"I doubt there's much that can be done about it, George," Molly sighed, "Marcella has taken the serum and will be a female Maine Coon for the rest of her life. There is nothing we can do."
I slowly sighed and nodded. Molly was, of course, right. There was nothing either of us could really do. All we could really do was give someone reasons not to take the Serum. Once it was taken, however, there was no going back. Molly and I had long since accepted that. All the same, I felt it important to tell Molly about Marcel becoming Marcella.
"What's all this about?" came Laura York-Rush's voice as she came down the stairs.
She seemed slightly puzzled from what I could see, though that wasn't surprising to Molly and I. A lot of the people we had talked with in Columbia Falls about the prospect of the Animatrix Serum being sold over the counter to those who wanted to be Animal People had come as a great surprise to them. It had always seemed to me that because Molly and I were Animal-People, they expected us to support them. The fact that we came down fairly firmly on the opposite side of that argument always surprised them.
Now, of course some of that probably came from the BS that Beauregard flung around that we'd tossed aside our humanity like we didn't want it and essentially covered up the truth of our transformations. Molly had been grabbed by Changes and was forcibly injected with the Animatrix Serum. She was the victim of a crime and a lunatic's desire to make money. And my transformation was the result of Molly and I not knowing about how the Animatrix Serum worked. The serum had latched onto all of Molly's cells and we made love on our wedding night, the serum and Bengal Tiger DNA ended up being absorbed by me and lead to my transformation. And since neither of us had actually asked to be Animal-People, we tended to oppose the distribution of the Animatrix Serum because we didn't want any one who did want to, to make a mistake and go through the same difficulties we'd gone through.
"A local checker at the market has taken a dose of the Animatrix Serum and has become a female Maine Coon," Molly answered.
"Which isn't so much a problem in and of itself," I added, "it's more what think the reasoning behind the boy's decision to become a house cat and female besides."
"I'm not sure that the boy/girl's decision is any of your business," Laura commented.
"It probably isn't," I nodded...
"But we don't want anyone to take it, thinking the change of shape will make them happy, and find themselves being persecuted," Molly added, "Shoot... Beauregard started R.A.M. here almost the instant we moved to Columbia Falls... and the ideas he favored haven't entirely gone away. We don't want anyone to have to suffer what we went through."
"The idea may be laudable," Laura commented, "but you have to let people make their own choices. Make their own mistakes. There is this woman back home... Simon and my hometown... in Billings. Anyway, there is this woman who lives in Billings. Simon and I have met her from time to time, and she's been rather friendly, but she's also always been a bit on the vain side. I'm not sure where she got this, but she decided she'd take the Animatrix Serum with Red Fox DNA, thinking that because men commonly call attractive women "vixens" she would improve her beauty and figure if she actually WAS a vixen."
Molly and I shook our heads with a heavy sigh. That seemed to be a problem with many of the "furry fans" that we had seen throughout our lives. Images of furries plastered the Internet with the images of females sporting breasts closer to the size of a watermelon, and males with anatomical features disproportionately large, rather then what would be practical. Essentially assigning what humans seemed to find attractive in other humans to their fantasies. The Animatrix Serum didn't work that way, and while Molly didn't lose her breasts when she became a tigress, they did become proportionally smaller on her then they had been before.
Our best guess was that it was a practical application of the Animal's activities. Predatory mammals did a lot of running and jumping, and in many places going through rough terrain. Molly had explained to me once that such activity would not be practical for a woman carrying a lot of weight on her chest... or back. Being male and not having breasts, I took Molly at her word. And in reptiles and amphibians, that issue would be even more pronounced. Mammals had mammary glands to feed their young, reptiles and amphibians didn't in nature, and I figured any woman who became a reptile or amphibian would lose her breasts entirely as her reproductive system would adapt to birth young that didn't need milk. But since Clemens, a male African Rock Python-Person, was the first Animal-Person we'd met that was a reptile, neither Molly and I could speak with much authority in that direction.
"She must have been devastated when she watched her breasts get smaller so she could pounce on things," Molly gave a soft chuckle after a moment.
"It goes further then that," Laura commented, "I met her one day after her transformation, and she looked half horrified and nervous. Apparently there had been a mouse in her house, and not a pet mouse either. Nothing out of the ordinary, really, but she'd never liked mice before and Simon and I commonly had to remove the traps that had caught mice in them... she told me she wanted to scream and jump away, but when the mouse moved, instinct kicked in, and by the time she realized what she was doing, she'd pounced on it and ate it."
