Shadow of the Maw, Part 2

Story by Skipai on SoFurry

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Continuing on, the editor of the paper gets punished by failing to keep Ms Stevens under control and plans are afoot to dealing with her and the paper gets a new editor.

Based on the story Quinn's Farm


Shadow of the Maw, Part 2

By Skipai © 2022

The black saloon car pulled up as the driver pulled on the lever to put it in park as the gerbil turned his head to the person at the back of the vehicle. "We've arrived." The mouse nodded his head as he slowly reached for the handle of the door, pulled on it as he pushed the door open and slowly got out as the mouse stood there, his head looked about the alleyway as he moved his snout upwards to stare at the various walls of the two buildings, the way the brickwork in places were dirty from the amount of storm damage, the various fire escapes, painted like new in part, rusting away in others and the mouse moved his head back down to level again as he stepped to the side and slowly pushed the door closed with a thud, the metallic connecting again. He took a step forward and then bent down to the open window. "Wait here, I hopefully won't be too long." The gerbil nodded as the mouse walked away from the car as he made his way towards the half-opened door and slowly climbed the three steps, the door was opened by a large male wolf who just nodded at the mouse, waited until the rodent had passed, then closed the door behind him as they both vanished inside the building.

The corridor was sparse, the rodent could see from time to time that the plaster had been scraped away in parts by what looked like claws that had scraped about the surface in some desperation and that put the male into a higher sense of anxiety, that sensation of fear welled up in him as his mind started to play out various scenarios on what had happened in the past by others that came down here. But the mouse knew that he had to get his wits about him, so the male swallowed and fought back those natural instincts, the sick feeling in his stomach was churning away but the male rodent wasn't about to fall here. With a few deep breaths, he managed to regain his composure as they approached the door at the other end of the corridor, and he felt the large canine paw come across onto his right shoulder as the wolf muttered. "Wait here." The mouse stood there as the wolf entered the room with the door closed to stop him from seeing anything inside the dark room. The rodent turned to look at the wolf to the left and then back to the paint peeling door panel which opened again as the other wolf motioned for the mouse to venture into the dark room.

It was only a few steps before he felt the large canine paw grab at his arm and then led him to the middle of the room, the sound of a large switch was pulled and a bright spot light shone down at the mouse as the wolf stood a bit aways in the gloom as the rodent looked outwards but only saw dark shadowed figures ahead of him, slightly higher in the air as the mouse swallowed. It was the larger form in the middle that spoke first. "How many times do we need to bring you here to explain why you cannot control your reporters, Edwards? Or should we forego that name we called you and instead call you rodent meat number C54." Edwards felt a cold shiver run right down his spine as it travelled along to the very tip of his tail, the hairs on the tail rose in response as his entire mouth and throat began dry. The flesh within his mouth started to act like glue as the male rodent forced more saliva to come from his glands, moved his cheeks about and then spoke back out. "I've been trying to get her to back off, she is a free person. It's not that easy to keep her from-" The mouse was cut off as the large shadow form spoke again, a deep growl sounded from the voice. "Enough, that's all we get from you these days, excuses after excuses. You know the deal that we gave you."

Edwards felt his stomach churn as the sensation of fight or flight was busy attempting to erupt from deep within him as he nodded his head towards the group in front of him. "Yes, I replaced the last editor of the paper who failed to ensure that things would run smoothly." The mouse felt himself shaking as he spoke again. "But please give me one more chance, I am sure that I can get her off this investigation and onto something else." The mouse remained silent as he saw the shadow groups talk quietly amongst themselves as he waited there, the two wolves just continued to stand there at the sides, just outside of the light as the large form nodded, the wolf on the right turned on his heels then walked away to a side door. Edwards looked about more as he heard the door open and another set of paws walk into the room, the way that the mouse could sense something as he sniffed in the air and then another spotlight to the left of him came on and that is when Edwards blinked as he looked at the exact same height, weight, the rodent was staring at another mouse that looked like him. "What's going on?" Edwards continued to stare as the voice came from the shadows again. "We have decided that it is far too risky to give you another chance. Your failures have risked the peace and order that this society has had to endured since the dark war days. Quite frankly, he's your replacement as you replaced the one before you."

