Learning that Molly and I would need to go to Kalispell so Molly could see an obstetrician was not something I'd wanted to hear, but there wasn't all that much that I could do about it. Complaining wouldn't bring one to Columbia Falls. All Molly and I would be able to do in that regard would be to coordinate with her Uncle or with Dave to arrange for rides to Kalispell on the day of her appointments and to procure a vehicle that both Molly and I could ride in on days where I had time to go with her.
And that was the major "family related" goal that I had for the moment. There would be somethings where I'd probably be required by a doctor to come along for, to make sure that I knew the basics of what was going on. I'd remembered that from things my folks had told me when I was younger and curious. But I had also wanted to have a family. Just as Molly wanted to be a mother, I wanted to be a father. I loved Molly with all the fiber of my being and would do anything for her. I was certain that I would try to go with her as often as I could to be with her, and let her know that she wouldn't be going it alone.
I managed to make it through the rest of the day without any trouble. The time walking to and from Doc Stimson's Veterinary Clinic meant that the school's lunch period had long since ended by the time I returned to the High School, but I was quick to find that not much had really gone on in my absence.
"All we had is curiosity, really," Officer Barnes reported to me when I made it back to the High School, "I'd guess that the Amy girl got her dose of the Animatrix Serum. Security cameras had a male cat-person with Marcella... and seated rather close."
"Yes," I nodded, "Amy got and took her dose... she is Amos now."
"Yeah... well... just about all the girls that Amos hung out with as a girl were curious about him," Officer Barnes commented, "Which surprised me... wouldn't they recognize a cat person already, since Marcella took the serum first?"
"Maybe," I shrugged, "but Amos is a different breed from Marcella. Marcella is a Maine Coon, a long haired breed that originates in Maine. Amos is a Snowshoe, a short haired breed."
"He looks sorta like a Siamese to me," Officer Barnes quipped.
"He says the Snowshoe was bred from Siamese cats... apparently they came from litters in which the feet were all white "socks" rather then the dark brown colors normally associated with the Siamese," I commented, hoping I got Amos's explanation from Christmas right.
"Ah-ha," Officer Barnes nodded, "So, how did your appointment go?"
"Went well," I sighed, "Got all my shots and I was able to figure out whether or not there is an obstetrician here for Molly to see."
"How'd that go?"
"We'll have to go to Kalispell," I sighed, "Not the answer I wanted, but we'll find a way to manage."
"I'm sure," Officer Barnes commented after a moment, "just make sure you have the appointment dates ahead of time if you go with her to them. Officer Howard will give you time off for these things, but he'll want to know ahead of time."
"As any good boss would," I replied.
"Chief, Officer Wayne," Officer Barnes corrected in a teasing voice, "Officer Howard is the Police Chief."
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The rest of the day went quietly and I then made my way out at the end of it. As I neared the street corner where I expected to run into Molly, I tried to think of some way to tell her about what I had learned at the clinic. I didn't want to make it sound depressed or scary or some other negative type of response, because it wasn't that much of a problem. And since it would be for happy and healthy cubs, I figured the things that would have to be done would be worth it.
As it turned out though, Molly already knew and she let me know as soon as we arrived at that street corner.
"I asked around with some of the other teachers today," she announced as we met up at that corner.
"Oh... and?" I asked.
"They're all excited about me being pregnant and want pictures of the cubs when they're born," Molly replied.
"According to Officer Barnes, Megan's already picking out names for them," I smirked.
"She gave me a list of names at recess today," Molly chuckled back, "and explained which ones were her favorites."
I nodded and chuckled at the same time. Molly was teaching at the Kindergarten level and wouldn't have much in the way of contact with Megan, now in First Grade, during class time. But from what she had explained to me on what her daily routine was, the recess periods was one of the few times when the kids from the various grades would meet each other during the day.
"Anyway, one of them has had children here... and fairly recently," Molly continued, her tone more serious then before, "they were born a year before we came here, but still recent enough. According to her, there is no obstetrician at the local clinic. The obstetrician that works in this area has his main office in Missoula but he also travels between there and Kalispell to care for pregnancies in this part of the state. So, I'd imagine he's pretty busy..."
