With Officer Barnes out for the day, my morning patrol was done on foot. I felt a little footsore from moving between Bandhavgarh Cabin and City Hall and then to the station, but I didn't mind the hike. Officer Jenkins certainly had her rights to take the day off to help her daughter and Officer Barnes had been a close friend of the family for a while before Molly and I had moved to Columbia Falls and more recently had begun dating the woman. It was completely understandable that Officer Barnes took the day off. I probably would have done the same if it were Molly in Megan's place... or if it was one of my own children. Demanding he come into work would have been akin to telling him not to care, and that would be wrong. I would never do that.
I did honestly hope that Megan Jenkins was doing well and would make a full recovery. Though I also knew she would have a long and hard road ahead of her. She would have new instincts to adjust to, which could be difficult. I didn't know if Officer Barnes or Officer Jenkins owned any pets, but when Megan healed, they could be in danger from Megan. While I was sure that both Officer Barnes and Officer Jenkins would be firm that she couldn't hunt or pounce on pets with the intention hunting, but Megan would ultimately grow up to weigh over three hundred pounds, most of it solid muscle. Even if her intentions were friendly, she could easily put a little too much "umph" behind a move and end up in a serious accident, and right now, Megan was young enough to not really know just how much Molly and I restrained ourselves.
I had already decided to give whatever help I could to both Officer Barnes and Officer Jenkins so that they would know what to do when it came to raising Megan and what would be the best for her ultimately. Some of that would surely be tough, as no kid would want to hear that chocolate was now a potential poison to her and that candy would make her sick... even in small amounts. Of course, getting out of eating vegetables would be a plus, so it probably wouldn't be all bad. And as I walked along I decided it would be best that Molly and I also talk with Megan when she was able so she would consciously know what she would have to do.
I couldn't however focus on that while on patrol. I still had work to do, and work that couldn't be dropped. I would drop by Officer Barnes' home... or Officer Jenkins' home, as I wasn't quite sure who had moved. I know they had moved in together now, but I didn't know which home they were in. Then I would give them the tips, websites, book titles, and other things they would need to help Megan adjust to her new form and all the new urges that would go with it.
The patrol itself was fairly quiet with no one sending anything to my walkie talkie that I had with me in regards to any major incident. Most of what I had to deal with was in relation to the recent events that had gone on between City Hall, the Police Department, and the School Board. People that saw me came forward and congratulated me and various other things.
"I have to tell you thank you for all you've done," a fairly heavy set woman said to me as I passed an old antiques shop downtown, "both you and your wife."
"We've merely tried to succeed and to do the right things, ma'am," I replied, "Just as anyone would do."
"But after all the grief people here gave you?" the woman spoke, "and some people apparently still want to give you? A lot of that would make anyone cynical... yet you've continued to work with the police and your wife fought off a Mountain Lion to protect a girl. With the way people treated you, I would have thought that you would have... you know... "struck back" in a way after all the things that people have done."
"And what would that have done?" I asked her.
"I don't know," she sighed, "but after the way people behaved, I kind of expected it."
"All it would have done would have given groups like R.A.M. a legitimate reason to exist," I told her, "they would have sold Molly and I as real threats and because we were "striking back" as you put it... they'd have plenty of evidence on their side."
"Then I'm glad you didn't," she answered, "your wife saved a girl's life when most of the people have given her no reason to. That makes anyone a hero in my book."
"Thank you," I replied, "Molly will be glad to hear that."
"Yes, have a good day!" the woman called after me as I went on my way with the patrol.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
No one was home at what was now the Barnes/Jenkins home when I stopped by there after my shift. I had hoped to give them the tips and information they'd need, but with no one home, I couldn't do that. So, I sighed and made my back to Bandhavgarh Cabin. When I arrived, I found Molly setting a series of cards on a bookshelf in our living room. All of them had crudely drawn pictures of tigers and I could make out the word "hero" on one of them.
"The kids appear to have been in on the "celebration" as it were," I commented as I shut the door.
"They were... a bit," Molly shrugged, "though it was mostly only the ones that have parents really involved with the PTA."
"It was nice of them to make the card for you though," I told her.
Molly nodded and approached me, having set the last card on the shelf.
"So, how was your day?" I asked as we shared a brief hug.
"It went well," Molly answered, "I mostly ran through Mrs. Fitzpatrick's plan for the day and let the kids that didn't apparently already know, know that Mrs. Fitzpatrick had been promoted."
