Rudy texted me the news, that the catty woman who drove up insulting Kell was actually Kell herself dressed as her cousin Sheila, mouthing the things she imagined Sheila would say. Sheila, meanwhile, was dressed as Kell and took the side of suburban domesticity. In that way, they processed their respective differences.
They continued the switch throughout the evening, to the consternation of Dad and Elanor. Rudy, meanwhile, saw through the ruse with his finely-tuned sense of scent. He confronted Kell (dressed as Sheila), who asked him to play along for a day. He did, not even coming clean with me although I’m away at college. (Thanks for the demonstration of trust, Rudy!)
The most amazing thing that happened during the switch was Gran coming to Kell’s defense during the exchange of hostilities. (I’m surprised Kell was able to hide her astonishment and stay in character.) At the end of the evening Kell and Sheila switched back so that Kell would sleep with Dad (of course!). It was at noon the next day that they dropped the routine. Elanor was furious; as a wolf who takes everything at face value she takes a dim view of subterfuge even in a benign setting as this. As for Dad, he’s laid back and nothing much surprises him, but this definitely did.
Addressing some of points raised on the blog after I logged off last week, domestication in the human world was created by humans but here...it’s a genetic condition. Do the domesticated miss something that a human would provide? I see no evidence of that.
It was wasn’t dangerous bringing friends around Coney, even before her protective instinct kicked in. Even as a carnivorous infant she would first observe how people interacted with her surroundings before attacking prey. If a member of her pack (us) brought a friend over she’d see that we were accepting of their presence and leave them alone.