"You can't do this?!" Edwards yelled back, the rodent decided that it was best to fight now, the mouse took a step towards the shadowed group, but the two wolves moved fast, their strong arms struck out and then the large paws held the rodent from moving any further. "Oh, but we can do this, just like we did with your predecessor, just as we done to countless others that had threatened the system. You had one job and that was to keep those in your employment from maintaining that, but you lost perspective, that bunny should've been stopped a long time ago. You have forgotten just where your place is in the order of things." The shadow formed turned to look at the other mouse. "You know all about him, yes?" The mouse nodded his head. "Yes Master, your spies were quite thorough in educating me on who he is, who he knows." Edwards ears twitched as he heard his own voice speak. "And you know what your orders are?" The large form spoke towards the other mouse, who nodded his head. "I do yes, put this rabbit onto another job and if not, to send her to her death." The group made agreement gruffs, grunts and all as the centre form spoke. "Then we can begin, take off these clothes and turn them over to Edwards here."

The clothed mouse felt himself being pinned down to the floor by the two stronger canines, the wolves had begun to run their fingers over the mouse as he cried out. "I can fix this, stop!" Edwards felt the button on his trousers had come loose as the fabric was tugged from his legs, the male mouse kicked and screamed in terror, his mind had come to the realisation of what was to happen, since the male had seen this before years ago when he was there watching another mouse cry loudly, pleading for the two foxes at the time to stop force stripping him as the clothes were handed to him to dress, the relief he felt at the time when he knew he was no longer on the menu but that poor sucker was. And now, Edwards new what he was in for, the sight of the other rodent looked relieved as he turned his head towards the shadowed group that sat there high above. "Please, I'll do anything to fix this, don't do this!" But his words fell on deaf ears as his briefs were yanked away from him, the garments were tossed to the other rodent as the naked mouse started to pull on the white briefs, making sure that they were snug to his body comfortably, then the mouse bent down, picked up the pants and stepped into them, the sound of the zip was heard, then breathing in, the mouse buttoned the top as he stood there half dressed, watching the other mouse squirm about on the floor as the two strong male wolves fought with the rodent as the shirt was unbuttoned, then carefully pulled away from the male as the garment was held up, the mouse took it and started to put the shirt on as the other mouse laid on the floor naked, exhaustion had set in as he continued to plead. "No, don't do this."

"Now, Edwards." The main person in the group above looked at the now dressed mouse in the room. "Leave and fulfil our orders, the car he left behind is parked ready to take you back to the paper office. Ensure you do not fail us." The mouse dipped his head. "I will be done, thank you master." Then with a turn, the tail swishing in the air, the mouse walked off towards the other door as smaller lights turned on to lead the way. The mouse on the floor looked as he saw his copy, twin, the mind tried to figure out how they did it grip the door handle, opened the door, and then vanished as the door closed behind him. It was now that Edwards that failed was about to find out just what was to happen to those that had failed. The leader spoke again from above. "Now C54, it would seem that your use has come to an end, but you have one more use left and that is to be our main guest of honour at our dinner party tonight." C54 felt sick as he felt the hard grasp about his arms pull him up to standing as he was held there, his legs were weak as the rodent pissed onto the floor out of fear. "Take him away to be prepared, he is no longer any other use for us." And with that the mouse felt himself being dragged along the floor by the two larger wolves as he stared at the light in the middle of the room, the turned off, then only darkness remained until he was dragged into another lit room and screamed as he saw that it was fitted out like a kitchen.

