogwood tree in the old campus of Yale University on a Wednesday morning in the second half of October in the beginning of the second quarter of the twenty first century. The tree smelled like squirrels, so Mill did not feel the need to mark it. The eighteen-year-old girl walked on all fours through the snow to a maple and peed on the tree’s trunk immediately. It had a suspiciously weak scent.

“Peeing extra long and strong today,” Mill’s friend and roommate Audrey called out from the path. Audrey was a freshman like Mill, but she was also blind. Audrey wore a slightly pointy knitted cap, welder’s goggles, a silver dress with a grey sash, a large medallion, five-coloured gloves, and walked with a cane. She regularly accompanied Mill during marking sessions.

Mill spotted a group of students filming her and wondered. Have they never seen wolf pee on a tree? She bounded up to Audrey for a comforting pat, and Audrey asked as she touched her face, “Are you supposed to be in human form?”

“Crap!” Mill swore. She shifted into her wolf form and pressed her muzzle against Audrey’s gloved hand.

“That’s better,” Audrey replied. “Do you want to cut this morning’s walk short?

Mill gave a small bark that Audrey knew meant, “Yes.” They two of them walked the short distance to the dorm room they shared. Mill returned to human form and apologised to Audrey, “Sorry about that. I think it’s because I am nervous about this morning’s calculus test. Stupid midterms.”

“You don’t need to apologise to me. You are free to take any form you like whenever you like. You’ll still be my roommate,” Audrey replied.

“But I was naked and peeing on a tree in public as a woman. That could make you look bad by association,” Mill explained. “People were filming. They saw me run up to you in human form.”

“It’s not even eight o’clock. Don’t people have better things to do?” Audrey pondered. “The only reason I get up so early is to keep you company.”

“Probably, desperately looking for a momentary distraction from midterms. Will it feel like this ever semester?

I’m going to step in the shower unless you want to go first,” Mill replied. She stopped caring about being filmed. The upcoming test filled her mind.

“Go, give your mind a break,” Audrey ordered.

Mill obeyed Audrey, took a shower, dressed, packed her backpack with study tools and dog treats. When she returned to the shared living space, she saw her roommate casually drinking an espresso while reading a braille book. Mill sniffed deeply, and stated, “That smells good. I don’t drink coffee, but that smells good.”

“Goddess Sienna bless those people who make coffee pod machines for the blind,” Audrey replied. She worshiped a dragon spirit.

“Didn’t the school of engineering make it for you because you asked them to?” Mill asked. She knew they did.

“And I ask Sienna to bless them every time I enjoy a cup. This makes any morning right. How was your dogfood this morning?” Audrey replied.

“Same as always,” Mill replied. “Didn’t taste it as much as usual because of my nerves. I’m going to do some last minute studying. I will see you at lunch.”

“And I will hear you at lunch,” Audrey responded. She had been totally blind her entire life.

Mill left the dormitory and walked to the library nearest the math hall. She took the test at ten and finished at ten forty. Feeling somewhat relieved she returned to the library and studied for another class. At eleven forty, Mill left the library and walked to the Schwarzman Center where she sat in the brick walled Commons at her usual small round table across from Audrey. Minutes later, a woman wearing an ultra-black burqa brought Audrey a tray of food.

“They were out of the cake you prefer, but I believe you may be surprised by how much you love the carrot cake,” The burqa wearing woman informed.

“Should probably cut the cake out altogether. Doctors say I might get diabetes if I don’t get fitter,” Audrey replied.

“You have become fitter since I met you,” The woman in the burqa replied.

“But I’m still a bit too bootylishus if you know what I mean,” Audrey responded. She reached out, picked up a fork, and ate some pasta. “You place everything perfectly. Every time,” Audrey praised.

“We are a meticulous people,” The burqa wearing woman responded.

“Unlike us messy werewolves,” Mill laughed.

“You follow a strict schedule when it comes to eating, sleeping, studying, and exercising. You are not a messy person,” Audrey replied.

The woman wearing the burqa sat down, and Mill asked, “So, how has your day been, Shadhavar?”

“I took a chemistry test, and I know I passed it, and I spent an hour defending you online. The video of you relieving yourself on that maple has spread. There are calls for your expulsion,” the burqa wearing woman answered.

