The morning finally came and I had convinced myself I was ready. After breakfast, the doe gave my quills a good dry cleaning. She had a wide tooth comb and paid careful attention to my spines, while the doc had a small tooth comb and meticulously groomed my face. I had never experienced such pampering and if I didn't already trust them with my life, I might have been a little suspicious of it.
Pinny brought me a clean apron and insisted on dressing me while the doc made sure his day was clear. She declared me ready with a good luck kiss that made me feel complete.
The doc called from the door, "Ready to go?"
Suddenly I couldn't decide how to answer, but she kissed me again and then I was, "Ready!"
We had just gotten in the car when the doc's phone rang. He took the call and walked into the house. Soon, Pinny came out and sat behind the wheel. She leaned over and kissed my cheek, then started the car and we were off.
It was only a twenty minute drive, but it seemed longer as the closer we got, the more my mind shifted from the happy thoughts to the worry and dread. We passed the courthouse and I wondered if I would be going back there. I felt a paw on my thigh and looked over to see Pinny smiling at me comfortingly and I knew she would be with me no matter what happened.
She parked the little car and we walked up to a big building. Jake Cohen's office was on the fourth floor, the top floor. I wanted to take the stairs to delay a little longer, so Pinny hopped up ahead of me, her tail bouncing politely above her skirt, and waited on each landing for me to catch up.
Two doors down the hall on the top floor, the label read:
Genetic Morph Ancestry Library
Director, Dr. Jake Cohen
Pinny opened the door and gestured for me to go in. I hesitated, afraid of what was waiting for me, then took a breath and stepped in.
The vixen behind the desk jumped out of her seat when she saw me, “Oh, it's you!” She quickly sent a message and soon the other door opened to a smiling human male.
“You're Billy, right?” he offered his hand as he crossed the small room in two big steps, “I am so excited to meet you.” He grabbed my paw and shook it, then looked at it. He started looking closely at my body and face and quills and I started to get uncomfortable with his examination.
Pinny cleared her throat and shut the door with a bang, making Dr. Cohen jump, “Oh, you must be Pinny, was Dr. Lem busy?”
Her voice was cold and strict, sending a shiver up my back, “We are here to discuss Billy's registration. I am not sure of your familiarity with morphs, but sniffing butts is not a polite greeting.”
The vixen snickered and covered her smile.
Dr. Cohen stepped back in embarrassment, “Yes, I apologize. I am just so fascinated by you. Not only are you a species of morph that is so rare, your ancestry and descendants and genetics and origin are so amazing, I just don't know where to begin.”
“How about with when he was born,” she maintained the cool authority, but toned back the aggression enough to not be as frightening. I wasn't sure I would ever look at her the same way again.
“Right,” he hurried back to his office, then turned and invited us in.
I looked at Pinny, “Did he say descendants?” She smiled and took my arm, putting her other paw on her belly as she led me in and we sat down.
The room was a little smaller than the first and much more full. There were three separate computer screens around the room, a couple large tablets and a large screen on the wall behind us. The wall opposite the door was floor to ceiling bookshelves that appeared to be double filled. Some books were lying open around the room and there were a couple tall stacks of papers in folders on his desk. He looked to be working on a hundred things at once.
“Now, if you'll have a... oh, you're already sitting.” He put his hands on top of the shorter of the two stacks, “This... is you,” he took the top folder off and opened the second, then ran his finger down the stack and pointed to a folder on the bottom. “I followed your genetics back all the way to your creator.”
“My creator?”
“Well, the scientist that initiated your genetic line.”
“Can I meet him?”
He laughed, “Sorry, you're fourth generation. He's long gone, but I have put together a biography that you can read later. His work was interesting because while most creators used their own DNA as the base or as a map for adjusting the animal base, he used his daughter's eggs, because she couldn't carry children. So, you're directly related to her and I included a little info about her, but she was a writer, so you can look up her books to get to know her better. She died about 6 years ago at 101 years old”
“Is anybody still alive?”
“Well, you're one of around two dozen North American porcupines currently alive, that I have registered. There are three dozen Asian/African and eight prehensile.”
“Pre-what?”
“Prehensile-tailed porcupines can grab things with their tails. They're only one line and two generations, well, three, number eight is third generation, born last year.”
“What does that have to do with Billy?” she was back to her soft and fluffy voice and I was happy to have her beside me.
“Well, I thought it was interesting. You have a grandfather in America that I couldn't find a death record, but also couldn't find him. Your parents were killed about ten years ago. Unfortunately, you were also assumed dead.”
