Chapter 18:
I get up the next morning, a bit stiff and sore. I use the washroom, and head down stairs. When I get to the kitchen, I can see grandma is moving very stiffly " I guess we over did it yesterday, didn't we?" Grandma just shakes her head yes. "Even hurts to speak today", she says. I go and sit down, and Grandma joins me at the table to eat breakfast. I get out the step stool and help grandma with the dishes, after breakfast. We then go laze around the living room watching movies all day, eating popcorn, and trying not to move to much.
By supper time I'm feeling a little better, so I help grandma make supper. I chop vegetables for a stir fry, and make salad for mom and I. Vivian makes chicken and noodles for dad and herself. Mom and dad come home and I greet them, I can tell their tired, and just want to relax. Long day I ask? Long day dad agrees. After supper we relax in front of the TV, but it isn't long before we all drift off to bed.
As I'm falling a sleep I reach for my littermates, but I don't find them. so, I head for the meadow. When I get there, I find them all there as well. I rush over to Susan, I grab her, look at her, and ask, "are you hurt, what can I do to help?" She looks at me and breaks down crying. I just wrap her in my love, and she just cries on my shoulder " Oh, Daniel, all they did was scare me with a scratch, but my reaction was, I went primal on them. I was trying to kill the lab tech who did it, I was so angry, I…I…I almost gave us all away." She cries all the harder. "It's ok, Susan, I think we would have all reacted the same way, and the point of the mater is you did regain control before some one was hurt, or you gave us away. We will all have to be on guard for this sort of thing.
And to that end, comes tonight's lesson, says Gab". Gab just hugs Susan and I, and makes all of us sit in a circle. "Control of one's emotions is paramount, when dealing with other mammals. When I told Daniel, last night, "to lock it down", instinctively he knew what to do. But you all need to learn to do this consciously, emotions can either help or hinder you. I'm not saying you should avoid your emotions, but to think before you respond to stimuli. In Susan's case last night, if her brain had engaged before her emotions, the out come would have been different. So, to that end, we start with conscious control of our emotions."
So, we spent the night raising, and lowering our emotions, gaining some control over how we use them. Some response we knew we would have a hard time with, fear, when scared by some thing, and anger when someone hurts us. Anger and fear, are very primal emotions, and therefore the hardest to control. But with Gab's help we had started down the journey of control. Anyone who says the voyage of self discover was easy, never went on the voyage, they're still standing on the dock looking out to sea. Also, anyone who says that mental exercises are not tiring, does not do many exercises, they probably spend most of their time jumping to conclusions. By the time Gab let us go for the night, we were so tired, we almost blinked out as one as we fell asleep.
When I woke up in the morning, my head was a little fuzzy, but my body felt fine. Grandma had a little bounce in her step, as she made breakfast. After breakfast we went to the park, I was hoping to see William, but he was a no show. So, I played mostly by myself. Most of the other kids in the park, once they noticed I was different, stopped playing with me. I did feel lonely, but I could take a journey to Susan and my littermates, and always get a quick hug which would make me feel better. After the park, we went window shopping, Vivian had learned a long time ago that foxes were not welcome to a lot of establishments, as we were seen as shifty low life's, who would steal just about anything. So, we stood outside a lot of stores looking in. Some would welcome us in to shop, other watched us outside as if we were trying to break in. I think this was when I started to want to be a cop, I wanted to see the injustice stopped towards every species. Foxes weren't the only ones discriminated against, but by far foxes, were the ones discriminated against the most. We then made our way to the super centre, they would allow anyone in, but we were still watched. I was still fascinated by all the stuff you could buy here. We walked the store, and looked at a lot of thing we didn't need, but the TV commercials said we did. Grandma bought me some more cloths, and herself a new dress, then we bought some more groceries. After shopping, we had lunch at a small cafe down the street from home.
When we got home, we put the groceries away, and I went to change into my "work out clothes". Grandma joined me. We were better and our positions were good, but by the end we were just as tired and sweaty. The soak in the tub, felt really good on tired muscles. "So, Daniel, anything new with everyone else? Well, Gab started to teach us emotional control, and Susan almost got us caught. Caught? Yes, they hurt her while she was sleeping, and she went primal on the lab tech who hurt her. Did she hurt him? No, but she sure did scare him. Oh, I can just imagine how scared he was when a mild and meek rabbit attacked him". We laughed at this picture in our heads.
Mom and dad came home early, and we went for a walk. Vivian had made me a new "jacket", the first time we walked, mom was very Leary of chasing me, but dad and I convinced her it would be ok. I found it easier to avoid mom as we ran, and when we got to the alley, I did look twice to make sure that no cars were coming. When we got to the corner, I went around it and hid under the bench. Mom missed me so I had a head start back to dad. I could see dad in his line backer position, and I faked him out. At this I removed my jacket, and I had my blue shirt and badge on underneath. Now we were just three cops walking the beat. Rita saw us coming back. "So, you three, couldn't catch that little hoodlum tonight I see. No, he was just to fast tonight", I replied. She just laughs, and hands me a cookie.
As I fall to sleep, I grab Vivian and I try something new. I slow down my travel, to try to see were I am headed. I get flashes of the city, a meadow, a forest, and catch a glimpse of a building. Is this where they are being held? I ask my self. Then I will myself to the meadow. When we get there, Gab has already started the lesson. "You two are late, what took you so long?" I hang my head, and tell him I slowed down the journey, to see if I could find the place where they were holding my siblings." We Will talk after, Daniel." Oh boy I knew I was in trouble. We all get into a meditative state and start the exercises. We learned new and different moves tonight, and I developed a whole new set of aches. As everyone blinks out, I kiss and hold Susan just before she blinks out, and I am left alone with Gab.
"Daniel, why did you try that?" I look at Gab, and holding my head high I tell him I want to get them out of there. "Very admirable Daniel, what did you learn? That it's not as easy as it seems. In what respect? The distance is far, not to sure of what I saw, and I'm not sure if it will help. Well Daniel, it's not as far as you think. And slowing down your travel, takes more energy. You rob some of that energy from Vivian, as she was linked to you. I hang my head in shame. when you are doing that in the future, ask the person you are bring if you can have their power to do this. I'm not mad at you Daniel, this development is just a little earlier than expected. I will apologize to Vivian in the morning. You Do that, now off to bed with you". With that I blink out as well.
"So, anything new? Yes Sir, we gave them stimuli of various designs, and they were happy with that. But what got the most attention, was when the guard dropped his radio. And it shattered. Subject "O" picked up the pieces, and put them on their bench, and with tape and paper clips he got the radio working. How badly broken was it? Sir, the case was shattered, and the circuit boards were broken as well, if you watch the surveillance cameras you can see how he did this. Right, so give subject "O" some basic "electricity and electronics" and move up to circuit design. Anyone else? Yes Sir, subject "N" Seems to be able to hack the "kit" computer we had given them. Hacked? Yes Sir, it now makes a farting noise every time it starts up. All right Give her an old computer, not tied to the main frame, and see what she can do. Give Subject "N" basic computer programing, and see where it goes from there. Very good Sir." (from the archives of the institute)