Part Twelve - Bait and Trap
"Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them." Ecclesiastes 9:12
George arrived at Winston's farm early in the day that the gassing was to take place. He was actually excited about the upcoming assault; he fantasized that he was a conquering hero reclaiming an occupied land from a vicious enemy. The fact that the enemy was a warren of rabbits was not stopping his grandeur vision.
As he was scouting out the area of the warren, rubbing his hands together and almost cackling with glee, he said, "Well, my friends, it won't be long, now. You're about to experience the wrath of George Castles. You'll rue the day you decided to infest my farm." He carried his loaded rifle, hoping to find a stray target, failing to realize that the rabbits had enough sense to stay underground when he was in plain sight and directly on top of the warren.
After a half hour of patrolling, he grew bored and decided to go back to Winston's house to see how much his tenant had learned about the new harvesting equipment that was going to be arriving. I'm going to be the most successful farmer in all England, he thought, actually believing himself.
During his talk with Winston, George looked out of the windows, nervously checking the skies, which were clouding over from the south, and then noticed something move by one of the sheds. He got out his field glasses to investigate.
George grumbled, "Oh, great! Now we have foxes, too!" His first thought, of course, was of shooting them. He was still in his commando mode.
"Where?"
"By that shed there." He handed the field glasses to Winston.
"Oh, yes. I sure hope they're not after Hopkins."
"Who the heck is Hopkins?"
"That rabbit kitten that you caught the other day. I've got it a cage in the barn for now, but I left the barn's front door open."
"I see." A plan was already forming in George's mind as to how to get rid of the foxes. He added, "Don't worry, Winston, I'll make sure Hopkins is all right. I'll be right back. Keep reading up on this harvester."
Winston watched as his boss walked to the barn, disappeared, and came back out several minutes later, finally closing the door. As George walked back, Winston noticed a rather angry expression on his face. When he returned, he said, "That stupid rabbit of yours is safe for now, but I have a mind to get rid of it myself!"
For one hundred pounds, you're not touching poor Hopkins, he thought, adding, "Thank you, Mr. Castles. I wouldn't want my niece to be disappointed." He paused. "Mr. Castles, your hand is bleeding!"
"Oh, right, that bloody rabbit of yours bit me. I was just checking to see if the lock was secure."
"I'm sorry, sir, I'll have a chat with Hopkins about her manners." His smile vanished when his eyes met George's glare.
"Just shut up and let's get back to this harvester information," huffed George, "You're the one that's going to be running the equipment, you know."
And doing all the work, you... Winston found it difficult to curse even in his thoughts.
While poring over the papers which George found incomprehensible and which Winston understood perfectly well but knew to be a waste of time, George glanced at the barn through the window every few seconds to see if his plan was going to work. Soon, he saw a fox disappearing behind the barn. "Excuse me, Winston, I just saw that fox again," he said, quickly getting up, "I'll be right back - again."
Winston watched curiously as several minutes later, George once again made his way to the barn - this time with his rifle in hand. What is he up to? he thought. This time, he decided to follow. As he made his way to the barn, several shots rang out. The shots were not from outside, or behind the barn, but from inside the barn. Winston waited for the shooting to stop before proceeding. You crazy idiot! he fumed as he ran to the barn and threw open the front door.
***
"I think it's safer to keep on the move so long as Pratt is after me," pondered Mara, "Besides, I want to make sure our friends get to the warren safely." Her cubs agreed, and she finished, "But, let's keep our distance. When we know that they're safe, we'll leave." At this, the cubs' ears drooped.
The foxes followed the three rabbits at a distance for the hour that it took for them to get to Grotto. When they saw Oaktrunk greet another rabbit, then all four disappear inside the warren, they decided to leave them at that.
After their friends went underground, they decided to take a short nap in some bushes. Mara didn't sleep long, and woke to begin scouting the farm for a potential temporary refuge where Pratt would be unlikely to look for them. Some time later, Mara woke her cubs after she noticed a man walking towards one of the large buildings of the nearby farm, a building she had yet to investigate. The man entered the building through a large front door. Some squealing could be heard inside. After a while, the man used a rock to prop open one of the doors that was facing away from the house. He then came out of the main door, closed it, and disappeared inside the house.
"Mother, that sounded like a rabbit squealing," observed Gina.