“How did they die?” I felt Pinny's paw on my arm and looked over to see a 'do you really want to know' look. I patted her paw and smiled. I had known they were dead for ten years, I was ready to hear more.
He took the second folder off and opened the third, flipping to the last few pages, “There was an accident, a car accident. The cause was never determined, but it was left as uncertain because of some circumstances.”
“Like what?”
He scanned through the pages, “Well, your mother was found outside the vehicle, but the doors were closed and your father had injuries worse than expected, and you were missing.”
“I was at home. They were late.”
“Well, you can look at that later, if you want. I got everything I could and you can take it with you.” he closed the folder, put the second one back on top of it and opened it again.
“Back to you. You were born 17 years ago to Orville and Melinda Conquills.”
“Seventeen? I thought I was sixteen a few years ago.”
“Nope. November 28th, 103m”
“You use morph years?” Pinny obviously knew more than I did.
“Of course. It makes calculating morph genealogy simpler.”
She nodded in agreement and sat back in her chair.
“Your parents had a life that could make an amazing movie and he was only twenty-five when he died. There are some details in here, but you can find more on the Internet than I could print. Basically, they infiltrated and systematically destroyed an atrocious 'sport' of violence and sex for entertainment in America. I bet if they had lived, they would have done even more amazing things. Well, they did, 'cause you are pretty amazing. I think you would have to be my favorite living morph out of everyone I have in the database.”
“How many do you have?”
“Almost eighteen million living morphs and nearly thirty million of their ancestors. I'm trying to work in humans, as well, but its harder to get their info. Other projects have been working human ancestry for centuries and still not verified it all. I think it would be good to put it all together because we share DNA. Morphs come from humans, but too many don't want to acknowledge the link. With morphs, I simply had to re-energize an old law requiring registration at birth, which you were and I matched. Took a few days to find you, though. Its a huge database and I've had to convert it a couple times, just in upgrading to current technology. There's 850 zettabytes in this closet here and we're at about 70% capacity with only about 60% of the world registered, assuming estimates are correct. We're supposed to be getting a 5 yottabyte block in next month, which should keep us okay for a couple years, but I'm not stopping there. If I keep replacing the smallest block with the largest I can afford, we should be able to keep up with all the babies getting born, but you're not making it easy for me.”
“What do you mean?”
He picked up the folder that started on top of the pile, “You've been busy. I connected your DNA with three children born in the last four years.” He opened the folder as I leaned forward, very curious, since I had never even met another porcupine.
“The first is a white-tail deer, Cody, born to Jalenne Kinsey. He has a very distinctive bunch of quills down his neck. I didn't get a response from them, but I will let you know when I do.”
I remembered her. We should have gone back to visit, but things moved us away and we never made it back.
“Then there is a mouse, Billy. Apparently, she liked you, though her parents filed rape charges, since she was only 11 at the time. I managed to contact her, she would like to meet you again and doesn't agree with her parents about the rape. I'm not the guard and you would have only been 13 at the time, so I'm not going to do anything here, but give you her contact info.”
Ah, Jin. She nearly raped me, if I hadn't agreed. She teased Mutt to bursting, but he never got her. Her mom was crazy, but her dad seemed nice.
“And there's a tabby, Celeste. They declined to see you again, but I think I was talking to the wrong mom.”
Oh, yeah, that almost got ugly. She didn't tell us she had a wife.
“Apparently you hit puberty and started sowing your oats.”
“Wait a second, how could he have bred with all these different species?”
Dr Cohen started to get excited again, “That's the amazing part. Apparently, his genes allow cross-breeding. I have a friend that would like some blood and semen samples to find out why and possibly help couples that can't have the children they want, or even the reverse and create perfect birth control.”
I looked at Pinny and she returned my amazed expression.
“Well, Jake, you might get to add one more to his legacy.”
“Oh? Does your husband know?”
“I suspected it, but kept telling myself it wasn't possible and just a coincidence. I guess Winny and I are from incompatible lines and Billy here is the magic key.”
“Oh, you've heard of that?”
“I learned a good share of morph genetics at med school.”
“Yes, it would be important to know the differences. Did you study about Dr. Harstlein?”
“Well, everyone knows he was the first to succeed, but no, not much more than that.”
“Then you probably didn't know that his granddaughter was the first human to naturally breed from a morph. Some say it was his idea.”
“That I didn't know.”
I shifted in my seat, feeling very lost from their conversation.
