Once upon a time...

     "Once upon a time, in a land far away, there lived a girl named Karly...One night, she and her mother and father and brother and their dogs were sitting around the campfire up at their cabin. The firelight was flickering and casting shadows into the long grass around the fire. Everything was peaceful and quiet. A full moon rose over the trees, casting eerie silver light over the yard...." Dad paused, his voice low and his eyes sparkling with mischief as he watched me for a reaction. "Suddenly, there came a rustling from the grass in the woods. The girl's dog, Sonny, went slowly up to investigate. He disappeared into the long grass and everything was silent. Karly called his name, but he didn't come back. The rustling came again. Karly got up to go look for the dog and walked over to the forest. It was pitch black. Suddenly, a wolf howled. And another..."
      "And then what, Dad? What happened next?"
      "And then.... (another dramatic pause)...Theyallgotflusheddownthetoilet!"
      "Dad!" I complained, grinning. "What really happened?"
      Dad bluffed his way out of the question and began tickling me, evoking several shrieks of merriment. Finally, he chased me away and I sought refuge on the other side of mom, away from the fire. I settled down on the grass and gazed into the coals.
     A wolf howled.
     And I felt a sudden and panicky desire to be as close to the fire as I could be--as far away from the threatening dark. The dogs cocked their heads. Sonny growled. Then we heard the wolves again, this time with more voices. Have you ever heard a bunch of the neighborhood dogs barking all at once? It was like that, only more savage. It sounded as though a pack was having a rather violent discussion just a little ways off in the woods behind the garage. Now, the lake on which our cabin is situated is by no means unpopulated. In the recent years, wolves have been migrating closer and closer to civilization, much to the chagrin of my brother and I, because it stopped our galavanting through the woods. But anyways, back to the story.
     It was definitely eerie, sitting by the fire with the round ball of the moon floating above our heads, and the bats flying in and out of the cabin lights. Dad's story sure hadn't helped. But it was...very neat, to say the least, to hear the wolves howling and barking out in the woods. The stars were so bright that night, I remember.