Meanwhile elsewhere, Ms Stevens tapped the carpet floor rapidly and hard as she looked at the female skunk who sat on the other side of the desk. "Why can't I see the editor, this is quite important you know?" The skunk looked up at the rabbit and sighed. "Because as I have told you countless times already, he's out to a meeting and will be back shortly and before you ask, no I don't know when he will get back either." Ms Stevens frowned and then turned away as the rabbit stormed back off to her desk, where she flopped into her seat and then looked at the monitor in front of her. 'Fine then,' Ms Stevens thought to herself, cracked her knuckles, and began to draft the story that had to be told to everyone. From time to time, the rabbit looked to where the empty editor office was, then turned away as she noticed the look the receptionist had given her and continued to bash out several more lines of text from the keyboard. The editor wasn't going to win this one, not after she had made progress on the story.

Back across town, the so-called editor that was known as C54 had lost his mind, the sight of the entire kitchen had ended any sort of rebellion and fight from his body. The two wolves slowly moved the male across the room as the came up to a chain that hung from the ceiling, then carefully they began to lift the hands upwards as the wrists were put into metal cuffs. Then and after the mouse was secured, the fox in the room, pressed a button on the wall as the chain moved up a bit and the mouse felt himself hang there in the air. The two wolves looked at the larger tiger and lion, dipped their heads as the right wolf spoke. "He's for tonight's dinner, they want him roasted with carrot and sage stuffing. Make the skin extra crispy and no hairs." The two wolves then walked out of the kitchen as the tiger spoke, his large hand paws clapped. "Right, you lot, we got work to do, you start making the stuffing, wash and prepare the vegetables, get the right spices which you find in the green folder over there and after boiling them, mash them into a soft substance where we will pipe it into this thing." C54 looked down as he heard himself being mentioned as some item now, gone was the rights of being a living person with a name and all. He was just meat and there was nothing that could be done about it.

C54 wasn't sure that he should do something about it either, he didn't want to die but then he didn't exactly help the one previously where he had taken over their life with the big lie and all for these predators, that held the world in their claws and teeth, ensuring that they had control since the long wars of when prey decided to try and change the world to a disastrous conclusion. C54 thought back to where he did learn this, the dark times where society collapsed, but his thoughts were brought back to the present as the sensation of a razer was slowly moving across his face as the fur was slowly shaved off to leave the skin underneath as the black hand paw of the fox held him firmly in place. Everything went, including his whiskeys, the mouse felt extreme pain when his whiskers were shaved off, the nerves screamed at them being cut in such a way that his long toes curled up as the male mouse tried to fight back the pain, the eyes scrunched up tightly as he gave a high pitch sound which only made the single bat in the room pause to turn his way, then with a non-caring way, the male bat placed some noise cancelling headphones on before resuming in preparing some potatoes.

Slowly but surely, the mouse felt his protection being stripped from him, the fur that gave him that status of being unique, alive as the hairs fell to the floor as the cleaned shaved head of the rodent was in full view now, his entire head was as clean from any fur as his ears. The mouse stayed still as he felt the blade on his throat, the fur being shaved away as another fox came up to help out as the right arm was worked on, then another fox as before C54 could count, he had four foxes working at shaving the fur from his body, including his tail as the rodent was stripped from the badge of protection of being a non-meat product. The more that the fur came off, the more that the mouse felt cold, to the point that he had started to shiver. It was then that the foxes stopped and one of them moved away to turn on a heated blower as they waited for the rodent to stop shivering and then resumed the task of cutting away each hair from the torso.