“Oh yes, back to business. Well, you can take all this with you and don't forget to contact that mouse, um...” He fumbled through the papers.
“Jin”
“Yes, Jin, so you remember her. That should make things easier. Well, I'll be keeping your search open for any others that pop up and I look forward to seeing this one.”
“What's that other stack?” I was curious.
“Oh, just a personal project I work on now and then. Someone I lost a long time ago and hope to find again. Going through your line reminded me of it and I'm going to go through it next.”
“Well, good luck.” Speaking of lost, “Oh, would you be able to help me find someone?”
“If you have their DNA or enough info to identify them.”
“I might have something left in my bag, if it didn't get washed,” I looked to Pinny.
She was sinking into her chair and giving me a guilty look.
“I guess not. He was a fox and I called him Mutt because he never knew his name.”
“Well, with over a million foxes of different species and lines, that could be a monumental task. Its a fox I'm looking for over here. They were a very popular test species. But, come back when you do know more and I'll run a priority search for you, no charge. Any other questions before you go?”
“How much do you charge to do a family tree?”
“Hey, you're carrying a porcupine. I'll have to do one for you anyway, so I'll just give you a copy.”
“And Winny? I want to check our origins for compatibility.”
“No problem. You are royalty here.”
She smiled and stood up, then took my paw and I stood with her. I picked up the stack of folders and we headed out. The vixen jumped as she saw us and fumbled with her phone, then tried to take a picture of me. Pinny was in front of it before I could blink, staring her down. The fox shrank beneath the harsh glare of the tall rabbit. Pinny put her paws on hers and whispered and she relaxed. She looked at me, then Pinny stepped back.
“Um, excuse me. Could I take your picture?”
“Me?”
She nodded and looked at Pinny for approval. I glanced over and she was smiling, “Um, I guess so. I'll put these down first.” I set the stack of research on a chair and stood up straight.
Pinny clung to my arm and the vixen took the picture, then the rabbit held out her paw and the fox's ears turned down as she gave her the phone. Pinny walked behind her and shooed her over to me. The small vixen looked up at me nervously and I tried to smile and look friendly. She figured out the idea and brightened, then clung to my arm like Pinny had while the rabbit took a picture of her with the rare porcupine. Unfortunately, she wiggled and managed to catch one of my quills.
I helped her remove the quill from her hip and she thanked me, apologizing for troubling me. Pinny's phone chimed and I collected the folders so we could leave. She gave back the vixen's phone and we headed home.
She insisted on the elevator and while we stood there, she showed me the pictures that she had sent herself while we were distracted. The picture showed the little vixen yelping and jumping away from me.
“Couldn't we have done it again for her?”
She smiled mock innocently and hugged my arm as she showed me the picture of us.
It was a good picture, but I thought it was missing something, “Needs the doc.”
She sighed and kissed my lips as the doors opened, then bounced out and I followed her to the car.
I set the folders in the trunk and suddenly a voice rang out in the distance, “Billy? Billy! BILLY!”
I looked over in time to see a white mouse bounding towards me and attach herself to my neck.
“Oh, I've missed you. I've been looking everywhere. I thought I'd never see you again. Oh, Billy.”
“Jin? How have you been?”
“Really, really busy.” She pushed off and turned around to scurry away, but her father was already walking up, carrying a young porcupine with a pink ribbon in her quills. Her nose was a little longer and a mousey tail extended past her quills, but otherwise, she looked a lot like me. Jin took the girl from her father and brought her to me, “Can you guess who the father is?”
I smiled at my daughter, “So, that would make you Billy, too.”
She buried her face in her mother's shoulder.
Jin rubbed her nose with a finger, “Its alright. This is your father. He's been away traveling for a while.”
Little Billy turned to look at the bigger porcupine, “Are you really my father?”
“Well, I think there's enough of a resemblance to be pretty certain,” I brushed back some of her quills with a claw, “but I just came from the genetic director and he confirmed it. You are my daughter and I see you got your mother's beauty.”
She giggled.
“And your brains. She is always figuring things out, but I'm happy to have her.”
“And another on the way, I see.” came the voice behind me.
Jin turned, “Who are you?”
I looked to see Pinny had come up beside me, “Oh, this is Pinny, and this is Jin.”
“Nice to meet you,” Pinny offered her paw.
“Is she your wife?” she ignored the rabbit's gesture.
“No. She's married to the doctor that saved my life.”
“Oh, then nice to meet you and thank you,” She offered her paw and Pinny politely shook it, ignoring the snub. “And its Jinsey.”
