Molly and I quietly marveled at the Transit that sat before us. It was a tall vehicle, taller then my Ranger had been and was slightly longer. This was obviously done to insure that Molly and I could sit in it and reach the appropriate pedals comfortably. It's size wouldn't make it easy for a human to pilot the vehicle, but there were features that eased that. I thought I remembered seeing specific features that would put the gas, brakes, and parking break controls on a specialized panel on the steering wheel, which would allow a human to raise the seat to look over the dashboard and steering wheel and not have to worry about the pedals. Molly and I hadn't bought that version, as we didn't need it.
The van was painted black in color. From things I've read, many of these Transits were normally painted white, but they did come in other colors. And when Molly and I filled out the paperwork that determined the exact details of the vehicle, we put down black as the color for it. The road that led to our cabin was a dirt road and we figured that mud and dirt would stand out on a white vehicle a lot easier then it would on some other color.
"Man... you guys could drive you, your twins, with me, Nessie, and Frank in the last set of seats," Meredeth spoke as she looked in.
"That might allow George and I to repay you and Uncle Frank for the help you've provided us up until now," Molly said to her cousin, "driving George and I around."
"We might be able to take you and your sister to Peoria," I added, "You could meet my parents."
"I'd hope they come out in time to be there when your cubs are born," Meredeth countered, "and if they do, Nessie and I would be more then glad to meet them."
"I think they well," Molly nodded, "though we haven't gotten an exact due date yet. Mostly, both us and Doctor Wainwright are guessing at a six month pregnancy. Which would put their birthday at June twenty fifth, if things are accurate... though things can always go short or over by a day or two."
"A lot of that will depend on whether or not my dad can get the time off," I spoke, "that, we can not predict. Hopefully things go well and he can get the time off."
Meredeth nodded and climbed into the back seat of the Transit we had bought, and we could soon hear her buckling in. While she did that, I turned to Molly.
"So, I suppose the only thing left to do would be to decide who drives home," I commented to Molly, "Do you wish to drive, or should I?"
"You drive," Molly spoke, "My license is still from out of state. It's valid, but from out of state. I don't want to create any confusion."
"I don't believe it would," I shrugged, "if we were only visiting here, our licenses would be from outside of Montana."
"Yes... but we live here now," Molly answered, "you're an officer here, George, wouldn't you be suspicious of someone you and Officer Barnes pull over and he doesn't have a license from this state and claims to be a resident?"
"Only if the license wasn't valid... such as expiration or it was under suspension or revocation, but those would be issues no mater what state the license was made in," I shrugged.
"Still... George, you drive," Molly urged, "I'll wait until a Montana Driver's License. We'll just have to check when the DMV people come into Columbia Falls."
"Okay then," I sighed, "I can drive."
Molly then made her way to the passenger side door and climbed in. As I moved around to the front of the Transit, I looked back to Mr. Johnston, who had sold us the van.
"Thank you, again," I said to him.
"No, thank you," Mr. Johnston answered politely, "have a good day."
I then climbed into the driver's seat and began to fit the seat so that I could drive the vehicle without difficulty. The seat was comfortable and hole in the back of the seat for my tail was comfortable. That was a good feature to have with any chair. Most chairs and couches that Molly and I had found that could support our weight had backs to them. We could sit it them, but this meant moving our tails around to our sides. Letting it go straight behind us would result in the bulk of our muscle mass pressing down on our tails right where they met our backsides. Our tails would then painfully protest against the weight put on them. So, we commonly set our tails to one side of our bodies when we sat down. This Transit's seats, however, allowed us to keep our tails straight behind us. Even if it wasn't a necessary feature for Molly and I, it was still a welcome one.
However, having it that way didn't always go as planned. I had just put the key in the admission when I felt a hand wrap around my tail and give it a soft tug. Molly gave a startled grunt, which indicated that she had felt someone tug on her tail too. I glanced back to see Meredeth sitting behind us, buckled in, and looking very mischievous. She was of course the only one who could have pulled on our tails and apparently couldn't resist the opportunity to pull a prank.