"And I'm sure hugs were shared all around," I quipped.
"With the kids, yes," Molly smiled, "they seem to remain the ones who have always had our backs. So they were obviously excited."
I nodded and was about to reply when I heard what sounded like a car engine coming up the driveway. It soon stopped and turned off just outside our cabin.
"I wonder who that could be," Molly spoke, "did you invite anyone over?"
"No," I answered, "Did you?"
I then moved toward the door after I saw Molly shake her head "no". As I arrived, there was a soft knock at the door. I opened it to see that it was Danielle Jenkins and Frederick Barnes in civilian clothes. Fred Barnes was holding young Megan his arms, and her arms were around his neck like he was a tree.
"O..." I began to use the more duty term in reference to the two officers I worked with.
"We're off duty, George," Frederick Barnes chuckled, "You can call me Fred."
"Thanks," I commented, "It's good to see you... how are things?"
"We're all doing well," Danielle said calmly, "Megan's gotten all her shots and seems to be recovering from everything fairly well."
"Very good to hear," Molly spoke up and shook Danielle's hand, "It's good to meet you..."
"It is good to meet you too," Fred shook Molly's hand next, shuffling Megan's weight to one arm.
"I tried to stop by your place after work today," I commented in a slightly serious tone, "there are some things I'd like to share with you two that might help you deal with Megan's new instincts."
"Websites and stuff on tigers?" Fred asked.
"Essentially," I nodded.
"We've both done a lot of looking already," Danielle commented, "some of it is pretty amazing... some of it was also surprising... as in I didn't quite expect it."
"We will take whatever you have prepared though," Fred added, "never hurts to be prepared."
I nodded.
"In the meantime we've come here because Megan has had something she's wanted to say to you both," Danielle commented.
Molly and I then looked to the cub in Fred's arms. She had apparently been given one of her mother's shirts, which seemed to operate like a dress on her. Though since she was now much taller then any other girl her age, her mother's shirt may not have made as big a "dress" as it would on others. And the little cub's face also strengthened the desire to have children with Molly. A part of me found her very cute in her new form. She was colored the same way Molly and I were. Most of her fur was a reddish-orange shade with black stripes and with the bottom of her jaw, muzzle, cheeks, neck, belly, the inside of her legs and underside of her arms being white. I also noted the stripe markings in the small white section above her eyes. The markings sort of looked like she had a semi-colon above each eye, where I had triangles, and Molly had a "v" like marking.
"Fuzzy!" Megan gave a smile and held her paws out, "I'm fuzzy!"
"Yes you are," I commented with a chuckle and rubbed the top of her head, her ears folding down as I did so, "and you make a very cute cub."
"How are you feeling?" Molly asked her.
"Much better, but doctors say I can't run around forever," Megan gave sigh.
"They want her to take it easy to make sure that the stitches don't come lose," Danielle clarified, "but she seems to be healing quickly. She'll probably be clear to "run around" in a few days."
"I'm sure," I commented, "that's probably what is now her new metabolic rate that you're noticing. Though it wall also mean that she will need more meat then what you would think."
Molly nodded, "George and I on average need about ten pounds of meat per day to feed our own metabolisms. Megan may not need that much yet, as she's still only a "cub"... but in time she will."
"No more veggies!" Megan cheered.
That made me chuckle a little as it reinforced my guess one what a kid would be a good thing about becoming a carnivore.
"Yes," Molly rubbed her head this time, "but you won't be able to eat a lot of things you liked before as well."
"What about candy?"
"No."
"Chocolate?"
"Definitely no."
"Chips?"
"No."
That made Megan give a short pout for a moment. It was clear she didn't want to lose those foods, but she would have to if she wanted to live. Eventually, Megan came up with a different question, looking fairly nervous.
"What about cake and ice cream?" Megan asked looking nervous.
"Cake: no," I told her, "ice cream: yes. It's essentially milk fat..."
"Can I have some?" she asked.
"I don't think we have any at the moment," Molly told her, "sorry."
Megan only sighed and then held her paws out toward me, "Hug?"
"It's alright with us," Danielle answered in reference to herself and Fred.
I then carefully accepted Megan from Fred's arms and she tried to wrap her arms around my shoulders and then settled for hugging my neck. She then raised her head and nuzzled her little muzzle to my much larger one.
"Your fur is as soft as the tiger lady's," Megan spoke, using the nickname the kids had given Molly, "it's a shame I'm not in her class..."
