The "don't do drugs" lectures went fairly well for Officer Barnes and I. I don't think said anything that sounded particularly invigorating or anything like that. We performed a service for the school to help the PE/Health Teacher open up his "drugs" segment of the curriculum. And what we explained was more then simply saying the drugs were illegal. We gave them some information on addiction and what it was, and what the consequences of doing drugs. I didn't find it to be anything special.
It was in the late afternoon of the school day, about two-forty five when we were able to head back to the DARE office where Officer Barnes and I did our work while at the school. Things had been rather quiet as we made our way through school and headed on our way to our office. A couple of students waived as we went, which I couldn't entirely figure out, but waiving wasn't a crime or even wrong and we even politely waived back.
"Well, not a bad end to the day, eh?" Officer Barnes asked once we made it back to the DARE office, "Kids responded well and even waived."
"I don't think the kids who waived were in the health classes we were in," I commented.
Officer Barnes stopped to think for a moment and then nodded, "Could be right... since Megan is only in First Grade right now, Officer Jenkins and I don't have the full high school schedule... maybe once they get past their sophomore year things like PE/Health become optional... I don't know..."
I nodded as I sat down in a chair in the office that was strong enough to support my weight. With things being quiet, I also turned attention to the lunch box I had brought in. The "don't do drugs" lectures shortened the time available to Officer Barnes and I to have lunch. Now, Officer Barnes's human sized portion was small enough that he could eat quickly and retain some semblance of decorum and good taste. I, however, couldn't do that. I had more food in terms of its weight packed, and on top of it, the lunch itself took time to eat. I could eat the steaks without a knife and fork, but doing so would be messy would create the image of poor table manners. So as a result, there were a few pieces still secure in my lunch box.
As I started eating my lunch again, Officer Barnes came up with a new question that made him wonder.
"What would you think Officer Jenkins and I should do when Megan gets older?" Officer Barnes wondered, "Gets into middle school and/or high school... I mean, right now she's still a little cub, largely...but she will grow up be much bigger then I am... and most of it being muscle."
I glanced at him with some puzzlement.
"I would think that some of what you and Officer Jenkins have done so far would probably work to get her to understand that when dealing with people, she will need to hold back and not to use her claws or teeth if there is no good reason for their use," I replied, "that sort of thing. Don't tell me that you're losing faith that she is in control of her instincts or not..."
"Oh no, nothing like that," Officer Barnes sighed nervously, "my question has more to do with how much should Megan hold back as she grows bigger...Right now we can manage because Officer Jenkins and I were as strong as Megan presently is at some point... though we were both older then she in at that time... but still... once she starts to grow up and mature, her strength level will go beyond ours and rather rapidly. By how much to we tell her to hold back?"
I gave a sigh and swallowed the meat I had been "chewing". This was getting into things that Molly and I dealt with all the time. Things designed for a human's size and strength simply weren't durable enough if Molly and I decided to go "all out" on it. With many of the things we did, we only used a fragment of our total strength. The only times we went all out on anything was when we were hunting during the hunting season. However, helping Officer Barnes in this case would be difficult. Molly and I were both adults when we were transformed, so we weren't sure on how fast the strength of a Tiger-Person would develop as it matured.
In that sense, Megan Jenkins was a living science experiment in terms of following the growth of an Animal Person. She was only a young kid and needed Molly's Animatrix Serum laced blood to save her life. And while Leon was certain that we would retain our human lifespans, there was still some curiosity on how fast an Animal Person would develop from child to adult. Of course, Leon and most everyone thought that would only happen after Animal People began to reproduce. But Megan's situation was different, and even with it, I doubted Officer Barnes and Officer Jenkins, or other Animal-Person couples would allow scientists to come poking around seeing how fast their children developed. And I could understand that.
"For now, I wouldn't worry too much," I sighed, "she is still only a little cub. She may be stronger then other kids her age, but from what Molly has told me, the two of you have done a good job with her so far... it'll probably be quite a while before Megan begins to approach Molly's size and strength..."
"What about you?"
"Impossible," I answered, "not unless she takes then gender changing "strain" of the Animatrix Serum. Male tigers are larger then females. Megan will grow to be in the lower to upper three hundred pound range as a female Bengal Tiger."
"And so what will we do when she begins to approach that size?" Officer Barnes answered, "she won't stay little forever."
"No... no she won't," I nodded, "if you're that worried about how much Megan will need to restrain herself... get her to understand the barest minimum strength she'd need to use to do things or interact with people. That's about the best advice I can really give."
Officer Barnes only sighed, but nodded.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"So you got to teach a health class," Molly gave a slight smile after I had told her about my day.
"A bit of it," I answered, "the actual teacher did more then Officer Barnes and I did."
Molly only shrugged and continued to give a slight grin.
"How well did the two of you think you did?" Molly asked.