"And I suppose you think that is funny?" I asked to her.
"Well... they put in such a nice tail pulling feature on these seats," Meredeth snickered, "all I need to do is reach forward and pull."
"I think the seats were specifically designed for Animal People with a thicker tail then George and I do," Molly commented, "someone who'd become something like a large Python species, an Anaconda, or some large Crocodile species couldn't tuck their tails to their side like George and I can and would need the space to either let their tail rest or coil on the floor."
"Still good for a practical joke," Meredeth said with a smile as I began to drive out slowly.
Going slow was for the moment to get used to the Transit's size and how well it handled. Many of the controls didn't seem to be too drastically different from the way the Ranger's had been, and most of the differences between the two came from the fact that the Transit was much newer and that they were different vehicles. The Ranger was a small to mid-sized truck. The Transit was a full sized van, or "people carrier" as Mr. Johnston had put it when we first filled out the paperwork to buy the vehicle.
"Or give us training," Molly quipped.
"Training?" Meredeth wondered.
"Based off of some nature programs we've seen, we think our cubs' favorite toy will be our tails," Molly gave a chuckle, "you know... kill move on mom's bum..."
"So I have permission to keep tugging?" Meredeth wondered with a snicker.
"No," I answered, "don't make me pull this vehicle over!"
"Ah... getting into parenting mode already," Meredeth laughed.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The ride back to Columbia Falls went fairly well. Pushing the pedals with just the pads of my feet was a slightly different sensation from the way I had driven in the past. And it was different from the way I had driven when I was human. When a human drives a vehicle, his heal is commonly on the floor near the pedal and acts as a balance point for the rest of the foot when driving. This balanced with how humans walk. They hold a plantigrade stance where their heal touches the ground when they walk and when they stand. Molly and I after our transformations have a digitigrade foot, a long arch, which meant that our heals were in the air when we stood up. As a result of that, pushing on the gas and brake pedals revolved around pushing a leg forward and pulling it back to ease off on either pedal.
The Transit had a cruise control feature, but since this was the first time I was driving on mountain roads, I decided to go without using that feature to get a better feel for the road. And for the most part it did very well. We didn't skid or slide anywhere on the way. The only difficulty was that the Transit did feel the slight breeze blowing outside catching it. And there the vehicle's height did make itself obvious. The wind wasn't bad enough that there would be a problem, and the Transit did remain stable, but I could still feel the wind buffet the van as we drove.
"It rides mighty well," Molly commented.
"Wait till you get to the dirt roads that head out to the ranch and your cabin," Meredeth commented, "then we'll see how well you handle the pot holes and so forth."
"Don't they fix those?" I wondered.
"Oh they do... by pouring more dirt and gravel to fill the holes, then when the loading trucks come in to transport the cattle that are sold, or when it rains real hard, those potholes are exposed again," Meredeth shrugged, "that's just the way things go. I think Beauregard was about to pay someone to have the road that went to his home and ranch paved when his... "extracurricular" activities got the better of him."
That was the polite way of saying, when he got arrested for hiring and planning what was the attempted assassination of Leona. It was good that he was gone and in jail for life, and with Hireman gone, and the organization that had made R.A.M. gone, Molly's and my cubs would be able to grow up healthy and happy in a world that would hopefully give them some chance at success. I was still grateful to Frank Rhoer for stopping Beauregard from killing me and then finishing off Officer Barnes.
The roads didn't turn out to be too bad, in terms of potholes. We could still feel they were there, but the Transit did reasonably well. That seemed to confirm that it's suspension did a good enough job. We pulled over to the side of the road in front of the home that the Rhoer family shared. There Meredeth got out and then came up to the passenger's side window. Molly rolled it down as Meredeth arrived.
"Congratulations again on your good news," Meredeth smiled, "would you mind if I told Nessie and my dad?"
"Go ahead," Molly answered, "I'm sure we'll be telling everyone we know shortly."
"Thank you for driving us down," I spoke, "we'll need to find some way to repay you."
"There's no need," Meredeth replied, "If anything, we're repaying you... unless you two want to start a real pride of tigers here..."