"Yes, I wonder what that was all about. I'm going to go see. Gina, don't let those two go anywhere."
"Yes, mother."
Mara set out towards the open door. Poking her head inside, she could smell that indeed a rabbit was inside. Then she saw the doe kitten, tied to a string and hanging from a rafter, her ears barely touching the floor. She was squealing and sobbing, hopelessly trying to twist around to reach the string and free herself. When she saw Mara enter, she gave up and just let herself hang there, her eyes closed.
"What in the world is going on? Did that man do this to you?"
The rabbit kitten remained silent and made no effort to struggle as Mara approached and began gnawing on the string. After a short while, the string parted and the kitten fell to the floor, silent and still not moving.
"Just relax," said Mara, "I've got to get this off of your legs now." She gnawed at the tightly-tied string, taking care not to cut into the kitten's legs. Finally, the kitten was free. Mara finished, "All right, you can go now."
The kitten looked at Mara in shock. Just then, Mark and Carol peeked in through the door. "Mother, is the rabbit all right?" asked Mark.
"What are you two doing here? I told you to stay put!"
"But, mother, we had to see what was happening," protested Carol.
Before Mara could further scold her cubs, the same man that she had seen earlier entering and leaving the barn quickly sidled into the side door, slamming it shut behind him. Mara and her cubs froze in terror, and the kitten squealed and dove back into her open cage. The long stick that the man carried in both hands was easily recognizable.
***
"Mother told us to stay here!" Gina scolded her younger siblings after they tried starting off, "And I'm in charge while she's not here."
"But, Gina," protested Mark, "We're only going to take a peek."
"No, Gina's right, Mark," said Carol, "Why don't we pass the time playing games instead?"
"That's the spirit, Carol!" enthused Gina, "Which game did you want to play?"
"Well, how about the one we played with Meadow - 'Foxes and Rabbits'?" Carol winked at Mark, and then he knew what she meant to do.
"Yes," agreed Mark, "We'll be the rabbits, and you're the fox, Gina."
"All right..." said Gina hesitantly.
"Can't catch us, you homba!" shouted Carol as she and Mark tore away - directly towards where their mother had disappeared to.
"Hey! Come back here!" Gina chased them but stopped when she saw the man coming out of the house again - carrying a long stick. "Mark! Carol! There's a man coming!" But, they had already reached the barn. Gina backed away and hid in some tall grass, watching in horror as the man rounded the barn then entered, slamming the door behind him and trapping her mother, brother, and sister inside.
Upon hearing the shots, she fled towards Grotto, where she assumed that the only friends that she had left would be.
***
As George quickly strolled to the barn, he hoped that the bait would work. He had taken Hopkins from her cage, using thick gloves after being bitten during the first attempt, and tied her by string to one of the rafters. His logic was that the squealing would draw the foxes to investigate and then enter the barn for a free meal. The fact that he was not the rightful owner of the animal did not register with him. His excuse would be that the cage must have somehow sprung open, and that the foxes got the rabbit, should the rabbit be injured or killed before he could kill the foxes.
He crept along the side of the barn, careful not to make any noise with his footsteps. He reached the side door, kicked away the rock holding the door open, sprang inside, and slammed the door shut in one fluid motion. His plan had worked. Inside the barn with him and now hopelessly trapped, were three foxes, staring at him, and frozen in terror.
He took quick aim at Mara, the largest fox, and fired a single shot. At only fifteen feet away, he had finally scored a direct hit. Mara was instantly still. The milk cow in the barn began bolting around in her pen.
The two cubs immediately scattered. He fired and one and missed; the bullet thudded into one of the thick wooden beams supporting the roof. He went after the second cub, which had trapped itself in a corner, between two walls and a stack of hay that was several feet high. As it desperately scrambled up the bales, George opened fire again. The cub was knocked off of the bales and briefly yelped in pain, then spent several seconds writhing on the floor before laying still.
George then took a wild shot across the barn at the remaining cub - that bullet ricocheted off of the floor and embedded itself in the opposite wall, missing the cub by at least ten feet. Blind with rage, George threw down the gun, and grabbed a pitchfork, and went after the cub. He cornered it and stabbed at it as it tried to bolt past him. He struck it directly in the side, impaling it with all three tines. The cub uttered a low whine and crawled under a jumble of bales. George was preparing to strike again when the barn's main door swung open.