By the time that they had finished, a few hours had passed, the scent of the carrots, sage and other ingredients to make the stuffing had made the mouse wet as thick globs of saliva had dribbled down his smooth chest and belly, the thick gooey substance made the skin shine under the bright kitchen lights as the male foxes licked their lips at the now naked meat in front of them, but the large tiger had come up behind them, a large hand paw swung out and smacked each one of them at the back of the head. "Remember your duties, or I'll have your heads be the bowls for desserts. Get him washed, inside and out. Oh, and dry those balls of his, we need his spunk for the gravy." The tiger walked away again to bellow at another in the kitchen. "You better not be fucking burning those figs over there!" The foxes still with ringing ears from the hard slap to their heads, moved quickly as one began to lube up a rubber tube as the male mouse felt his butt cheeks spreading and then the coldness from the lube as he gasped loudly as the thick rubber tube went up into his anus. Another fox turned the tap on as the warm water began to slosh out as it splashed about inside of his bowels, the male mouse felt his belly began to swell up from the pressure as his penis began to lift, the appendage firming as small line of pre had started to form at the head. It was then that another fox moved a rubber clear sheath as it was placed over that penis, then with the small box on the floor, the fox pressed a button as the suction began to work. The fox moved his fingers to gently tease the ball sac as C54 gasped as he hung there being assaulted at the front and rear as his belly stretched from the hot water that was being pumped into him. It wasn't long before the mouse felt his first climax as his penis spat out thick ropes of his gooey white cum, the substance slipped through the thinner clear tube as it splattered down into the transparent plastic bottle.

Flicking the switch, the fox turned the water from blow to suction as the insides of the mouse began to empty out inside the rubber pipe as the crap from within his bowels began to flow out as well, the sensation of his anus expelling the water and other material made his cock throb again as it painfully climaxed again as the mouse groaned loudly, his hands and feet clenched tightly as he rocked back and forth in the air, the mouse expelled more of his thick white cum which splattered down into the plastic container. Eventually he gave another sound as his empty insides began to ache as he felt the suction start to hurt. The fox pressed a button, then another as the machine started to pump in another load of clear water back into the mouse again as his inner bowels filled out once more, the belly started to swell outwards again as C54, gasped loudly, the spittle flying about as it landed over the fox just below him, still gently massaging those sore bright red balls now as the mouse gasped and his cock swelled up painfully as he gave his third climax. The pleasure was slowly being replaced by a soreness with each ejaculation, until one brought a more pinkish climax as his cum was mixed with some blood and that is when the fox turned off the machine as the suction about the rodent's penis stopped.

When the tubing was removed, C54 cried out as his sore penis complained, it was hard to touch as it remained as hard as a rock, the way the water was inside of him, pressed up against his prostate offered no relief as he groaned loudly, a small trickle of blood formed up along the piss slit as it moved down the underside of the rodent's shaft. Then the sensation of the water began to empty once more as the mouse felt his belly shrink once again, then the same pain as his bowels were empty but this time the fox pulled on the tubing as it popped out, then the machine was turned off as the mouse hung there in pain from his lower abdomen and his cock and balls. There the mouse was left as the foxes walked away and then the hot air stopped, quickly followed by hot water that rained down over the mouse as the scolding hot water washed away any missed hairs and dirt from the male rodent as he cried out in pain from the searing how water, then the hot shower ended as the wet rodent hung there, large droplets of water fell to the grate underneath him as the foxes spoke. "Chef, the meat's ready, cleaned inside and out." The foxes stood there as the large feline walked up and studied the mouse that hung there, the way the tiger moved the mouse, ignoring any groans or cries of pain as he handled the hanging mouse as some form of non-living meat. "Good, good. Move it to the roasting tray and secure it in place."

The mouse was lowered down, the wrist cuffs were removed, and the mouse felt himself being carried over to where a large bath shaped tray was and was thrown inside, his head hitting the bottom of it as he cried in pain. Then a fox stepped inside with another underneath as string was pushed through small holes in the side of the tray as the mouse was tied down. Unable to get up now, C54 could only feel the string press against his body painfully as he groaned loudly. It was then that the tiger came over him alongside the male lion, both had huge syringes with a tube connected to each end. The rodent felt the lion lift the tail as the tube was placed inside, then the hot sludge of filling began to push into his bowels as it seared and burned the inner lining of the mouse. The rodent screamed but the screaming was cut short as the tube was pushed down his throat as the tiger did the same as the hot searing filling was pushed down into his stomach as it filled up quickly, then the tiger pulled the tube out slowly as he continued to fill out the entire throat until the thick sludge was pushed down into the rodent's actual throat and lungs, the sheer pain that the male mouse felt as he could no longer breath as his throat swelled up to squeeze some of that vegetable sludge into his mouth, then the tiger filled the muzzle up, the entire insides got burned as the thick mess pushed out from the nose, then a quick wrap of string, the tug and the tiger tied it off as he left the mouse fully stuffed. Both felines stepped out as the mouse was then lying there as he stared up at the bright ceiling lights, his head was spinning as his body was no longer able to pull in air.

