II
Meeting the Panthera Family
Three days later, Leo and Tigresa were standing on either side of the sarcophagus and peering through the Plexiglas window at Michael.
Tigresa said, “Leo, the serum doesn’t seem to be working.”
“Give it more time, Tigresa. Technically, it’s still three hours before the full 72 hours have passed. Let’s do something else until then.”
After looking at the clock, Tigresa said, “You’re right, Leo. I guess I’m excited to possibly meet a human from the pre-Humanimal era.”
Leo laughed and said, “Are you sure it isn’t because he’s a rather attractive human?”
Looking at Leo with utter shock, Tigresa said, “Leo! How could you even remotely imply that? I’ve never even considered a human as a mate and you know it! But, now that you mention it, he is attractive. It might not be a good idea to bring him home with us. Victoria will probably flirt with him shamelessly.” She and Leo laughed uproariously.
Michael could hear their voices as they discussed him but, their voices seemed muffled to him. He couldn’t understand why this was the case.
Michael’s brain was saying, “Open your eyes. You’re awake now; so, open your eyes.”
Slowly, Michael opened his eyes. As his eyes opened, he could see the Plexiglas screen in front of him. He also saw two faces looking through the screen at him. At first, the faces were completely out of focus; all he could make out was a head attached to a body on the right and another head attached to a body on the left. His brain told him that there was something strange about the heads; something he couldn’t quite put his finger on.
As his eyes slowly regained their ability to focus, Michael heard hydraulic pumps starting to activate and he remembered Dr. Broadhurst telling him that, if he was cured of the virus, the hydraulic pistons would automatically open the lid of the sarcophagus.
“I must be cured.” Michael thought.
Just at that moment, Michael’s eyes regained complete focus and he could see the faces. The face on the right was a lion and the one on the left a tiger. Michael screamed and tried to force the lid back down. “No, no, no! Go away! Please go away! Please don’t eat me! I’ve just woken up; give me a chance to live for a little while!”
Leo looked at Tigresa with a questioning look. “Why would we eat him?” He asked.
Michael saw a look of confusion on Tigresa’s face and then she brightened. “Leo, look at us. He sees a lion, you, and a tiger, me. He was put in the stasis field about 500 years before the humanimals were created. We need to talk soothingly to him.”
Turning her attention to him, Tigresa said, “Michael, calm down. We aren’t going to eat you.”
“Please don’t eat me! If you do, I’ll—I’ll—I’ll give you indigestion. Yeah!”
Leo said, “Michael, calm down, please. We don’t eat intelligent creatures and, despite the stupid things they’ve done in the past, humans are intelligent creatures.”
As Leo spoke, it hadn’t dawned on Michael that he was able to understand everything they were saying. Suddenly, he realized that he was carrying on a conversation with a lion, a lion in a lab coat, and wearing glasses. He looked from Leo to Tigresa and back again and thought, “I’m talking to a lion and a tiger. I’m talking to a lion and a tiger. I’M TALKING TO A LION AND A TIGER!”
In an excited voice, Michel said, “Wait a minute! How am I talking to you!?” Pointing to Leo, he said, “You’re a lion!” Pointing to Tigresa, he said, “And you’re a . . .” He looked at Tigresa’s chest, paused for a second, and continued, “A tigress! What’s going on!?”
Tigresa said, “Nice of you to notice, Michael.”
“If you’ll calm down and give us a minute, we’ll be more than happy to explain,” Leo said.
“Okay, I’ll calm down until you finish explaining, then I’ll panic!”
Tigresa laughed softly and said, “Fair enough. Do you remember Dr. Broadhurst?”
Michael paused as he thought before saying, “Yes. He put me into this sarcophagus. I was to stay in stasis until I was cured of the HEV.” He thought for a couple of seconds before continuing. “Have I been cured?”
Leo said, “Yes. It took a long time, a very long time; but we finally found the cure. We administered it to you and your body did the rest.”
“Uh, exactly how long did it take and why?”
“How long? About twenty thousand years. Why did it take so long? There were many mitigating circumstances. Among them a war that lasted over 25 years in which humanimals fought against humans for basic rights and an ice age that lasted almost ten thousand years.”
