He, a lawyer, forgot something. Something important had slipped through the fracture of his memory network, like a diamond ring fell through the gully into the bottomless sewer.

The light was dimmed. The expensive furnishing of his office seemed less splendid than day time. But it wasn't important.

Not anything in his firm could remind him about that particular something from the previous night. Not could the mountains of documents on his desk. Nor did the certificate that read "Defender of the Truth", which was signed by the mayor. Not even the left over lamb chop sitting in the plate on his desk could give him a hint.

But at least the lamb chop would do a good job in satisfying his appetites. The dimmed light unjustly diminished the tempting redness on the lamb. But the smell he inhaled was as appetizing as blood to a starving mosquito. He cut off a large portion and sank in his teeth. The texture of the meat was faultlessly tendered. The creamy sauce was delectable to every taste bud. The sweet juice exuded from the center of the meat bathed every inches of his tongue in heavenly deliciousness.

Nevertheless, it wasn't just the taste. It was the feeling that he was chewing on something pristine, something innocently clean that gave him the exulting satisfaction of conquering. It was like chewing the mingling flesh of the prosecutors, the juries and the judges. In fact, it was just like chewing Truth itself, feeding its flesh bit by bit to his inflated ego. The Defender of the Truth defended Truth by swallowing it into his stomach. And yes, it was definitely scrumptious. It was succulent. It was yummy. It was almost perfect except for the fact that he couldn't recall where he got the lamb chop. It was from something he did last night. He had a premonition that it would be something significant, something ominous.

The wall clock stroked a quarter to midnight. Time to sleep. Everyone had left the firm. Even his secretary, who managed everything for him to the most tiresome details, his appointments, his clients, his lovers and his phone bills. Even his practicing lawyers who were the only intelligent species in this world that could endure his overloaded work orders. They had all gone home to sleep. Everyone, everything, but him. It was harder and harder for him to fall asleep recently. But he couldn't understand why. 

To reemphasize, the wall clock stroked five to midnight. He squeezed all the documents into his black leather briefcase. Magically, it didn't explode.

As the elevator sank deeper, his ominous premonition grew stronger.  Like a condemned criminal escorted by an executor marching towards the guillotine. And the urgency of remembrance raised like the temperature of the boiling water, he had to remember it before it was too late, before the merciless coldness of the heavy blade bit into his neck.

The doors of the elevator slide open as smoothly as the drop of the heavy blade on the guillotine.

Silent.

The silence of the empty reception hall.

Then the squeezing sound of the automatic security camera.

And the humming sound of the electric transformer.

Nothing else, nothing happened.

He exited from the reception hall to the parking lot. His sixteen story law firm stood obediently behind him. The street across was as lifeless as a cemetery. Surrounding him, none of the downtown buildings dared to make a noise.

Again, silent.

Silence of the midnight.

Then the whisper of the chilling wind in mid September.

But again, nothing else, nothing happened.

He walked across the parking lot. His heel clicked sharply on the pavement. The moon showed briefly overhead. His maroon blue Mercedes Benz was waiting docilely in front. The lustrous waxing of the car door mirrored the façade of the blue moon like a fermented cheesecake.

The parking lot didn't make a sound.

Did neither the pavement, nor the moon.

But there was something else; something was going to happen.

     "Woooooo……..ol! Woooooooooooo….ol!"

     A howling happened, as desperate as a hundred year old senior suffering a stroke, as lamentable as a gambler losing all his belongings. Suddenly, all the downtown buildings, the street, the pavement, the parking lot, the wind, the moon and his brains all vibrated in the same frequency with the howling.

     He stared briefly at his Mercedes, just to make sure that it wasn't the noise of his security alarm. The howling continued with no intention to stop and not even an intention to draw a breath. His brains vibrated like an earthquake shaking off all the books from a bookshelf. His memory crept back to his mind like a zombie surfacing from the grave. He started to remember, reluctantly. But he wasn't afraid, not that his inflated ego would have allowed him. It was something dishonorable, something evil that he was reluctant to admit. He had to leave before it came.