Mill took a swig out of her water bottle. She would not eat another full meal until seven thirty in the evening. She checked her email, and replied, “I haven’t got any messages from the administration.”

“Kicking you out for being a werewolf is the same for kicking me out for being a big boned, blind, black woman. It’s wrong,” Audrey declared.

A young light brown haired woman wearing Yale branded clothing sat at the table next to Mill and pointed her finger while saying, “Yale is a school for civilised people. It is not Acme Looniversity for filthy animals.”

“What is a Looniversity?” Mill asked.

“It’s a reference to a cartoon college where Bugs Bunny teaches,” Shadhavar answered.

“And you need to show some respect and show your face,” the angry student demanded. She grabbed at Shadhavar’s clothes.

Mill took the students wrists and threatened, “Touch her again, and there will be consequences.”

“Please, release her,” Shadhavar begged.

Mill let go of the student, and Shadhavar spoke to her, “I do not dress like this for cultural reasons. I have a condition. My skin is photosensitive. Light causes me pain.”

“But you just so happen to be a Muslim. I ain’t buying it,” the student scoffed.

“There are billions of Muslims in the world. The odds of anything happening to a Muslim are not low,” Shadhavar explained.

“How did a girl like you even get into Yale?” Audrey asked.

“I’d tell you, but you would have to see it to believe it,” The student replied.

“That’s actually funny. No one has ever used that one on me before today,” Audrey informed.

“Are you being sarcastic?” Mill asked.

Another female student stood next to the harassing student and asked her, “Why have you sat at a table with a vampire, a werewolf, and a witch?”

The sitting student stood up and announced, “I’ve said my piece.”

“Are you really a witch?” Mill asked Audrey.

“You didn’t know?” Shadhavar asked with genuine surprise in her voice.

“Dabbled in witchcraft in junior high but there came a time when I had to choose between the craft and music and I chose music. Not sure how that rude girl would know anything about that though,” Audrey answered Mill.

“You dress in an old fashioned style and wear a flashy dragon necklace. You may have stopped practicing witchcraft, but you haven’t stopped dressing like a witch,” Shadhavar informed.

“Everyone tells me I look good in my dresses, and they are comfortable. I wear the necklace as a symbol of my faith. Sienna gives strength to all those who ask for it,” Audrey replied.

“I have faith in this pack. That’s my religion,” Mill announced.

“That’s a big leap of faith. We barely know each other. We all only met this semester, and this barely half finished semester,” Shadhavar replied.

“And look at how strong our friendship has become in such a short time,” Mill bragged. “We were meant to be together.”

“Because we’re all outcasts who found each other in the margins,” Shadhavar replied.

“I’m not an outcast. There are other blind black students at Yale. I could be friends with them,” Audrey declared.

“Why do they have to be black?” Mill asked sincerely.

“Racism is currently infecting the New England blind community. It’s not pretty,” Audrey answered.

“That’s sad,” Shadhavar commented.

“It’s also a little funny. Some guys are really good at sounding black, white, whatever, so the racists don’t know if they are insiders or outsiders,” Audrey laughed.

“Racism is so stupid. Don’t they know they are all delicious in their own way,” Shadhavar remarked.

“Everyone has their own unique scent to me,” Mill informed.

“Do I still smell like a threat? Does my odour still burn your nostrils and make me want to tear you apart?” Shadhavar asked.

Mill started to speak when Audrey slapped her hand on the table and ordered, “Do not spoil lunch with such talk. We’re all friends despite our instincts, and that is that.”

“Sorry,” Shadhavar apologised meekly.

Mill received a text. She pulled out her phone and announced, “I am being summoned to the University-Wide Committee on Sexual Misconduct.”

“Shadhavar, go with her,” Audrey commanded. “Call me if you need me. I would go with you as well, but Mama needs her pasta salad.”

“Should be fine,” Mill reassured. Shadhavar and Mill walked together for three minutes to a conference room in another building on campus.

Five people between the ages of forty and sixty sat in chairs in the conference room. There were four white women, and one man that appeared mixed race. “Take a seat, Ms Wooster,” A bleach blonde haired woman wearing an indigo blue jacket ordered.

Shadhavar is using imperceptibility magic. They can’t see her because they aren’t looking for her. Mill thought. She sat down and greeted, “Good afternoon.”