"George is MINE," Molly repeated the line she used whenever Meredeth or Nessie had made jokes about coming on to me. Both of them ended up chuckling at the end of it though.
"I know," Meredeth smiled, "Congratulations, again Molly."
Meredeth then went in toward the Rhoer home and Molly and I began our drive up toward Bandhavgarh Cabin. It was still there and stood peacefully with a small pink heart that one of Molly's students had made and given to Molly for Valentines Day taped to the inside of one of the windows.
"And now the test to see if we fit," I commented as I parked in front of the garage door.
"I got it," Molly said quickly and hopped out, "hold on a moment."
She got out, shut the passenger door and approached the garage door. She then easily lifted it and then stood to a side. Once it was up and Molly was safely away from the bumper, I slowly pulled forward. The caution was to make sure that the Transit would actually fit in our garage. Thankfully, it did, though only just barely. As I got out, Molly shut the garage door behind the vehicle.
"I don't think we can invest in an automatic opener," I commented as I looked a the rails that the garage door rode on.
The Transit was short enough that it fit under the main rafter beams in the garage, as Michael York had had it specially constructed to fit Molly's and my height while standing up. The garage door, however, didn't go that high and there were a series of metal rails that the door rode on when being opened or closed that were suspended from the ceiling. The Transit's roof was only foot shorter then the garage door's railings.
"And we just barely fit in terms of length," Molly commented from where she was, "we got about six inches between the back bumper and the door!"
I had nodded. We had actually had the same situation with my Ranger. The solution to the issue of space related to the use of space in the garage. Our cabin and garage ran on a north to south axis. All the tools and things needed for either home maintenance were on the north end of our garage and our deep freeze was on the south end. That left the entire middle area for the Ranger at first and then the Transit.
"So long as we fit," I answered, "that's all that matters."
"So what shall we do now?" Molly wondered, "we both have today off."
"I'd say we tell my folks how many grandchildren they're going to have," I commented as I made my way around the front of the Transit.
Molly smiled and went in. I followed close behind her. The first place we went was to our bedroom where our cabin's main phone line was. I let Molly dial, and from there, she dialed my parent's home phone number. There was a brief moment of silence before I heard my mom answer on the other end. It would obviously be her, as my father was likely still working.
"Hello, Wayne residence," Polly Wayne spoke.
"Hey, mom, it's me, Molly," Molly spoke, "I'm calling with a bit of an update for you."
"Are you showing yet?" Polly Wayne asked immediately, sounding excited.
"Not in any way that you would notice," Molly answered, "but things are doing well."
"Does your doctor know for certain when you're due?" Polly asked.
"Not for certain, but based off of Jacki's pregnancy we're expecting a six month pregnancy, which would mean I'd be due around June twenty fifth," Molly answered, "but that could only be a guess."
"That'll help, dear, your father and I will try to be there for you and George," Polly Wayne answered.
Her reference to Molly as is she were her daughter had more to do with my mother's approval of our relationship. Molly was a Rhoer by birth and a Wayne by marriage. However, when Molly had transformed, her parents acted like their daughter was dead. We had left those Rhoers behind and would show them how to raise children... if they ever came out to Bandhavgarh. But because Molly's biological parents had essentially abandoned her, my mother and father had essentially claimed an "adoptive" status for Molly after our marriage.
"He has the time off?" I wondered.
Molly repeated the question for me, in case my mother didn't hear me.
"He'll be working to arrange it," Polly Wayne answered, "we won't know for sure yet."
"Hopefully you and dad can make it," I stated.
"We hope so too," Polly Wayne spoke, "so, what do you have for an update?"
"I had my first ultrasound today!" Molly announced, "we don't know the genders yet, but we do know how large my litter will be."
"Oh? How big is it? How many sets of blankets do I need to send to you?" Polly Wayne asked, again sounding excited about our baby news.
"Two sets," Molly answered, "I'm having twins!"
"Oh congratulations!" Polly Wayne cheered through her end of the phone conversation, "I'm so happy for you and George!"
"So are we," Molly answered, "so are we!"