“It was nice to have met you, Mr. Clemens…” Molly said politely as we made it outside the building.
“Clemenssssssssss issssssssssss my firssssssssssssssssst name,” Clemens chuckled in his hissing voice, which made me thankful that Molly and I didn’t end up with a different shaped tongue when we transformed, “and there issssssssssssssss no need for the Misssssssssssssster. That would be my father and Jossssssssssssseph’sssssssssssss Uncle.”
“It was still nice to meet you,” Molly said.
“Yesssssssssss, it wasssssssssssssss,” Clemens agreed, “would either of you be interessssssssssssted in dinner? The Sssssssssssserum issssssssssssssss ssssssssssssso new that you likely do not get many Animal-People around here.”
I glanced between Clemens and Patten as the cousin made the offer. Patten and I would probably never be outright enemies, but I still didn’t expect that things would be like we were best friends all of a sudden. Much of our present “working” relationship was because neither of us wanted Hireman to be reelected.
“Your cousin and I are not that close,” I told him, “and it is him that you are staying with, correct?”
“Yesssssssssssssssss,” Clemens nodded, “but how could you not get along with my coussssssssssssssssin? He is sssssssssssssssssso likeable.”
“I have my concerns with the way Officer Wayne has handled things,” Patten spoke, “at heart… I believe he is a good man, but I find his methods to be wrong.”
“We also operate in different circles,” I added, “I in law enforcement and your Cousin with the school. Even if he approved of my methods… I would be a third wheel… as it were. I don’t want to be in your way.”
Clemens turned his head between Molly and I and his cousin. Things were silent for a moment before Patten spoke.
“You wouldn’t be in the way,” he said, “not really. We may never be best friends, Officer Wayne, but your wife has been a great asset to the school and am proud to call her a coworker of mine. Clemens has had to deal with some of the same issues the two of you have encountered and for the sake of his curiosity, you are both more then welcome.”
“You wouldn’t mind?” I asked.
I had to admit that I was privately curious about some things related to Clemens and what life had been like for him.
“No,” Patten answered, “I would not mind… maybe it would even help you in dealing with that temper of yours to meet with people who are not such lunatics. That not everyone is out to hurt your wife.”
“I see,” I said slowly, “well…I suppose we can visit sometime over the course of the week.”
“Not tonight?” Clemens asked.
“It is getting late,” Molly spoke up, “and we have a fairly long walk back to our cabin. And George has work early tomorrow morning. If we could arrange for a later date, we can plan for it better.”
“I sssssssssssssssee,” Clemens nodded, “I’m only in for a week before I have to go back to Florida.”
“How about the day after tomorrow?” I offered, “It would give you the opportunity to collect the food required.”
“Food required?” Patten asked, “I’ve done some of that to prepare for Clemens’ arrival… how much do you eat?”
“Per day? Roughly ten pounds per day,” Molly answered, “George eats a little more then that on some days. Though if that is too much, we will take whatever size portion you can manage and we’ll eat our “seconds” when we get home.”
“It’ll be no problem for a single dinner,” Patten answered, “It may require a little more meat provided…but it will be no problem.”
“Okay, then,” Molly nodded, “we’ll see you then. Day after tomorrow. At what time would be the most acceptable?”
Patten thought for a moment and then spoke calmly, “about six to seven PM would be fine. Depending on when you get off work, Officer Wayne.”
“That’ll do fine,” I nodded.
“Very good,” Patten nodded, “then I believe we are set. Molly, you have my street address, yes?”
Molly nodded, “Yes. We’ll see you then.”
We then turned to walk away while Clemens and Patten went on their own way back to Patten’s vehicle. Things seemed rather calm. Tabby had clearly won the night’s debate in my opinion, probably from Patten’s report to the paper that the attack made against Tabby was essentially a lie. Politicians have long been famous for lying to get what they want and trying to insure that the voters believe those lies. When they find out that the man is lying, they vote him out. I hoped that would be the result of present race. The people have learned that Hireman is lying and will turn on him…
Though things were only just starting. Eventually they would get off of the matters of controlling Molly, which was Tabby’s main issue. Hireman’s experience as the Superintendent might help him when they came to those issues. Only time would tell.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
The newspaper seemed to agree with my thoughts on who won the debate. As Molly and I went through our morning routine, we both managed to glance through it and read through the paper’s coverage of the debate. The article mostly covered the back and forth argument over the definition of truth in the debate. It would take a little more time to see how the results of the second debate would effect the overall standings in the polls.
I made my way into work and was met by Officer Barnes and Officer Jenkins on their own way in.
“Good morning,” I spoke politely as I made my way in.
“Good morning,” Officer Barnes responded, “who was the snake-man with you and Molly last night?”
“He’s actually Patten’s cousin,” I answered, “come up from Florida to visit and apparently decided to lend whatever support he could to Tabby’s campaign.”
“Did you settle your differences with Mr. Patten?” Officer Jenkins wondered, “even he looked fairly calm when he approached you.”
“I’d believe we’ve settled the worst of it,” I shrugged, “Though I don’t think things were ever truly to the point where there was a real problem. He is nothing like Beauregard or any of the yahoos that have been causing trouble.”
“Good to hear,” Officer Barnes nodded, “the fewer of them we have to deal with the better.”