"Norman, what in bloody tarnation are you doing?" screeched Winston.
George spun around, still wrapped up by his frenzy. "Well, I was just killing your foxes for you, Winston."
Picking up the gun off of the barn floor, Winston fumed, "You don't fire guns in barns! What are you, bloody daft?" He pointed to the milk cow which was now lying in its pen, with the whites of its eyes showing and its breathing coming labouriously. "You nearly gave Holly a heart attack! What are you, crazy?"
George was starting to take offence at the repeated insults. "I am perfectly sane, thank you very much. I'm just trying to get rid of pests here - which is supposed to be your job, by the way."
"That's right, it is my job, and I'd appreciate it if you'd let me do it - the way it's supposed to be done. You don't go shooting up the barn for foxes - you set traps, or else you shoot away from the farm and buildings where people are. It's always worked before, but you wouldn't care; you like playing soldier so bloody much."
"Honestly, Winston, you'd let vermin run my farm over, you incompetent nitwit."
"I don't call three foxes and a few rabbits being run over. Oh, and as for incompetence, how about buying a hundred and fifty thousand pounds of equipment to replace brand-new, unused equipment which cost a hundred thousand pounds and does the same job?"
George could handle being called crazy; he'd heard that before. But the implication that he was an incompetent businessman sent him over the edge. "That's it! If you don't want to run my farm properly, then I'll find someone who will! You're fired!" he roared.
"See if I care! I can get another job; I know how to work, unlike some spoiled, petty, little brat I know." Winston enjoyed that line more than he thought he would.
"Get out of here! Get off of my farm!" George's face was bright red.
"Fine! I'll just pick up my things and be out of here, and glad of it, too! And I'll probably have a job by tomorrow afternoon." With that, Winston turned and stormed off to the house to begin gathering his possessions and loading them into his covered lorry. He looked at the darkening sky to the west, and decided to check the forecast again.
Calling out after Winston, George yelled, "I've got other business to attend to! If you're still here when I get back at four o'clock, consider yourself under arrest for trespassing!" George left the foxes in the barn, pulled out his mobile and called for his driver to pick him up.
Winston waved this off. He knew that George would be back to personally oversee that afternoon's rabbit gassing that he had planned, but he also knew that there was no legal foundation for arrest. He would take as long as he needed to pack. After George left, he went back to the barn to get Hopkins; he was surprised to see that her cage was open, and that Hopkins was still there, cowering in fear.
"Don't worry about him, Hop, you're coming with me." He grimly observed the foxes in the barn, and decided he'd leave the job of getting rid of them up to George. Then, he picked up the Hopkins' cage and went back to the house.
WEATHER BULLETIN
ISSUED BY THE MET.OFFICE AT 1230 UTC
SEVERE THUNDER STORM WARNING IN FORCE
ISSUED FOR COUNTIES CORNWALL, DEVON, AVON, SOMERSET, AND DORSET OF ENGLAND AND COUNTIES SOUTH GLAMORGAN, MID GLAMORGAN, AND WEST GLAMORGAN OF WALES
SEVERE THUNDER STORMS HAVE SWEPT INTO SOUTH WESTERN ENGLAND AND SOUTHERN WALES FROM THE ENGLISH CHANNEL. ACCOMPANYING THESE STORMS ARE HEAVY BURSTS OF RAIN, HAIL, GALE-FORCE WINDS, AND INTENSE LIGHTNING. CITIZENS IN THESE AREAS ARE ASKED TO REMAIN INDOORS FOR THEIR SAFETY UNTIL THE DANGER PASSES. THESE STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE MOVING DUE NORTH.
MORE STORMS ARE FORMING OVER THE ENGLISH CHANNEL AND ARE ASSUMING A SIMILAR PATH, THUS ARE EXPECTED TO AFFECT AREAS OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND EAST OF THE CURRENT WARNING AREAS THIS AFTERNOON. STORMS ARE LIKELY TO STRIKE AS FAR EAST AS GREATER LONDON
PLEASE STAY TUNED FOR UPDATED WARNINGS AS THEY ARE ENDED OR PUT INTO FORCE.