“Do you know why you are here?” The man asked.

I don’t even know your names. What is this? Mill thought. “I’m here because you summoned me here,” She answered. The word summoned felt mystical to her.

“You are here because you raised your leg at other students and urinated in a display of aggression,” The jacketed woman answered.

“I’m sorry,” Mill apologised. “I thought I was in my wolf form, but sometimes I switch without noticing when I’m nervous and it’s midterms and math stresses me out.”

“And you thought peeing on a tree would make you feel better?” The man asked.

“No, I was peeing on a tree because I’m a werewolf and that’s what we do,” Mill explained.

“Are the Yale restrooms not to your liking?” The jacketed woman asked.

“I use them when I must, but reliving myself as a wolf outdoors feels so much better,” Mill answered.

“You may have been raised in the wilderness as an animal, but you are going to have to learn to follow the laws of civilisation if you are to fit into polite society,” the man commented.

“But I wasn’t raised in the wilderness,” Mill corrected. “I was born in New London and raised in Griswald. My family routes can be traced back to the founding of Connecticut on my father’s side, and almost that far back on my mother’s side. I’m descended from one Yale’s first professors and one its first students.

That student faked his own death at the age of twenty-four for complicated reasons and changed his name to Wooster. That’s where my family name comes from, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about.

It wasn’t known I was a werewolf until I was thirteen years old. One day, when I was trying on clothes in a store, I turned into a wolf. Once I managed to get out of the store, I ran into the forest because I was afraid of getting shot by the police. I wandered around frightened and hungry for a few days, but fortunately, a pack of friendly werewolves found me. They taught me how to take human form, and once I learned, they brought me home.

No one knows why some people from seemingly normal human parents are born werewolves, but it’s been happening for as long as anyone can remember. But a wolf is a wolf is a wolf, and my pack accepted me fully.

My parents were surprised to say the least, but the werewolf who had helped me helped them understand I needed to learn how to be wolf, so from then on, I spent my weekends and summers in the forest with me pack.

It wasn’t easy to keep my grades good enough for Yale, but I did it. The admissions board didn’t just let me in because I’m a legacy. I passed that math test. I know it.”

She felt proud when she finished telling her history.

“You’re an exhibitionist,” the jacketed woman declared. “And we do not tolerate forcefully including others in sex play at Yale University. If you are caught reliving yourself in public in any form one more time, you will be expelled.”

Feeling shocked, Mill responded, “But I need to mark my territory. If I don’t put my scent on the trees, I won’t feel like I belong. Is it really so bad? Who hasn’t seen a dog? I promise to control my emotions. I promise I won’t accidently shift again.” She didn’t know if she could keep her promise.

“Pish posh. No one has such needs. What if all the men said they needed to urinate on the trees? You wouldn’t like that? Would you?” The jacketed woman queried.

“They would need to make sure no tree received to much urine. Yale has botanists. I’m sure something could be worked out,” Mill answered. She did not find the scent of human urine on trees threatening.

One of the other women whispered, “It would really depend on the age and health of the tree as well as the PH of the soil. In most cases urea in urine is good for plants. Essential even.”

“Are you a botanist?” Mill asked. She wanted to know more about the needs of trees.

“We are not here to discuss Professor Krieger,” the jacketed woman informed. “It’s not about the trees. It’s about the indecent exposure. The women of Yale do not want to be flashed by men all day every day.”

“But I’m not a man,” Mill informed. She didn’t care about seeing men’s bodies, but she did not consider herself a human woman either.

“But if we let you urinate on the trees, we will have to let the men do it as well,” the jacketed woman explained.

“That’s ridiculous. If they needed to pee on trees like me, they would be doing it. I’ve been doing it since I arrived,” Mill defended herself. “I had to walk to my high school and pee on the trees at night. This was before Dragon Day, so I couldn’t reveal what I was until my senior year, and then the school let me shift and pee on the trees during the day after that and it wasn’t a problem. I never got so nervous I shifted without noticing at high school, but they didn’t have Yale math tests.”

“This is the premier Ivy League university. It is not your fire hydrant. The decision of this committee is final. End of discussion,” The jacketed woman instructed.

Mill stood up, picked up her backpack, and left the conference room.

