Prompted by the Skelleyverse: Levi Tooth, Poolside

So this is the result from a writing prompt generated by Rune Skelley's writing prompt generator which can be found here: http://www.skelleyverse.com/writing-prompt-generator/

I am obligated to triple-dog dare you into doing this. So, triple-dog-dare!

The Prompt

Character elderly werewolf

Setting country club

Object vacuum cleaner

Situation missed the last bus

Levi Tooth, Poolside
  by Reggie Lutz


Leviticus Tooth hunched over his rare steak. A table umbrella protected his head from the harsh sun. He loved the way the light made the water in the pool sparkle, but couldn’t tolerate its effects on his balding pate. He lifted a forkful of beef to his mouth and tried to savor the meat’s iron taste of blood. Most days a rare steak was enough to satisfy him, but as the night of the full moon approached steak tended to increase his hunger rather than sate it.

He sighed and put the fork to one side. What a cruel twist of fate that in my old age my body gets hairier while my head gets more bare, he thought. Though it was hot he wore a long-sleeved trench coat to hide tufts of fur that sometimes spilled out from beneath his sleeves. He was hot but he never perspired, like the wolf he turned into once a month he perspired through his tongue rather than his skin. No one in the pack he used to run with prepared him for getting old, the blurring of wolf and human traits that he experienced as he aged were disturbing to him. Then again, no one else in the pack had survived this long, either.

One of the country club bus boys started running a vacuum cleaner in one of the seating areas on the opposite side of the pool. The high-pitched whir of the motor irritated Levi’s ears. To drown it out he began to growl, except that he didn’t realize that he was growling.

A child to the left of him began to whimper. “Mommy, that scary man over there is growling!”

“It’s okay honey, why don’t we go inside for a moment.”

“Okay.”

Mother and child hurried toward the back entrance of the building, sliding glass doors which lead to the restaurant and bar. Levi saw her speaking to the host and knew that he should leave voluntarily before they kicked him out. He’d been a member at this country club for years. It would not do to be banned from the facility. It was the only place that served steak the way he liked it most days.

He left through a side gate so as not to disturb the child and his mother further. He got to the corner and only then did he look at his watch. It was after 4:00pm. He had missed the last bus. Stifling a howl of panic, Levi lamented his forgetfulness. The moon would be full tonight and he needed to get away from populated areas. Levi ambled in the direction of the nearest park. The scent of fear emanated off of him in waves. The wolf in him was feeble, now. If humans didn’t put him down tonight, it was likely that other animals would.