"So how far have we come?" Dave asked curiously.
"From when Molly was transformed?" I replied, "by this point in the story, about five months had gone by. We only have about one month to go before the present time where I've been giving you the background information for all of this."
"And you felt you needed to make sure that Beauregard didn't pull some sort of stunt to hurt Molly while you're gone," Dave commented.
I nodded in response.
"I take it this means your application was approved?" Dave asked.
"That should have been a given," I chuckled, "though that doesn't mean that the month went without problems."
"I'm sure," Dave commented.
+++++++++++++++++++++
I returned to Bandhavgarh Cabin to find Molly had made the changes she had thought over. We no longer had a guest bed and the frames were neatly stacked behind behind the cabin. As it had turned out that there were no nails or things holding the frames together. The frames all fit together and would have been held together by gravity. I was slightly amazed by Molly's ability. As I was no good at decorating, Molly had admitted being poor at carpentry... as well s baking, but I wasn't a big desert guy, and Molly couldn't eat them now.
"You did a pretty good job with all this," I commented with some slight surprise.
"Well, it mostly fell apart after I pulled on the posts with no further damage," Molly answered slowly, "Made me jump and gave myself a good bump on the head."
"We can keep the guest bed frame and the main bedroom frame in there," I commented, "Not down here. We may need them someday and someone or something might come for them at night."
Molly nodded.
"But in the meantime, I'll need some help in carrying the stuff in from the truck," I told her, "and meat will need to get into the refrigerator or the deep freeze pretty quick... and I'll probably still need to go down to our market to buy more."
"More meat?" Molly asked.
"I don't think what we have will last us that long," I commented.
Molly nodded in acceptance and followed me to the truck, and we set about bringing in the grocery bags and the fireproof safe. It involved a large amount back and fourth from the truck to the kitchen and the laundry room. And my hunch had proved correct. We filled the refrigerator in the kitchen, but we only went part of the way with the deep freeze, and we would need to buy more to fill it. Now, we could probably afford to leave it empty if Molly was serious about hunting, but if she intended to hunt the way a mundane tiger hunted, she could expect a success rate of one in ten and a great deal of risk that went along with it. But as I thought it over, I wondered if any firearm could allow for Molly's larger fingers.
But, once we had all the meat in, I contemplated staying with Molly for the rest of the day. We were stocked for a little while and I was still concerned for her.
"How did your day go?" I asked her as we began carrying pieces of the bed frames back up to the "guest room" in the cabin.
"Okay... given everything," Molly sighed, "as you could see, I got done everything I intended to."
She paused for a moment at the top of the stairs, holding two frames easily under her arms and looking into our bedroom.
"Things will be pretty cozy for us until we can buy a real bed," She said after a moment.
"I'd hope they stay cozy after we buy the bed," I commented, "I love you Molly... I don't want us to ever drift apart."
That made her turn to me.
"I feel the same way," Molly answered, "I feel the same way."
+++++++++++++++++
The next couple of days went fairly quietly. I did end up buying more meat from the Columbia Falls market along with a couple of cartons of ice cream. I found that the same checker I had met there before was working on that day, and I made sure I was in his isle when I came through.
"More for your tigress?" he asked as I pulled into the checkout isle with a cart full of meat, milk, eggs, and two cartons of ice cream.
I nodded.
"How is she doing?" he asked as he began to ring up the mountain of purchases.
"Other then a local rancher giving her grief because she isn't following him like an obedient servant, things have been good," I said with a sigh, trying to make things sound as cheerful as possible. I didn't know if he or anyone else in the store knew or was a member of Beauregard's organization.
"Oh," he said slowly, "what sort of grief?"
"Treating her like she is a mindless animal," I said, "which we are both tired off. She isn't mindless."
"Not to mention the fact that it'd be cool," the guy commented, "I mean, how cool would it be if everyone was part animal?"
"It'd probably be a very different world," I commented, "particularly if those that are predatory decide to EAT those that are prey animals. Turning everyone into a mix of human and animal, doesn't mean you're going to get something out of some cartoon where you have a fox being friends with a rabbit. Or that they'd all cooperate the way people do... shoot people don't even get along the way a lot of people think. Look at Congress. Democrat or Republican, there are times when I don't think that either could agree on the time of day, let alone policy."
He only shrugged.
"You still ought to bring her in, some time," he said, "I'd like to meet her."
I only shrugged and continued on my way, leaving him to deal with the costumers after me, though none of them looked like they had been waiting too long. The guy weirded me out, but after the stunt that Beauregard had pulled, I did need some contact that seemed to be supportive of Molly. Though some things were about to turn sour.
++++++++++++++++++++++
A few days later I returned from my day shift with Dave's vineyard to find Molly slowly trudging toward the cabin. I pulled the truck to a stop beside her.
"Molly, are you alright?" I asked.
