The Dehumanization of Ethan Brown

Juan emptied the payload of his truck upon arrival in Buffalo. Ethan went over to help him, Wyatt and the other put the food in the hotel. “This is your wedding. Enjoy yourself.”

“I don’t mind helping,” Ethan said. “The other men are unloading the trucks.”

“Play with your new baby,” Juan said. “In a few years, you\'ll have a dozen and a new baby won’t be as fucking important to you.”

“I’ll meet with the guests.” Ethan put the box in his arms down. He could easily smell the rotting food in most of the boxes. Margaret, Jake, Tobias, and a few others gathered rotting food the last two or three nights. Ryan was glad to get out it because he worked night shift at the convenience store. Ethan found Ryan and Tobias greeting out-of-towners’ with two young men from the Wyatt’s pack. “I’m Ethan.”

“Ria’s husband?” the young man asked.

Ethan knew that he wouldn’t remember all the names that he heard during the day. He hoped not to call too many people by the wrong name. Ethan greeted people at the door and Tobias returned to helping the men unload the food. The young men from Buffalo told Ethan that most of the guests were from their pack. Ethan was glad to hear that Wyatt’s pack was so strong as he bragged of Juan’s pack increasing their number. As the day progressed, more people arrived from other packs. There were quite a number that came from the smaller packs in the mountains and a good number from Canada and one couple arrived from as far as Quebec. Ethan and Ryan talked to a few young people from the mountains about the employment opportunities in Syracuse and surrounding area until it was time for everyone to gather in the yard behind the hotel for the double wedding.

Ethan was in awe of the over two hundred mostly naked folks gathered here for the wedding of Juan Lopez’s two oldest children. Ria and Ethan listened to a Jake perform a traditional orthodox ceremony in Hebrew under a canopy. Ria and Ethan passed a wine glass between them and Ethan put a ring on Ria’s finger. Ethan broke the glass with his foot at the end of the ceremony knowing the minor cuts would heal by the end of the night. Ria cried as Ethan kissed her briefly in front of a crowd.

Ria eagerly stepped back as Tony and Natalie were walked in front of Jake. Her mother announced a few of the presents that the married couple would get. Ethan listened to the wedding ceremony chanted by the Jake, their pack’s rabbi. Natalie’s mother came up silently as the ceremony continued. Ethan couldn’t believe he felt so comfortable naked in such a crowd. As sky turned to black, he wanted to turn into wolf form, but felt that it would be inappropriate. A few others had but most of the crowd was in human form. The smell was indescribable: the musky smell of werewolf, the stronger stench of rotting food, and the smell of fires grilling the flesh to be eaten later.

Jake shook Ethan’s hand afterwards. “Mazl tov.”

“I didn’t know that you were a rabbi,” Ethan said.

“I’m self educated. I like us to keep our traditions for weddings and circumcisions. I even used to conduct Friday night service. Many laws we haven’t tried to obey since the fifteenth century. It was argued that since we were cursed that we were no longer members of the chosen people, but it was agreed the practices of marriage and circumcision would be continued until the world stopped revolving. We have time for a religious discussion later.”

“Thank you, Rabbi.”

A few people with acoustic instruments played folk music as Juan announced it was time for the couples to dance. Tony took Natalie to the clearing behind the hotel. Ethan walked toward Ria and Camilla. Ria put the newborn in her mother’s arms as Camilla looked over to Joey and Donny new to walking chasing each other in the muddy soil that had never been swept of leaves the previous fall. The two little boys had no idea that this was the largest gathering of werewolves in the area for many years.

Ria wrapped her arms around Ethan and they danced to folk music that reminded Ethan of the filking at science fiction conventions. By the third dance, the singers sang in German. Ethan didn’t know German so he couldn’t join in with the singing. Ethan listened to songs after Ria returned to her baby. Juan walked over to him and kissed his cheeks. “Welcome to the family,” Juan said.

“I have been a member of your household since I was a baby.” Ethan put his arms around Juan and kissed him deeply. “I love you.”

“You were just fucking married,” Juan said.

“Later.” Ethan put his hand through Juan’s long curly black hair. “You smell fantastic.” Ethan sniffed Juan’s musk and that earthy smell of sweat through all the odors filling the air.

“Be good to my daughter.” Juan kissed Ethan again stroking his back with one hand and his hair with the other. Ethan knew his lips were a bit swollen, as he pulled away from Juan slightly breathless and definitely sexually aroused.

Nici put her body in front of Ethan as soon as Juan pulled away and suggested that they dance. “You don’t need everyone at this place seeing what just took place,” Nici whispered. “They’ll say that Juan is leading his pack with his dick not his brain.”

“Juan thinks with that head,” Ethan said as he danced with Nici.

“And you don’t. If it came out to the smaller packs, Juan could be challenged.”

“I just married his daughter,” Ethan said wrapping his arms tightly around Nici.

“You’re a male half-breed,” Nici said. “Just be careful.”

“It hasn’t been a fucking secret.” Ethan escorted Nici to the buffet table and got himself a glass of juice. A few teenage boys from the mountains talked to him about jobs in Kettlefire as the dancing broke up and a new group of singers started in Spanish. Ethan remembered the Spanish folk music from his youth. Ethan laughed as the music continued as he took a plate of food.