“Well, Jinsey, you have a beautiful daughter.”
“Thank you.”
“Could I hold her?”
She looked to the little porcupine, “What do you say, do you want to visit with the bunny while I talk with your father?”
Billy hesitated a bit, looking at me and Pinny, then nodded and Jinsey handed her over.
“Oh, you're so soft. Where are your quills?”
Jin's father spoke up, “We trim and condition and coat her quills. We're teaching her proper hygiene, so she can keep them.”
“I like my quills.”
“And they look lovely on you. Your father's quills look nice, but they're sharp. You should teach him how to make his quills as soft as yours.”
I turned to Jinsey, “So, you found somebody?”
“Oh, no. This... well, it was a mistake, but its my child now, no matter what his wife says.”
“He was married?”
“Yeah, it was a moment of weakness and I was thinking of you.” She rubbed her round belly, then stroked my cheek, “I wish it was yours.” She kissed my lips and her father cleared his throat. She rolled her eyes and sighed.
“What does your mother think?”
“Don't care. She left when I refused to kill little Billy and Poppi stood up to her. I love my Poppi.”
“He is a good person. “
“Yeah. Hey, where's Mutt? I owe him something.”
“We got separated when I got shot.”
“Shot? Who shot you? Are you okay?”
“Some badger that didn't like us sleeping in his barn. I'm fine now. Pinny and the doc saved me and they're helping me put together a more stable life.”
“Well, that's good. I'm glad you were there for me when I needed you, but you deserve more than living on the streets. How's Mutt doing?”
“I don't know. I haven't seen him since. I just asked the genetic director if he could help, but without his birth name or any DNA, there's not much he can do.
She got excited, “Maybe I can help.” She dug into the bag she was carrying and pulled out a small box. She popped it open and there were sections inside with tufts of hair and she pointed each one out. “These are my special people. Here's mine. That's poppi. There's little Billy's quills. These are yours, and here's Mutt.” She pulled out the small bunch of red hairs, “Now we can find him.”
“Great. We'll make another appointment and see what he can do with it.”
“Why wait? We were heading up there to see if he would let us contact you. Come back up with us and he can look right now.”
“Even better.”
I turned around to tell Pinny and Billy started reaching for me, so I took her and we walked back to the building.
“Your quills rattle.”
“Yep, because they're dry and sharp.”
“Mine are soft.”
“I noticed.”
“Do you want yours to be soft?”
“That would make hugs easier.”
“You like hugs?”
“Absolutely, don't you?”
“Uh huh. I'll show you how to make your quills really soft so everybody will want to hug you.”
“Really? I'd like that. Do you want to push the button?”
“You should take the stairs and leave the elevator for people that need it.”
“You're right. Shall I put you down so you can walk up with me?”
She nodded and I did, “I'll race you.” She started hurrying up the stairs.
Pinny winked and dashed up after her while I tried to at least keep them in sight with Jin and her father hurrying along between us.
I finally reached the top and Billy was waiting eagerly for me, “I won.”
“You did. Too bad I couldn't leave these quills at the bottom.”
“Are they heavy?”
“Yeah.”
“Mine are light,” she bounced around to prove it.
“Let's go ask the director if he can help find my friend.”
“Okay,” she bounced down the hall and stopped to read the first door, then bounced to the next one. “I found it!”
“Shh, Billy, inside voice.” Jinsey was right on top of the mother job.
“Sorry.”
I opened the door and let Billy in first. The vixen jumped up from her chair again and brightened, “Isn't she so cute!” She quickly sent a message and hurried around the counter, bending down to Billy's height.
Billy gave her a scowl and turned around quickly, making her jump back in surprise.
“Not very friendly, is she?”
“She's not too keen on strangers being too friendly with her before being introduced.”
Jinsey looked at me with a smile, then nodded her affirmation to the vixen.
“Oh,” she went back to her seat as the door opened and Dr Cohen came out.
“Hello again. Oh, I'm glad you came back. I forgot to tell you that I put your birth certificate and registration card in the folder of your other info. You can use those to get your ID card. There's also a death certificate, but that should be nullified sometime today. I'm just waiting on confirmation. Did you need something else?” He looked down and noticed the bundle of quills clinging to my leg and peeking up at him. “Oh, this must be little Billy. You are an amazing little thing.” He reached out to push back some quills for a better view of her face, but she turned her head away quickly and he snatched his hand back, expecting to get pricked. “Oh, I guess she's shy.”
