With the Moon Full
The body arrived bloody and torn badly, like a large animal had bitten into the chest cavity. Although it didn’t bother me, I watched my assistant vomit in the back sink. When he recovered, we took off the shoes and jeans. I unbuttoned the shirt, where the injuries increased in severity; I thought my assistant shouldn’t yet. With very little emotion, I looked at the boy, and quietly told my assistant how I believed he had come into the morgue. Leonard inquired about the children; five others had been wheeled into the morgue already. We looked like schoolteachers for a class of corpses.
I said, “Wolf pups live with Missy Park; somehow, they surround the deaths of these boys like flies do around thick manure. Nobody loves those puppies like Missy. Actually, the people in her neighborhood have reported fences broken, lawns ripped, and bark bitten off their trees, caused by the wolves. I wanted to blame raccoons, but with Missy Park, I agreed with the townsfolk. A lot of the boys in town, feeling aggressive and immature, kill the puppies quickly; somehow, others appear as quickly.”
I said in particular, “Once, a frisky pup found the basement of a house located just three blocks from where Missy lives. It clawed the couches, jumped onto the tabletops, and urinated in the kitchen. When the family found it, the animal just jumped and wagged its tail happily.” I said, “The father of the household told Missy to keep those wolves locked in her basement. ‘They don’t belong in the city,’ he said; the city officials agreed.”
I added, “Missy regards her neighbors in the same manner that florists do around bumblebees. She respects their privacy and wants the same treatment. Actually, the animal pound wouldn’t take the wolves.” With a headshake, I said, “If this city would just take those animals from Missy, we would find less boys in the morgue. We would bury fewer adults, too. Nobody in the hospital would look as bloody.”
While Leonard sat quietly, I continued, “After the puppy broke into that house, the boy who lived there found the pup filling its mouth with trash. Slowly, he jumped onto the small wolf, and tied thick twine around it. With its small size, it couldn’t pull itself free. And unfortunately, the boy didn’t just torture it.” I said, “Shortly, Missy looked for her puppy. While she talked on the phone, she spotted a package on her stoop. She found the wolf in the box, limp and bloody, and with bones broke.” I said, “Children behave cruelly. I wonder if those baby animals justified the actions of Missy Park.”
I said, “Naturally, the wolf didn’t suffer alone. Someone found the boy, and put him in the morgue. When I undressed him, he looked like a wild animal had mauled him. I questioned that a human murdered the boy.” I explained, “When the moon fills, animals howl in the hills. Would an adult wolf be allowed to live in the city? Why wouldn’t the police officials kill it properly?” I said, “Why can’t the police find the wolves who howl below the moon?”
Leonard held his mouth in a sickly manner. I said to answer my question, “In the tests that Missy took, the laboratory found weird blood cells in her body.” I said in theory, “Like everyone, I know Missy loves those puppies unconditionally. She always keeps wolves around her house.” I said finally, “I believe they belong to Missy Park naturally.”
Leonard stood shakily and held a knife. Looking at him, I said, “We should perform the autopsy. We have very little time.” I said, “Another boy may arrive shortly, lashed by a wolf like this one.” Opening my scissors, I exhaled and said, “You wouldn’t catch me killing the children of a werewolf.”