Shadhavar walked beside Mill and asked, “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to go to my room and take a nap and then think. I can’t think. I can’t get kicked out. I can’t leave you and Audrey. You need me. Don’t you?” Mill answered.

“Yes, you protect Audrey during the night when I need to be elsewhere,” Shadhavar answered.

“I sleep next to her in wolf form,” Mill replied. She desperately needed a nap, so she walked quickly back to her first floor dorm room. She found Audrey sitting in her favourite chair when they returned.

“Tell me everything,” Audrey ordered.

Shadhavar pulled out her phone and declared, “I recorded the entire meeting. I will play it for you now.”

After Shadhavar played the recording, Audrey asked, “What are you going to do, Mill?”

“I don’t know. Who were those people anyway? Do they really have the power to expel me?” Mill replied.

“Don’t know. I’m just a freshman like you,” Audrey replied.

“Well, I’m a sophomore, and I know exactly who they are,” Shadhavar announced. “Four years ago, Yale hade a sexual harassment problem. Students and teachers were all far too touchy feely with each other, so our esteemed university president reformed the Committee on Sexual Misconduct. Out were the long investigation into every reported incident. The committee was empowered to expel anyone they deemed had committed an offense.

They expelled twenty-five students last year. I think it was some kind of record.

One of those students was expelled for peeing on a tree while drunk, so I’m surprised they let you off with a warning.

Perhaps, it is because you’re White. Most of those expelled last year were coloured foreign men. Only one of them was a white woman, and her Whiteness is questionable. She was a Jewess who flashed her breast at the Harvard vs Yale game.”

“But I’m not White. I’m a werewolf,” Mill protested.

“You’re White enough,” Audrey stated. “Bragging about being a legacy is a White flag. Maybe, that saved you, or maybe, they do not want to risk the bad press that would come from expelling Yale’s only openly werewolf student.”

“What do you mean openly? Do you know of others?” Mill asked. She felt her tail wagging in her mind.

“If there are others, you will find them when you are meant to find them. My question remains. What do plan on doing? Are you fighting or fleeing?” Audrey replied.

“I don’t want to leave you. It would be so painful. We’re a pack. You don’t know what that means to a wolf,” Mill wept.

“It means we’re your family and you’d do anything for us. It’s a simple concept,” Shadhavar explained. She sat next to Mill on the bed.

“We will support you whatever decision you make. We will go wherever you go,” Audrey informed.

“But the two of you are both on full ride scholarships. You are both brilliant musicians. You can’t throw your promising careers away for a mutt like me,” Mill stated.

“You’re right,” Audrey agreed. “Shadhavar and I are both brilliant musicians. We are so brilliant, that Yale would feel our loss. The three of us could pack up and go to Harvard. Maybe, they would be just as prudish as Yale. If that’s the case, we go on to Brown. I doubt every single Ivy league university is terrified of the sight of your lady bits.”

“But Yale is closer to my family, and my little brother has just turned like me, and I want to be able to visit them on the weekend,” Mill cried. “Maybe, I should just go home, and you could get an actual dog.”

Audrey stood up, found her cello sitting on its rack, and sat back down with it between her legs. She said, “Why don’t I play us all a song?”

Mill undressed, transformed into a wolf, and fell asleep on the bed as Audrey played a lullaby.

Audrey

When she had finished playing her song, Audrey put her cello away and stretched. She gave Mill gentle pats as the wolf snoozed and asked Shadhavar if she were still awake.

The young vampire did not respond.

She’s not even breathing, but I know she’s still in the room. Even while dormant, her magic feels like a flame to me. Both of them are strong, but not as strong as me. That’s why I’m the Alpha wolf. Yeah, I know that’s not how real wolf packs work, but I’m not a real wolf. This pack is one of a kind. Audrey thought. She pulled out her phone and called a number she had not called in four years.

An old woman answered the phone, and asked, “Yeah, what do you want?”

“It’s me. It’s Audrey. I need your help,” Audrey answered.

“Told you that you’d come crawling back,” the old woman responded.

Audrey sneered, “Like Hell, You Mad Bitch. Your teaching methods damn near killed me. I’m not calling for your advice on magic. I’m calling for your advice on being a student at Yale. You said you graduated from Yale Law School.”