The vixen snickered and covered her mouth.
Pinny whispered to Jinsey, “Why does everybody want to touch the porcupines?”
“I don't know, but you can see I'm guilty of it.”
Pinny smiled and rubbed her belly, “Yeah, me too.”
Jinsey looked at her, “But he said you weren't”
“I'll explain later.”
“You better.”
“We came back because we have some DNA you can use to help find Mutt.”
“Oh good. What do you have?”
Jinsey stepped up and opened the box, pulling out the red hairs.
Dr Cohen took them and examined them carefully, “How old are these?”
“About four years, a little older than Billy.”
“Do you have any more?”
“No, that's all I saved.”
“Well, I think it might work. I see some roots here, so we'll find out.” He returned to his office and we followed.
“Are you sure you don't want to save some, Jin?”
“If he can find Mutt, I can get more, right?”
I nodded, her logic was sound.
Dr Cohen was at a machine on a table behind his desk, following instructions on a small screen. Soon, he pushed a big green button and turned around, “Okay. That will take about twenty to thirty minutes to process, then it will automatically send the profile to my workstation, which will catch it and send a search request to the main database. Oh, I should make it a priority search.” He poked his computer a few times. “There. That will put it at the top of the waiting list. Searches usually take about an hour and a half to two hours. If nothing matches, it can take three days to go through the entire list, but that doesn't happen often. Why don't you folks go to lunch, relax, catch up. Do I have your number?”
“I don't have a phone.”
“I do,” Pinny pushed the last of his number she found on a card on his desk and his pocket vibrated, making him jump.
He pulled out his phone, “Is that you? Good I'll call you when I have something. Don't worry if I don't call today, that just means its doing partial matches to find lineage. We'll get something. Your friend didn't appear out of nowhere. I'll find him or his family or both.” He shooed us out, careful of the quills.
I smirked and thought aloud, “It sure seemed like he came out of nowhere when I met him. And he said his mother was dead, so I'm not sure what he'll be able to find.”
Pinny hugged my arm and patted it comfortingly.
Jinsey grabbed my other arm, while holding Billy on the opposite side, “Don't worry, he'll find him. I need all my special people.”
I was feeling good with all this support, a big family that I had missed for so long, “So, where do we want to go for lunch?”
“Wherever we go, I'm buying.”
We all stopped and turned to look at Jin's father with surprise. I had almost forgotten about him, but he is family, too.
Pinny took his arm and pulled him up with us, then held him behind to talk while we went down the stairs, “I thought you didn't like him.”
“I don't approve of how they got together, but he is a good morph. No, a good person. Like Billy, little Billy, likes to say: We're not mice and cats and dogs and foxes and rabbits or morphs and humans; we're all people and should treat each other that way. They fit well together, all three of them.”
“You do know he has other children.”
He glanced at her belly, “I heard. But, I'll give him a chance to do right. My Billy deserves to have a father.”
Pinny smiled and hugged him, “You're a good person, too.”
“You're not flirting with me, are you?”
“No. Hugs shouldn't be just for lovers. Hugs should be for everyone.”
“I like your thinking. You might just be a good person, too.”
Pinny smiled and hugged his arm.
Billy came running up as they came out of the stairs, “Come on, Poppi, we're going to eat.”
There was a nearby restaurant we could walk to that had outdoor seating, so we could enjoy the nice day. We enjoyed our meal, then stayed to talk for a while.
“I can really appreciate your efforts to improve yourself. I was worried that you would be a vagrant trying to avoid responsibility and Jinsy would be heartbroken.”
“You wouldn't believe how hard it is to live on the street. Especially when taking care of someone else. Every meal was a struggle, every night was a challenge. We could only keep what we could carry and had to keep everything safe no matter where we went or had to do to earn money or a meal or a place to stay. We would have loved to settle down someplace, but we never fit in. It was always a little help, but sorry, you can't stay. I mean, we appreciated every generosity, but it felt like consolation to go away.”
“I would have let you stay at least the night, and probably would have been too soft to make you leave, but Maude was not going to let that happen.”
“She seemed very strict, how did you two get together?”
“That would be Jinsey. I had snuck into a party that I was too young for and Maude was quite drunk and sitting alone. Her friends had abandoned her because she was an angry drunk and now she was sulking. I started flirting with her, not knowing any of this and either had some skills or she was just bored, but one thing led to another right there in the booth...”
“Poppi!”