"So you heard...?" I asked to Fred as I passed Megan to Molly. Megan hugged my wife with he same enthusiasm that she had hugged me, and nuzzled Molly as well.
"Just about everyone's been talking about it," Fred answered, "which is great news for you... and good news for me. I still have a good partner."
"Thanks," I smiled.
"That's what I came to say," Megan spoke up.
I then glanced to see Megan fiddling with one of Molly's whiskers and one of her own, as if to see if there was a difference that could be found between them.
"You came to thank us?" Molly asked her.
"For saving me," Megan said, "Tiger man saved me from the bad man that tried to steal me from Mommy. Tiger lady saved me from the bad cat. Thank you for saving me."
"It was nothing," Molly answered, "I would never let anything happen to anyone I've been assigned to watch over... and George will try to protect everyone if you let him."
Megan only hugged Molly again, "I wanna be just like you when I grow up."
"I'm sure you will," Molly sighed and handed Megan back to Fred.
"So, what were these sites, info, and stuff you wanted to share with us, George?" Danielle asked after a moment.
"Most of it is basic biological and conservation information," I answered, "some of it is from wikipedia and the rest is from other websites that you can find on a basic search for "Tiger" or "Bengal Tiger". Now..."
I began to fiddle with my pockets, as I tried to fish out a piece of notebook paper that I had written the book titles on. Once I found it I handed it to Danielle.
"...that is a list of books on tigers, their instincts, conservation, and whatnot," I spoke, "I've bought a couple of them and looked through the others in a library... though I do not know if the Columbia Falls Library has the titles... and I've found them all to be helpful."
"Thank you," Danielle answered, "is this all?"
"Not really," I said nervously, "the rest, is basically some advice and a question my part."
"A question?" Danielle asked.
"Do either of you own any pets at the moment?" I asked, "particularly small ones?"
"I've never had a pet," Danielle answered, "though I think Fred has a pet or two..."
"You don't think that Megan will be driven to eat someone's pet do you?" Fred asked, making Megan go "blah".
"The hunting instinct should already be there," I warned, "and Megan may be young enough that deciding when to follow it and when not to may be harder... but for the most part, no I don't think she will be a deliberate danger to anyone's pet..."
"It's just that for her own stress levels, it might be better to go without certain pets," Molly advised, "while from a conservation standpoint, both George and I would support the protection of the wolf... intincutally... our minds see them as enemies and rivals. As a result, we tend to see the domestic dog in much the same light... we see it as a wolf... or as a dhole."
"Dhole?" Danielle asked.
"The Indian Wild Dog," I explained, "smaller then the wolf, but still a social animal, living in large packs... and there are confirmed cases where Dhole packs have gone after Tigers and succeeded in killing the big cat, though usually taking heavy casualties in the process."
"I think we can manage," Fred commented, "some proper introductions and there should be no worry of the dog agitating Megan... which I would think would be what triggers your unease... the fact that the dog either looks visibly afraid of you, or barks at you to defend "its" territory."
"I suppose," I shrugged, "it is a word of warning of some extra steps you will have to take while Megan adjusts."
"Mostly she's adjusted to having a tail," Fred quipped, "she'll sit there and swish it around and watch to see what happens."
"Controlling a limb you weren't born with can be an interesting lesson experience," I shrugged, "as you essentially have to learn how to use it."
"So, was that all?" Fred asked, "advise us to be careful on how Megan interacts with pets?"
"And to a certain extent with people," I sighed, "she's probably much stronger then kids her age already, and she will grow to be much stronger then any human... and she may not recognize it fully yet. You'll need to teach her how to restrain her strength with certain things."
Fred and Danielle both nodded.
"I think we can do that," Fred nodded, "is there anything else?"
I thought for a moment, and then shook my head, "Not at the moment."
"Okay then," Danielle commented, "You have my number if you think of anything. Feel free to call... but for now, we'd best get Megan home. It's getting close to supper time and Fred will be back at work tomorrow."
Molly and I both nodded as they began to head back toward their car. Megan waved to us as they went. Before Danielle could start the engine, Molly called out to her.
"She may prefer her meat cooked rare," Molly called to her, "George and I do."
Danielle gave a slight nod, smiled, and started her car's engine.
"Thank you for saving me!" Megan hollered out from the back seat and waved again.
Molly and I waved back.
"I can't wait till we have cubs of our own," I said as Danielle's car went down the driveway.
"Me too," Molly answered, "me too!"