“I dropped out of Law School in nineteen eighty-one at the age of twenty-four because the pills stopped silencing the voices, and my mistress didn’t find me and tell me that I wasn’t crazy, and I had The Gift for another two agonising years after that. You’re lucky I found you when I did. You could have hurt someone with all that power you are packing. You could have been great. Instead, you seek fame and use your gift to make pretty melodies so people praise you. The heart of witchcraft is service. Are you really serving enough?”

“It’s my power, and it’s my choice what to do with it. Music brings me peace. It brings others peace. That is how I serve. Are you going to listen to my story? Are you going to help me or not?” Audrey asked.

“Speak,” the old witch on the phone ordered.

Audrey told her old mistress what happened to Mill, and the old woman replied, “You could get a lawyer. You could accuse them of violating her civil rights, and you might win, but it could take years and you are up against a university with the best lawyers in the country.”

“Is there anything to be done magically?” Audrey asked. She’ll make me pay for magical aide, but it’s worth it for my pack.

The old witch answered calmly, “You could cast a spell on Mill that would help her hold her form even when she’s nervous, but that’s not what this is about. They don’t think she belongs. Not because of what she’s done, but because of what she is.”

“You mean a magical being,” Audrey replied. “They’ve always feared us. This country was founded by witch burners. If they kick out Mill, it’s only a matter of time before they find a reason to toss out me and Shadhavar. Do we stay and fight, or do we run?”

“Not telling you what to do, but I will tell you that you can’t run forever. Sooner or later, you will be given no choice but to stand your ground or be destroyed. Remember that time at Denny’s?” The old witch replied.

“Yes, and I still don’t think they deserved a plague of frogs,” Audrey answered.

“They deserved much worse. Frogs was me showing restraint. No one speaks to my apprentice like that!” The old witch exclaimed.

“And no one tells my pack mate she doesn’t belong!” Audrey exclaimed back. She had made her decision. “Thank you, Mistress,” Audrey thanked.

“Be well, Apprentice,” the old witch replied.

Audrey ended the call and took off all her clothes. While using her cane with one hand and carrying her cello and bow with her other she made her way to the courtyard outside the dorms.

Audrey found a bench, sat down, and thought. I really should have cast some kind of spell first. My ass is freezing already. She cast a simple warmth spell with flick of her bow, and then played her cello for ten minutes before asking, “How many people are filming?”

“About six. Were we not supposed to film?” A young man asked.

“Oh, you were. I want you to upload this to the internet. This is a protest. The ball is in your court now, Yale University,” Audrey declared.

“What are you protesting against?” A young woman asked.

“The right to be yourself. I’m fighting for the right to be me. I’m a blind, black witch, and I say I belong as much as any of you, but if you disagree, I respect your opinion,” Audrey answered.

“Need any help?” The man who had told Audrey how many people were filming asked.

“If someone could open the dorm building door, it would make my life easier,” Audrey answered.

“I will!” Declared the young woman who asked about the protest. She walked beside Audrey and opened the door to the door building when they arrived. The young woman joyfully complimented as Audrey passed through the doorway, “I think you’re very brave.”

“And I think you’re kind,” Audrey complimented back. She returned to her dorm room, put her cello away, and cuddled up to Mill on the bed. Audrey woke up hours later as did Mill.

“Would you like to hear the news, or would you like a coffee first?” Shadhavar asked.

“When do I say no to coffee?” Audrey replied. She put on a warm robe as Shadhavar made her an espresso.

Once Audrey was re-caffeinated, Shadhavar played a recording of Audrey’s impromptu concert and announced, “You’ve caused quite the stir. Many are calling for your immediate expulsion, or worse. Others are comparing you to Rosa Parks.”

“An apt comparison,” Audrey agreed. “Like her. We will not be moved without a fight.”

“Maybe, I should get out there and dance naked. The sun has set, I could do it,” Shadhavar suggested.

“No, not yet,” Audrey urged. “Like I said earlier. The balls in Yale’s court now. Let’s see if they concede, or if we keep playing.”

Mill barked and pushed her head against Audrey. Audrey patted her friend and agreed, “Yes, this is very exciting.”

“It’s better than blood,” Shadhavar declared.

Audrey held Mill close and proclaimed, “I love my life. You two are the best.” She knew it did not matter if they were never allowed to attend any Ivy League university. As long as they were together, they were winning.

The End