Tabby looked utterly beaten as she approached Molly and I after the debate. We could both understand. Hireman’s political moves had essentially killed the work that had been done to get people to accept Molly and myself, after my transformation… at least among the people who attended the debate. Many of them gave Molly and I very “slanted” glances as they left, though a few looked like they wanted to give Molly the benefit of the doubt.
Patten, the originator of Hireman’s attack, left in a hurry and ultimately with an enraged look on his face. It was clear to me that he had not intended for his words to be used in such a way. I was tempted to say he deserved it, but the fact that the consequences of it threatened to throw the atmosphere in Columbia Falls back to the height of R.A.M.’s antagonism to Molly and I, made me think better of it. Doing that wouldn’t help the situation.
“That could have gone better,” Tabby sighed in a defeated tone as she approached us.
“Yes,” Molly nodded, “Yes, it could have.”
“Mr. Patten really said that to you?” Tabby asked me.
“Yes,” I nodded, “word for word.”
“But Dave’s told me the story you told him… you didn’t just do those things,” Tabby spoke, “and you had good reason and good facts behind you…”
“Patten doesn’t have those facts,” I answered, “or at least not all of them… I don’t know how he got some of them, but he has… and even with his information being incomplete, he does have some validity in his points. I will admit that I have a bit of a temper… especially when it comes to protecting Molly and defending right from wrong… and I’ve probably over stated my case on some things.”
“Oh,” Tabby sighed, “Maybe you could talk to him. Try to settle things.”
“He’d need to come to me,” I answered, “he already said he hates me outright. I won’t give him the reason to blow a gasket or something… I’ve probably done too much of that myself.”
Tabby only sighed.
“We all make mistakes,” she said after a moment, “it’s how we fix them that counts.”
Molly and I only sighed. We walked along toward the parking lot that was outside the School District’s Central Office where Tabby was parked.
“Anyway, I think this is going to be a long campaign,” Tabby sighed.
“You’ll win, Tabby,” Molly said optimistically, “he can’t win on everything, and he isn’t even right on this.”
“I hope so,” Tabby replied, “for you and George as friends of our family… but also for the little Jenkins girl. You two saved her and she’s like you now… if Hireman wins… I fear he will engineer something truly wicked against her as he can bully a cub a lot easier then he could you two.”
Molly and I nodded.
++++++++++++++++++++++
The next morning, we found out just how bad the debate had gone for Tabby. The town’s local newspaper had reporters there, and while it was extremely small, it was very active and did manage to deliver a paper every day. And they apparently took a poll of the people leaving the debate on who they thought won the debate. Ninety percent felt that Hireman had won, though only sixty percent thought he was right. The second number was more manageable, as since Hireman had twisted Patten’s words against me as an individual into a weapon against Molly and I as a group, Tabby could turn the tide if she could prove that Hireman’s move was nothing more then racist BS. I wasn’t good with politics, though, so I doubted that I could help.
Molly and I dressed and ate quietly. The events of the debate were a blow for us, though we also had other things to prepare for. I had my work with the Police and the Summer Sun Program was starting. We dressed and prepared for our respective jobs. I headed out before Molly did, and quietly made my way into the station.
Officer Barnes was waiting for me in the office where we had been clocking in after Williams’ car bomb attack on the station.
“Good morning, Officer Wayne,” Officer Barnes spoke, using the same professionalism that he always used when on duty.
“I’m not sure how good it really is,” I grumbled.
“The debate, last night?” Officer Barnes asked as I clocked in.
I nodded.
“Hireman was essentially lying,” Officer Barnes replied, “nothing more, nothing less. Patten didn’t even have all the facts when he made those comments to you. So, how can Hireman be truthful when he’s plagiarizing an incomplete set of information?”
“Oh, he isn’t,” I nodded in agreement, “but politics NEVER relies on all the facts. Hireman was apparently recording the School Board Meetings, and caught Patten’s remarks to me. And he used them at the most opportune moment… which was last night’s debate. And unless Tabby…”
“Mrs. Choir,” Officer Barnes nodded.
“Yes, but she and her husband are friends of Molly and I,” I told him, “Unless Tabby can come up with a good counter argument to Hireman’s BS, then he’ll use Patten’s set of facts as a weapon to get people energized.”