"Foxes eat rats and mice and occasionally rabbits and deer fawns, depending on the exact species of fox and circumstances," I commented.
"And more often then not, when they eat something as large as deer fawns, they're scavenging the kills of Coyotes or Wolves," Laura answered, "but she didn't entirely realize that. I'm sure she did all the studying required by law to know what a fox does... but it conflicted with her vanity and the picture she must have had in her head. She knew, but figured she wouldn't have a problem because that is what she wanted. There is nothing that Simon or I could have done to get her to not take the Serum. Sometimes reality is the best teacher there is. Not telling someone it's a mistake."
"We know and we can accept that," I sighed, "some of the thing with the checker comes from some difficult circumstances involving a girl, he now she has a crush on. And because of some details I don't want to go into right now, let us just say that I'm concerned that some of those circumstances will circle back to Molly and I... and we don't want to be involved in teen angst stories."
"Some of that may happen anyway," Laura only shrugged.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The next few days went fairly quietly. Simon and Laura met with the funeral home to arrange Michael York's funeral and had set a date for it. Molly and I found out that was scheduled for the end of the weak and scheduled for the early afternoon, and I was able to get some time off to attend the funeral. They also spent some time making arrangements for the moving of at least some of Michael York's herd to their ranch in Billings. They told us that they had managed to arrange for a semi and stock trailer to come and pick them on the day after the funeral. Some of Michael York's friends in the ranching community around Columbia Falls also came by and gave their condolences to Laura and Simon.
The biggest "thing" that Molly and I had to deal with dealt with the deed to the land that Michael York's ranch sat on and the house he had lived in. Shortly after Michael York's death was announced in the local paper, the deed for the land arrived at our mailbox at Bandhavgarh. That lead to some discussion, as the safest place for it would be in a bank, but Molly and I didn't have any safe-deposit boxes in the local bank. Now, it was a different branch of the same bank we had used in Peoria growing up and while in College, but we hadn't done much business in the Columbia Falls office. Much of that related to some fear of action taken by R.A.M. to rob us of either our money or anything else valuable. But with R.A.M. officially gone and Beauregard in a Federal Prison for the rest of his life, Molly and I decided to open a safe deposit box there to store the deeds. We had a fireproof safe at Bandhavgarh, but that could be stolen while Molly and I weren't there. The bank would be safer... and with R.A.M. gone, we were willing to take the chance.
The results of the debate were somewhat mixed as far as I could see. Tabby seemed to be opening up a lead on Hireman, and had clearly won the most recent debate, but my countering of Hireman's lies did present some problem. Hireman did make the claim of government corruption on the part of Officer Howard to try and elevate the stature of his "pet project", but thankfully there was so far a large number of people that were unsure on that issue. Hopefully those undecideds would realize that Officer Howard, Officer Barnes, myself, Officer Won from the County Sheriff's Office, and Agent Harris of the FBI were all telling the truth. Molly and I could only wait and see how that would play out.
And after a few quiet days, Molly and I found ourselves being pulled into the ranching business again. I had finished a fairly quiet shift and was making my way home to find Molly, Laura and Simon Rush with Frank Rhoer, Nessie Rhoer, and Meredeth Rhoer standing around the driveway of Michael York's old home.
"What's going on?" I wondered aloud as I approached.
"Mostly handling things to make sure our ranch doesn't become overpopulated, and giving you and your wife and her relatives some real shot at ranching success," Simon answered, "as well as looking over the house."
"We'll pick up old family keepsakes and things that will only have value to me," Laura added, "the rest you can either auction off or keep as furniture to rent out."
"I see."
I glanced to Molly somewhat nervous. Neither of us were ranchers, which was why we essentially gave Frank Rhoer and his daughters the job of managing the cattle that we were practically given after the Smith's cattle were auctioned. Hopefully Frank Rhoer would be able to give us a good assessment.
"I don't think it'll take too long," Molly told me, "the big question will be the price. Even with the higher salary of being a teacher now, we don't have enough to buy a large number of cattle at full price."
"We'd bring the price down into your range," Simon answered, "as I told you before, we need to get them to Billings. We can't afford to stay here waiting for a big profit... and to be honest, from what Michael York has told Laura and I about you two, I have no doubt that he would not mind you maintaining some of his herd here."