Michael paused, looking at them in turn. Almost in a whisper, he said, “Twenty thousand . . . twenty thousand years!? An ice age? How was my sarcophagus powered during those millennia?”
“That’s a long story, Michael. We’ll explain later if that’s all right with you.”
“All right. But, how, what, when? Augh! I’m so confused! How am I talking to a lion and a tigress!?”
Tigresa said, “Well, that’s one of the things that we need to explain.” She paused for a few seconds before continuing. “Let’s see. When the HEV became rampant, it didn’t work the way that the creators thought it would.”
“What do you mean?”
Leo interrupted and said, “Excuse me, Tigresa. While you explain things to Michael, I’m going to inform Dr. Tilacino of Michael’s recovery and obtain the necessary papers to take him home with us. Michael, she may want to meet you so don’t be surprised if she accompanies me when I return.”
Tigresa said, “Of course, Leo.”
Michael replied, “Yes, sir.”
Tigresa continued with her explanation, “The virus didn’t kill every human it infected. In fact, it only killed 0.013% of those it infected. However, it sterilized about another 0.024%. The other 99.963% were completely unaffected; at least, they showed no signs of being affected. Of course, this doesn’t sound like a lot of people but, these deaths were above the natural death rate. So, the death rate was higher, albeit only slightly higher, than the birth rate. Add to this the possibility of all of the sterile people marrying someone who isn’t sterile and you have a potential 0.048% of the population not bearing children, further increasing the death rate, although that would be an exaggeration; I believe the actual percentage of humans not bearing children was around 0.033%. With the people dying faster than they were being born, scientists feared the human species would become extinct. There were two schools of thought on how to prevent this potential extinction. The first school wanted to find a cure; the second thought that creating a new species to replace humans was the best idea. The second group was further divided into two groups. One group thought that genetic manipulation of lower animals was the best way to go, although they acknowledged that it could take millions of years before the new species was ready to take over. The second group thought that genetic splicing of human and animal DNA was the best, and fastest, way to go. The second school of the second group finally won out and, after almost five hundred years of experimentation and study, the first Humanimal was created by splicing human and animal DNA.”
“Wait a minute. Splicing human and animal DNA? I had always been told that was impossible. Humans and a very few other animal species have 23 pairs of chromosomes, all other animals have more or less than that. Plus, the corresponding DNA sequences is in different locations in animals and humans.”
“That’s true. What the scientists did was they found the important and matching information from the animal DNA and, after splitting the human chromosomes longitudinally, matched the animal genetic sequences with the corresponding human genetic sequences. It was a long and difficult process which is why it took over five hundred years to complete the hybridization. When the first Humanimal DNA was created, human women were asked to volunteer to be surrogate mothers of the Humanimal babies. As strange as it may sound, there were literally millions of women who volunteered. Of course, the financial incentives may have had a lot to do with those volunteers. Even facing extinction, humans were most easily motivated by financial gain over saving human civilization.
“The reason human females were chosen as surrogate mothers is because, since human babies are among the largest in comparison with mother size, human women had evolved a two-piece pelvis held together by strong, yet pliable, ligaments in the front and to the sacrum in the back. This allows the pelvis to spread apart to allow the large baby to pass through into the birth canal. Since the Humanimal baby is only slightly smaller than a fully human baby and, therefore, significantly larger than an animal baby, the human surrogate mothers were required. It’s also the reason that multiple births among Humanimal women are as rare as among human women.”
“Why?”
“Well, the pelvis of most female animals is a solid girdle of bone. The two-piece pelvis being unnecessary because the animal babies are relatively small in comparison to the mother. In other words, an animal’s pelvis doesn’t separate to allow large babies to be born. Which is part of the reason that a lot of smaller dog and cat breeds have to be birthed through what you called Caesarian Section. Consequently, a baby the size of a human would die during birth and, as a result of the mother not being able to expel the baby, the mother would die as well.”
“Oh, okay. So, human females carried the first Humanimal babies to term and gave birth to them. What happened next?”