“Well, he’s got Officer Jenkins energized,” Officer Barnes commented, “she read the paper and was determined to vote him out. She took it as attack, not on you and Molly, but on Megan. We’ve both seen a lot of the tiger instincts in her… if he wins and fires Molly… how long would it be before he would simply say that Megan can not go to school? Before he does something to her?”
I nodded, “Molly and I won’t be voting for him either. Hopefully, Tabby will be able to come up with a good argument to counter him… or prove that he’s lying. Because unless he commits a crime and we have proof of it… we can’t do anything.”
Officer Barnes nodded, “Yep… we’d best get going.”
And we then made our way out. Our mission for the day was our normal patrols that we always did. There was the hope that we’d get a tip that would allow us to catch the guys that had the Meth Lab out on the guy’s ranch that Officer Barnes and I had closed down. Though a lot of that information was passed on to the DEA and the State Troopers as they operated outside Columbia Falls more or had direct authority in dealing with drug related offenses.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The day went by quietly for Officer Barnes and I. We had a couple of routine calls but nothing more then that. There were no drug calls and we got no tip on the supposed Meth Lab. That was a disappointment to me, but I was sure we’d either catch them or disrupt their operation enough to get them to quit.
However, the events of the day didn’t carry on into the evening. As I left the station, I found myself confronted by someone I never expected, Joseph Patten.
“If you’re here to report anything, you can go in there,” I motioned to the door I just came out of, “the officer running the “desk” can take your statement.”
“I’m not here to report anything,” Patten answered, “I’m here to talk with you.”
I looked at him with a somewhat surprised look. I didn’t expect him to want to have anything to do with me.
“I’d thought you wouldn’t want to talk with me,” I replied.
“Generally, I don’t,” Patten nodded, “You’re nothing more then a bully as far as I am concerned… but last night changes things.”
“From what I’ve seen and learned about you, I’d bet you wanted your statement to remain between you and I as individuals,” I answered, “and if that is how you want to keep it…”
“I did.”
“And I have no problem with that,” I answered, “it isn’t racist in the way R.A.M. behaved and assures me that you won’t be going after Molly.”
Patten blinked for a moment as he followed me, on foot. After a moment or two, he did speak.
“I was never part of R.A.M. and it was nothing more then a racist organization from the beginning,” Patten answered, “I knew it from the moment Beauregard announced it. The pompous twit meddled in just about everything before you came here. R.A.M. was just his latest excuse.”
He then began pulling something out of his wallet.
“And I have nothing against Animal-People,” Patten continued, “Molly was a victim... And the people who chose to become Animal-People made that choice.”
He then handed me a colored photograph of a large, largely brown colored snake, though it’s body was as wide as a man. A very thin man, but a man nonetheless. It was clearly a snake-person, though outside of it being a large python species, I couldn’t identify anything more.
“In fact my cousin made that decision,” Patten answered, “Clemens had always loved snakes and admired the big constrictors and wanted to work as a researcher with them. He ended up working in the state of Florida in trying to deal with the Burmese Python there.”
“And that’s the species he’s become?” I asked, “the Burmese Python?”
“Actually, from what he told me, he’s become an African Rock Python,” Patten answered.
I looked at the photograph again. The snake man was covered in brown scales. Most of them were a light brown with various dark brown mottled scales going down his back. He had lost his arms and legs, as snakes obviously had no “limbs”. It did look, however, like the end of his tail was flexible enough that he could use it like a hand. It would be outstanding control if he had learned to use it. He looked like he was presently fifteen to sixteen feet long, and he was naked. I guessed that was because most clothing wouldn’t stay on a snake’s body that easy… and as a reptile, the various reproductive organs that would be pretty obvious on Molly and I if we went around in only our fur, weren’t visible on Clemens. Even his nipples were gone when he became a snake-man.
“So as you can see, I’m not some racist,” Patten answered as I handed the photograph back to him, “and if you hadn’t been such a bully… you would have my friendship.”
“So why are you here?” I questioned.
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” Patten answered.
“Hm?”
“Hireman took things out of context and used my concern to further his own ideology,” Patten continued, “used my concerns about you as a weapon to attack this town’s moral center and to essentially punish your wife… who is a good and kind individual… and it will threaten the students who go to school here as well as your wife and I would hope that you care for her…”
“Molly is everything to me,” I answered, “and she is why I do what I do. Everything I’ve done has been to protect her and give her the life she deserves.”
Patten blinked.