“Well, with Jinsey on the way, she made sure we were married. Biggest mistake of my life, but putting in the time got me my beautiful girl and a bonus, thanks to you.”
“Well, I'd have to agree that they're both worth it.”
“So, what sort of mistakes have you made?”
“Poppi.”
“Well, I probably shouldn't have let Jinsey talk me into anything, but the results are good.”
“Billy!”
“What?”
“Not you, your father.”
“What'd he do?”
“Nothing, eat your cake.”
I couldn't help but laugh and everyone else did too, much to Jinsey's dismay and little Billy's confusion.
“Apparently I have three more kids that I didn't know about. Well, one I thought was mine, but didn't believe, but now really could be.”
“Huh?”
Pinny leaned to Jinsey, “That's my cue. My husband and I had been trying to have a child since we got married, but nothing seemed to work. We didn't want to do anything artificial, or even get tested. Primarily denial, if we didn't know for certain, it wasn't really a problem. And the sex was great.”
Jinsey shot her a glare.
“Oh, sorry, right. Well, I was feeling a bit desperate when this big porcupine showed up.” She elbowed my shoulder. “I kind of took advantage of him and today we learned that he's a magic key and it might be his.”
“Magic key?”
“Its a genetics term for being able to breed across species. Most humans are magic key for most morphs because they share some DNA, but somehow Billy can share the animal traits of his DNA and we get little Billy.”
“What?” she looked up from her cake when she heard her name
“You are beautiful.” Pinny quickly changed the subject for the young one.
“I know,” she scraped the last bits of caramel off the plate and we laughed.
“We should find some way to differentiate between these two.”
“My last name is Conquills, according to Dr Cohen and my birth certificate should be in the car.”
“I don't think I could call you anything else.”
“Me either. Billy suits you.”
“But I'm Billy.”
“Yes you are, but what are we going to call your father?”
“Prickly.”
I laughed, “But I won't be prickly when you show me how to be soft.”
“Then you can be Fluffy.”
“You would call me Fluffy?”
She nodded.
“Do you think everybody should call him Fluffy?”
She thought about it and shook her head, “Just me.”
“Then what should everybody else call him?”
“Billy.”
“Then what do we call you?”
“Billy.”
“I think we're back where we started.”
“No. I'm Billy the girl's name and he's Billy the boy's name.”
“Oh, that makes perfect sense.”
Pinny's phone rang and we all jumped and stared at it ringing on the table for a moment before she answered it, “Yes? … Yes, Dr Cohen. … Already? … Really? … We'll be right there.” She pulled the phone back and stared at it.
“What's wrong?”
“I'm not sure, but he sounded strange. We should get back there.”
“Alright, lets... Where's your father, Jin?”
She looked around just as he was coming back to the table, “All paid up and ready to go.”
“That was fast.”
“I figured that call was the doc and we would need to go.”
Jinsey hugged him, “I love you, Poppi.”
We headed back the few blocks to Dr Cohen's building.
“Are we going to see that man again?”
“Yes, he has some more to tell us, sweetie.”
“He's weird.”
“Billy.”
“What?”
“Not you, your daughter.”
I smiled at her and she batted at my arm while Billy giggled.
Pinny pulled Jinsey's father close to speak low, “You're right, perfect fit.”
We climbed the stairs and Billy hurried to the door, holding the knob while she waited for us, then opened it. She held the door and waited for us all to file in, then closed it behind us and attached herself to my leg, peeking at the vixen.
She didn't jump up this time, she just smiled big and sent a message, “He's expecting you.”
Jin's father leaned to Pinny, “She looks suspiciously happy now.”
“She must have had something good for lunch.”
“Fox?”
Pinny snorted a stifled laugh as Dr Cohen opened his door and invited us in, looking quite serious, “Come on in. I'm sorry I don't have chairs for everyone.”
Jinsey sat in one of the two chairs and her father invited Pinny to take the other. Billy sat in her mother's lap and I stood beside them, while the vixen stood in the doorway.
Pinny was the first to speak, “Is something wrong, doctor?”
“Something very serious and amazing has happened.” He stood behind his desk and turned a screen showing a family tree to face us. “Your friend …”
“You found him?” she was eager to move things along.
Dr Cohen hesitated, “He's my son.”
Everyone stared at him in silent surprise.
“His mother disappeared and I had been searching for her,” he put his hand on the pile of research. “I never knew she was pregnant. I never knew … about him.”
“Do you know where he is?”
