Chapter 43: News
The next morning, was average, tell we got down to the street. The reporter from yesterday was waiting on the street for us. He had been thrown out of the lobby, when he couldn't answer some simple questions. As he approaches, grandma gets a look of concern on her face.
"That's close enough, who are you and what do you want"? "Ma'am I just wish to speak to the O'Hare children". "You still didn't answer my question". "I'm a reporter working for the star". "Sorry, we are not granting interviews at this time". He takes a few steps closer. "I said back off, we are not granting interviews". He moves a little closer. " Sir, I won't ask you again, back off". "Look all I want to do is talk to them."
Susan reaches up, "It's ok Vivian, he's harmless". "Are you sure Susan"? "Yes, Vivian we are all sure". Vivian visible relaxes. "Sir, you don't know how close you were to having your ass handed to you on a platter", says Susan. "What your maid was going to do it"? "She's not our maid, and no, she wouldn't have done it, I would have". "Look my grandma was right we are not granting interviews at this time". "She's your grandma"? "Yes, she is". "Wow, there's more of a story here than I thought"." Look Mr.…" "Oh, sorry, my bad".
"I'm Chris Beaverton". "Look Mr. Beaverton we don't want any publicity at this time, maybe later, but not now". "I understand, but I have been chasing Larry O'Hare for a few years now, and I had some evidence, but couldn't put him in the crimes I knew that he had committed. Can you tell me how you did it"?
"No sir, that is classified information". "Classified information"? "Yes Sir, if you want an interview, go talk to Jack Savage over at the Z CIA ". "Right, that stuck up bunny won't give me the time of day". "Well I'm sorry but our cab is here, and we are leaving". "Can I come with you"? "Sorry, no can do". We all pile into the cab, and leave him standing on the curb.
We get to the DOJO and find the place a bee hive of activity. "What's going on Mr. Delaront"? "Ah Daniel, we had the roof collapse in one corner, and we are shoring it up". "Why not fix it"? "Well we would, but we don't have the money to do it, hence the temporary repairs". "How much do you need to repair it"? "About 60,000 dollars. We haven't been taking in the money we need, due to low enrolment. We use to have a couple of rabbits that supported us, but they died a few years ago". "Who were these sponsors, and how much is enrolment"? "The sponsors we lost were Justin and Jennifer O'Hare, and the enrolment is 400 a month". "Terry can we help with the roof"? "Yes Daniel, we can".
Susan and Terry go to the other side of the room, Terry talks for a few minutes, then passes the phone to Susan. They come back and we start our routine. About an hour later, Maurice come in and hands an envelope to Susan and to Terry. We all stop and walk over to Mr. Delaront. "Sir, says Terry, there should be enough for the roof repairs, and some extra".
Mr. Delaront opens the envelope, and clutches his chest when he sees the amount. "Guys this is very generous, but I can't accept this". "Yes, you can, in fact I have set up an account in the name of the DOJO, and put five thousand dollars in it. I will be playing the stock market with this money. Every quarter you will be getting a cheque from this account". "Wow, what can I say, but thanks". He hugs Terry. "sir I have a cheque here for enrolment for the four of us". Susan hands him her envelope. He opens it and notices that the cheque is from the O'Hare Estate. He looks at Susan, with a quizzical look on his face. "Perhaps I should introduce us. I'm Susan, this is Suzie, Rick is over there, and Cindy is beside him". "Yes, I do know all your names". "Yes Sir, but what you don't know is our last name, our last name is O'Hare". "Your Justin and Jenifer's kits"? "Yes Sir, we are". "Wow, this is some kind of strange".
"What's strange? Sir". "Well they always believed that their kits were kidnapped, and they were learning defence, to protect them when they got them back. The last time I saw them, Justin had just had a fight with his brother, whom he believed was responsible for the abduction". "He was Mr. Delaront, responsible for our abduction I mean. He's now facing a slew of charges relating to that, and more". "Wow, and thank you all for your generous gift, and the enrolment fee."
We finish our time at the DOJO, and head out the door. That same reporter is waiting for us. He steps forward and puts a paw on Susan's shoulder. Susan whips around out from under his paw, grabs his wrist, and using his off balanced state, flips him over on his back while still putting pressure on his wrist he screams in pain. After a second or two, she realized it was him, and releases her grip and steps back.