“The human mothers, most of whom were either unmarried or unattached completely, reared the babies to adulthood. At first, they got a lot of strange, or even downright hateful, looks from the humans. The human females were called all sorts of vile names and accusations of their sexual activity was rampant, even though they were only surrogates. Humans then, and to a lesser extent now, were bigoted against any human that chose to have a baby that wasn’t completely human. Most of the humans either didn’t understand why the humanimals were created or didn’t care. They would prefer humans to go extinct than assist in bringing forth the next intelligent species. In fact, the first Humanimal born was murdered by humans who were opposed to their creation. Their reasoning being that God had created humans and God was killing them off. They refused to accept the possibility that their God had inspired humans to create the humanimals. In fact, the human that was responsible for the murder of the first Humanimal died while on the witness stand for his murder trial. It’s said that the last words he spoke were, ‘If I’m wrong, may God strike me dead here and now.’ He had a massive myocardial infarction just as he finished saying that. Oh, in case you didn’t know, that’s a heart attack.”
Michael laughed and said, “Yes, ma’am. I know that.
“But, humans have always been like that, Mrs. Panthera. Unfortunately, we’re an overly self-centered species.”
“Please, I’m Dr. Tigresa, Michael.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And don’t ma’am me. After all, you are over 20,000 years older than I am.”
“Sorry, it’s the way I was brought up. Even though I’m technically older than you, I definitely don’t look even as old as . . .” Michael paused.
Tigresa gave Michael a hard look and said, “Yes?”
“Ah. Nothing. Nothing at all.”
“I didn’t think so.” She said, smiling.
Tigresa continued, “You’re going to need a lot of education before we can let you loose on society.”
“What kind of education, Dr. Tigresa?”
“You’ll need to learn our history, societal norms, acceptable and unacceptable social practices, what to expect as a human in a Humanimal society, what is expected of you, etc. You are going to be a novelty, Michael. Here in Catlanna, there are less than 25,000 humans. You can try to find a human to be your mate; but it would likely be easier for you to find a Humanimal woman that would accept you and, believe me, there are plenty of Humanimal women who would consider you to be very attractive and desirable enough to want to be your mate.”
“Oh, no! No, no, no, no, no! No offense Dr. Tigresa but, that is something I can’t, CAN’T, even consider doing.”
“Michael, things have changed a lot since you were put into stasis. Things that you consider illegal or sinful are no longer illegal nor sinful. Besides, we humanimals aren’t animals that look human; we’re humans that look like animals. We have 23 pairs of chromosomes in our DNA, all of us. Even though we say we’re different species, we’re actually different races of the same species.”
“Different races? What do you mean?”
“Like the different races of the Homo Sapiens species are the same species, even though they look different from each other, so the different races of the Homo Sapiens Humanimalus species are the same species. In other words, I look like a tiger and Leo looks like a lion and, technically, we are. However, unlike our feral cousins, the cubs that Leo and I have and will produce aren’t ligers, they’re lion-tiger humanimals. Unlike the ligers that you knew, our cubs don’t continue growing their whole lives. They will stop growing when they are around 20 to 25 years old.”
“How big is that?”
“It depends on the genetics, mostly human genetics. The mixture of the chromosomes makes us a real mixture of races. For example, the largest of the Humanimal races are the bears, lions, tigers, hyenas, and wolves, who average between 6’0” and 6’9” in height; the smallest, for the most part, are the rodents, lagomorphs, insectivores, smaller carnivores, etc., who average between 5’0” and 5’3” in height; the rest of the Humanimal races come in between these and there are exceptions to these rules. I’ve heard of a lion that was only 5’4” tall and I’ve heard of a mole that was 6’1” tall. Plus, different sub-species within a species can be an exception. These so-called aberrations are, for the most part, caused by the human portion of the DNA, although if the Humanimal’s ancestor was, for example, a Sumatran tiger, the smallest tiger subspecies known to have existed, or sun bear, plus the human ancestor came from a race that wasn’t overly tall, that person likely wouldn’t be a very large Humanimal. Whereas, if someone was of Siberian tiger or polar bear ancestry, plus they carry genes from a human race that’s normally tall like the Nordic race or certain African races, that person would be overly tall. Do you understand what I’m saying, Michael?”