     As smoothly as an expert Japanese swordsman, he withdrew his car key from his pocket. Brutally, sedately, he pushed his key towards the keyhole. But, uh-oh, unlike his Japanese counterpart, who never missed his target, he missed it by a mere one inch. The metallic tip of the key drew an ugly scratch on the car door and the key dropped stupidly onto the cement pavement. Like an experienced controller conducting an orchestra, the sound brought the howling abruptly to an end.

     But it wasn't the end, not yet. Behind him, he heard the heavy foot step of an animal. Solid and cruel like a knife hitting a tomb stone. It was about a hundred steps behind. Squatting down, he probed aimlessly in the darkness. Fifty steps. His left hand touched something metallic, which was then bounced away by his careless right hand. Thirty steps. He continued to grope around his car. Ten steps. Searching, beneath it, in front of it, all around it, he dared not raising his head. Five steps. Three steps. Two steps. His thumb touched something solid, sharp and cold. It was like a claw. A claw that belonged to a paw which was owned by an animal just like -- like the one standing in front. Slowly, he raised his head.

The lawyer's eyes locked with the devil green eyes of the animal. His face felt its menacing breath, a smell from the ancient world. His mouth almost kissed its protruded jaws. The situation was like a seven year old boy lusted for the kiss of his six year old girlfriend but dared not to make the first move. The lawyer raised calmly onto his feet so he could see its whole body.

It was white --

It was fluffy --

It was -- it was as white and fluffy as a sheep--

Indeed, it was a sheep--

Well, at least it looked very much like a sheep.

Didn't know whether to laugh or be surprised, the lawyer stared at the sheep foolishly, like a motionless hamster hypnotized by the evil magic of a cobra. His mouth opened but words winced back to his throat.

The sheep first broke the ice. "It's me you've forgotten." Its green eyes is now more dolorous than evil.

The lawyer still stood with no words.

The sheep continued, "forgetfully, you left me out, so here I came to seek your help."

"Help?" the lawyer finally struggle out with one word and then some. "How… how can a humble lawyer help you?"

"Be mercy on me, count me in," answered the sheep.

It was hard to tell from the lawyer's face whether he was confused. But his tone gradually became calm and natural.

"Who the hell are you?" the lawyer demanded.

"Me is the sheep who guided you to your dream. " The lawyer contemplated, gesturing the sheep for more explanation. So it did, "Hot and humid last night it was. Harder had you tried, yet no sleep could you get. From one to six hundred and sixty five, you counted the sheep. Fallen into dreams, you left me out. The orphan I was, no grazing, no home. O my friend! Mercy on me! Count me in! Count to six hundred and sixty six. "

     The lawyer seemed to be enlightened. "O yes, you're the last sheep I was counting to help myself to fall asleep last night. Yes, I did forget to count you in… or…" there was a sudden change in his tone, "did I?"

     "My friend," the sheep pleaded; "you did. Mercy on me, count me in."

     "Wait! But there was something else, something important I've forgotten…" the lawyer said thoughtfully while trying to remember, like a person using a string and gum to fish out a diamond ring through the small opening of a gully.

     The sheep hold its breath. Its thick gray tail swung impatiently.

     Seeing that, the lawyer said with a smirk on his face, "but you weren't a sheep. You were something else," his eyes narrowed into a thin line. "Who are you, really?"

A gleam of fear flashed through the sheep's pupils. "Look at my skin! For a humble simple sheep I am, what else I could be?" it cried. It moved its body forward for the lawyer to take a closer look. Meanwhile the chilling wind of mid September passed by again, blowing away the sheep skin from the sheep like animal. Now, only the pelt was left. Like a first time stripper standing in front of her audiences, the animal was quite embarrassed. It said staggeringly, "please count me in…"

     The lawyer's voice suddenly became as righteous as St. Joan of Arc defending France. Truth in his eyes, justice on his hands, he reproached the animal, "O you most dishonorable of all animals! Sheep as you might look; you lied as detestable as any wolf. If I counted you in my dreams, no sweet sleep would have I enjoyed. Blood and tear will spread among the sheep, no more dreams but nightmares leave. Be gone! Till the last drop of blood, I shall defend my sheep from your greedy mouth."

