“So did the delivery guy have any troubles getting up here,” Lila scarfing down the glass noodles; arriving at Lance’s office moments after she seen the person enter the elevator. She zeroed in towards her husband’s office as the smell of various oriental cuisines came wafting towards her.
“Well,” Lance managing to keep his pregnant wife from wiping out his crispy duck as he ate straight from the box; “with the out of town reporters camping out in the parking lot. Thank you very much for that sheriff,” Lance grumbling; “I had to make sure the delivery person’s description was known to the front security desk. You’d be surprised how crafty reporters can be.”
“Crafty,” Lila trying to snag some of her husband’s duck; “how so? And What’s this about the sheriff dumping reporters on you?”
“Well,” Lance sighing; “it started an hour after I had my chat with Ella regarding the responses towards her expose. Naturally,” Lance smiling; “Jack Crawford called and he wasn’t too pleased.”
“In how many swear words,” Lila not pleased with her husband’s efforts to deny her his duck.
“I’m not repeating what he said,” Lance enjoying the keep away game he is playing with Lila; “suffice to say, he made the usual threats to sue. I counter with the tried and true method of fact checking and told him to give it his best shot.”
“But that doesn’t explain the sheriff and,” Lila speaking before getting interrupted.
“I’m getting to that,” Lance swallowing a spring roll whole; “the sheriff called me after. Said he wanted my gazette’s help in wrangling the reporters swarming all over town. What he didn’t tell me,” Lance rolling his eyes; “that he told them to get their info from me. I’ve had several members of the press try and sneak their way into the building as if they had a free pass to roam the place. A few even tried to pose as delivery personnel,” Lance feeling tired; “I’d had to get security to lock down the place and bar our… guests to the lobby alone.”
“All this because of Frederick’s arrest,” Lila asking; all the while she has been eyeing the crispy duck that Lance as so far managed to keep from her. “I guess that explains, security needing a description of the delivery person.”
“Yes,” Lance sighing; “I’ve had to appoint Ella as a liaison and lead reporter for our coverage of Frederick Parker.”
“You poor tired hubby,” Lila pretending to be sympathetic; “have a soda.”
Handing Lance the soda, Lila sees this as her chance and swipes the crispy duck from Lance. Stunned at her deviousness; Lance gives off a low growl, as Lila sniggers while scarfing down the rest of the duck.
“You should know by now Lance,” after polishing off the duck; “never stand between a pregnant woman and her cravings.”
“Yet you said duck was too fatty and never liked it much,” Lance grumbling as his lunch got swiped from him.
“That was before I was eating for two,” Lila now focusing on the vegetable fried rice; tossing him a fortune cookie as she continued to eat.
*******
As Benton entered the animal shelter; he was hit with the smells of many different dogs and cats. Thanks to his keen were-panther sense of smell; Benton was easily able to identify many of the different breeds. Having met several were-varieties over the decades, Benton soldered forth as he approached the front desk to see a rather bored male occupying his time with a rather racy magazine.
“Excuse me,” Benton coughing; watching the man as he smelled that he was a normal look startled at his presence.
“My wife is here,” Benton being curt; “looking at the dogs you have. Where is she?”
“At the kennels,” the man pointing to a door marked kennels.
Benton just shook his head as he watched the man go back to his magazine; unconcerned of anybody or anyone. Walking through the doors; Benton pauses as he gets a stronger hit of the various scents of dogs. Mixed in with the scents is the smell of urine and stale kibble. Wrinkling his nose as he pass by the kennels; getting howls and a few growls from some of the dogs as they pick up on his were-panther scent. Paying them no mind as Benton sees his wife holding onto a few puppies as they eagerly lick her face; wagging their tails in pure excitement.
“How come these ones aren’t going crazy,” Benton looking at Amanda; “the dogs I passed by stated braking and howling like mad as I walked by.”
“It’s because they are still young,” Amanda admiring the puppies; “and they are the breed I use to work with.”
Benton looking at the three puppies crawling over his wife sees they are all Dobermans. The puppies sporting jet black fur; with a few spots of brown around their muzzles and paws.
“Please tell me you’re not taking all three,” Benton watching as the puppies start heading towards him.
“They are from the same litter,” Amanda answering; “and yes we are getting all three.”
“Amanda,” Benton gearing up for fight but getting stopped before he can continue.
“Fact,” Amanda snapping; “we have a big estate. Too big to be patrolled constantly by armed guard. Fact,” Amanda managing to hold onto the three puppies despite them squirming; “after the security walking out, stemming from you punching out Jeffries, we have not had any security to begin with. Remember what happened last Saturday?”
Benton groaned; he knew he was on the losing end of the argument and it didn’t even begin yet. With a few of Frederick’s men deciding to break into his place while he was blottoed at his brother’s. Benton had to scramble after finding out that his daughter Frieda and her friends were present when the estate was broken into. On top of that, they were minding three were-tiger cubs as Ester, Lila and Amanda decided to have a girl’s night out. Their way of dealing with their husband’s foolishness in getting hammered.
“George was there,” Benton speaking but getting silenced from Amanda’s cold stare.
“Yet it was Eric and Spencer that dealt with the majority of the interlopers,” Amanda chiding her husband; “having to kill the men, just to ensure our existence doesn’t get out. Did you already forget that little detail?”
“No I did not,” Benton grumbling; he knew this was a lost cause as Amanda was already walking out of the kennel with the puppies.
“And we have Jack Crawford threatening our very existence,” Amanda adding; “as well as our daughter’s trust fund. Do you really want to continue this futile argument? Or are you going to just accept that we need to have a more loyal form of security?”
********
Sitting in his town car as he waited for school to let out, Benton kept going back to the conversation he had with Amanda as she was signing the adoption paperwork.
“The moment these dogs bite our daughter or start being aggressive towards me,” Benton speaking; “they are out. No exceptions, no excuses.”
“You let me deal with the dogs,” Amanda dismissing Benton’s ultimatum; “I use to breed Doberman’s for competition at the Kennel club shows as a hobby with mom. I still remember how to train them and look after them.”
Snapping back to the present as the final bell rings; Benton looks on as students start streaming out of the school and either milling about of heading home. Seeing Frieda along with Spencer and Eric with her; Benton slowly pulls up as they exit from the school doors.