“I think so. Humanimals run the gamut of size just as humans did when I was growing up.”
“Exactly.”
“So, may I ask you a somewhat personal question?”
“You can ask but don’t expect an answer.”
“Fair enough.”
“How human are humanimals?”
Dr. Tigresa looked shocked. “What exactly are you asking me?”
“Well, you remember that animals didn’t normally wear clothing when I was growing up. Needless to say, I know what they looked like.”
“Michael, that is a question that is too personal and I’m not going to answer it. I can hardly believe you asked it.”
“Well, Dr. Tigresa, you did say that I might have to consider a Humanimal for a mate.”
“That’s true. I tell you what. Why don’t you wait until our tutor arrives and you can ask her that question? If the tutor deems it important enough to divulge the answer, you’ll be told.”
“I guess I can’t expect anything more than that.”
*****
Dr. Leo returned, accompanied by Dr. Tilacino, and said, “Michael, this is Dr. Tilacino, the head of the hospital. She wanted to meet you to determine if you’re fit to leave.”
Dr. Tilacino said, “Hello Michael, I’m glad to finally meet you and talk to you.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“How do you feel? Do you feel dizzy or disoriented?”
“Well, ma’am, I feel disoriented but it’s because I was more than a little surprised to find how much the world has changed since I was put into stasis. But, other than that, I feel fine.”
Turning to Leo and Tigresa, Dr. Tilacino said, “You’ve given him the standard observation since he awoke, I assume.”
Leo answered, “Yes, ma’am. Other than an unexpected irrational fear of me and Tigresa, he hasn’t acted out of the ordinary for any human.”
“Well, as far as I’m concerned, you’re free to go whenever and wherever you want to go as long as you’re feeling all right.”
Michael responded, “Really? That’s nice to know. But I’m surprised your government doesn’t want to keep me for ‘observation’.” Michael used his fingers to make air quotes as he said observation.
Leo said, “What do you mean, Michael?”
“Well, during my lifetime, if someone like me showed up, the government would take him into ‘protective custody’ to supposedly protect him from society.”
Dr. Tilacino laughed and said, “Humanimal governments aren’t nearly as paranoid as they were when you grew up. So, how do you feel?”
“Physically, I feel as fit as a fiddle. I don’t feel like I’ve got a fever or any other aches or pains; however, I don’t have anywhere to go.”
Leo and Tigresa looked at each other for a second, then Leo said, “Michael, the offer I made earlier wasn’t an empty one; why don’t you come home with Tigresa and me. We’ve got plenty of room and I’m sure our cubs would love to have another playmate around.”
“Playmate!? Are you joking? I’m 22 years old and . . .”
Leo said, “Ah, ah, ah. You’re 20,022 years old, Michael. Don’t forget how long you’ve been asleep.”
Michael laughed and said, “Excuse me. I’m 20,022 years old. I think I’m a little old to be someone’s playmate.”
All three of the doctors laughed at his statement. Dr. Tigresa said, “Michael, since you’ve got no other place to go, just come on home with us. You can stay there until you can get a job and support yourself. Then, if you want to move out, Leo, the cubs, and I will help you find a place to live and help you to move.” Dr. Tilacino excused herself and returned to her office.
Michael thought over the offer for several seconds and then said, “You make a very valid point, Dr. Tigresa. All right, I’ll stay with you until I can be brought up to date on how life is today and I can find a job. But I want to do both of these as quickly as possible. I hate the thought of being a burden on anyone.”
Leo said, “Michael, trust me when I say you won’t be a burden. Between the paychecks that Tigresa and I bring home, we make plenty to support five more at our home, plus, our home is rather large. You’ll see when we get there. Come on.”
Leo turned to Tigresa and said, “Dr. Tilacino gave the two of us the rest of the day off so we could get our new ward settled in at home.”
Tigresa hooked her arm through Leo’s and grabbed Michael’s hand with her free one. “Come on, Michael.” She said. “It’s time you met your brand-new siblings.” She laughed a relatively high-pitched laugh, which seemed out of place from the throat of a tigress, eliciting laughs from Dr. Leo and Michael.