“Anyway,” Patten spoke, “Hireman’s move has essentially made him a “foe” of both of us.”
“All that can be done is vote him out,” I answered, “not unless he commits a crime and you or I could prove it.”
“Recording the School Board Meetings was a betrayal, but not illegal,” Patten nodded, “but still a betrayal. I’ll never back Hireman in the election, and personally, Mrs. Choir is a better choice. She is no racist.”
I nodded.
“And when I went to her this morning to tell her that I would be backing her, she told me that my information on you was incomplete,” Patten answered, “I don’t entirely believe it… but I felt it best to talk with you about it. I will be campaigning for Mrs. Choir, and since Hireman used my words to try and sink her ship, as it were, I will need the “rest” of this information that Mrs. Choir told me I’m missing.”
“I thought you were the moderator,” I commented.
“By rule here, you only do that once,” Patten answered, “Now that I’ve done my turn, it’ll go to the next person… who has been in Hireman’s pocket for years… and that could keep my words, taken out of context, being used to ultimately threaten the kids. I can’t let them be infected with Hireman’s racism.”
“You and I may not be all that different,” I quipped, “we both seek to defend something.”
“Maybe,” Patten grumbled begrudgingly, “but I can’t do anything until you give me the rest of the information that will be needed to counter Hireman’s misuse of my concerns.”
“I see,” I answered as we continued along, “so you want to hear why I’m so “aggressive” as you put it?”
“Yes.”
And so I told him. I told him about the trip to the State Fair in Peoria, which lead us to the Animatrix Fun House and Molly being grabbed. I told him about saving Molly and watching her transform. I told her about how her parents treated her, how wrong it all was. How old friends who were supposed to support us essentially turned on Molly because she wasn’t human.
I told him about our arrival in Columbia Falls and our first meeting with Beauregard. He seemed shocked that Beauregard had essentially molested her sexually in that meeting with Frank Rhoer watching. I told her about how the founding of R.A.M. was done to deceive me into thinking Frank Rhoer was a R.A.M. member. I admitted that both Molly and I had over reacted to that.
I told him about how wrong I felt all that racist behavior to be, and how I did my best to defend Molly. I told him about the case with the Smiths and how the son shot at me as I arrived. I did admit that I might have over reacted in some ways, but that I was still coming from a position of defending what was right from what I knew to be wrong. As I finished, Bandhavgarh Cabin was coming into view. I also noticed that Patten was surprised by a lot of what I had said.
“If what you say is true,” Patten said after a moment, “there may not be too much difference between us, though, I’d say you still go a bit too far… you don’t just accuse people of being Nazis…”
“In the case of Beauregard and Hireman, the comparison is accurate in my opinion,” I said firmly, “based on what they do and have done. With Molly’s Uncle, we both overreacted as we didn’t know how much he needed the job at the time. And with Beauregard gone now… Molly and I have tried to set things right with him. A rancher from the camp that has been against Beauregard’s attempts to try and make a monopoly here won the animals from the Smith’s property auction and gave them to me… which I refused to accept unless they were “bought”…”
“So you paid for the animals?” Patten asked in surprise.
“Yes,” I nodded, “and we’ve given the operation of the “ranch” to Frank Rhoer and his daughters. They will collect most of the money our operation brings. You can talk to him to confirm that if you wish.”
Patten then nodded, “I see.”
“So what will you do with this information?” I wondered.
“For the moment give a statement to the press in support of Mrs. Choir and that the statement Mr. Hireman recorded was based off of incomplete information,” Patten answered, “your temper is a great vice for you, and your way of dealing with some of the smaller things that guys like Hireman have done has been excessive… but from what you’ve told me… I can see that you’ve come from a very protective sort of viewpoint…”
I nodded, “if you can help Tabby win… LEGALLY win, I’d think it’d be worth it.”
Patten nodded.
“Will you want dinner?” I offered him, “Molly and I can’t digest plant matter without getting sick so all we have is meat, eggs, and diary products…”
“Clemens is much the same way now,” Patten commented, “but no. I will need to get going. I have a long walk back to my own home.”
And with that, Patten turned began heading down the driveway to head back into town. I sighed and continued on. Things between Patten and I would probably never be like the friendship I had with Dave and Tabby… with Officers Barnes and Jenkins, but a good bit of me hoped that our conversation would at least put us on better footing then outright hatred.