I looked quietly at the cabin that the rancher Michael York was giving Molly and I. Its construction made it look like an old pioneer cabin, but was also very apparent that it was a fairly modern building as well. And with Molly naming it Bandhavgarh Cabin, it would be ours...
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"Wait," Dave interrupted, "wait... you said earlier that Beauregard's ancestors fought hard to eradicate the wolf. Now you're saying that Mike said that Beauregard, himself, moved here from somewhere else."
"Maybe Beauregard exaggerated what parts of the state he considered his," I sighed, "Maybe Mr. York in his old age and antagonism to Beauregard got some of his facts wrong. Or maybe Beauregard flat out lied to try and get what he wanted. To be honest, Dave, after how he treated Molly when we arrived here, I let a lot of what Beauregard said about himself essentially go in one ear and out the other. The contradictions of Beauregard's and Mr. York's stories wasn't a concern for me. Molly and I had gotten a home... the home we're in now... and we still had other problems to worry about before trying to sort out two very different stories."
"Moving in, I assume?" Dave wondered.
I nodded.
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"It should have all the amenities you should require," Michael explained as he lead Molly and I up a short path to a small balcony slash front porch on the front of the cabin, "heating, air conditioning, indoor plumbing..."
"What about my fur? How will the pipes handle that?" Molly asked curiously.
"Pardon?" Michael asked back.
"I lose loose fur when I shower... it gave folks some problems at my old home as they had clean the pipes more often to keep my she fur from clogging the drains," Molly explained, "their solution was to have me not bathe or to only lick myself like I was a massively over sized house cat."
"Isn't that what any wild feline is?" Michael wondered.
"In some ways, I suppose," Molly answered, "but my instincts are different from that of a house cat's. Mine are a tiger's... I LIKE water, which seems to go against what a lot of people think when it comes to cats. And while I have the predatory instinct, which all cats have, whether they're domestic or wild, mine are aimed at large game. Rodents, fish, and song birds hold little interest for me beyond the attention most humans give them. What has given me the urge to stalk, pounce, and hunt has been the deer that I've seen... as well as the cattle, I must admit."
"You wouldn't actually..." Michael began.
"NO!" Molly insisted, "If I go hunting at all... it'll only be for deer and AFTER George and I have bought the appropriate licenses."
"You're sure?" Michael asked in a rather probing way.
"Molly is in full command of her instincts," I spoke up, "what the freak show did to her did not make her a mindless animal. She's probably more aware of her instincts then anyone here."
"How is that?" Michael asked curiously.
"Humans do not recognize their behavior as "instinctual"," I tried to explain, "we assume that our sentience puts us above having instincts. To try and make some difference between man and beast, and as a result, we do not recognize behaviors that an outside scientist would describe as instinctual if they were to observe the actions in another species..."
"And since my transformation, my mind has been flooded with instincts that clearly aren't human," Molly finished, "as a result, I am more aware of my instincts which are only second nature to others."
"It must have been very tough to adapt to it all," Michael commented.
"It was," Molly nodded, "and without George, I don't know how I would have adapted."
"Well," Michael gave a grand-fatherly smile, "that should pull some wind out of Beauregard's sails. He's been going around saying you are mindless."
I listened as Molly gave a low and angry growl at that.
"Why don't we look at the cabin instead of dwelling on the ideas of a rather closed minded individual," I urged.
"Quite right," Michael modded and lead us into the cabin.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
"So, humans have instincts?" Dave asked.
"We don't recognize them and even if we did, we don't define them as instincts," I answered, "Molly's condition has made her special that way."
"I can imagine," Dave answered.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The cabin itself wasn't all that big. It had two floors, but the land area that it covered wasn't that big. Molly and I followed Michael into the entryway of the cabin to find a central hallway was the entryway. Cutting that entryway in half was wooden staircase that looked like it would support Molly's muscle mass and then some. To the right was a dining room that had a purely functional dining set in it. To the left was a living room that had a couch and a couple of chairs in it but not much else.
"Does the cabin have the capacity for television?" I asked, "or an Internet connection?"
"It has phone lines and plug-ins for electric devices," Michael answered, "but since I've been using it as a sort of vacation home, I haven't kept devices like those here. You'll need to put together your own agreement to get that other stuff."
That meant that Molly and I would have to spend some money for things like cable or satellite television and high speed Internet, or a company that still used the phone lines for a dial up connection. But I figured Molly and I would settle on waiting for that, since our food bills would be big and for the moment, neither Molly nor I were exactly rolling in cash.
I did have to hand it to Michael though, that he knew what that stuff was. He then lead us to the end of the hallway. The back door was smaller then the front door. Directly underneath the stairs was a sort of storage compartment which had some basic cleaning implements, and I could tell Molly could smell them. On the same side as the dining room was a modest kitchen with various cabinets, a sink, an oven, and a stove. I peaked in to see a toaster and a microwave on a different set of cabinets, along with a refrigerator near a door that lead to the dining room.
"You'll need to refill the food stocks, but you should have all the utensils and cleaning supplies that you will need," Michael explained as Molly and I looked at the kitchen.
I nodded and turned to the rooms on the same side as the living room. Closest to the back door was a sort of laundry room/pantry. There was a large deep-freeze along one wall with a washer and dryer in a different corner.
"What's the deep-freeze for?" Molly asked.
"I've rented it out as a hunting cabin as well," Michael shrugged, "this room was the only place where the animals hunted could be butchered outside of taking them into town."
"That explains the mixed blood and bleach smell," Molly commented with a shrug, "but overall, it seems rather cozy."
"I know this isn't the Ritz, and if it was in town would be grouped in the "bad" part of town..." Michael began.
"Trust me, sir," I cut him off, "This is a hundred percent better then what they have on the bad part of town."
Michael seemed to smile at that.
"And the bedrooms are upstairs, I take it?" Molly asked.
"Yes," Michael nodded, "two bedrooms and a master bathroom with a shower. There is a basic bathroom between the laundry room, just in case you have to go... there would have been a garage, but my daughter moved away before it could be constructed, and I turned the cabin into a "for rent" space for the summer or hunting season, and had no need to build a permanent garage."
"I take it you have fencing and stuff like that to keep hunters from accidentally shooting your cattle?" I inquired.
Michael nodded, "so what do you think?"
"It's a nice place," I said slowly.
"It's wonderful," Molly said with greater firmness, "what will we owe you for this?"
"As I said before, "Bandhavgarh Cabin" as you put it, is yours for standing up to Beauregard," Michael answered, "and will stay yours so long as you agree to block Beauregard's attempt's to buy it. The two of you will have permission to hunt on my ranch during hunting season, and my home and the land my ranch is on will go to you in my will. You can then rent it out like I've done with this cabin... But that is after I kick the bucket, mind you."
"You're being awfully generous with people you don't even know," I commented, "what about your grandkids?"
"To my knowledge they have no interest in ranching" Michael replied, "and besides, I'm an old man. I won't be around for too much longer... and since my daughter and her husband are in Billings, managing my ranch as well as their own will be too much in terms of distance. It's why I'll be shipping my cattle TO Billings for them to sell or mix with their own herd as they see fit."
"I still feel like we should pay you something for all of this," I told him.
"Wait until taxes come into play, son" Michael quipped.