The big old wolf walked slowly along the side streets and alleys.  He was so calm and well-behaved that even though nobody remembered seeing him before, nobody felt particularly threatened or curious about him.  Most people only saw a large dog, and the wolf prefered it that way.

He provoked comments as he walked past the barber's shop--the smells from that place made him walk a little faster than usual.

"Look at him," a middle-aged man said.  "He knows where he's going, and he's not starving.  I can't believe I never noticed him before, he must weigh more than a hundred and forty pounds!"

The dog rounded the corner of the barber shop and walked down an alley as the patrons of the shop continued discussing him.  "He looks a lot like my son's dog, out west.  That one has some wolf in him."

"You wouldn't know a wolf if you saw it--that's no wolf.  How would it get to the middle of town?  Did he ride the bus?"

The wolf's mouth gaped open, in a grin.  He trotted down the alley and found the big dumpster that he had smelled the night before.  Sitting in front of it, he sniffed out things that might meet with approval if he brought them back to the cubs.

Slowly he lifted himself up, standing on two legs; the pads of his forepaws seemed to melt, elongating slightly and becoming grasping, curled digits.  His shoulders and hips seemed to pivot in uncomfortable directions as his arms and legs rotated, like wheels on axles, until he stood truly upright.  

"Much easier," he said in a low growling voice, and started picking through the trash on top of the dumpster for the food he had smelled.

It was there; something from that "M" place.  It was always a busy restaraunt, but as much as the humans seemed to love the taste of the food, they very often didn't finish it, and left the remains scattered everywhere.  Wasn't that the typical human way.  "Well, it makes foraging a little easier," the werewolf said to himself.  Picking out something for his cubs and his cubs' friend who had come along for the trip, he spotted some clothes.

"Hmm," he thought to himself as his mouth fell open into a wolf grin.  The clothes weren't matched very well, but they'd fit.  "Why not."

His halfway shift continued; most of his fur seemed to withdraw into his body, only a little of it floating away on the breeze as fluff.  His tail shriveled, disappearing, and he yawned as his muzzle flattened.  Most of his teeth became relatively dull and flat, his eyes changing to more of a brown than the wolf's gold.

The naked man hurriedly put on the clothes, having learned from experience that he could get away with appearing as a wolf if he kept a low profile, but nothing brought unwanted attention as fast as wandering around naked in this form.

He grabbed the styrofoam boxes with what would be the morning's meal, and stepped out into the street; a middle aged man, who from the look of his clothes, had fallen on hard times.  Another bum to walk the streets, and even though nobody had seen him before, it looked like he knew where he was going so there wasn't much curiousity.

"Look, another dumpster diver," said someone in the barber shop.

"He's doing pretty well for someone homeless," said another.  He probably doesn't weigh more than a hundred fifty, but he doesn't look too hungry."

"He must not be if he can find five whole meals in the trash...at least, I counted five.."

The man made his way back through the side streets and alleys, until he came to an abandoned lot where his little pack had made camp.  "Good," he thought to himself as he looked around...at first glance, the site looked abandoned.  "They had the sense to hide from me."

He tossed the food down and crouched, waiting...back home, they didn't see him fully human very often, let alone dressed.  Slowly, a small youngster with totally black fur and golden eyes emerged from overgrown bushes and approached.

"Good morning," said the man to the young wolf.  "I found you breakfast."  He scanned the bushes and caught sight of the others, hiding and watching.  "It'll be you and the other cubs' turn to get lunch for us..then we'll head back down the river.  We've already stayed two days longer than we planned.  It's good to get out and camp sometimes, but I've had enough--I'm ready to go home."