"Fairly well,I suppose," I shrugged, "though as I said, there wasn't all that much that we were required to say... so it's not like I'll ever be the teacher of the year or something like that."
"And here I was hoping there would be two teachers in our family," Molly gave a slight sigh.
"I don't really know if I could ever be a teacher," I told her, "all that sort of preparation on things... I'd get all tongue tied. It took Officer Barnes and I a couple of weeks to put together the presentation we made today."
"But did the kids respond well?" Molly inquired.
"I suppose so," I shrugged again, "the teacher seemed to like it."
"See..." Molly came over and gave a slight nuzzle, "You could be a teacher if you wanted to."
"I think I'd leave the teaching to you," I told her, with a slight chuckle, "I suppose if you're looking to have two teachers in the family, you'll need to get one of our cubs into taking up the role of teaching."
"Our cubs..." Molly spoke for a moment, "you want to have more then one? Two pregnancies?"
"We could have more then one child in one pregnancy," I reminded her, "remember that mundane tigers have litters of young. Up to four with two or three being the average."
Molly's eyes widened a little bit from realization and moved back for a moment.
"You okay?" I asked her, fearing what I'd said had hurt her feelings.
"I'm fine," Molly answered, "I'd just forgot about that... we could very well have a litter this time next year..."
I nodded.
"Have you had any guesses on names?" Molly wondered.
"Really planning ahead, aren't we?" I smirked, "but no not really. I mean, you aren't pregnant right now and aren't in heat yet... so we're still very much in the process of planning for a family."
"So why not plan out what their name... or names... will be?" Molly asked back.
"I don't know... I guess I'd figured more to wait until after we know that they were on the way," I managed, "Just in case there might be some sort of complication... for all we know our reproductive systems failed when the Animatrix Serum took our DNA from 100% human to 50% human 50% tiger. We could very well be sterile..."
"And since we didn't try last year, we wouldn't know," Molly gave a sigh, "do you think that's possible?"
"Possible," I admitted, "I don't think it's likely... but then... I want to be father as much as you want to be a mother. So, I'd like to hope that everything still works... and the fact that you did go into heat last winter and had brief moments of being receptive... I would guess that your reproductive system still functions well enough. But then... being able to tell if you're in heat by your scent is new. I could never do that before I was transformed, so I don't know if a sterile human woman would give off a similar scent or even if a woman who wasn't sterile would or not... I don't really know... and I don't know enough about anatomy to even have a guess."
Molly only sighed again. She turned and gave me a soft hug.
"Hopefully we will be able to have a family," I told her, "Hopefully."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The next few days went rather quietly. Officer Barnes and I continued our DARE work, and found that our "don't do drugs" lecture at the High School had won invitations to give the same lecture at the Middle School. The lecture remained unchanged, and we gave it to all of the Middle School grades. And things went fairly well and fairly easy, with the exception of the kids in the Fifth Grade who were just coming up from the Elementary School. A fair number of them had apparently played with Molly a bit during recesses and when they came in and saw me there decided they wanted to shake hands and see how soft my fur was too. Doing so took a fair amount of patience, but since their actions were friendly in nature, I let it go with a soft smile. Their want to play was the only problem that happened with that.
Things at Bandhavgarh also remained calm. Molly and I traded some friendly wagers over when the first snows of winter would fall, as we could both feel the temperatures continue to drop. With the election over, our biggest concern at home was the nervous worrying about our fertility. We both wanted cubs, but the prospect that the Animatrix Serum and played havoc with all of that was one that made us both nervous. Of course, we had no concrete proof as to whether or not that fear was real and justified or if it was just a bad feeling from a couple of "love birds" that wanted to start a family of their own and thus had no scientific basis. The answers to that were fairly simple though.
One option was to call Leon, as he would have the scientific data needed to demonstrate any and all effects the Animatrix Serum had on the body's organs. The other option would be to go to Doc Stimson and see if he could run any tests that would help us. Now, of course Doc Stimson was a veterinarian, and most of the tests for fertility were designed for humans, but from what I had seen of the doctor in the emergency room when Megan was transformed to save her life, I was nervous that the doctors there didn't want to treat anyone who wasn't human and thus wouldn't treat us well. Those thoughts sat in the back of my mind over the next few days.
By Saturday, I was enjoying a bit of a day off when our phone rang. Molly was out in town on one of our standard missions to buy meat and I didn't expect her to return soon, so I went up the stairs and answered the line after a couple of rings. To my surprise, it was Officer Howard.
"How are things going with you, Officer Wayne?" Officer Howard asked.
"Fine, sir," I answered, "Is something up?"
"Not really," Officer Howard answered, "I merely have some news for you."
"Do you need me to come in... or is this something you can tell me over the phone?" I asked.