"I guess so," Molly said slowly.
"What's wrong?" I asked, "and don't try to hide it."
Molly then sighed and stood outside the driver's side of the truck and walked slowly beside the truck as rolled it up the road toward the cabin.
"I got pulled out by the principal today at lunch time," Molly sighed, "apparently I've "attacked" several students and I'm to appear before the school council and PTA for some sort of hearing."
"Beauregard," I growled.
"The principal didn't mention him," Molly answered.
"But you HAVEN'T attacked anyone, and just about every kid seems to like you," I answered, "and he said that R.A.M. is a group. This is probably phase two of whatever plan he has to get rid of us."
It was Molly who gave a frustrated growl this time.
"What do we do?" Molly asked.
"We're going to have to attend the hearing," I sighed, "don't worry, I'll help you."
"Thanks," Molly answered, "the meeting is tonight at seven."
+++++++++++++++++++++
"I think Tabby told me something about this," Dave commented.
"Just something?" I asked, "I know she was there and she defended Molly..."
+++++++++++++++++++++
Molly and I were both nervous as we made our way into the meeting room with long rows of chairs and headed by a long table with the members of the school board seated at the other end of the room. I noticed both Maria Fitzpatrick and Tabitha Choir seated among many of the people there. There were no children present.
"Ms. Rhoer, you may sit in the defendant's chair over here," the superintendent advised and gestured to a chair.
I went with Molly and both of us looked at the chair. It clearly wasn't strong enough to support Molly's muscle mass.
"I don't think this chair is strong enough to support me," Molly spoke, "I'll be fine standing. George can sit there."
"Your boyfriend is not..."
"If I may interrupt this kangaroo court, I am acting as the closest thing "Ms. Rhoer" has to an attorney under such short notice," I cut him off.
"Young man, this is hardly..."
"You intend to fire her for "attacking" the students when you know full well that that did not happen," I said bluntly, "this IS a kangaroo court. This is give Beauregard's R.A.M. members their time in the sun to shout insults at my girlfriend and embarrass her in front of the people that support your school."
"You don't know..."
"Let's just get on with this," I urged him, "I'm sure you all have much better things to do then create a crime that doesn't exist and then fire an innocent person for that crime."
That earned a fair amount of grumbling from the people present, both for and against Molly.
"George, are you sure being confrontational will work?" Molly whispered to me.
"It's the only option we have," I whispered back, "Beauregard is the instigator of this. He has to be hopping for some meek doormat to come in and get insulted and then leave embarrassed. If someone comes in and actually defends themselves, even if the case is lost, Beauregard's aim will be defeated. Because the guys here in R.A.M. want it to look like this is a unanimous decision. They don't want there to be controversy."
"Very well," the superintendent sighed, "Ms. Rhoer, over the past week we have received several complaints from parents about you roaring in classes and disturbing the entire school system, and various complaints about you threatening various students."
"I've done no such thing," Molly answered.
"Bullshit!" a woman from the crowd stood up, "my daughter told me about what you've done from the very first day you started here... weaseling your way in. You've roared at them, you've threatened them with bodily harm... like any other dumb animal!"
"I have done no such thing," Molly answered, "if your daughter told you this, she is lying."
"And you accuse my little angel of lying?!" the woman shouted back, "out here we shoot liars like you!"
"Everyone calm down," the superintendent spoke, "we will not have fighting here."
There was a brief silence as both sides seemed to settle down for a moment.
"Ms. Fitzpatrick," the superintendent spoke, "you were present when Ms. Rhoer interrupted your class. Would you care to explain what happened?"
Maria stood up slowly, "Sir, I have taught in this district for a long time. I have turned down promotion because I felt I am where I can do the best for our children. Ms. Rhoer has never done ANYTHING remotely disruptive in my class and has never threatened anyone. I've never had an aide that was as loved as Ms. Rhoer before. And I found it shocking when the man to your right just grabbed her at lunch and pulled her out... and then to hear this... as George Wayne has said, this is nothing but a kangaroo court with no intention of being just of Ms. Rhoer."
"And need I remind you that it is your job on the line," the superintendent answered.
"You can talk to my union," Maria answered with equal firmness, "this episode is nothing more then a grown up version of the childish bullying that I thought the people in this room... some of whom I taught... had outgrown."
"How can you lie?" the one mother shouted, "NONE of the kids like her. Why do you think they all call her "tiger-lady"?"
"If I may speak," Tabitha Choir stood up, "my daughter Veronica loves Ms. Rhoer. I have a fridge-door full of drawings of Ms. Rhoer playing with her to prove it. I can't believe that I was called to come here on urgent PTA business, to leave my daughter at home, all to listen to a couple of numskulls insult someone my daughter admires..."
"Especially when it's all blatant lies," I added.
"Then why do they call her "tiger lady"?" the other mother demanded.