With his entire body now screaming at him, the brain overwhelmed, the sensation of that roasting tray being pushed along the floor as the lights above him shown brightly, then they slowly started to get further away as C54 mind began to wander, the rodent laid there in the tray as the pain from the potatoes pressed up against his already burned skin from the hot wash, his anus ring muscle was puffed up as it trapped the hot filling inside as his chest continued to try to move but without any success. The male mouse didn't realise as he was slowly pushed into the dark black metal covered oven as the extremely hot air blew against his body, the stench of gas, the sound as the large heavy door was slowly closing behind him as the light from outside was vanishing and then only darkness enveloped the mouse as he felt the tray began to heat up, but the mouse just laid there, C54 mind had wandered to a point he saw only a speck of light that had started to grow as the oven continued to heat up the tray, the body had formed sweat about his body and then the mouse could only see the bright white light, which was quickly followed by the dark shadow that overwhelmed him, then Edward, now C54 passed away under the extreme heat of the oven, there was no one for the body to report to as it continued to send pain signals to a dead brain.

Back at the newspaper office, the mouse walked in through the door, as Edward looked about at the surroundings for the first time, the whole place looked as he had expected, from the various photographs and CCTV footage, the mouse nodded his head at the staff and saw Ms Stevens jump up from her seat as the rodent held up his paw. "Can I get a few moments to get into my office first before you pounce on me." The mouse looked at the rabbit who paused, considered those words for the moment, and then nodded, sitting back down as the mouse walked over to where his secretary was and nodded for her to follow him in. Ms Stevens watched as the mouse went into the office, followed by the skunk and she just frowned. In the office, Edwards sighed and walked around the desk and he sat down, the skunk looked at him for a moment. "Sir? Did the meeting go well?"

Edwards shook his head as the skunk nodded and sat down. "So, you're his replacement then?" The mouse nodded his head. "Inform me on what that rabbit has been up to so far today?" The skunk turned her head to look outside of the office window and then back to the mouse in front of her and spoke. "She's determined to write that story, what do the masters have to say about it?" Edwards looked thoughtful. "It's not good, but I think we can hold her off. Get me her work contract from our HR department but send her in when you do leave." The mouse leant forwards as he picked up a pen. "I do believe it's time to kill her story off, for our own sake." The skunk got up. "And where is?" The mouse looked up at the skunk. "Old Edwards, oh I'm sure he's being roasted alive in some oven right about now. Which I have no wish to have happen to me and I'm sure you don't, so let's get this done, okay?" The skunk nodded and headed out of the office as the mouse looked as he saw the female receptionist talk to the bunny and then saw Ms Stevens head his way as the skunk headed off quickly from view.

The sound of the door being knocked on, made Edward take a deep breath and then he spoke out. "Come in." The sight of the female bunny entered the office, closed the door behind her, then head to standing in front of his desk, the eyes were on fire as the rodent looked into them, so much fight and life in them, and now he had to douse them, remove all hope, the rodent hoped he was up to the task or face the consequences of it. "Sit down." The mouse spoke as he motioned for the rabbit to sit down in the chair opposite him. "I can guess what this is about, so I heard you were out and about sneaking on some private property yesterday?"