He sits up clutching his wrist. "I think you broke it". "No, its not broken, your just lucky I didn't break your arm". "Did you think we would change our mind about the interview"? He slowly flexes his finger before he replies. "Yes, I could write about what I know, and it's not the whole story. It's based on conjecture, and gut feelings, but I would prefer to have the true story". "Look do you have a business card"? Chris reaches in to his pocket, and produces a business card.
"Right, we will give this to our guardians and talk to them about an interview, but I can't guarantee they will grant one". "Well that's more than I had a moment ago." The cab pulls up at this time. "If I were you, I would get some ice for that swelling, hopefully in the future you have learned not to put your paws on women you do not know." With that she shuts the door, and the cab drives away. Chris thinks to himself, she's only four?
We all go for a soak, Elisabeth and Justin go for a swim, Scott sits at the edge of the pool and practices his howl, still comes out like a broken stutter, we all just laughs at him, he glares at us and cannonballs into the pool.
After supper we broach the subject of an interview with mom and dad. "dad, mom, we've had a request to do an interview with the star, I'm thinking we should do it". "You know that most of your story is classified, right"? "Yes, but we can tell some of it, and it's better than the rumors going around". "What rumors"? "I'm sure that Larry wasn't the only one that believed what he said in court. In fact, I'm sure that he started the rumors just to make himself look good". "You could be right, but this could be unnecessary exposure". "I don't think so, for us anyway. For you and your kits it will be. Not many people know that some hybrids exist, and there could be a public back lash." Nick shrugs as he looks over at Judy, "we knew that this day would come, but were hoping that it would come much later".
"So, when and were would you like to do this interview"? "We were thinking we do it here, kind of turn it into a mammal-interest story. And we could do it on Saturday afternoon, say one o'clock"? "That could work, as long as we are not dragged into work, we want to be there to protect our interests."
Saturday rolls around and Chris is nervous, what will he find? Who are the Guardians of the O'Hare's? well time to find out. Chris steps into the lobby and goes to the security desk. "I'm here for an interview with the O'Hare's". JR just smiles, "you want that kiosk over there". He points to the kiosk by the elevator. He goes over, but can see no way to activate it. "HELLO"? "state your name and business with the O'Hare's". Chis is a little startled, "my name is Chris Beaverton and I'm here to interview the O'Hare's". "Right, place your paws on the scanner and look into the camera". Chris thinks to himself, wow, quite the security system. "You may proceed". The elevator opens, and he steps in.
He gets off and looks around, it appears to be a reception area. One side of a set of double doors opens, and Susan motions him to come in. Chris steps forward and enters. He looks to the left and sees a very big living room, he then turns to the right. It's a very modern kitchen, with a lot of adults and kits sitting around the table. Chris gulps, it's a very ecliptic group of mammals. "Come in Mr. Beaverton, want a coffee"? "Yes, a coffee would be fine". Vivian gets up and goes to the counter and gets him a coffee.
"Now we need to set some ground rules, if we say that something is classified, you will stop all questions pertaining to that. If we say we don't want to talk about it, please don't push. We will be as open and as upfront with you as we can, is that fair"? "Yes, that would be fine".
"Right I guess introductions are in order, I'm Nick Wilde, this is my wife Judy Wilde, my mom is Vivian Howler, next to her is Peter Howler. The Kits will introduce themselves as you ask questions of them". "So, who's the guardians of the O'Hare's"? "That would be Judy and I". "What do you do for a living Mr. Wilde"? "Judy and I are both cops". "Wait, your Nick Wilde, first fox cop"? Nick chuckles, "yes that would be me". "And Judy…. Hopps first Bunny cop"? "Yes, that would be me, but it's Wilde now". "How long have you guys been married"? "Going on 5 years now". "Wow, am I out of the loop". Everyone just laughs.
"So, how did you become the guardians of the O'Hare's"? "Our kits, and the O'Hare kits are litter mates, they were born to the same surrogate mother". "When did this happen"? "May 25 four years ago". "Your kits"? "Judy and I have 7 kits. Two were conceived and birthed January of this year, and William the oldest, was born two months before the O'Hare's and our other four kits". "So, who's the father of your kits"? "That would be me", Nick says pointing to himself. "But that's impossible", "Foxes and Bunny's together have never had kits before, they're to different of species". "Daniel can you go show Mr. Beaverton".
