Molly slowly stretched out her back as we made our way out of the restaurant were we had just gone through the strangest dinner date we had ever had. The man had called just as I arrived home from a quiet Sunday afternoon. Molly was in the shower when I had arrived, and that is why I took his call. At first I didn't want to accept the invitation, remembering how Beauregard had treated Molly when he wanted to hire her, and how things got worse when she refused him. But, Molly actually urged otherwise, possibly since our lives didn't revolve around much more then each other, our jobs, and Bandhavgarh. It wasn't much of a social life, but then, by nature, tigers were solitary animals, and small towns like Columbia Falls didn't have much that would encourage a lot of greater social activities.
And so, we accepted the man's invitation and had the weirdest dinner of our lives. The man clearly supported the lawsuit being filed against Leona, but we had no way of knowing who he was or who he was connected to. But, he treated us with respect, and almost seemed like he went out of his way to be respectful. And he did have some fairly decent points.
"So, what do you make of that, George?" Molly asked as we began our walk home.
"Possibly the weirdest thing I've ever encountered," I sighed, "and it's left me with more questions then anything else."
Molly slowly nodded.
"Most of it is about who he was and why he contacted us," I sighed, "we're here in Columbia Falls. He wants us to talk with Leona, who is in Peoria, working to rebuild her lab and continue the work she has to do as part of her original plea bargain."
"We have phones, George," Molly commented.
I nodded, "Yes, distance isn't quite the problem. The problem is actually connections. We do not have the number of wherever Leona is staying, neither do we have the number for her lab... now I could ask my dad for the number, but I'd think he'd be a bit suspicious if I just asked for it out of the blue."
Molly slowly nodded as we walked along.
"Do you think we ought to try?" Molly asked.
"That's where I don't know," I sighed, "I mean... I think he did miss a few things. Yes, we've managed to keep our instincts under control, and to my knowledge so has everyone else that Changes victimized... I mean, Leona hasn't gone out and found some guy, partnered with him and began gathering a harem of women around them... but I don't think he knows what a struggle it's been sometimes..."
"I don't think anyone can, no matter how prepared they think they are," Molly sighed, "I mean... dogs make me fairly nervous now... and I was once a dog person... but seeing them... something in my mind either says "wolf" or "dhole" and that makes me fairly nervous..."
"And if they bark too much, it boils over, like the day you roared at that Chihuahua," I nodded, "I know. But he is right, we haven't surrendered to those instincts and killed them."
Molly slowly nodded.
"A plus, I guess," Molly nodded, "but what if he's wrong?"
"I don't know," I sighed, "if he's wrong and our instincts truly are dangerous, then we probably did something stupid in even remaining around people... or at least keeping you around people when you were first transformed..."
"You think he's right that I should have been given some sort of psychological evaluation?" Molly wondered nervously.
"Possibly," I said with equal nervousness, "but then neither of us were in a position to allow that. I got you out of the freak show before you transformed. You transformed on my parents living room couch and the floor next to it... and on our wedding night, I obviously transformed in bed. Neither of us was in a position to under such evaluations... so it means that we either lucked out or he is right that they could deal with the instinctual changes."
"I fear he might be right," Molly commented nervously, "if it was by a law of averages... there would have been greater reports about the various animal people being held and evaluated... or that since they all left, greater instances of either attacks or crop damage, depending on what they were turned into."
I only sighed, heavily. The animal instinct defense was possibly the best defense Leona had, but the fact that there had been no major problems caused by animal people would put a major dent in that argument, if not defeat it altogether.
The only other good defense Leona had were the practical problems associated with becoming an animal person. Those transformed into animals larger then humans gained muscle and bone mass as these organs and tissues received a ton of natural growth hormones to aide in the transformation. Which consumed a lot of energy, which explained Molly raiding my parents fridge after her transformation, and me eating a bigger breakfast the morning after mine. Those transformed into even larger animals then us would probably have this problem amplified.
And with those becoming animals larger then humans, there was the problem of human sized housing. Molly could just barely fit in human buildings, but her ears still brushed the ceiling, and if they had hanging light fixtures or chandeliers, she'd have to duck under them. I had to hunch over in just about every building, given that I was now taller then Molly was. If anyone transformed into an animal larger then a tiger, the problems of space would be amplified.
But becoming smaller animals wouldn't necessarily mean things would be better. The person being injected with the serum couldn't simply lose his human mass and become the average size of the animal that was used with the injection. Which was why the three gang members and their two girlfriends that had become Pit Bulls remained about the same size as before, since the Pit Bull was naturally smaller then people. Now, with vertebrate animals, that wouldn't be a problem, but what if someone wanted to use an insect or arachnid. I remembered seeing some program on television that talked about the size of these animals being determined by the percentage of oxygen in the atmosphere. And at present, there simply wasn't enough oxygen in the air to support insects that averaged a few grams in weight... a human sized ant or wasp or spider would die today because there wasn't enough oxygen for their method of breathing to support that size.