"I pretty much got the same thing from Doc Stimson," I nodded, "I think one of the nurses that works at his clinic is pregnant. She said her obstetrician works in Kalispell."
"So we'll need to travel, I guess," Molly commented, to which I nodded, "do you have any ideas on what we should get, George?"
This was in reference to a vehicle.
"I'd say something used and something that has two rows of... I guess "bench seats" would be the right term for it," I shrugged, "at least that is what I'd absolutely know we can afford at the moment. New vehicles are even more expensive and without our books in front of me... I don't know if we could pay off the loan needed to buy the car..."
"Something to work on in the evenings, I suppose," Molly replied.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And researching our ability to pay for a new vehicle and looking at a new vehicle was something that Molly and I worked on in the evenings over the next few days, though immediately, we got a couple of days where we were able to do the research more then in the late afternoons and evenings. The school's Christmas break had ended on the second and classes resumed on the third. The third was was a Thursday. The first week back from Christmas amounted to two days. To a certain extent that wasn't too bad an idea. As a kid, I'd hate the first day of school after a long break, Christmas or Summer. So having a short break would allow them to get back into the "swing" of things without taxing them too much. The next two days were the weekend, and Molly and I were able to spend those days looking over things.
Financially, Molly and I were doing fairly well. A bit better then what I had originally thought, but I still didn't think we had the money to buy a new vehicle. At least, not at the prices car companies were asking for. That left us with looking to researching various used car dealerships for an appropriate vehicle. And this was largely done online or looking through the newspaper. It was the way we could get the information we were looking for without having to deal with a pushy salesmen who's goal was to get us to part with our money.
The research had brought some ups and downs as we learned about various used car dealerships in the area and what vehicles they had for sale. The hope was that they would allow Molly and I to get a vehicle we could both ride in at the same time. We had ridden together in the backseat of my Ranger, but that had been a tight squeeze even with Molly not being pregnant at that time. Molly was pregnant now and as our cubs grew inside her, her womb would swell and push out. The two of us wouldn't fit together in the back seat of my truck when Molly got to the later months of her pregnancy. We either needed a new vehicle that could accommodate us or to coordinate two different rides. We had decided on a new vehicle.
"George!" Molly called to me one evening the next week, "come see this!"
Things had been quiet. Officer Howard hadn't found a suitable replacement DARE officer yet, or hadn't settled on one And so, Officer Barnes and I had continued filling in for the DARE program. And since things were quiet there, I was able to continue quietly researching on what would be an appropriate vehicle. I was looking through the classified section of the newspaper to see what they had for sale when Molly called for me from upstairs.
I quickly made my way upstairs to see what was going on. I went up the stairs to find Molly looking at something on the computer.
"What is it?" I asked as I approached, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, George, but take a look..." Molly answered and pointed to the screen.
Leaning over Molly's shoulder, I looked to the screen. Molly was apparently on the GM website to look over details on older models and what the company would explain about them. In doing so, she'd come across something totally different.
"The Chevrolet Furtopia?" I spoke in a low voice as I looked at the image on the screen.
"It's a new model they're coming out with," Molly explained, "apparently enough people have taken the Animatrix Serum in one way or the other that the demand the company needs to fill is changing."
And that was a possibility. When Molly had first been transformed there weren't that many animal people and many of them were either turned into animal species that were the same size as people, or smaller then people, which meant they could fit in things built for humans easily... or as in the case of a couple of Changes' victims, had become animals that couldn't use a vehicle at all. Car companies wouldn't feel the need to change anything to produce something that would only be bought once or twice. But now, as things changed, and as more people took the Animatrix Serum, the numbers of Animal-People larger then humans grew and thus the demand changed.