"It would allow his ranch to live on," Laura nodded, "he wanted me to inherit this ranch... but Simon wasn't from Columbia Falls and I fell deeply in love with him. I couldn't spend my time going between Billings and Columbia Falls... but now, his ranch... his "line" if you will will live on, even if it's run by a different family."
"That's awfully generous of you," Meredeth commented.
"And that isn't a bad thing," Laura shrugged, "I think it'd help to be more generous. Most of the world's problems boil down to greed, I think. It's how I was raised to think. If people were more generous, I'd bet that half of the money problems that people have wouldn't exist."
"Thank you, all the same," Meredeth nodded.
"So what is the mission here?" Molly asked.
"We'll go through the herd and move the animals from my father's herd into the field where your cattle are," Laura answered, "which is why we've asked your wife to come along and help. The more people to help... the faster everything will go."
I slowly nodded, when I realized the end of her statement was directed to me, rather then to Molly who had asked the question.
"After that, we can go over the price you can afford," Laura finished, "while Mr. Rhoer here can set to branding your new animals."
"We won't get to that until after we finish loading your cattle onto the truck you've hired," Frank Rhoer commented, "just to make sure we don't make a mistake and brand the wrong animal."
Laura and Simon only shrugged.
"I suppose I could help as well," I then commented, "though you should know that Molly and I are not familiar with ranching and may need to take some tips as we go."
"I'm sure you'll do fine," Simon answered with a chuckle.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Herding the cattle took time, and involved a lot of moving animals back and forth. It was done on foot with the intention of using Molly and I to get the cattle moving while Simon, Laura, Frank Rhoer and his family only guided the animals into position. Herman and Ulysses were also there, but were kept a position where they were manning the gates between pastures on Michael York's ranch... or as it was now, Molly's and my ranch. This was to keep them out of the way should one of the cattle get confrontational. Thankfully, none of the cattle ever did, and they moved on to the pasture where the small herd that Molly and I owned were with no difficulties.
We ultimately ended up moving nearly half of the cattle that Michael York had owned into that area. As the work of moving them was done, Molly and I looked out at all the cattle grazing in the pasture, some of the females with calves. I glanced to Molly and silently wondered how we could afford so many animals.
"There," Simon sighed, "that wasn't so hard."
"In terms of physical work," Molly commented, "I'm still not sure George and I can afford all these animals."
"We can bring the price down," Simon repeated, "It'll make the price per animal go way down and wouldn't be profitable for Laura and I... but as we said before, we don't have much choice."
"We can help a bit as well, Molly," Frank Rhoer spoke up, "since Beauregard is gone and we've been working here now... our home isn't as practical as it was. We can auction off the things that Mr. and Mrs. Rush don't decide take with them and split the results of the auction with you and George... and then move in with our things and sell the place I have near Beauregard's former holdings."
"You'd all fit in there?" I asked, glancing over to Michael York's home.
"It's a fixer-upper, but yeah, we'd all fit," Nessie gave a smile, "and on a plus side we'd be closer to our family and "pride" as it were."
"Tigers are solitary in the wild," I answered, "only Lions live in prides."
"Wouldn't a pride fit though for a group of large cats?" Nessie teased.
Molly and I traded glances. Neither of us were quite sure on the right nomenclature for a group of tigers.
"You're not intending to become tigers, are you?" Molly asked after a moment.
"No," Meredeth gave a laugh, "Just voicing our sympathy with you and George, cousin." She then gave a smirk, "still wondering if we could find another like him..."
Molly then responded firmly, "George is MINE!"
That only lead to fit of giggles. I only sighed, and placed a paw on Molly's shoulder and addressed Laura and Simon.
"Well... it looks like we will have some way of recouping some of the losses sustained in buying the cattle," I spoke, "that combined with our salaries... I'd think we could afford about one thousand dollars."
With more then ten cattle in the pasture, that would put the total cost per animal at under one hundred dollars each. That seemed like a reasonable price. Molly soon nodded.
"Yeah... if this auction goes well and Uncle Frank helps... we could afford that," Molly nodded.
Again, the response surprised us.
"You're sure?" Laura asked us.
Molly and I glanced at each other and then nodded. When we did so, Laura and Simon traded glances and slowly agreed.
"Okay then," Simon nodded, "you're spending a bit more then what we'd expected... but if you're confident that this we can do it."
"We'll have to return to the cabin to write the check," I told them.
Simon and Laura then nodded.
"It's okay," Simon replied.