**********
Amanda was sitting on the couch in her home. She was fidgeting like a drop of water on a hot griddle. For the last three days, she had been excited and wanted to tell someone why. However, due to the fact that she wanted to tell everybody in her family at the same time, she was having a hard time with her elation. Finally, the front door to her home opened and her parents entered.
“Daddy!” Amanda said in an enthusiastic voice. She jumped off the couch and ran to give her father a big hug.
Amanda’s father, Jacob(2), held his arms open so Amanda could hug him like she always did when he returned from a business trip. “Hey, Sweetie. You sure seem happier than you normally are when I return. What’s up?” Jacob was followed by his wife, Ophelia(3). Amanda conspicuously didn’t give her mother a hug.
Amanda said, “I want to tell you something but I want to tell everybody at the same time.”
“All right,” Jacob called out. “Everybody, I’m home!”
Almost immediately, five other kits ranging in age from 3 to 15 came running into the living room. Each one hugging Jacob in turn from the oldest to the youngest. Jacob reached down and picked up the youngest who kissed her dad on the cheek and hugged his neck.
Ophelia, who was three months pregnant, looked at Amanda and said to Jacob, “She’s been jumpy for the last three days, Jacob. She wouldn’t tell me why. She only said that she wanted to tell everybody after you got back from Gnawleans.”
Jacob looked at his daughter and said, “Well, we’re all here. What’s your news?”
“Daddy, I got the job. I’m the personal secretary to Mr. Blaidd.” Amanda said, excitedly.
Jacob and Ophelia were surprised for completely different reasons. Jacob said, “Did I hear you right? Edward’s personal secretary?”
“Yes sir. I was just hoping to be in the secretarial pool but, Mrs. Impisi said my test scores were good enough to qualify for the personal secretary position. Can you believe it!?”
Ophelia said, “No, Amanda. You’re NOT going to take that job.”
“Why not, Mother?”
“Because a good wife doesn’t work outside the home. Therefore, I absolutely forbid you working.”
“Mother, as you’ve said so many times since I was a kit, I’m not likely to ever find a man who’s willing to marry someone who looks like me. So, I need to support myself and I refuse to do what you suggested and be either a porn actress or a prostitute.”
Ophelia looked at Jacob with mild fear in her eyes but she said, “I’ll find someone who’ll settle for someone who looks like you, Amanda. I’ll even find a fox. I’m sure there’s a fox who’ll marry you.”
Jacob said, “What is she talking about, Ophelia?”
“Jacob, you know how men see a mixed-species woman.”
“Ophelia, you and I both know that Amanda isn’t mixed species.”
“It doesn’t matter what we know, Jacob; it’s what everyone else thinks.”
Returning her attention to Amanda, Ophelia said, “Don’t worry, baby, mama will find you a good husband.”
“Mother! I don’t want to marry a man that you’d find for me. You’d probably find someone whom I’m not even remotely interested in or one so old that he can’t even breathe for himself and only wants to marry me because I’m significantly younger than he is. I’ll find my own husband. Thank you.”
Calmly, in an almost placating voice, Ophelia said, “Don’t talk back to your mother, Amanda. I said I’ll find someone for you and I’ll do it.”
Deciding to change the subject, Jacob said, “Let’s not worry about that right now. I say we need to celebrate Amanda’s good fortune. How about we go to the Blue Deer for dinner tonight?” Everybody, except Ophelia, cheered. “All right, then. Everybody get ready and we’ll leave around 11:00.”
**********
Drs. Leo and Tigresa accompanied by Michael left the lab and drove to their home. Upon entering the Panthera home, Dr. Leo escorted Mrs. Khomyak to his car and drove her home. Meanwhile, Dr. Tigresa called the cubs into the living room and introduced them to Michael.
“Michael, these are our cubs, Elizabeth, 14; Edward, 10; Mary, 6; and Anne, 2. We have two more, Richard, 21, and Victoria, 18(4). Richard and Victoria are at college and should be home in a few minutes.” Just as Dr. Tigresa mentioned Richard and Victoria, the door opened and they walked in.
“Everyone,” Dr. Tigresa said, “this is Michael Thomson. He’s going to be living with us for a while until he gets acclimated to our time.”