He sighed, “No, but I need to adjust the search.” He tapped on another screen for a while, then looked back at us, “If the Home Guard or anyone else has asked about him in the past three months, we should know in a few minutes. Its a long shot, but there's always a chance.”
“Wouldn't their search have connected with you and his mother?”
“The Guard want quick results, so they only search individual matches, not family. If someone isn't registered and they need something, they can make another request, but usually don't.”
“It found something,” little Billy pointed at the screen.
Dr Cohen looked at the running results, “That's my search, so nothing yet.”
Another result popped on the screen, showing the requester as the local Guard station.
“There he is!” little Billy was excited again.
“Yes, that's an external request. Looks like he was arrested and didn't have a record, so they tried here and got a response of Unregistered, but didn't make another request.”
“What does that mean?”
“Well, they don't know who they have, so they probably still have him. Rosie!”
She was already in the doorway.
“Oh, call the Guard and find out about this request. I'm sending the info to you. Find out why he's there and what we have to do to get him here. He's … royalty.”
He looked back to his audience, waiting anxiously. “I have some more to tell you about your friend, my son.”
He picked up a tablet, made a few taps and the big screen came on behind us, showing a family tree. He gestured and we turned around to look. He drew a circle around the bottom most name box that simply said 'boy' “You said you called him Mutt?”
“Yes, I never knew his real name.”
“Unfortunately, neither do I, so we'll put Mutt in here for now.” He changed the box to read Mutt.
“Are those his family?” Billy was curious.
“Yes. This is me and this is Christy. She was a beautiful fox that I took for granted.”
“Where are your parents?”
Jinsey shushed her daughter.
“Its alright. These two boxes are for my parents, but I have them small, so we can talk about his fox family.” He drew a circle then cleared it.
Little Billy was satisfied.
“His grandparents are still alive, Alfred and Ginger Harstlein, and he has an uncle and an aunt that were born after he was.”
“Harstlein? Is that the same...?” Pinny was on top of things again.
“Exactly.”
“What?” I said in unison with Billy.
“We can follow his family all the way back to the first morph. His line is the original and from M0's first offspring.”
“Is that important?” I asked.
“Not so much genetically, but his family has been an icon for morphs, connecting today's generations to the origin.”
“Are we all related?” Billy knew as little as I did about morph history.
“No, there are many different origins for morphs. Each species had its own start, but M0 was the first. When he survived, it proved that Dr Harstlein had succeeded and that paved the way for the rest of you. Your porcupine line was started years later in America by a Dr Vincent Angler. He did a lot of work with animals that no one else did.”
“Am I special, too?”
“Absolutely. You are an amazing little girl. Your father is a rare porcupine and your mother is a beautiful white mouse. Typically you wouldn't have been born, but here you are.”
“Am I a porcupine or a mouse?”
He thought about it and smiled, “You are both and neither. You are your own species, one of a kind and unique. You are your father's daughter and you are your mother's daughter.”
Jinsey hugged her daughter tight. Billy leaned hack against me and I hugged them both.
Billy pushed out of the hug and leaned forward excitedly, “What is my species called?”
“I don't know. What do you want it to be called?”
She thought about it for a while, looking at her mouse mother and porcupine father, then shouted gleefully, “Mouseypine!”
“Alright. I'll put that in right now.” He tapped on the tablet and the big screen showed her family tree with Billy and Jinsey and her parents, Gregory and Madeline, and Billy's parents, Orville and Melinda. He stretched her box to show more details and changed her species from 'porcupine mouse' to 'mouseupine' “And now its official. Well, I'll have to tell the rest of the world, but its in the database.”
Rosie was standing in the door with a concerned expression.
“What's wrong Rosie?”
“Well, I managed to get ahold of the chief, but he told me that your son had already been released. They don't know where he is now. They want his name to put on his record. What should I tell them?”
Dr Cohen sighed, “Tell them Cohen. They don't need to know he's a Harstlein. We can keep it out of the media.”
“Mutt Cohen?”
“Yes. That's my son.”
“Billy, where would he go?” Pinny put her paw on my arm.
“I have no idea. We didn't have anyplace regular and I don't think he would remember how to get to any of the friendly houses we've stayed at.”
“Should we go looking for him?”
“If he payed attention, he'll be trying to stay invisible.”
“What if we go down there and maybe he will see you?”
“We could try it. I'm pretty noticeable.”
“Why would they release him without identifying him first?” Jinsey's father also seemed to be good at being invisible, but had a good point.
