Chapter 31: Depressed Davy

Davy Baker was watching the naked people at breakfast. Most were athletic young women--or so they appeared. School children of both genders from the boarding school filled trays from the serving line and clustered around tables. Males were in the minority--many of the adult males present were slaves. Normally the talking animals didn't eat with the humans, but a red fox named Copper was at a large round table beside Hank. There were almost 20 people sitting at the table and six naked slaves standing. Amanda was serving, as were Trey, Gordi and Phyllis. Toni and Winnie left for the serving line. Davy sat on the other side of Hank.

"Mrs. Baker," Hank called out. "Would you dine with us?"

"Just let me get some breakfast," Mrs. Shana Baker said."

"Davy is depressed, Mrs. Baker," Hank said. "I want both of you to participate in an evaluation today. This will take a while."

"Aren't you busy?" Mrs. Baker asked as she took a seat on the other side of the fox.

"Project Goldfish Bowl next door to your store is wrapping up," Hank replied as he hand-fed a piece of meat to Copper. "You haven't heard of Operation Bandaid, but it was an emergency investigation into the murder of several Capitallian politicians. At first it was four senators, then one in Las Vegas last week. We've found several more--"

"Do you have to discuss classified information in an non-secure area?" Bill Moses snapped.

"There is a distortion field surrounding the table," Hank replied, "and Mrs. Baker is part of it. Her husband was killed by one of the assassins. But that isn't the topic. Mrs. Baker--"

"Please, call me Shana," Mrs. Baker requested.

"Shana, I need your permission to conduct a complete evaluation of Davy," Hank said.

"I want to be a girl," Davy said as he stirred his scrambled eggs and grits together.

Mrs. Baker very nearly fainted.

"Drink this," Hank offered. "Go on, Shana. We had sex. Sharing a cup of coffee won't hurt. It's warm."

Shana sipped the tan liquid and grimaced.

"It's a bit sweet for me," she said. "What's in this?"

"I put a lot of French Vanilla in it. Tell Amanda what you want." Hank offered Copper a grape. "Copper here is the hero of the hour. His sharp nose smelled C4 explosives oozing out of Herman's pores and raised the alarm. That sent a signal to every place connected to us and we stopped Herman and three more bombs without casualties. Unfortunately Jacksonville wasn't able to get the warning in time and two suicide bombs disrupted a military conference being held there. Florida's governor is one happy camper--his conference wasn't disrupted one bit."

"Davy, why do you want to be a girl?" Shana asked her son.

"I don't know," Davy swirled his fork in his breakfast.

"That's why I want to evaluate Davy," Hank said. "But I cannot do that because Davy is not yet an adult. I need his parent's permission."

"I don't want you to become a girl," Shana said. "I like you as a boy."

"Then have sex with him," Hank suggested.

"CHEESE AND CRACKERS!" Bill Moses thundered. "What's with you perverts?"

Hank Dalton laughed. Most of his table gaped at Hank is shock.

"I need to verify it by evaluation," Hank wiped his eyes with his napkin, "but I suspect that Davy feels unloved. He feels that you are pushing him away, that you want to get rid of him. Davy may feel that you'd love him more as a girl than as a boy. Now it is easy to fix Davy physically, but you may need--"

"No! My son is not going to become a girl!" Shana said. "And that is final!"

"Mom, in two years I can do whatever I want," Davy pouted. "If you don't want me, I can volunteer for slavery. Somebody will want me, if you don't."

"Let's finish breakfast while I discuss options," Hank said. "Copper's hungry and so am I."

"This is interesting," Copper said. "I can't imagine being anything other than a fox. You humans can do just about anything."

It took nearly half an hour to get Davy and Shana talking. Bill Moses was unable to accept that people were unhappy enough with their lot in life to change themselves, their bodies, throw away their freedom. Hank had gotten up from his chair and was between Bill Moses and Robin Tyson.