Richard said, “Michael? Mother, is he the Michael that was in the stasis sarcophagus at the lab?”
“Yes, he is, Richard.”
Richard said, “Wow! Michael, could you help me with my history? Right now, we’re studying the human era.”
“I’ll do my best, Richard.”
In a very leonine manner, Victoria slinked up to Michael and, slipping her arms around Michael’s waist, looked him in the eye and said, “You’re cute, Michael. Got a girlfriend?”
Michael laughed nervously, gently removed Victoria’s arms, and said, “Well, considering the fact that I have just awoken from a 20,000-year nap, I can honestly say that I don’t have a girlfriend.”
“Mmmm. I could be coerced into being your girlfriend.”
In a shocked voice, Dr. Tigresa said, “Victoria! Don’t be so forward! Michael is new to our time and home. Give him a chance to get settled in before you start coming on to him.”
Michael laughed nervously again. “Well, uh, Dr. Tigresa, there’s something that you seem to have forgotten.”
“What’s that, Michael?”
“Remember, when I was growing up, humanimals were nothing more than artwork and science fiction characters called anthropomorphic animals. Plus, in case you didn’t know, a human even remotely considering a relationship with an, uh, animal was, first of all, severely chastised and, second of all, arrested for bestiality.”
Victoria made a sick face. “Bestiality? Isn’t that where humans had sexual relations with a non-human four-legged animal?”
“Yes, it is, Victoria.”
“But,” she looked around, “we’re not animals. We’re hybrids. Our genetic makeup is half human and half animal.”
“I understand, Victoria. But, as I said, humanimals didn’t exist, except in the minds of writers and artists, when I was growing up. I know it probably sounds a bit prejudicial to you and, possibly, bigoted; but, when I look at you, I see your fur and head and those belong to your ancestral animal.”
Victoria looked sad as she said, “I’m sorry, Michael. I just wanted to help ease you into our time. I guess I was a bit overbearing.”
Michael replied, “I’m sorry, too, Victoria. I’ve always been a bit too honest for my own good. I tend to, uh, speak my mind without considering the potential consequences of doing so. I hope you’ll forgive me.”
Victoria smiled and said, “You are forgiven, Michael.” She looked at her mother quickly before adding. “So, when are we going out?”
Michael just rolled his eyes, causing Victoria to laugh uproariously. As Victoria laughed, Anne toddled over to him and reached her hands up toward him saying, “Mah’l. Mah’l. Beez u’. U’, beez.”
Michael looked down at her and back to Dr. Tigresa. “She wants you to pick her up, Michael.” Dr. Tigresa said.
Michael reached down, picked Anne up, and cradled her against his chest. Anne reached her finger out and tentatively touched his face. She turned back toward Dr. Tigresa and giggled as she pointed at his face. Michael looked at Dr. Tigresa questioningly. “She’s laughing because you don’t have facial fur. She’s never seen a human before.”
“Oh.” Michael turned back to Anne and said, “I’m a human, Anne. We don’t have fur anywhere on our body. All we have is hair on our head and,” he paused for a second as he considered exactly how to continue, “certain other parts of our body.”
“Hahma? Hayuh? No fuh?”
“That’s right, Anne.”
Mary, who was hiding behind her mother’s skirt, poked her head around her mother’s leg and yelled, “Leave my sister alone!”
Michael replied, “Mary, I’m not going to hurt Anne. I like cubs.”
“No! You’re a boy! Boys hurt girls!”
Michael looked at Dr. Tigresa again. She said, “Edward picks on Mary all the time. He’s even starting on Anne. He doesn’t pick on Elizabeth because he knows that Elizabeth will beat his behind if he tries.” Turning to Edward, she said, “Edward, what have I told you about picking on Mary? I want you to stop it.”
“But, Mom. I’m not hurting her.”
“Maybe not physically, but she doesn’t like it and it could make her hate boys even more when she’s older. You know she’s very shy and you heard how she reacted when Anne asked Michael to pick her up.”
“But . . .”
“No buts, Edward. I want you to stop it, now.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Edward said, sadly.