“Usually they wouldn't.” Dr Cohen turned off the big screen. “Well, I need to stay here and he wouldn't recognize me ... and I wouldn't know him from any other fox, but you folks go ...”
Rosie was in the doorway again with her ears turned down, looking guilty.
“Rosie?”
“Well, they say they've assigned someone to go look for him.”
“Really? I didn't think they would waste the manpower for a missing person.”
“Well, he wanted to know the mother's name and I kinda slipped and told him.”
“Rosie!”
She cringed and hid behind a folder, “He promised he would keep it quiet.”
“Over the phone, that's an empty promise. Somebody probably already overheard and is shouting it on the internet. We still have to tell Christy's parents. I don't want them finding out from some glory hound trying to interview them about it.”
“I'm sorry. I'll go pack my things.” she disappeared back to reception.
“Rosie.” He got up and started to follow, then paused, “Excuse us a moment.”
We looked at each other, very confused.
“Did something bad happen?”
“I don't think so, sweetie.”
“Will Mutt be okay?” I asked no one in particular.
“Well, the media is an abstract for a bunch of children competing for the most attention by trying to tell people things they haven't heard, but don't really need to know.”
Pinny laughed and looked over her shoulder at Jinsey's father, “I haven't heard it described that way, but its true. And we should probably find Mutt before they do.” She got up and opened the door, peeking out cautiously, “Um, doc, we're gonna go look for him now, if that's okay.”
He nodded, holding a sobbing vixen against his chest, and waved us away. We all filed past and out to the hall, shutting the door behind us.
“Is the fox lady going to be okay?”
“I'm sure she'll be fine. The nice man will take care of his friend.”
“He was nice. I'm sorry I called him weird.”
“It's alright, sweetie.”
Jinsey stopped at the bottom of the stairs, “So, where should we start looking?”
Her father had an answer, “If they released him surreptitiously, he would be near the Guard station, but if he had a trial, he would be near the courthouse.”
“We came by the courthouse to get here. The streets were pretty open around there; he would likely find someplace to hide. Do we know which Guard station he was at?”
“Probably the one closest to our house, since that's where you last saw him.”
“Should we split up?”
“Well, Billy can only be in one place at a time and we're hoping Mutt sees him. None of the rest of us know what he looks like.”
“I know what he looks like.”
“Looked like, four years ago.
“Right.”
“Maybe we should head home ourselves and let the two of you look. He might be more inclined to come out of hiding if you're not surrounded by a small crowd.”
“You're probably right. He's friendly, but timid.”
“Pinny, I'll give you my number and get yours, so we can keep in touch. Be sure to call us when you find him.”
They exchanged contact info and she hugged him, then kissed his nose.
“Now you're flirting with me.”
She gave him a smirk and sideways glare, then flicked her little tail at him.
Jinsey looked at me, “Is she really flirting with my dad?”
“She's playful, but loves her husband. Its nothing to worry about.” I hope.
“Okay,” she laughed and hugged me. “Good luck. I hope he finds you. Say goodbye to your father, Billy.”
“No. I want to stay with him,” she clung to my leg.
“He has to go find his friend.”
“I want to help.”
“We're going to buy groceries,” Jinsey's father interjected.
“Can I have some chocolate?” she let go and approached her grandfather.
“We'll talk about it,” Jinsey shot her father a look as he nodded to his granddaughter.
They started to leave, “Bye. See you later.” she abruptly pulled away and ran back to hug me and I hugged her back.
Jinsey came back to get her, then smiled and kissed my lips, lingering while I kissed her and her tail flicked behind her.
Her father leaned to Pinny, “I might not mind seeing it so much if I were getting some myself.”
She smirked, then grabbed his face and kissed his surprised lips, turning away abruptly to walk away without a glance. She smiled at Jinsey as we pulled apart and the mouse blushed.
They headed back to their car while we went back to ours. We got in and Pinny looked at me, “Do you like your mouse family?”
I smiled and nodded, “They're great people; Jinsey's more beautiful now and Billy is wonderful. It feels great.”
“Just don't forget about your bunny family,” she patted her belly, then leaned over and kissed my cheek.
“I never could,” I leaned over to return the kiss, but she quickly caught my lips with her own and held me in a passionate moment, slipping her paw over my thigh to find my erection tenting my apron.
“Is this for me?”
“Between you and Jinsey, I am glad I have clothes now or you would be picking me out of the Guard station.”
She glanced outside at the people walking by, “I'll have to take care of this later.” She sat up and turned the car on, pulling out carefully as she drove us to the Guard station.
