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"Don't be silly; there are no debts between us," Katriel said and waved her hand dismissively. "This is just what pack-mates do. When one has and the other doesn't, we share. Honestly, sometimes I think humans would be better off if they were ALL werewolves."

She'd noticed the cloud of past memories pass behind his eyes. She wasn't quite sure what to do about it--she wanted to keep him from ever thinking about the bad times, but she also knew that he couldn't run from the memories. She figured she'd just make sure that from now on, everything was as nice as possible.

She finished up her pancake and tea. "Well, the day must be faced. Ready to move out?"

Katriel blushed a little at his intensity and decided not to make an issue of his feeling indebted. It would fade with time. More than likely, he would save her bacon on the hunt. Then they'd be even and could get on with just being good friends.

"You can clean up in here--just make sure nothing will crash if we take a sharp turn--and I'll disconnect us on the outside. Then we'll dump the sewage tank, fill the water tank, and be on our way," she declared as she wriggled out of bed. She grabbed some clothes from a cupboard and changed in the bathroom. As an afterthought, she threw Ray a pair of sweats, so that he wouldn't be arrested for public indecency.

Outside, she quickly unplugged the hoses and cables, and closed up all the compartments. Then she got in the cab and started up the engine.

Katriel smiled at him as they left the camp ground. She quickly dumped the sewage tank at the service station, and then they headed into town.

Being a werewolf without roots for so long gave Katriel a 6th sense about thrift shops. Some were full of overpriced moth-eaten clothes, others were "thrift" only in name and sold full price new clothing; but some were unique and cheap, and that's what she wanted now--and she found it! It was a little boutique with bizarrely dressed manikins in the window, but it had the right feeling. She parked her truck behind the store.

"Come on--I have a good feeling about this place!" she said to Ray.

Inside the store was like the inside of a crazy aunt's attic. Wedding gowns from the 70's were hung beside square-dancing skirts. Hawaiian shirts were neighbor's to Elvis costumes. There were long racks of cheap clothing, shelves of gently worn shoes and dog eared books, and nicknacks all over! This was deffinately the time and place that Katriel's short canine attention span was at it's worst.

"Ooooh!" Katriel cried as she rushed over to the shoe shelf. She pulled out a pair of ruby slippers and slipped them on. They were a perfect fit. "Aren't they so pretty?" she squealed. "Of course, they'd be destroyed in an instant if I bought them... but they're sparkly!"

She slipped the shoes off and started rifling through the racks of clothing. She pulled out a few shirts and held them up to Ray to size him. One she gave him to hold.

"Let me know if you see anything you like," she told him as she continued to bargain hunt.

Katriel picked out several pairs of jeans and put them in Ray's arms as well.

"Why don't you try them on in the fitting room?" she suggested. "Pick out the best fits and your favorites, and we'll grab you a pair of shoes too. That should be enough to get us to our destination."

"Sure," Katriel said and she pulled off the tags. She grinned at his choice of clothes. "You're so cute."

She took the rest of the clothes up to the counter and handed the cashier the items and the tags. The cashier rang them up and it all came in under $20.

"Now that is a good day of shopping!" Katriel crowed as she paid the woman. She looked at the last few bills in her wallet and tried not cringe. She would need to pick up a job between here and Yellowstone if they were going to have enough gas to get into the park and out again. Still, her new best friend was clean and wearing clean clothes and his smile was worth more than all the money in the world.

Katriel just picked up the bag with one hand and hooked her other arm around Ray's shoulders, guiding him out of the shop. Back in the truck, Katriel got them back on the road and heading towards Yellowstone.

"We might have to stop before we get there," she warned. "I'll find a place to park, and you can hang out in the camper for a few hours. I'll pick up a baby sitting job from the community center, and we'll have enough for gas. Is that ok with you?"

"Boss-Schmoss," Katriel laughed. "Babysitting is an easy gig--canine endurance has it's perks when you're dealing with five hyper munchkins."

They drove for a while and stopped at a city center in a town just outside the park.

"Alright, do you think you'll be ok here? I'll just find an add, run to the house, take care of the kids for the evening, and we should be back on the road and in the park before midnight," she said. "You can finish off all the leftovers in the fridge and whatever you can find in the cupboards."