Meanwhile, Anne had slipped her tiny arms around Michael’s neck, pulled herself closer to him, and kissed him on his cheek causing him to smile. He looked at Victoria who was scowling slightly.
“Sorry, Victoria. Anne’s a cub and her actions are innocent. She’s not trying to have a relationship with me. Therefore, I don’t have a problem with her hugging and kissing me. It’s kind of like a pet licking your face to show its love.”
“So, you think of Anne as a pet?” Victoria said, semi-sarcastically.
Michael closed his eyes and, slowly shaking his head, said, “No, Victoria. I mean she’s a baby and, therefore, an innocent and her actions have no ulterior motives, unlike you.”
Victoria opened her mouth to say something and heard everyone else laughing at her. Dr. Tigresa said “Give up, Victoria. Michael is smarter than you think he is.
“Come on, Michael. Let’s go see your room.” Dr. Tigresa said as she started down the long hallway of the house.
“You can’t have planned on me being here, Dr. Tigresa,” Michael replied as he fell in behind her.
“Actually, yes, we did. When we took over caring for you, we asked for permission to take you home with us if we cured your disease. Dr. Tilacino gave her okay and we planned this room especially for you.”
They arrived at a room and Tigresa opened the door. Michael looked at the room and gave a low whistle. It was beautiful. It was Persian blue, measured 10’ X 14’, and had its own personal full bathroom. There was a queen-size bed with a bedspread that was Maya blue. The color scheme was, obviously, blue.
Michael turned to Tigresa and said, “Blue?”
“Well, we were expecting a boy and, being somewhat traditional, we chose the blue color scheme.”
Perplexed, Michael said, “You’re pregnant?”
Dr. Tigresa laughed and said, “No, no, no. That won’t happen for at least another year. I was referring to you, Michael.”
“Oh?” Realizing to what she was referring, Michael added, “Oh! You knew that I’d be coming home with you as soon as I woke up. I appreciate what you’ve done, although when I was growing up, most people painted the walls a light color and the bed-coverings were normally dark.”
“Really? I’m sorry.”
“Oh, don’t apologize. The difference in color scheme is refreshing. I kind of like it, although . . .”
“Although?”
“Although, I normally preferred my room to be painted in earth tones. You see, I loved the outdoors growing up so I got rather used to browns, tans, and greens.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Michael. You can paint the room if you wish.”
“That’s quite all right, Dr. Tigresa. While I’m used to browns and tans, blue is actually one of my favorite colors.”
Suddenly, it hit him. “Another year? What are you talking about?”
Dr. Tigresa smiled and said, “We normally wait three years between cubs, Michael. Plus, even if I wanted to get pregnant sooner, it wouldn’t happen. There’s something about the hormones that prevent it. Even though we’re a lot more enlightened than we were during my parent’s life, we still don’t understand how hormones work a lot of the time.”
Michael looked around before asking, “Do you breast-feed Anne?”
Somewhat embarrassed, Dr. Tigresa said, “Yes. Yes, I do. Why do you ask?”
“I seem to recall reading somewhere that the hormone that causes the female body to produce milk interferes with the release and fertility of ova during ovulation as long as she’s breastfeeding. You still ovulate but your eggs are incapable of being fertilized if I recall correctly.”
“Hmm. I’ll have to have our endocrinologist at the hospital look into that.
“Now, if you would, please get settled in and, when Leo returns, we’ll go and purchase you some clothing. We’ll buy you just enough clothing to last until the weekend. Since, as medical researchers, Leo and I don’t work on the weekends, we’ll make sure you have plenty of clothes for any situation that you may find yourself in. It seems that the clothes that you’re wearing are the only clothes you have.”
“I guess that makes sense. After all, I don’t think any fabric would last 20,000 years exposure to the air.”
“Good. I’m glad you agree. There is another thing.”
“Oh, what’s that?”
“Before we left the hospital, Leo contacted our tutor and, starting Monday morning, she’ll be here every day to teach you about our society and history.”
“More school?” Michael said with a bit of a plaintive sound in his voice. “I just finished 16 years of school.” Looking around and smiling, he continued, “But, I guess it makes sense, Dr. Tigresa. After all, 20,000 years of history should be very interesting.”
