move on. Paris, were the forms for the tree tags completed and sent out yesterday?”
There was no answer; Frank was lost in another hallucination.
“Paris?” Chloro repeated looking up from her electronic pad, still no answer.
Frank was too busy escaping the world to explore the moon. The giant hole in the center of the room where the round table had been was now a crater on the moon. But Frank was not alone, he had Martian by his side to explore their new home and say “Goodbye Earth.” Martian floated toward Frank and placed his paw on Frank’s leg, just like he had done this morning. Then, the paw started to lose all of its fur, grow a thumb, and become a human hand; it was actually Roxy who placed her hand on Paris’s lap out of worry.
“Paris!” Chloro said a third and final time; the hallucination was over.
“I’m…” Paris answered, “I’m sorry Ms. Chloro…I…”
“Thinking about Roberts?” she said sternly.
“Uh…yes…I mean…”
“We have lost a lot of people this month but that can’t be helped. When an animal kills a human for food or protection, it is a part of nature. They were not murdered. We just have to accept it and move on as best we can,” Her answer was rehearsed. Like an old doll who would only repeat “mama” when someone pushed the right button.
“Humans killing humans or animals is murder,” thought Paris, “Animals killing humans is natural.”
“Now,” Chloro continued, “What about those tree tags I asked you about?”
“Oh, I…they are…I mean… I filled all of them out and had them sent yesterday like you asked. So, they are being processed right now, and we just have to wait for their response,” Paris said quickly getting his thoughts together.
“Alright then, I want you to get with Marshall and Graham after the meeting, so you three can go over our proposal to obtain farmland in the Houston area.”
The meeting went on like this for an hour. The only reason it stopped was because an alarm went off on Chloro’s electronic pad indicating that it was time for lunch. Everyone waited for Ms. Chloro to leave the room first. Once she was gone, all the employees started to move out of the office. Paris turned to Roxy and gave her his answer.
“Yes,” he said.
“I’m sorry?” she replied.
“Yes I would lo…like…like to help you move in.”
“Wonderful!” she said smiling gleefully, “Does Saturday work?”
“That will work just fine,” Paris said smiling nervously.
“Great, see you Saturday then. I can arrange for a hover vehicle to pick you up at your place.”
“Oh, no, that’s quite alright. Your hover building is not too far from where I live. I can walk.”
“Oh, okay. Well, I will see you later then Frank,” She could have asked him to eat lunch, with her but she did not push her luck. It was a big accomplishment to get Paris to come over to her place and that was good enough for her. Even if she did ask him to lunch, Paris would have not been in the right state of mind to go. It was hard enough for him to say yes to her, what with saying no to Bell’s offer to meet outside of work and feeling awful about it. Paris could not say no twice in one day. So, he said yes to the second offer and felt less lonely than he did when he declined the first.
Chapter 4
“Guess what happened to me today?” Paris announced finding Martian lying on the table with his legs plopped over like a cat taking a nap. After being caught not playing the part of a dog, Martian quickly adjusted himself for the role of canine and jumped up on Paris to give him some kisses.
“Alright, alright,” Paris said trying to calm his friend down, “Settle down so I can tell you about my day. Well, to start off, I made it to the office about an hour and a half early today! That never happens. Normally, I get there about 30 minutes before my shift starts, but, for some strange reason, I did not run into any traffic. I mean there were animals all over the place as usual, but nothing that would cause me to hide out somewhere until they scattered. So that is that part, now let me tell—”
“Police, anyone home?” The conversation had been interrupted by two police men walking into the house. Due to the open door/window policy, there was no such thing as “breaking and entering” anymore, yet another problem for the middle and lower classes was not having the right to privacy. The police loved this and took advantage of it as much as possible; the policy was to their advantage since they were able to walk in and catch someone doing illegal drugs, or perhaps harming an animal, and immediately take them into custody. Martian started barking until Paris told him to hush up. He obeyed the request as the police officers entered the living room.
“Hello sir, and how are you doing today?” One of the officers asked.
“I’m fine, what can I do for you two gentleman today?” Paris said standing up straight.
“Well,” the other officer said, “We were doing our normal patrol of the area, and your home was randomly selected to be investigated.”
“Damn, I forgot to look out for them,” thought Paris.
The police always kept an eye out for people entering their homes. It was there way of being able to enter a house and not worry about being mauled by an animal hiding somewhere. They used house owners as if they were pawns in chess.
“I see,” Paris replied, “Well, you gentleman caught me just getting home from work.”
“Sorry about that. We won’t be long. Is that your dog?” referring to Martian sitting up straight a few feet away.
Paris knew that this was an entrapment question; due to the abolitionism section of the Pacheco Laws, no one was allowed to have any animals as pets or even refer to them as such. For Paris to say “Yes, this is my dog” would be a confession and a cause for arrest. So, he did the smart thing and replied with, “No officer, I do not own a dog.” This statement was not a lie because in Paris’s mind, Martian was not a dog.
“Okay,” said the officer suspiciously, “That dog looks pretty trained just sitting there, not walking away from anyone.”
“Tamed, I believe is the word you are looking for officer,” Paris said sensing another manipulation tactic.
The officer did not like Paris’s comment. He stepped forward and was about to say something until the other officer said, “Nice bed over there,” referring to Martian's bed underneath Paris’s bunk.
“Yeah,” said Paris, “This dog just came in about a week ago and made itself a nice little home here.”
“So, you are acknowledging that this dog has exercised its right to claim property?”
“Yes sir, I am.”
“And with that, you have made sure its other rights have been adhered to?”
“Yes sir. All my doors and windows are always kept open, so it has its freedom of movement. And, I do not plan to eat this dog, so its personal safety and right to live are also protected as well.”
Both officers did not like this joke at all. They were determined to find something to prosecute Paris for, so they continued with their questions.
“So, you say that this dog has been here for about a week?”
“Why didn’t I say a couple of days?” Paris thought. “Yes officer,” he said aloud.
“And how has this dog acquired food?”
“I’ve seen the dog eat a few rodents here and there. And yes, every time I have seen it happen, I made sure to file a report with the police since an animal has died on my property.”