Towards the early evening of the day after the footbal match, where Columbia Falls had secured a narrow win, Joseph Patten unlocked the door to his house and entered. The first thing he did when he entered was to pick up the day's mail - all three letters of it. The first two were bills, that didn't worry him too much. He had direct debit in effect and more than enough in his accounts to meet them for a good, long time. The third was interesting, however. And he opened that one up for viewing, the others he placed by his computer for later viewing. Once opened, it was, to be perfectly honest about it, a little surprising. It appeared to show that, at the State Level at least, interest was building up in the Columbia Falls School District Elections. And if it built up from there...well...who knows? And news teams from ABC and CNN would be turning up in the next couple of days to cover parts of it, and possibly other issues too. He'd need to alert Tabitha, George and the School Board quickly, and made a mental note to get the word out.
He powered up his computer, typing in the 14-digit password before getting himself a hot cup of coffee. Once he returned, he checked his e-mails, nothing too unusual in them, the spam messages deleted without even looking at them. Though he made sure to read the one from his cousin. Apparantly, his girlfriend was into the Swords And Sorcery themes as well as Clemens himself, and had convinced him to go to a convention near where they lived. No prizes for guessing how he'd turn up, he laughed softly to himself at that. And, according to Clemens, Arnold Schwartzenneger would also be present if the rumours were true. That, could present some 'issues' if Conan The Republican had his Atlantean Steel Sword on him there.
"Oh great. Now he's got me at it." He couldn't stop himself laughing at this point.
The only other point his cousin raised was that his speech therapy sessions were going very well, and his lisping was down a ways. Still there, simply much, much less. That would help him, a lot.
Out of curiosity, he checked the news concerning other nations. Apparently, the Southern European nations were enjoying a boost in their economic fortunes, mainly from a resurgent construction sector in order to accomodate the new hybrid species that lived there, the warmer climates making it particularly suitable for the reptillian ones. Well, after the mess that happened to them only a few years back, when they came close to collapse, averting it only by a very slim margin, they needed something nice to happen to them. Joseph supposed to himself that at least this gave them some hope for the future, and a chance to finish their painful restructuring of their economies, without anymore pain. And to think just a year back, paople were thinking that the Eurozone would collapse. Then again, the US naturally feared anyone who could go toe-to-toe with them, force an exposing of their own economic weaknesses, such as the generally sub-standard educational quality here, something that he could at least do something about. As for the UK, the coalition government that had been there since 2010 was finally seeing a revival in their own fortunes, standing at Conservative-32%, Labour-36% LibDem-20%, Others-12%. So David Cameron(Conservative) and Nick Clegg(LibDem) could finally see their policies bear fruit as the UK economy finally began to pick up pace and their heavy decifit come down. All the while, the US economy was growing slowly - albiet from a higher starting base.
This train of thought was de-railed when he heard a knock at his door, curious, since he wasn't expecting any guests, he made for the door, wondering if George had come round again.
He hadn't.
Instead he saw two people. One he knew came from the high school, the other, a long-haired cat-person, female he guessed.
"Can, I help you two?" He asked them curiously.
"Yes Mr Patten. Can, we talk to you for a while?" The human teen asked.
"Yes. Yes you can. Come in, please." He stepped to the side a little and allowed them to enter his house. "Main living room is the one to the right." He told them as they passed. They made for the room as Joseph closed the door before heading into the room himself. He gestured to the sofa. "Take a seat, please." To which they complied, as he sat down in one of the two chairs in the room. "So. What is it that I can do for you. Miss...?"
"Amy. And this is Marcella." She looked at the Main Coon. "And, well, we came to ask for some advice from you."
"Alright then. So what's the problem you have?" He asked them, softly.
"Well..." And Amy explained the situation to them. Her lesbian nature, Marcella's decision to become a female cat for her, her meeting with George Wayne, and the problems facing her as a result of Hireman's using her as a weapon against Tabitha. "And that's the problem, neither of us really know what to do. We were hoping you might be able to help. Can you?"
Joseph Patten had to think long and hard about it. Truth was, he was a little out of his depth, at least as far as their relationship was concerned. But to defeat Hireman's vicious assault...all he could say was...
"Listen carefully, both of you. And let me say everything. This is a decision that you need to make for yourselves. And you need to be absolutely certain that you know EXACTLY what you're doing before you make any move. Now so far as your relationship is concerned, that's your department. No-one else should be deciding it for you, so you make that call yourselves. As for the Animatrix? Again, it's your decision, but you'll need your parent's approval right now until or unless you're eighteen. Whether it simply be switching your gender or going all the way, it's your call. Just be sure you know what you're doing first." He paused for a moment, signalling that he wasn't done yet before continuing.
"As for the School Superintendant Elections. The only way to properly stop Hireman's latest assualt is if you told everyone here what really happened that day. If anyone else does, it's a major breach of privacy and he knows it. That's why he set it up that way. He's, getting desperate. And appears determined to destroy the school board, by forcing them into this brutal no-win situation. As it is, the chaos is brewing, some are already beginning to panic, and could easily foul up big time if they lose their nerve. You let me worry about that part though. Now. I can't make your decision for you, but you need to know that for you, you also have a poor set of choices. So you need to think long and hard on this. If you decide to go ahead and tell the truth, the best place to give it is to the local papers. I have their number here, I'll hand it to you before you leave. And. I'm sorry I can't be of more help to you." Joseph really meant that last part.
"It's enough." Marcella spoke up. "If nothing else, at least we had someone to share these concerns with."
"Yeah, well, we need to be going. Have to be back home for dinner." Amy explained.
"Alright then, here's the number." Joseph took a card from the nearby chair-table drawer and handed it over to Amy, as they made for the door to leave. Opening it to leave, Amy turned around again.
"Bye Mr Patten. And thanks for the help."
"Goodbye to you as well." He replied, as they exited the house, leaving him alone again.
"Alright Patten, you'd better be doing the right thing here." He told himself, refering to the counselling he'd just given. But only time would tell. Returning to other issues, he checked the bills he'd received that day. They were as expected, and went to storage. His next two tasks were to call Mrs Choir and Officer Howard and alert them to the news crews heading their way. At least they'd have time to get ready for it this way, and get word over to the Waynes by tomorrow at the latest. The rest of the school board, he'd inform tomorrow.
And now, the only thing Joseph Patten could do now was wait, and hope. 'Looks like me and the punching bag have another date now' he thought to himself as he prepped himself for another session.