**********
(1)-Tamara Tilacino is the head of the Catlanna Medical Research Hospital. She is a thylacine. She is married to another thylacine that was her childhood sweetheart. She is 52 years old, 5’7” (170 cm) tall and weighs 145 lbs. (66 kg). She has a bit of the middle-age spread and has put on a bit of weight around her waist making her measurements 37D-32-36 (94D-81-91). She has shoulder-length straight dark brown hair and brown eyes. Like all marsupial humanimals, she has a pouch and, like her feral ancestors, it opens at her hips. Unlike her feral ancestors, however, she has a second pouch inside this one which opens toward her sternum. Inside this interior pouch, are two pairs of relatively small breasts that produce very rich milk which allows her joeys to grow relatively quicker than placental babies. Like all marsupials, her joeys were very underdeveloped when they were born and crawled into and through her outer pouch until they reached the inner pouch where they attached themselves to one of the lower pair of breasts. After about two months of almost continual nursing, the joeys were large enough and strong enough to stay inside the outer pouch where they nursed from the upper pair of breasts. After another two or three months of nursing, they left the pouch permanently and were fed from her human breasts.
(2)-Jacob Fuchs is the father of Amanda Fuchs. He is a full red fox, although Michael later notes that he’s got faint stripes in his fur. He is 44 years old and the close friend of Edward and Susan Blaidd, and Leo and Tigresa Panthera. He stands 5’7” (170 cm) tall and weighs 150 lbs. (68 kg). He is in very good physical shape due to regular trips to the gym with his friends. Very little is known about his business other than the fact that he regularly goes on business trips out of Catlanna.
(3)-Ophelia Fuchs is the mother of Amanda Fuchs. She is a full red fox, although Michael later notes that her gloves are shorter than normal and she has golden-yellow eyes with round pupils. She is 40 years old and, while she’s dedicated to her kits, she doesn’t show the kind of love that one would expect from a mother toward Amanda. At the start of the story, she’s pregnant with her seventh kit. She stands 5’3” (160 cm) tall and weighs 110 lbs. (50 kg). She takes after her fox ancestry to the point that, even though she’s in middle age, her size is the same she was when she married Jacob 19 years ago, 34A-23-34 (86A-58-86). She is a housewife who’s never desired to work outside of the home because she believes that a mother’s job is to take care of her kits and the house.
(4a)-Richard Panthera is 6’2” (188 cm) tall and weighs about 200 lbs. (90 kg). His fur coloration is the orange fur and tiger stripe pattern of his mother, but he sports the black mane of his father which covers his head and neck. He has blue eyes and a well-defined muscular body.
(4b)-Victoria Panthera is 5’6” (166cm) tall and weighs about 120 lbs. (54 kg). Victoria has auburn shoulder-length hair and golden green eyes. Her fur coloration is lion yellow and the black stripes of a tiger. Her measurements are 35C-22-34 (89C-56-86).
(4c)-Elizabeth Panthera is 5’0” (152 cm) tall and weighs about 100 lbs. (45 kg). Her breasts are just started to enlarge and her body still carries a bit of the body shape of a prepubescent girl, although it is starting to fill out as is normal for most teenage girls. She has black hair that is slightly longer than shoulder length. Her fur color is tiger orange with barely discernible stripes. Her eyes are golden-yellow.
(4d)-Edward Panthera is 4’11” (150 cm) tall and weighs about 90 lbs. (41 kg). He has short auburn colored hair and emerald green eyes. His fur coloration is lion yellow with barely discernible tiger stripes. Because he’s an active cub, he’s slightly muscular but not nearly as muscular as Richard or Leo.
(4e)-Mary Panthera is 4’0” (122 cm) tall and weighs about 40 lbs. (18 kg). She has white fur with tiger stripes, long black hair that reaches to her hips and blue eyes.
(4f)-Anne Panthera is a toddler barely old enough to walk on two legs. She stands about 2’3” (69.5 cm) tall and weighs about 25 lbs. (11kg). She has tiger orange fur with no stripes. Her shoulder-length hair is the same color as the rest of her fur making it difficult to tell where her fur ends and her hair begins.