I walk over and point to my ears and feet, and twitch my nose at him. "So, your son is deformed, proves nothing". "Well, Mr. Beaverton we have proof that all our kits have both bunny and fox genes, DNA tests have been preformed on them all. Daniel is a sixty percent match to me, and a thirty five percent match to Judy". "What about the other five percent"? "They haven't been able to identify it. But all the kits have the same five percent that can't be identified". "So, were they all part of an experiment"? "Sorry Chris, you've hit your first classification stamp".
"Ok, so you said in court that you have an education already"? "Yes, replies Susan, we all have a grade 12 education. Daniel and I are studying first year university police sciences. Cindy is a lawyer already, Rick is an electronic circuit designer, and Ava is a computer programmer, Davis wants to be a doctor, and Cindy is helping him to achieve this. Terry is a day trader, with a proven track record"." What about you, little one"? "I'm Suzie and I'm a singer"." I'm getting the point that you are all extremely smart". "We are Chris". "You have achieved this by the age of four, how is this possible"? "We all have very good memories, and have been force fed information since we were two weeks old". He looks at Nick, "did you do this to them"? "No, we didn't, and before you ask, you've hit your second classification stamp". Chris gets a little flustered, all the good stuff seems to be classified.
"So, I saw you coming out of that DOJO, what are you learning there"? "We all are learning to be fighters. Susan says, I have a double black belt, and Daniel is a master. The rest of us have brown or black belts, mom and dad have purple belts". "So, are you a family of fighters"? "In a manner of speaking. We all can fight". "I heard once that you beat up a couple of mammals in front of a park, is this true"? "Well yes, these two mammals tried to abduct myself and Rick, I took out one perp and Judy took out the other". "When was this"? "About one year ago". He looks at Susan, "you took out a full-grown mammal when you were three"? "Yes, I did". "I'm sorry for yesterday, if I had known…" " It's ok Mr. Beaverton you have learned a valuable lesson. I'm not the only female fighter in the world".
"So, how did you guys break the case against Larry O'Hare"? "Most of that is under a publication ban, we can't tell you much, but to say it will come out in court". "Did you guys have something to do with it"? "Again, publication ban". "Come on, give me something". "Well, we did play a small part in it". "Ok, is he guilty"?" You will have to attend court to find that out. The courts will decide that".
"Right, so you signed over your inheritance to him in court, why would you do this"? Again, Susan speaks, "we did this because we knew the stock would fall when Larry was arrested. Also, we wanted full control over the house and our bank accounts. Larry can no longer claim that the money was taken from the company". "Terry, how much has our bank accounts risen"? "I have managed to increase the accounts by 20% every quarter", "and how much has Larry's stock fallen"? "On news of his arrest the stock fell 42%. and it continues to fall as we speak, his company will be dead before the year is out". "Wow you guys thought of everything". "We try to Mr. Beaverton".
At this point Scott, Elisabeth and Justin run into the room. Having woken up from their nap. "And here they are the terrible trio", I say. "When I get older nephew, I'm goanna pound you into the ground". Everyone laughs. "Dream on little mammal, dream on". Justin voices their protests as well. (Elisabeth doesn't speak yet).
Chris sits there in shock. "Can you Daniel, tell me why he called you nephew"? "Because he's my fathers' brother". Vivian speaks up, "Scott is mine and Peters son, he was born in January along with Elisabeth and Justin, who were born to Judy and Nick". "And they're speaking already"? "Yes, they are, their house broken too". "Mooooom", Vivian just laugh. "Oh, come here you". Scott jumps into his mother's lap and proceeds to sent mark her clothes. Vivian just rubs her paw down his back and Scott starts to purr. Justin and Elisabeth jump into Nick and Judy's laps, and start to chirr. Chris doesn't know what to think, but he can tell that they love each other.
"So, do you have anymore question Chris"? "No, I think I have enough for the story. Can I come back in the future"? "Sure, just present yourself at the kiosk, if we are not busy and we're here, we would be happy to let you up for a talk". "Thank for the coffee", "any time".