Chapter X: Pinochle

"Look, I'm not going to wait all day!" shouted Detective Miklos.

"I tell you, she is getting dressed," Zolfina attempted to explain. "She will be out any moment."

Miklos was about to make another demand when the wagon door opened. Larry emerged, the epitome of a beautiful gypsy dancing girl.

"I'm sorry everyone had to wait for me," he said, his nervousness easily mistaken for an endearing shyness.

Zolfina stepped forward. "You can see, she is fine. Now you can leave us in peace," she said to Detective Miklos.

The Detective looked at Larry, not completely convinced. "So did you see Miss Williams' grandfather?"

Larry looked at the man. He turned back to the wagon in confusion. "There's nobody in there, just me."

"On the other side," said Gwen, hoping Larry would take the hint. "Did you see my grandfather, on the other side?"

"Where?" asked Larry. "Oh, wait! Your grandfather, on the other side! Yes, I saw him. I'm a gypsy. That's what we do."

"And?" prompted the Detective. Larry just stared dumbly.

"How is he?" prompted Gwen.

"Oh, right!" said Larry. "He's fine. They're treating him well. Um... the food is good."

Everyone just stared, and Larry felt perhaps he should build on this. "They had a, uh, a pinochle tournament last night. He wanted you to know, he won twelve dollars."

When she realized that was all Larry had, Gwen jumped in. "Oh, that's, wonderful. He always loved... pinochle."

"That's it?" said Miklos, working himself up into an outrage. "All that in there, with trances and cages and chains and screaming and barking and naked gypsies, and that's all you come back with? Pinochle?"

"Don't you have a special message for the beautiful lady?" asked Zolfina, strongly hinting that Larry had better come up with something.

"Uh, right!" said Larry as if he had thought of something, when he really hadn't. "Your special message. He said... he said he loves you very much!" Larry looked at Zolfina, who merely glared back a strong look of disapproval. "And... he also said..."

Larry licked his full, red lips, which were suddenly feeling very dry. He closed his enchanting green eyes and tilted his delicate pointed chin upward in what he hoped looked like a meditative stance, his long dark hair cascading down his back. He then spoke in what he hoped sounded like an otherworldly voice, saying, "He wanted you to know... the key, is under, the flower pot. By the back door." Larry opened his eyes and looked around.

"Does that load of crap mean anything to you?" Miklos asked Gwen.

Gwen tried to react positively. "Oh! The key. Is that where it was, this whole time. Thank goodness. Um, mother will be so pleased."

A gypsy man approached the group, and began playing his accordion. A couple of gypsy girls came over and began dancing.

"Larissa," said Zolfina. "You may go and dance. We will finish with the policeman."

Larry raised his hands while his mouth hung open in an expression of exasperation, but one look from Zolfina told him he had better move on. He dropped his arms and sighed in frustration, but watched the other gypsy girls for a moment and then did his best impersonation of their spins and footwork.

Zolfina turned to the Detective. "I hope you are now satisfied that my granddaughter is not mentally challenged. Well, not much."

"That's some act you have there," Detective Miklos had to admit. "Right up to the end. Your granddaughter needs to work on the closer."

"She is young," said Zolfina. "She will learn. So are we done here, Detective Miklos?"

"For now," Miklos told her. He turned to Gwen and said, "And you had better stay away from Larry Talbot. If you see him, call us as soon as possible."

"Okay," Gwen told him. "But there is no way I will ever believe that Larry is a killer."

"If you're right, then there's no problem," Said the Detective. "But if you're wrong, well, you don't want to find out something like that the hard way. Goodnight ladies."

Detective Miklos tipped his hat and left.

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When they were sure the Detective had gone, Gwen and Zolfina hurried over to where Larry danced to the gypsy music. After watching for a few moments Gwen placed her hand on his arm, bringing him to a stop. The musician wandered away, still playing his music, the other gypsy girls following him as they continued to dance.

Gwen was finally able to look at Larry closely for the first time.

"Larry," she laughed. "The 1960s called, and they want their eye shadow back!"

"Oh, ha ha," Larry responded. "With everything I'm going through, this is what you say to me."

"I'm sorry Larry," Gwen laughed again. "I'm just really surprised you were able to do your makeup at all, let alone in a style fifty years out of date. And where did you learn to dance like that?"

"Racial memories," Zolfina explained. "Larry's female body is able to tap into..."

"Look!" Larry said, trying to get everyone's attention. "I've got questions, okay? And at the very end of the list is questions about makeup and dancing!"