END TRANSMISSION
************
"Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them." Ecclesiastes 9:12
George arrived at Winston's farm early in the day that the gassing was to take place. He was actually excited about the upcoming assault; he fantasized that he was a conquering hero reclaiming an occupied land from a vicious enemy. The fact that the enemy was a warren of rabbits was not stopping his grandeur vision.
As he was scouting out the area of the warren, rubbing his hands together and almost cackling with glee, he said, "Well, my friends, it won't be long, now. You're about to experience the wrath of George Castles. You'll rue the day you decided to infest my farm." He carried his loaded rifle, hoping to find a stray target, failing to realize that the rabbits had enough sense to stay underground when he was in plain sight and directly on top of the warren.
After a half hour of patrolling, he grew bored and decided to go back to Winston's house to see how much his tenant had learned about the new harvesting equipment that was going to be arriving. I'm going to be the most successful farmer in all England, he thought, actually believing himself.
During his talk with Winston, George looked out of the windows, nervously checking the skies, which were clouding over from the south, and then noticed something move by one of the sheds. He got out his field glasses to investigate.
George grumbled, "Oh, great! Now we have foxes, too!" His first thought, of course, was of shooting them. He was still in his commando mode.
"Where?"
"By that shed there." He handed the field glasses to Winston.
"Oh, yes. I sure hope they're not after Hopkins."
"Who the heck is Hopkins?"
"That rabbit kitten that you caught the other day. I've got it a cage in the barn for now, but I left the barn's front door open."
"I see." A plan was already forming in George's mind as to how to get rid of the foxes. He added, "Don't worry, Winston, I'll make sure Hopkins is all right. I'll be right back. Keep reading up on this harvester."
Winston watched as his boss walked to the barn, disappeared, and came back out several minutes later, finally closing the door. As George walked back, Winston noticed a rather angry expression on his face. When he returned, he said, "That stupid rabbit of yours is safe for now, but I have a mind to get rid of it myself!"
For one hundred pounds, you're not touching poor Hopkins, he thought, adding, "Thank you, Mr. Castles. I wouldn't want my niece to be disappointed." He paused. "Mr. Castles, your hand is bleeding!"
"Oh, right, that bloody rabbit of yours bit me. I was just checking to see if the lock was secure."
"I'm sorry, sir, I'll have a chat with Hopkins about her manners." His smile vanished when his eyes met George's glare.
"Just shut up and let's get back to this harvester information," huffed George, "You're the one that's going to be running the equipment, you know."
And doing all the work, you... Winston found it difficult to curse even in his thoughts.
While poring over the papers which George found incomprehensible and which Winston understood perfectly well but knew to be a waste of time, George glanced at the barn through the window every few seconds to see if his plan was going to work. Soon, he saw a fox disappearing behind the barn. "Excuse me, Winston, I just saw that fox again," he said, quickly getting up, "I'll be right back - again."
Winston watched curiously as several minutes later, George once again made his way to the barn - this time with his rifle in hand. What is he up to? he thought. This time, he decided to follow. As he made his way to the barn, several shots rang out. The shots were not from outside, or behind the barn, but from inside the barn. Winston waited for the shooting to stop before proceeding. You crazy idiot! he fumed as he ran to the barn and threw open the front door.
***
"I think it's safer to keep on the move so long as Pratt is after me," pondered Mara, "Besides, I want to make sure our friends get to the warren safely." Her cubs agreed, and she finished, "But, let's keep our distance. When we know that they're safe, we'll leave." At this, the cubs' ears drooped.
The foxes followed the three rabbits at a distance for the hour that it took for them to get to Grotto. When they saw Oaktrunk greet another rabbit, then all four disappear inside the warren, they decided to leave them at that.
After their friends went underground, they decided to take a short nap in some bushes. Mara didn't sleep long, and woke to begin scouting the farm for a potential temporary refuge where Pratt would be unlikely to look for them. Some time later, Mara woke her cubs after she noticed a man walking towards one of the large buildings of the nearby farm, a building she had yet to investigate. The man entered the building through a large front door. Some squealing could be heard inside. After a while, the man used a rock to prop open one of the doors that was facing away from the house. He then came out of the main door, closed it, and disappeared inside the house.
"Mother, that sounded like a rabbit squealing," observed Gina.