"Because she's a tiger and a lady," Tabitha shrugged, "or at least that was my daughter's reasoning."
That then lead to increased shouts of anger, now mostly being aimed at the superintendent.
"What about this?!" the other mother shouted above them all and pulled out a small tape recorder and began playing it, "my daughter recorded this in class!"
Everyone then heard several growling and roaring noises being played with with sounds of screaming children being heard underneath it.
"It's proof she was roaring in class," the mother shouted.
"Or proof you have a good software program on your computer," I countered, "no tiger's vocalization is unique to each individual tiger. A roar is a roar is a roar. We'd need visual evidence of the same day and then see if the tiger's stripes match Molly's, particularly on the face."
"And why is my voice not even heard at all?" Maria added.
"All you likely did is went online, found a recording of a lion or tiger roaring and then burned it over the sound of kids screaming so you hear both sounds," I added, "and as I said before, without visual evidence, even if the tape is real, you still can not prove that that is Molly on that tape."
"And I would never allow that sort of interruption to go unnoticed," Maria said firmly, "the board should now my way of teaching by now. Can any of you honestly say I would just stand by silently through such noise?"
Each member of the board said "no" and a couple of them were looking angrily at the superintendent.
"And my voice is not heard on that tape," Maria answered, "This is as Mr. Wayne has put it, nothing more then a thinly disguised sham. I demand you cease this and restore my aide to me with no further problems and the promise that you won't be doing anything like this without definite proof."
"All in favor for firing Ms. Rhoer and pressing criminal charges?" the superintendent spoke and then raised his hand.
Two people raised his hand.
"All opposed?"
The remaining four raised their hands.
"Very well," the superintendent spoke, "this hearing is completed. Ms. Rhoer may resume her duties under Mrs. Fitzpatrick's supervision tomorrow. However, we will be requiring in depth reports on Ms. Rhoer's activities in the school for the remainder of her time here."
There were some grumbles as a lot of people left the room. The superintendent went by both Molly and I and growled in a low voice, "this ISN'T over."
"I'm sure," I commented, "tell Beauregard that T.I.G.E.R. will prevail."
"T.I.G.E.R.?" he asked.
"The Innocent Get Everything Right," I smirked, while Molly shook her head.
As Molly and I prepared to leave.
"I had suspected something like this would happen," Maria spoke, "I didn't think it'd be anything near this big this soon."
"Thank you for defending me," Molly said to her.
"You HAVE done well, and I've always been a stickler for honesty," Maria answered, "and the kids do seem to love you."
"Thank you again," Molly said to her.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The next few days were quieter. The things that Molly and I couldn't take with us when we first came out to Columbia Falls arrived. It turned out that they had gotten lost a couple of times simply trying to get to Columbia Falls and then again trying to find Bandhavgarh Cabin. But they succeeded and Molly and I were able to set some things up so that the cabin would be a home for us.
By then, it had been six months since Molly's transformation. Half a year. Things had been quiet and I was getting ready for my shift at Dave's vineyard and Molly had already set off on foot, saying she'd prefer to walk. And then my phone rang. I picked up to find that it was Officer Harold.
"Hello?" I spoke into the phone.
"Hello, Mr. Wayne?" came Roger Harold's voice.
"Sir?" I responded.
"Come on down to the station," Officer Harold answered, "I got some good news for you."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
After rushing in, I found Officer Harold leaning against the front desk.
"You've certainly ruffled a few feathers with your confronting the school board and the PTA the other night," Officer Harold commented.
"I'm sorry, sir," I admitted, "it's just that I've been very defensive of Molly since her transformation and I don't like it when people just attack her with lies."
"I'm sure," Officer Harold answered, "just remember that once you're carrying a badge for this town you can't just fly off the handle at people in authority on these things..."
"But they were wrong!" I protested.
"I'm pretty sure they were," Officer Harold answered, "but remember the motto: Protect and Serve. We serve the people, even if they happen to be jerks. There are means to protest and politely disagree with them when they're wrong that doesn't involve pissing them off."
"I see, sir," I said weakly.
"But enough with the lecture," Officer Harold said, "your acceptance letter came in. You'll be going to the academy, and you and your girlfriend will have some good fortune."
I looked at the letter. I had been accepted, and it included the day I was expected to report, and a basic schedule.
"Thank you, sir," I had so say.
"You're welcome," Officer Harold replied with a brief smile, "And do well. Don't make us regret this."
"I won't, sir," I answered.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
When I came out, I called Dave.
"Hello?" came Dave's voice on the other end of the "line".
"Hey, Dave, it's me," I spoke.
"Hey, George," Dave answered, "thanks for all your help. Tabby and I wouldn't be ready for all of this without you."
"It was nothing," I said with a shrug that he couldn't say, "but, I have a favor I need to ask of you. Could you come down to Bandhavgarh, I need to tell you some things..."