"Larry is right," Gwen admitted, and turned to Zolfina. "Please, you seem to know what's going on. Can you please explain it to us?"

Zolfina nodded, and led the small group back to her wagon. She and Gwen sat on the stools at the small table outside her door, where she normally consulted with customers for palm readings. There was nowhere for Larry to sit, so he sat on the ground by their feet.

"Larry Talbot," Zolfina began, her voice sounding apologetic. "I am sorry to have to tell you. But, you have the curse that comes once a month."

"Oh great," Larry said. "Not only am I a girl, but now I've got PMS?"

"No, not that curse," explained Zolfina. "Just the usual, curse-of-the-werewolf curse." When Larry and Gwen simply stared, Zolfina continued. "Perhaps I should start at the beginning:

"When my grandson, Marko, was just a boy he was attacked by a wolf. The men of our village were able to scare the beast away before it could cause Marko any harm. They hunted it down that night, killed it, but Marko had been scratched. I was able to hide the marks or else the village would have taken him away, killed him as well. He was still my grandson! He was still Marko.

"And so every month during the full moon, when he would turn into a beast I would hide him, lock him away where none would see, none would know. But the villagers, my friends and family, became suspicious and so we left, joining this traveling carnival.

"Now whenever the moon is full, Marko comes to my wagon and I lock him in his cage. In this way he remains safe, and his secret remains hidden. But he is young, and foolish. Last night he did not show up at the appointed time, and his beast ran free through the night.

"It was he who you encountered last night on the path, he who attacked you. And it was he who killed your friend, for which I am so sorry. Please understand, it was not Marko who did this, but the mindless beast he becomes. Marko is gentle, and would never harm anyone. You yourself have experienced this transition to the primitive mind, so I hope you can understand it is capable of things you would never do."

Larry thought about what he had been told. "So Marko was loose last night, and he attacked me. And since he didn't kill me, I'm cursed as well? But if I'm a werewolf, why didn't I turn into a wolf?"

"It is true that most who are cursed become a wolf," explained Zolfina. "However the true curse of the werewolf is to be transformed into that which is willed by the accursed. If his mind is filled with dark thoughts of rage, hatred and death, then he will wish upon his victim that which is his most hated form; that of himself, a wolf. But if he has already killed, who knows what the beast's thoughts may turn to?"

"It kept looking at me," Gwen said with a shiver, remembering back to the previous night. "Larry stood between us, holding it off with his cane. But it kept looking at me."

"The silver cane," nodded Zolfina. "Silver is the werewolf's weakness. I saw the sign of the werewolf on you last night and knew you would meet. When I saw the cane, I feared you might kill my Marko."

"So what it desired more than anything was Gwen?" asked Larry.

Again Zolfina nodded. "You protected the girl, and kept the beast from that which it desired. So under its curse you became that which it wanted most. You are Marko's image of the perfect woman."

"You can't be serious!" Larry expressed his frustration. Gesturing at his narrow waist and rounded hips he said, "So this is what happens when you get attacked by a horny werewolf?"

"So Marko turns into a wolf every month, whenever there is a full moon," said Gwen. "Does that mean Larry will become a beautiful gypsy girl every month?"

"Yes, I am afraid it is true," answered Zolfina. "For three days every month, when the moon is full in the night sky, Larry will turn into a woman. There is no way this can be changed."

Gwen thought about this. "So, do we at least know what time every night it's going to happen? I mean, so Larry can prepare? It's just that, I noticed that Larry and Marko didn't change at exactly the same time."

Zolfina's jaw dropped open. She was speechless for a moment, but then said, "My God, you are right! This I do not understand. Marko changes every month, the exact moment the full moon appears above the horizon. Never earlier, never later! But Larry changed a couple of minutes earlier than this! The moon could not have been full. Barely a sliver of the moon must have appeared on the horizon when he changed!"

"So what does that mean?" asked Larry.

Zolfina explained her thoughts. "The change from man to wolf is terrible and difficult, requiring all the energy of a full moon. Anything less cannot trigger the transformation. But the change from man to woman is much simpler, much less dramatic. Larry's transformation therefore began as soon as the slightest portion of the moon peeked above the horizon."

"So what?" asked Larry. "So, I spend an extra two minutes every month as a woman?"

"It is far worse than that, Larry Talbot," said Zolfina in an ominous voice. "I believe you will become a woman every time the slightest sliver of the moon appears in the sky, day or night, every day of the month save three when the moon is dark!"