"Yes, I wonder what that was all about. I'm going to go see. Gina, don't let those two go anywhere."
"Yes, mother."
Mara set out towards the open door. Poking her head inside, she could smell that indeed a rabbit was inside. Then she saw the doe kitten, tied to a string and hanging from a rafter, her ears barely touching the floor. She was squealing and sobbing, hopelessly trying to twist around to reach the string and free herself. When she saw Mara enter, she gave up and just let herself hang there, her eyes closed.
"What in the world is going on? Did that man do this to you?"
The rabbit kitten remained silent and made no effort to struggle as Mara approached and began gnawing on the string. After a short while, the string parted and the kitten fell to the floor, silent and still not moving.
"Just relax," said Mara, "I've got to get this off of your legs now." She gnawed at the tightly-tied string, taking care not to cut into the kitten's legs. Finally, the kitten was free. Mara finished, "All right, you can go now."
The kitten looked at Mara in shock. Just then, Mark and Carol peeked in through the door. "Mother, is the rabbit all right?" asked Mark.
"What are you two doing here? I told you to stay put!"
"But, mother, we had to see what was happening," protested Carol.
Before Mara could further scold her cubs, the same man that she had seen earlier entering and leaving the barn quickly sidled into the side door, slamming it shut behind him. Mara and her cubs froze in terror, and the kitten squealed and dove back into her open cage. The long stick that the man carried in both hands was easily recognizable.
***
"Mother told us to stay here!" Gina scolded her younger siblings after they tried starting off, "And I'm in charge while she's not here."
"But, Gina," protested Mark, "We're only going to take a peek."
"No, Gina's right, Mark," said Carol, "Why don't we pass the time playing games instead?"
"That's the spirit, Carol!" enthused Gina, "Which game did you want to play?"
"Well, how about the one we played with Meadow - 'Foxes and Rabbits'?" Carol winked at Mark, and then he knew what she meant to do.
"Yes," agreed Mark, "We'll be the rabbits, and you're the fox, Gina."
"All right..." said Gina hesitantly.
"Can't catch us, you homba!" shouted Carol as she and Mark tore away - directly towards where their mother had disappeared to.
"Hey! Come back here!" Gina chased them but stopped when she saw the man coming out of the house again - carrying a long stick. "Mark! Carol! There's a man coming!" But, they had already reached the barn. Gina backed away and hid in some tall grass, watching in horror as the man rounded the barn then entered, slamming the door behind him and trapping her mother, brother, and sister inside.
Upon hearing the shots, she fled towards Grotto, where she assumed that the only friends that she had left would be.
***
As George quickly strolled to the barn, he hoped that the bait would work. He had taken Hopkins from her cage, using thick gloves after being bitten during the first attempt, and tied her by string to one of the rafters. His logic was that the squealing would draw the foxes to investigate and then enter the barn for a free meal. The fact that he was not the rightful owner of the animal did not register with him. His excuse would be that the cage must have somehow sprung open, and that the foxes got the rabbit, should the rabbit be injured or killed before he could kill the foxes.
He crept along the side of the barn, careful not to make any noise with his footsteps. He reached the side door, kicked away the rock holding the door open, sprang inside, and slammed the door shut in one fluid motion. His plan had worked. Inside the barn with him and now hopelessly trapped, were three foxes, staring at him, and frozen in terror.
He took quick aim at Mara, the largest fox, and fired a single shot. At only fifteen feet away, he had finally scored a direct hit. Mara was instantly still. The milk cow in the barn began bolting around in her pen.
The two cubs immediately scattered. He fired and one and missed; the bullet thudded into one of the thick wooden beams supporting the roof. He went after the second cub, which had trapped itself in a corner, between two walls and a stack of hay that was several feet high. As it desperately scrambled up the bales, George opened fire again. The cub was knocked off of the bales and briefly yelped in pain, then spent several seconds writhing on the floor before laying still.
George then took a wild shot across the barn at the remaining cub - that bullet ricocheted off of the floor and embedded itself in the opposite wall, missing the cub by at least ten feet. Blind with rage, George threw down the gun, and grabbed a pitchfork, and went after the cub. He cornered it and stabbed at it as it tried to bolt past him. He struck it directly in the side, impaling it with all three tines. The cub uttered a low whine and crawled under a jumble of bales. George was preparing to strike again when the barn's main door swung open.