"I'll need you to come in," Officer Howard answered, "it's for you and Officer Barnes both, so it'd be easier on me to tell it to you two at the same time. And don't worry about a uniform. You don't need it on a day off to hear this."
"We aren't in trouble are we?" I asked.
"No," I almost heard Officer Howard give an amused laugh as he hung up.
I left a brief note for Molly, in case she returned to the cabin while I was out, and headed into town and made my way to the station. I didn't run into Molly on the way and found Officer Barnes talking quietly with Officer Jenkins as she did her work at the station's desk. And again, young Megan was seated in Officer Jenkins lap, doodling on a report sheet in orange and black crayons. When Officer Barnes saw me he politely ended his conversation with Officer Jenkins when he could.
"Well... George is here," Officer Barnes spoke, "guess it's time to go see how much trouble we're in... Megan, you'll be good for your mother, right?"
"Of course," Megan answered, "I'm coloring a picture for mommy."
Officer Barnes and I then went toward Officer Howard's office door. As we reached the door, we heard a slight gasp come from where Officer Jenkins was seated.
"No! Megan! Not on THOSE papers! The Copy Paper I said!"
"But there were a lot of copies of this," Megan answered.
I shook my head with a chuckle and went into the office. Officer Howard was just finishing up a conversation on the phone and was hanging it up when we went in. He noticed us right away.
"Officers Barnes and Wayne," Officer Howard gave a soft smile, "Columbia Falls' Batman and Robin."
"Batman and Robin, sir?" Officer Barnes wondered.
"Since Officer Wayne has joined us, the two of you have dealt with a more wacko cases then anyone would imagine," Officer Howard shrugged, "and you always manage to save the day."
"We aren't superheroes, sir," I spoke, "I'm sure any of the other officers would do the same as we have."
"You never know, Officer Wayne," Officer Howard sighed, "anyway, I believe I have some good news for you both."
"Good news, sir?" Officer Barnes asked.
"Yes," Officer Howard nodded, "as you're both well aware, I've had to use you both as DARE officers since Bill Williams' little act of terrorism last spring... but with the last elections we are now in a spot where we can hopefully make some progress."
"The city council has set their budget in order, sir?" I asked.
"Largely yes," Officer Howard nodded, "they've made the request in to the state government in Helena for the budgetary allowances to pay for a permanent DARE officer and dispatch officer... to allow you two go back to Patrol work."
"They didn't decide to pass the buck onto the city council that will take office in January?" I wondered.
Typically governmental budgets were normally set at the end of the year. Largely as the funds for the government, be it local, state, or federal had been exhausted by that time and they would need to settle on what would be done in the next year. Though it was common for governments to pass temporary measures and set aside the real budgetary arguments to a new government if there were major changes in the membership. Though not that that was what HAD to be done. It was one of the things that made sessions of a lame duck President or Congress interesting. Things like John Adams' midnight appointments and all that.
"Things didn't change too much on the city council," Officer Howard answered, "and the guy who left, left because of age or ill health or something like that. He didn't even run. Let his term expire and retired. So, since little changed with them, they set to work with what the city's budget would be."
"And they sent the request in to Helena," Officer Barnes surmised.
"Yes," Officer Howard nodded, "and the city council did request the needed funds to pay for the hiring of replacement officers for those lost in Williams' explosive tantrum."
"So, when will you expect us to come back to patrol work, sir?" Officer Barnes asked.
"Right now, the exact date is unknown," Officer Howard answered, "The State government has received our budget request needs but they haven't fully responded yet. Something over either not wanting to allocate the money or when they're going to have the debate on the budget. I expect we will get the money needed, but it could take a little while to get it... and then there is the business of actually hiring the officer. DARE officers in Columbia Falls have usually guys that are older and wouldn't do as well on patrol, reducing a lot of the physical strain they'd have to go through. If we can't find someone who has experience to do it, we may need to make a request for assignment from the Police Academy... get a young guy who we let him learn the ropes with the DARE program and then move up as needed..."
"Or someone that better fits the DARE profile comes along," I commented.
Officer Howard nodded, "If things go quickly, we could get a replacement DARE officer in the first weak of January... but if no one comes forward, and we have to make an assignment request from the Academy, we could be looking at waiting until the end of next summer."
"That's not entirely good news," Officer Barnes told him.
"It's the best we can do for the moment," Officer Howard answered, "and as I said, that's if things go slow and we need to wait for a request to the Academy... and you both would be shifted back to Patrol Work for the summer anyway by that time."
Officer Barnes and I nodded.
"What would be the shift you want us to do for Christmas?" I wondered aloud, the question coming to me when he mentioned that we'd be shifted back for the summer if we had to wait for an academy assignment, "I mean the kids likely won't be in school then. Do you want us to patrol or..."
"Let's deal with that bridge closer to Christmas," Officer Howard replied, "We're not even to Thanksgiving yet."