And then there were various conditions of certain animals. Leona had told me that the two people turned into fish had lost their lungs in exchange for gills. The two of them couldn't live outside of water, but the rivers and streams were mostly too shallow for them, and many of the places that were deeper were poisoned with pollution. And even an animal that didn't have gills would be in trouble if they found themselves out of water. If someone became a whale-person, their weight, unsupported by water, could kill them, even though whales breathed air.
But from the way the man talked, it seemed as though they'd have a counter to many of these problems. That they were prepared for them, and since the US was not a dictatorship, regardless of what Democrats and Republicans said about each other when the other was in control of the government... to some extent they would have to be taken at their word.
"He may be right," I said slowly, "on a lot of things. I don't agree with him... but he does seem to be right."
Molly gave a slow and nervous nod.
"Do you think he could have been right about the rest of it?" Molly wondered, "that because we exist that others will try to duplicate what Leona's done... the whole "forbidden fruit" concept?"
"He probably is," I sighed, "how well it would work in court will be up in the air. People have used that argument for the legalization of various illegal drugs, including Marijuana, and it's only been successful in a handful of states... partially because people may simply draw a different mythological analogy to it then the "forbidden fruit" analogy."
"And that being?" Molly asked.
"Pandora's Box," I answered, "that unleashing it could unleash unspeakable horrors... now some of that may be negated by the fact that there have been no problems caused by animal-people and possibly even weakened if ends up being regulated by the government through the FDA... but people may still draw the analogy."
"The man did seem to be right about a lot of things," Molly commented.
"Which adds to the concerns about WHO he is," I grumbled, "he knew an awful lot, and he knew what to say. Which leaves the question as to what purpose he is serving. Is it merely something to aide those who want to become animal people... and if so, why us. My father or one of the Peoria officers would have been a better choice..."
"Maybe he, or an associate of his has already tried that," Molly commented.
"Maybe," I sighed.
"What other purpose could he serve?" Molly wondered.
"I don't know," I sighed.
"Are you going to call your dad to get Leona's number?" Molly asked.
"I may have to," I sighed, "at least to try and figure out who that guy was."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The next morning as I made my way into the station, I prepared for what would likely be a very strange call to my dad. It couldn't be a long one, as I was going on duty, and Molly didn't have the time with school that morning to get ready for, but I figured it was necessary. I had to figure out who that man was, even if it meant relaying his plea to Leona. I figured it was better then nothing.
"Peoria Police Department, Chief Jacob Wayne speaking," came my father's reply.
"Hey, dad, it's me," I said quickly, "I don't have a lot of time to talk, but something "odd" has come up and I could use some help."
"Odd?" Jacob Wayne replied.
"Related to the lawsuit Leona is facing, I think," I replied, "has anyone contacted you lately? Seemingly out of the blue and refusing to give a name?"
"Someone did a day after the the lawsuit was filed," Jacob Wayne answered, "asked me to come into a restaurant downtown. Gave no real name, so I told him to get lost... he didn't contact you and Molly, did he?"
"Someone did," I answered, "I can't tell you if they're the same person or not... but he seems interested in wanting Leona to allow her serum to go on the market. He didn't threaten Molly and I and he seemed to have a fairly reasonable argument... I'm merely concerned about finding out who he could be."
"I'm afraid I don't have any clues for you, son," Jacob Wayne replied, "and you two should be careful. For all we know... he could be another Beauregard seeking to kill you and Molly..."
"He didn't quite seem that way," I spoke, "and we will be careful... what I could use are Leona's phone numbers, both at her lab and at wherever she is staying in Peoria. The who contacted Molly and I wanted us to rely a plea for him to her. She might know who he could be."
"I'll check, but it'll take a little while," Jacob sighed.
I gave a nod that my dad couldn't see, and saw Officer Jenkins waiting behind me patiently.
"It's alright, dad," I told him, "call Bandhavgarh and leave the numbers on the answering machine. Molly and I will try to figure it out on our own time."
"Okay, son, I will," Jacob Wayne answered, "be careful."
We then hung up and I turned to face the officer that was filling in for Officer Barnes until he was fully recovered. She stood there patiently looking on.
"What was all that about?" Officer Jenkins asked as we began to go out for the morning patrol.
"Responding to a rather odd Sunday dinner," I commented.
"It didn't taste bad, did it?" Officer Jenkins wondered.
"No, the food tasted good," I gave a forced chuckle, "it was the topic of conversation and the questions raised that made it odd."
"And do you have answers?" Officer Jenkins asked.
"Not really," I sighed heavily.