And this "Furtopia" seemed to be a sign of that. Based on the pictures that I saw, the basic frame design mirrored that of many cars built by General Motors over the past few years, but descriptions indicated that they could alter the dimensions as necessary, and even the configurations. Molly and I could still sit next to each other in a car and not worry about not having any space for our hips and rear ends to fit on the seats. Our issue was leg space and the cab height to sit in. And according to the descriptions, the Furtopia could be altered to fit any Animal-Person species.
For those that were extremely large, the car hand one front seat, one middle seat, and one back seat in a row and carried the look of a greatly enlarged car/minivan cross. I guessed that version was to be anyone that had become animal species that were extremely large, like the African and Asian mega-fauna, Elephants, Rhinoceros, Hippopotamus and so forth. But the basic design resembled the cars that GM had made, but the cab hight of the vehicle was much larger and the length of the vehicle was also greater. It was like someone had enlarged a normal family car to the point that its roof was as tall as an SUV or a full sized pickup truck's cab, while the wheels and bottom of the car hadn't moved.
"It would appear that they're trying to get business with various animal-people," I commented.
"Yes," Molly nodded, "and I thought you should look. It's not what we've been looking for, but then it would allow us to drive on our own."
"Does it say anything on the fuel economy?" I wondered.
"The main engine is actually one normally used in pickups, to get the necessary horse power to get the vehicle to go, but the vehicle is actually custom ordered," Molly answered, "it isn't being displayed on lots. Apparently their deal is you go to the dealership, place the order, the dealership sends the order to the factory responsible, and they make it and ship it back to the dealer... but in the process of this, you can define what sort of engine you want. We could even get one that runs on hydrogen rather then gasoline!"
You nodded to that. A lot of energy and "go green" people had trumpeted the use of a hydrogen fuel cell rather then gasoline for cars, but to a certain extent you had been on the fence on the idea. Not because it was a bad idea. The best thing America could do to solve its oil crises would be to find a fuel that wasn't oil. The problem was that no one wanted to pay for building the fueling stations for the hydrogen fuel cells, which meant that there were few of them. The most practical "green" alternative to fuels was still an electric motor that one could plug in to charge the batteries on it. But they were notoriously underpowered, and considering that the Furtopia was a vehicle much larger then a normal car and would be carrying passengers much heavier then normal people, it would likely wear down even faster.
"There aren't any hydrogen fuel stations out here," I sighed, "our best option might just be to get a normal car's V6 engine. We won't get the horsepower needed to get all the way to highway speeds, but looking at the picture... the thing could be a roll-over risk."
"So are SUVs," Molly pointed out.
"Yes, but this Furtopia is essentially a tall and long car," I pointed out, "the wheels are the same size a normal car's wheel, but the cab area is enlarged to carry taller people, as a result you have something that will catch a lot of wind... and because of the width of lanes on the road, they can't widen the car to compensate for the added height. Going sixty to seventy-five miles an hour on a tight turn in that thing would be dangerous, even on a day without wind."
"I think they said they've put added weight in the bottom of the vehicle to weigh it down," Molly informed me.
"I'm not entirely opposed to it," I sighed, "This car might enable us to drive on our own again and we wouldn't need to interrupt your Uncle's or Dave's lives to get a ride."
Molly then nodded, "And you said a V6 would be best?"
"Yes," I nodded, "it'd mean we'd be underpowered when it comes to the strength/weight ratio, but that would probably be helpful in the safety of the vehicle."
"So, should we go with it?" Molly wondered.
"Let's check the price first and make sure our garage is big enough to fit that thing," I told her.
Molly scrolled down a bit and we found what would be the typical dimensions of the Furtopia that was being sold to Animal People of comparable size to Molly and I. By their records they'd only sold a handful so far. I would need to double check the dimensions of the area in our garage available, but it did look like it would just fit. The price, however, was a different story.
"Nuts," I grumbled when I saw the price listed.
"We could manage it... right?" Molly wondered. She didn't like the price either, but I did get the sense that she wanted to be able to drive again.
"That I would think would depend on what sort of deal the banks will come up with," I sighed, "because we'll definitely need a loan to pay for that."