“Nilla, I’d like to introduce you to some people.”
The fennec sat still with her pad in her lap.
“Nilla? Are you okay?” Dr. Milwaí squatted in front of the chair and put her hand on the morph’s knee, then fell back in surprise when the large-eared fox looked up at her. She chuckled as she caught her breath, “Oh, Nilla, you had me scared.”
Nilla wrote: Did you find out about Hen?
Anjela got to her feet, then squatted down again. “We’re still waiting to hear from the police, but there are some people in my office that I would like you to meet. Do you feel up to it?”
Nilla wrote: Is this another bad master, good master lesson?
“No, they already know about that, but I think you will all have some things to talk about.”
The old fennec smirked and drummed her fingers on her pad.
Anjela swatted at the top of the pad as she stood up, “You know what I mean. Come on.”
Nilla followed her out of the room and down to the office.
“Everyone, this is my old friend, Nilla.”
Nilla swatted the doctor’s arm with her pad, then quickly scribbled: Old?
“Okay, this is my good friend, Nilla.”
The fennec nodded.
“Her first owner cut out her tongue when she was young to keep her from talking back, so she talks with her pad.”
Nilla held up her pad where she had written large: SUP!
“Fortunately, her next owner was a much better fit, and they took care of each other for years. Right now, we’re waiting to hear if she has passed. If she has, Nilla may need the project’s help, as well.
Pardu stepped up beside the doctor, “I don’t want to runaway; do I need to be here?”
Dr. Milwaí put her hand on his arm, “Your situation is similar to Nilla’s. Even if you were freed by your owners’ last wills, there are a lot of legal hoops to make it happen, and you need someone to help you through them to make sure nobody tries to claim you as theirs. The project can help you with that or anything else to get you where you want to be.”
“I just want Bernie back.” The old dog whimpered.
Anjela sighed, “I know.”
Nilla shoved her pad at him: We can do this. I want Hen, but we have to keep on.
Pardu drooped and walked around the desk to sit down.
Nilla followed and swatted the old dog with her pad, then took his hand in both of hers.
A knock on the door caught everyone’s breath.
Dr. Milwaí opened the door a little to find Phila then opened it more.
“Here’s your coffee, Dr. M, and these people are here…”
“Mom!”
Anjela took her coffee and dodged a tiger rushing past to hug a red-haired woman.
“Where’s…? Mom!” Garin left the woman to hug another red-haired woman then pulled them both together.
“Garin, we were so worried! Where have you been? What happened to you?”
Dr. Milwaí let them hug for a moment, then beckoned, “Come on in and let’s talk about it. It’s getting a little crowded, but there’s a lot to discuss.” She let them get into the office then leaned to Phila, “Thank you. Is there any other news?”
“The police won’t tell me anything about Ms. Klaus.”
Anjela scowled, “See if Dr. Kansas can ask at the hospital or something. I can call Rade later, as well.”
“When I called about Kerry Banker, they just wanted to know if Alice was here. I told them that I hadn’t seen her, but I don’t think they believed me.”
“Great. Well, maybe the van will get here before they do.”
“Uhm… The van is going to be a little late. They said there was a delay with their driver, but they’re still coming.”
Anjela shook her head. “Anything else?”
“No, nothing on Kami or anything else.”
“Alright, keep your eyes out up front. Trouble may be coming, and we will have to stall it.”
Phila nodded and headed back up front.
Dr. Milwaí closed the door and listened to Garin telling his story.
“When I stopped crying and resisting and trying to escape, they got weird. They had me take two or three showers a day with some special shampoos and walk around in just some small shorts and lots of exercise and… they were like chores, but I’d move stuff one day, then move it back the next. It didn’t make much sense to me. And they kept adding more every day. The food was good. Well, except for this weird ‘chow’ they told me to eat as much as I wanted. I didn’t like it, but they got upset if I didn’t eat some.”
“Did they hurt you?” One mom started examining him.
Garin shrugged, “Some, but they didn’t do anything real bad. I think they were worried about doing anything somebody could see. The worst part was more like how they talked to me, or didn’t. They didn’t care about me; they just told me to keep working.”
“Was it just you?” Trent shook his phone as he thought.
“No, there were other morphs, but we were kept separate. They had their own chores to do, and we couldn’t talk to each other.”
“Do you know where you were? Where you came from when you escaped?”
Garin shook his head, “I just ran until I found something familiar and kept running until they caught up with me. Then I hid until I could sneak away and finally recognized the clinic.”
“Well, I’m glad you remembered.” His other mom hugged him tighter.
Dr. Milwaí spoke up, “Trent, I’m sure the project is interested in liberating the rest of the morphs there, but right now, I think we should focus on how to protect Garin and his family. The hunters chasing him are very persistent. I’ve run into them before. But also, could the place try to make a legal claim using photos or anything from while he was there, maybe falsified?”
Trent looked up from making notes in his phone. “You’re right. We do need to deal with the hunters, and we can have our team work on any records from before to make sure they are solid. I’ll get them started on it.” He resumed urgently tapping at his phone.
“Dr. Milwaí,” Alice leaned forward, “um, what about me?”
“Me, too” Kamie stepped in front of the doctor.
Anjela sighed, “We’re still trying to find out about your situations.”
The mouse pointed behind her at Garin and his moms. “Can I have a family like that?”
Anjela looked at the Karabiners hugging their long-lost tiger, then smiled at Kamie. “We’ll see what happens, but right now, I need to go back out and take care of patients. The van should be here in a few hours, so just relax in here.” She smiled to everyone as she slipped out the door and met Dr Kansas coming out of exam three. “Is it still busy?”
“No more than usual. Thankfully, we haven't seen any more urgents come in.”
“Well, they're all waiting on the van, so I can help clear the queue.”
“Grab a chart and dig in. There’s a rash in five, a minor burn in two, and a boy in four that thinks he’s a ferret morph.”
“Oh good. A little bit of normal.”