"O My friend," the wolf said; "not a wolf I am, please…"

"Be gone!" the lawyer shouted, "You wolf in a sheep's clothing. No friend we could be!"

"O My friend," the wolf insisted; "but the same we are…"

"Be gone!" the lawyer reemphasized; "In the name of Defender of the Sheep, no friend we could be! No same we shall share!"

"O My friend," the wolf said cunningly; "Yes, the same we are, the same we talked…"

"Be gone!" the lawyer said, losing half of the justice from his right hand, he amended," I mean… go away. We never talked alike. We are not the same. I am…" The lawyer paused, tasting the juice of lamb still left in his mouth, he continued, "I am still the Defender of the Sheep."

"Of course you are," the wolf said; "may I suggest I shall share thy burden as a Defender of the Sheep?"

"Be gone! Go away!" the lawyer shouted hysterically, "You hypocritical beast, dare you step one foot forward and I shall flayed you alive! The sheep elected me. No sheep we shall share. No mutton you shall touch. No lamb you shall eat. They are all mine! Mine! Mine!"

"Please!" the wolf said with a hypocritical pleading. It's teeth danced like the claws of a black dragon. Piercing the cement floor beneath, it's paws moved forward. Its tail dangled like a deadly cobra. The predator seemed ready to sacrifice its prey.

"Dare you step one foot forward and I shall…" the lawyer said with a weakening heart.

"You shall what?" the wolf said, snapping its teeth.

"I shall…" the lawyer fumbled desperately in his pocket and withdrew an envelope. With a rumble of thunder, he declared, "I shall sue you to your death!"

The wolf winced back like a tree struck by the lightening.

"In the command of this court order," the lawyer shouted, glancing at the envelope that held his expensive phone bill, "We shall meet in court tomorrow!"

The wolf, as tame as a kitten in front of a lion, retreated further. With the role of predator and prey switched, the lawyer held tight to his phone bill envelope. He looked as solemn as the Statue of Liberty holding the torch that protects the Freedom of Speech in the United States, as righteous as Vladimir Lenin holding the torch that led his comrades overthrew the Russian Imperialists, as holy as -- ah… well… maybe after all it wasn't that holy. The lawyer glanced again at the envelope and found out it wasn't really the envelope that frightened the wolf.

It was the hand that held the envelope. But it wasn't really a hand. Non of the zoologists alive would agree it was. It was -- it was covered with thick gray hair of the wildest beast. In place of the nails were the claws of the dark evilness, piercing deep through the paper of the phone bill envelope. And it wasn't just the hand. Every inch, every centimeter, every nano-meter of his skin was covered with the same gray hair. In short, the lawyer would be more eligible than the wolf in front to win the contract of a werewolf movie in the Hollywood.

Shockingly, the lawyer remembered. He knew. He understood. His mind was enlightened like a torch ignited by the wisdom of God. The secret of creation was playing like a holographic movie in front of his eyes: The bony fish evolved into amphibians. They migrated onto the land and became reptiles and then mammals. Some of the mammals became primates. They danced stupidly like monkeys around the fire. Some of the mammals became wolves. They stocked their preys and enjoyed their meals inside their dark damp caves. The primates evolved into apes and then humans. They became the janitors, the garbage-men, the construction workers, the sectaries, the cubicle dwellers and all other lower to middle class workers.  While the wolves, who were much more intelligent than the primates, evolved into a complete different species. They learnt how to wear ties, to dress in suits and to carry black leather briefcases. They evolved into lawyers, to mayors and all other species of politicians. They became the Defenders. The Defenders elected by their preys.

The wind of mid September was still chilling. But the lawyer felt much warmer under the thick gray pelt he was now wearing. The wolf had disappeared in the silence of the night. The downtown buildings, the street, the pavement, the parking lot and the moon all became quiet once again. Reminiscing the sweet juice of the lamb chop, he was thinking he should probably cut down his diet on the lamp chops. It was rather hard for him to fall asleep at night.