"Your girlfriend was turned into a tiger?" a man standing behind me in the living room as I continued to look at a photograph of Molly and I together.
"Yes, by a bunch of mad scientists from a freak show," I answered him, "I told you this when you first came in, Dave."
"I know... but a tiger?"
"Well tigress, but yes," I nodded.
"And where is she now?" Dave asked me.
"Right now, she's out," I answered, "as I said before, she's just the same as she was before they transformed her, but she does have a tiger's instincts now as well as human sentience... so civilization isn't entirely to her liking."
"She doesn't like people?" Dave asked.
"It's not that she doesn't like people," I said quickly, "but tigers are solitary creatures. The only cat that lives in groups is the lion, and as I said, Molly was turned into a tiger. Being among a large group of people tends to make her uncomfortable, and the fact that many people treat her like she's a freak or are scared out of their minds of her doesn't help."
"So I take it that's why you moved out here in the sticks after college?" Dave asked nervously, "trying to get away from all the people?"
"All to help her," I sighed, "all to give her comfort..."
++++++++++++
At that time, I was caught in one heck of a pickle. Molly had me wrapped in her arms and was sobbing into my shoulder, which broke my heart to hear. I mean, she was normally fairly upbeat, had a decent sense of humor, very smart... basically the best girlfriend a guy like me could ever hope for. And at present, despite her outward appearance of being an anthropomorphic version of the largest cat in the world, she seemed rather broken.
"It's okay, Molly," I said to her, even though by the way I was being held I was facing my parent's kitchen wall, "It's okay."
"HOW DO YOU KNOW!?" Molly sobbed, "THEY TURNED ME INTO A FREAK!"
"Your voice, Molly," I told her, "I don't want to go deaf from having your roar in my ears."
That only made her cry harder. I mentally kicked myself for that.
"Molly, I don't know for certain," I said after a few moments, "I just have to believe that everything will be fine. Maybe there is some way to turn you back... and if not... you know I will always be there for you."
"I KN--ow, George," Molly answered, catching herself and trying to whisper, "but LOOK at me. I'm a freak!"
"I can't right now," I answered, "You've got me turned the wrong way and you're naked..."
"What are we going to do?" Molly questioned, "I don't want to be like this forever, and those Freak Show scientists likely ran for the hills the instant you got me out of there."
I probably should have urged contacting the police. Even if they didn't believe the report over the phone, they'd have to once they saw the "new" Molly. But again, I didn't. Part of me thought I'd only end up tipping the Freak Show people off and they'd take Molly away from me... and possibly take me as well. This would come back to bite me later that evening, but I don't want to get ahead of myself.
"I don't know," I told her, "we need to find some clothes for you to wear... tigress or not, I don't know how people would take to seeing you go around town naked... and we need to find you a safe place..."
"Safe place?" Molly whimpered.
"Yeah, even if those freak show people have fled, animal control might come after you now... shoot, the freak show might have CALLED animal control and the police after we left," I told her.
"But they were the ones who committed a crime!" Molly gasped.
"Yes, but by a technicality, I committed assault and battery to save you," I admitted, "all they need to do is leave out why I attacked... to save you... and I could be in REAL trouble."
"I WON'T let that happen," Molly gave a firm growl, hugging me to her, "I WON'T!"
"Don't pick a fight with the police," I said nervously, "they'll have guns and I don't know for sure whether they'd use tranquilizer darts, bean bags, or bullets... and I don't want to take that chance."
"But what am I to do?" Molly then asked, "I'm a freak! There aren't that many places I can hide... not to many tigers here, outside of the zoo that is."
"Maybe your parents can help," I commented, "we got a few more days of "break" left. You can hide out at home while I try to figure something out to either try and turn you back or make those freak show people pay."
"And what if they go there?" Molly asked nervously.
"I don't think they would," I answered, "if they have a description of you, they only have your human description."
"They'd probably say to look for an animal person," Molly countered, "It wouldn't matter with the details, and they seemed to be fairly organized. I think they knew what they were going to turn me into."
"Maybe... but if you stay at home, no one will see you," I told her, "and I can't believe your folks would just hand their daughter over to those people."
"Okay," Molly said slowly. She then hugged me again and rubbed the side of her head to mine. It frightened me a little to see how much larger her head was now in comparison to mine. She could have easily opened her mouth and crushed my skull with her teeth... if she wanted to. That fear was relieved when a low rumble came from the bottom of her throat... like she was trying to purr.
+++++++++
"She was purring?" Dave asked.
"It was a low rumble," I told him, "lions, tigers, jaguars, and other big cats can't purr. Something about their vocal cords makes that impossible. I can't really explain it. Anyway..."
++++++++++++
"So what am I to do?" Molly asked after a moment.
"I'll see if I can find something you can wrap yourself up in," I told her, "you're a little too big to wear any clothing we have."
"Are you calling me fat?" Molly questioned.
"No, muscular," I said nervously, "your bicep is easily as large as my leg... if not larger."
"So what am I to wear?" Molly asked.
"I'm thinking a bed-sheet," I said slowly, "I'll get you a clean one and you can wrap yourself in it like a toga. And if necessary, it might have enough material in it that you could make it into something that would fit you better."
"Okay," Molly sighed, "be quick."
And she released me from her hug and I rushed to the guest bedroom my parents had. Inside the closet of that room there was a stack of bedding material. Blankets, sheets, mats, bed-skirts, just about anything that one could use to make a bed. I then set about getting a set of white sheets out and set them aside. Once the rest was put away, I took the sheets for Molly to wrap herself in and headed back to the kitchen area.
As I approached I heard what sounded like rummaging coming from the refrigerator. And as I arrived I found Molly partially leaning into it. Her orange and black tail swishing back and forth and her rear pointed toward me. But what caught my attention was why she was in the fridge. She was eating, and had gone through about six left over hot dogs, a packet of sliced turkey, two leftover hamburgers, and was now stripping the meat off of the pork steaks that my folks planned to cook for dinner that evening. She was eating it raw!
"Molly!" I gasped.
She turned, oblivious to her own nudity at the moment. She looked more like a kid caught with his/her hand caught in the cookie jaw, with a pork bone protruding from the side of her mouth.
"I was hungry," she said after a moment, tossing the bone into the garbage.
Gaining all that muscle mass must have been a drain on her energy, I guessed, but it left me wondering how I was going to explain to parents what happened to five pork steaks. I tossed her a couple of napkins so she could clean her hands and face... a little. Doing that actually rubbed what remained INTO her fur. She ended up running the kitchen sink and washing her face and hands that way, though it took her a little longer then it would normally to dry her fur.
"Sorry," she said sheepishly.
"I'll try to come up with an explanation," I sighed and handed her the bed sheet, "here."
I then turned away so that she would catch me gawking at her unmentionable bits while wrapping herself in a bed sheet. As she did that, I wondered what we were going to do next. Little did I know the problems that would come back to haunt me that evening.