Clemens quietly made his way into the guest room that he and Jenny shared. Being in Columbia Falls again was nice, and Clemens enjoyed seeing Joseph again, and Jenny did enjoy seeing the sights of the town. Things hadn't changed all that terribly much, but at times that was a good thing in comparison the hub-bub that went along with big cities. He found that Jenny was already getting changed. For the moment she was only in her underwear and a small bag set on the bed that had things such as her specific brand of soap, deodorant, and perfume.
"What do you think I should wear?" Jenny asked as she applied deodorant under her arms, "Formal? Semi-Formal? Casual?"
"From what Jossseph hass told me, what you wear issssn't too bad," Clemens commented, "George and Molly are rather laid back when they don't have to be "formal." The clothesssss they wear isss ssilk, but that'ss mosstly to reducce the itching on their skin."
Jenny nodded. She'd enjoyed watching the "Animal Tales" as many had, and she had seen several of the news reports when either a local celebrity decided to become an Animal Person or when an Animal Person come up with something new, and in comparison to Montana, which had only had a handful of Animal People, Florida had a decent sized Animal person population. Many of them had become mammals and a few had even become birds. Jenny had even met a couple of them as part of her own work, and they had made the mention that most cloth irritated their fur or feathers. Clemens didn't have that problem, or at least not as much, as most cloth wasn't harsh enough to move his scales, but that was a different issue.
"I'd think something more than jeans and a tee-shirt," Jenny commented, "We will be guests, after all."
Clemens nodded watched as Jenny pulled a dark colored skirt and a polo shirt and set them on the bed. Before putting them on, she began looking through her perfumes. She continued shuffling through them as Clemens took off the pants and shirt he had been wearing as part of the tour. They weren't too bad, but definitely too dirty to wear to visit someone else's home. He also placed down a white golf shirt and began to pull on a clean pair of khaki pants.
"I wouldn't wear anything too ssstrong," Clemens commented, in reference to Jenny's perfume, "I'm ssure they don't mind the ssssccccccent of perfumessss..."
"But given the sensitivity of their noses we don't want to over power them..." Jenny nodded, and then thought for a moment, "Does it bother you much? I mean you've even said that your sense of smell works best through your tongue... so you're not just smelling my perfume you're tasting my perfume..."
"I do not mind," Clemens asked, "but then we are engaged... and I actually enjoy the mixture of your scent and your perfume."
Jenny glanced over as she felt a scaly limb touch her back and then slowly slide up to her shoulders. Based on the wide belly scales, she could tell it was Clemens' tail, and it was soon draped over her shoulders like a bola. She shook her head and looked over her shoulder as Clemens buttoned the fly that was part of the back of his pants. They had a good tailor that had made the comment that while pants and shorts could be "cut" to allow Clemens to wear pants with his broad and muscular tail, but that would mean that eventually the pants would become impossible to wear as the seems came apart.
"We need to focus, Clemens," Jenny gave a slight chuckle and pushed the limb off of her shoulders and then stood up to straighten her skirt.
"Of coursssse," Clemens gave a shrug and resumed dressing.
Once they were changed and ready, they made their way back downstairs as Joseph Patten was finishing his own preparations, which included making sure the doors were locked. He turned toward them as they approached.
"So are you both ready?" Joseph asked.
"Yes, and I'm all shades of nervous," Jenny commented, "I mean... Clemens tells me a lot about what he hears from you... and a lot of it seems to be about Columbia Falls' resident tigers."
Joseph gave a low shrug, "Well... to be honest, I've dedicated so much of my life to protecting the kids... and I mean REALLY protecting them, not making racist policies and calling it protection... and making sure that they have a good future, that I really haven't had many close relationships that could be considered real friends. I've had allies and perhaps one could say followers, but few real friends. But... despite being an animal that is generally rather solitary, Molly does look for friendship, especially with those of us that didn't treat her like a man-eater or circus animal. And she is not only a good teacher but a very kind person, and she deserved to have more friends than George and their immediate neighbors."
Jenny nodded, "Can I ask how cute their kids are?"
"Cubss," Clemens corrected, "Tigersss have cubss."
"Details, details," Jenny replied, "How cute are they?"
"They are perhaps the cutest cubs/babies I've ever seen," Joseph gave a friendly smile.
"They might be the only babiesss you've ever seen," Clemens teased.
"Alright... that's enough of that," Joseph gave a reply, "Let us go."
Clemens and Jenny both chuckled a little bit at the response and began to head out. As they did so, Clemens pulled out the keys to the rental car that he and Jenny had rented when they had arrived in Kalispell after a long flight to Helena and then a small connecting flight to Kalispell. As he approached the vehicle, he handed the keys to Joseph.
"I'll let you drive," Clemens spoke, "it will sssave having to do back sseat driving."
Joseph nodded and climbed into the driver's seat. While he adjusted the seat, Clemens and Jenny climbed into the back seat. Clemens had to sit at an angle to accommodate his tail, but he did manage and Jenny actually looked rather excited, like a kid going to a candy store. The drive didn't take too long, though it did go beyond the town and went into the more rural areas around Columbia Falls. As they went up the hill that lead up to George and Molly's cabin, Joseph pointed out a couple of the ranches in the area, some because the kids of the ranch owners went to school and a handful due to major reputations.
"Didn't you ssssay oncccce that a guy wasss sssetting up a vineyard up here?" Clemens asked.
"Yeah, that's Tabitha Choir's husband, but that's further up the mountain," Joseph answered, "And we're now at our destination."
Clemens looked out to see a relatively modest sized cabin. It was two stories and almost looked like it could have been something out of the eighteen hundreds and yet looked modern at the same time. Much of that was done through the finish on the wood and the fact that it had been mechanically sanded so that the wood was smooth. There were no lights on inside the cabin, but with the long summer days still going, there was still some sunlight above and behind them, and it was guessed that there was no need to turn any lights on.
"And here we are," Joseph commented, "and we'll be able to discuss and reminisce over things that are pleasant."
"Amen," Clemens replied.