"Norman, what in bloody tarnation are you doing?" screeched Winston.
George spun around, still wrapped up by his frenzy. "Well, I was just killing your foxes for you, Winston."
Picking up the gun off of the barn floor, Winston fumed, "You don't fire guns in barns! What are you, bloody daft?" He pointed to the milk cow which was now lying in its pen, with the whites of its eyes showing and its breathing coming labouriously. "You nearly gave Holly a heart attack! What are you, crazy?"
George was starting to take offence at the repeated insults. "I am perfectly sane, thank you very much. I'm just trying to get rid of pests here - which is supposed to be your job, by the way."
"That's right, it is my job, and I'd appreciate it if you'd let me do it - the way it's supposed to be done. You don't go shooting up the barn for foxes - you set traps, or else you shoot away from the farm and buildings where people are. It's always worked before, but you wouldn't care; you like playing soldier so bloody much."
"Honestly, Winston, you'd let vermin run my farm over, you incompetent nitwit."
"I don't call three foxes and a few rabbits being run over. Oh, and as for incompetence, how about buying a hundred and fifty thousand pounds of equipment to replace brand-new, unused equipment which cost a hundred thousand pounds and does the same job?"
George could handle being called crazy; he'd heard that before. But the implication that he was an incompetent businessman sent him over the edge. "That's it! If you don't want to run my farm properly, then I'll find someone who will! You're fired!" he roared.
"See if I care! I can get another job; I know how to work, unlike some spoiled, petty, little brat I know." Winston enjoyed that line more than he thought he would.
"Get out of here! Get off of my farm!" George's face was bright red.
"Fine! I'll just pick up my things and be out of here, and glad of it, too! And I'll probably have a job by tomorrow afternoon." With that, Winston turned and stormed off to the house to begin gathering his possessions and loading them into his covered lorry. He looked at the darkening sky to the west, and decided to check the forecast again.
Calling out after Winston, George yelled, "I've got other business to attend to! If you're still here when I get back at four o'clock, consider yourself under arrest for trespassing!" George left the foxes in the barn, pulled out his mobile and called for his driver to pick him up.
Winston waved this off. He knew that George would be back to personally oversee that afternoon's rabbit gassing that he had planned, but he also knew that there was no legal foundation for arrest. He would take as long as he needed to pack. After George left, he went back to the barn to get Hopkins; he was surprised to see that her cage was open, and that Hopkins was still there, cowering in fear.
"Don't worry about him, Hop, you're coming with me." He grimly observed the foxes in the barn, and decided he'd leave the job of getting rid of them up to George. Then, he picked up the Hopkins' cage and went back to the house.
WEATHER BULLETIN
ISSUED BY THE MET.OFFICE AT 1230 UTC
SEVERE THUNDER STORM WARNING IN FORCE
ISSUED FOR COUNTIES CORNWALL, DEVON, AVON, SOMERSET, AND DORSET OF ENGLAND AND COUNTIES SOUTH GLAMORGAN, MID GLAMORGAN, AND WEST GLAMORGAN OF WALES
SEVERE THUNDER STORMS HAVE SWEPT INTO SOUTH WESTERN ENGLAND AND SOUTHERN WALES FROM THE ENGLISH CHANNEL. ACCOMPANYING THESE STORMS ARE HEAVY BURSTS OF RAIN, HAIL, GALE-FORCE WINDS, AND INTENSE LIGHTNING. CITIZENS IN THESE AREAS ARE ASKED TO REMAIN INDOORS FOR THEIR SAFETY UNTIL THE DANGER PASSES. THESE STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE MOVING DUE NORTH.
MORE STORMS ARE FORMING OVER THE ENGLISH CHANNEL AND ARE ASSUMING A SIMILAR PATH, THUS ARE EXPECTED TO AFFECT AREAS OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND EAST OF THE CURRENT WARNING AREAS THIS AFTERNOON. STORMS ARE LIKELY TO STRIKE AS FAR EAST AS GREATER LONDON
PLEASE STAY TUNED FOR UPDATED WARNINGS AS THEY ARE ENDED OR PUT INTO FORCE.
END TRANSMISSION
************