I nodded, as I was in perfect agreement with him on that. The fewer lunatics out there, the better.
“You had a great question for Hireman,” I commented as we went into the station, “very nice of you to describe me as selfless.”
“You didn’t have to come on the night that Megan was kidnapped,” Officer Jenkins answered, “You were off duty and night shift officers were in place. To do that is selfless if you ask me.”
“Thank you for feeling that way,” I told her.
Officer Jenkins nodded.
“And hopefully it’ll take something out of Hireman’s sails,” Officer Barnes added as we moved to check in for the day
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The day’s patrol would go quietly, as would the following day. Outside of a few routine calls, nothing much was going on. It meant there wasn’t that much in the way of problems to solve, but it also meant that the drug dealers were still out there. On that, Officer Barnes and I would have to wait for them to make their mistake. Of that Officer Barnes remained optimistic. Either we would catch them, the state troopers would catch them, or the DEA would catch them. Someone would catch them.
And as the dinner date with Patten and Clemens arrived, I managed to put the frustration with not catching the drug dealers out of my mind. Dwelling on it wouldn’t make things better. I finished my shift, rushed home and changed out of my uniform and then rushed with Molly to the home where Patten lived.
It looked rather plain in its outward appearance. The lawn was well maintained, but there was no trees or flowers or something that would serve to decorate the yard. It was a nice looking home, but still plain. It made me wonder if Patten donated much of his money to the schools, considering how much his focus was on protecting the students.
Patten did greet us at the door as we arrived.
“Good evening, Molly, Officer Wayne,” Patten spoke.
“Good evening to you too,” Molly answered, “I’m sorry if we’re late.”
“No, you’re good,” Patten replied, “things are just about ready to serve.”
He then politely lead us through the entranceway to his home. It was done very simply, but done very well. As we followed him, I paused as we past a bookshelf which had a lot of books on psychology on it, but what caught my eye was a photograph of two young boys, both about the same age. One was holding a little garter snake up to the other boy.
“That is Clemens and I when we were younger,” came Patten’s voice from beside me.
I turned to see that he had noticed that I had stopped.
“I’m sorry, I’m not here to pry into your private life,” I replied.
“It’s not something I try to hide,” Patten remarked, “and something Clemens can not hide anymore. We get along well still… even if we don’t live as close as I would like.”
I nodded and resumed following him until we came to a moderately sized dinning room. Clemens was already there and seated in a plastic open backed chair. A normal wooden chair was placed behind Clemens near the wall, which I guessed was the chair that normally went in that spot. Clemens likely had the open backed chair because of his tail and how long it as. Now, if he had no legs or arms, he could probably just coil himself in the seat, but since the Animatrix Serum couldn’t remove limbs that already existed, coiling that tightly would be uncomfortable.
And it was clear that despite becoming one of the larger species of python in the world, his overall weight was light enough for the chair to support his weight. Something Molly and I couldn’t do.
“I think George and I might be too big for your chairs, Mr. Patten,” Molly said politely looking at the wooden chair near her, “what is their weight limit?”
“About three hundred pounds,” Patten replied, “you can set them by the wall there if you don’t want to take the risk… and it’s Joseph here… or Joe for short.”
“How much do you weigh?” Clemens wondered, “How much mussssssssssssssccccccccccle is there?”
“I’m three hundred ninety pounds, George is five hundred fifty five pounds,” Molly answered, “Not something the two hundred pound Mountain Lions around here will want to see.…”
“Josssssssssssssssseph tellsssssssssssssss me you fought one of them to protect a kid,” Clemens spoke, doing his best to avoid using letters that play havoc with his tongue.
“It wasn’t much really,” Molly said modestly, “it was apparently a young and starving cat that came out of the mountains looking for food. The girl, Megan Jenkins got caught up on the playground equipment and appeared vulnerable and the lion attacked her. I did what I had to.”
“And saved the girl’s life,” I told her and nuzzled her gently as Patten returned with a set of much sturdier chairs.
“These should hold you both,” he announced.
“Thank you,” Molly and I both replied, though not in unison.
Patten then returned to the kitchen to get the dinner that was prepared for the night’s meal.
“How issssssssssss the kid now?” Clemens asked.
“Cub, actually,” Molly explained, “she needed a blood transfusion on the scene and had a blood type to which there was no compatible donor other then me. But she finished out the year well... Has taken an interest in wrestling and other sorts of things. I’ve set e-mails to the First Grade teachers with some things they can expect with her.”
“Wasssssssss ssssssssssssssssshe in your classsssssssssss?” Clemens wondered.
“No,” Molly shook her head, “she’s one of many of the kids who love their “tiger-lady”, but she wasn’t in my class. The kid that George and I know the best is Veronica Choir. She is in my class.”
“Ah,” Clemens nodded as Patten began bringing in the food.
A large platter of meat was set in the middle of the table, while a much smaller set of vegetables, and rolls for Patten to eat. He left again to get the plates.
“Ssssssssssssssssssso,” Clemens spoke when Patten returned with the plates, “I ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssupposssssssssssssse you’re curioussssssssssssss about me? I will tell you that I would love to know more about you both.”
I glanced at Molly for a moment and shrugged as dinner began.
“We are on a few things,” I admitted.