Ria joined him on the ground carrying the baby in her sling. “Having a good time.”

“I don’t know German.”

“Wyatt’s pack claims German ancestry,” Ria said. “I didn’t know we were Mexican and South American.”

“Juan must have hired a Mexican band.” Ethan laughed at the band dressed in traditional Mexican attire in front of over two hundred naked people.

Ethan walked over to the guitar player when they took a break. “Having a good time.” Ethan spoke to the band members in Spanish in the accent he learned from his South American high school teacher.

“The fucking food smells rotten,” the drummer said.

“Genetic trait; none of us can get food poisoning. I’ll show the food that is safe to eat,” Ethan said leading the band members to the buffet table continuing in conversational Spanish. “I’m Ethan one of the newlyweds. Did you meet my new wife and baby?”

“Ria,” she said in Spanish shaking the hand of the drummer. “I’m sure my dad is paying you well for this gig.”

“Camilla Lopez hired us,” the guitar player said. “She told us that she would pay us handsomely as long as we didn’t tell the authorities about what we saw.”

“Carlos asked if you were going to do human sacrifice,” the second guitar player said.

“Camilla assured us no one will be harmed and the only law broken would be an underage marriage,” the drummer said. “So we are told that it’s your culture to marry young. Ethan, why did you wait so long?”

“I went to college. My father wanted me to be a scholar and stay my celibate but after he died I decided to marry,” Ethan said. “Besides, the nudity and the underage marriage, it’s like another wedding.”

“I’ve never been around nudists before but it’s private property,” the drummer said.

“In a little while, you don’t notice that people are unclothed,” Ria said. “I want to talk to my new sister-in-law. Ethan, help these gentlemen get some food.”

Ethan put a steak, cooked potato and some fresh salad on a plate for the drummer. The other band members followed Ethan’s lead. “Camilla, help the band members.”

“Sure, Ethan,” she said.

The band returned to playing. The crowd got smaller as people left or went to sleep inside the hotel. Marla and Robin left with some adolescent boys from the mountains. The drummer dropped his sticks in a middle of a song and started screaming. Ethan went up to the band; Camilla quickly followed suit. “What is wrong?”

“Shit. Fuck. Werewolf,” the drummer mumbled as his body trembled.

“We won’t hurt you.” Camilla counted the cash that she owned them out of a bag that she had tossed near the band instruments some time before. “Pack up your instruments.”

“All of you?” the guitarist asked.

Camilla picked up the huge amp like it was a toy. “Not a fucking word of this.”

The three band members pocketed their money. “We won’t say a fucking word,” the drummer said. “I want to go home with all my body parts.”

Ethan picked up the other amp. “Thanks for playing. I would have hoped you could have played more traditional Spanish folk music.” Ethan allowed his Spanish accent to take on a more Sephardic sound to it.

“I don’t understand,” the guitar asked as he put his instrument in its case.

“A Jewish shopkeeper and his family were cursed in the thirteenth century. Juan and his family maybe the last of his line,” Ethan said. “We teach our children Spanish as tradition. The family hosting us is Germany in background.”

“I’m all for tradition,” the drummer said as he packed his smaller drums.

Ethan picked up the drum set for the drummer. “I can trust you not to say a word about werewolves existing to fucking anyone.” Ethan put the heavy drum set into the truck.

“Nothing,” the band members agreed as they boarded their truck.

The crowd dispersed as truck left the hotel yard. Camilla looked at Ethan. “Not bad for two half-breeds.” She grinned.

“I don’t know how you feel about me,” Ethan said meekly.

“Do you love him?” Camilla asked.

“No, he raped me.” Ethan couldn’t believe he said that as he start to sob. “I wasn’t strong enough to stand up to him. I just submit. I’m fucking pathetic.”

“If it wasn’t for you, Ria would have needed to marry a boy from the mountains. You kept her with her friends and family,” Camilla said. “I’ll pour you some punch.”

“Not the water down stuff,” Ethan said. “I hate that we frightened the band members.”

“I played them a thousand dollars each for the gig. They are lucky to get a hundred for all three of them for a gig. They won’t be squealing a thing.” Camilla poured herself some volka punch.

“Won’t that go to babies?” Ethan said as he filled his drink.

“Their livers can’t be damaged,” Camilla said. “You have to stop thinking like a human.”

“It’s hard,” Ethan admitted. “Marla went off with some boys from the mountains.”

“She said that she wanted to find a boy on her own,” Camilla said.

“They could hurt her.”

“She’ll heal and learn never to go off with adolescent werewolves again.”

“Did you make that mistake?”

“No, but Juan\'s sisters did. Juan and Jake chopped up two adolescents to an inch of their lives for dismembering Elena and having tied up our two younger sisters.”

“How is Elena?”

“She healed that night. One of the boys had to wait almost a year for his parts to grow back. The stupid kid hadn’t reached adolescence, yet.” Camilla sat on the ground near her sleeping toddlers.

“So are you going to let those boys take advantage of your thirteen year old?” Ethan sat on the ground and finished his drink.