Ms Stevens blinked, but then shook her head from whatever thought came into her head. "Sir, I had the proof we need to push ahead with this investigation that we can stop this using meat produce, especially when they're using sentient beings." Edwards sighed as he got up from his seat and walked to look out of the window. "This fascination of trying to ruin the peace and tranquillity of our society is baffling and quite honestly horrifying to think about." Edwards said as he held his hands behind his back. "And now you're becoming reckless in breaking into various places without reason." Ms Steven began to blurt out her objections as the mouse cut her off. "I don't want to hear it, there was nothing going on at that farm and you know it." It was then that the mouse turned around and opened a drawer, the sight of the papers that had been left there were prepared for him as he pulled them out and began to read. "Here is the official government check of said farm that happened only last week, and they found no such thing was going on at said farm." The mouse threw the stapled batch of paper at the far end of the desk. "And yet, you decided to once again harass that farmer you've been told several times now to back the fuck off."

"But I have proof!" Ms Stevens said back loudly as the rodent raised a brow. "Oh, and where is this proof?" The mouse looked at the rabbit who then slumped in her seat. "I don't actually have it, only what I heard." The mouse moved back to sitting in his chair again as he shook his head. "So, it's your word against his, that's not exactly something we can just print here." Edward saw that Ms Stevens was about to object but his hand paw was already up for her to stop. "For one, our lawyers would throw a fit and they're over hyper enough for weasels at the best of times." Then a knock came from the door as the mouse spoke. "Enter." Both saw the female skunk come in and handed over a file as the mouse nodded and waited until the female skunk had left the office, the door was closed again, and he opened the file. "I'm killing the story." Ms Stevens jumped up as she yelled back. "What?! You can't do that!" The mouse glared at the rabbit. "Sit the fuck back down! And yes, I can do that, there is no story, and I will not have some over the top conspiracy theory reporter give this paper a bad name."

"Then I resign and sell that story to another paper that'll listen." Ms Stevens yelled back as she started to move towards the office door. "I don't think so, not unless you want to end up in some serious legal trouble." The rabbit stopped as she turned to face the rodent and then slowly walked back to the desk again. "What the hell you on about?" Edward placed the file on the desk and picked up the stapled papers that were inside. "You see this, it's your employment contract. Quite a fair bit of legal jargon here but you signed away any rights to any story that you work on at this paper."

"I thought you said there was no story." Ms Stevens smirked back at the mouse.

Edwards was now to lose his temper. "Fine, let's just go down that route then, you are not to report on that story as there isn't any, you're instead to report on this story instead." The mouse pulled open his other drawer and pulled out another file as he tossed it at her, the rabbit caught it and read the contents inside. "You're kidding right?" Edward shook his head. "No, I'm serious, you're to head over and report on the situation going on across the world. You can request the plane tickets from our accounts department. Maybe covering an election will give you some respect of reporting truthful articles than chasing carrots down a hole."

Ms Stevens frowned. "I won't do it." The mouse frowned. "You got no choice in the matter, unless you want to be fired but remember, you won't have resources or protections anymore if you do break into a place again, but also you can't report on this story you think you have due to contractual agreements you signed. I hear the west section of prison is unbearable to sleep at night as it remains too warm than the east blocks. Now, get out and prepare to head out, I want you on a plane this evening." The rabbit stared at the mouse who just stared back with a frown, the rabbit sighed and nodded as she headed out of the office. Edward watched as he picked up the phone and dialled four numbers. "Print desk, I want you to check everything with me if anything comes your way to the presses. Nothing gets printed without my express permission, understood." The mouse ended the call and then dialled again as he made an outside line, he waited for the call to be answered and spoke. "It's been done, she should be on the flight this evening, the story has been killed but I'll keep my eyes and ears on it."

As Ms Stevens stood there in the line hours later with a hand luggage held with one paw, the rabbit moved along the walkway towards the plane as she handed over her boarding pass as the female raccoon smiled. "Welcome about Le Trash Airlines, your seat is C54, right at the back." The rabbit nodded and slowly made her way towards economy, usually it would've been business class, but the paper was punishing her so economy seating it was this time around. The rabbit looked as she placed her bag in the overhang compartment, squeezed in between two male foxes, and prepared for the long flight. Thankfully the two other passengers beside on each side of her remained quiet as the rabbit was not in the mood for random conversations with strangers.

As the plane was taxiing down the runway, elsewhere in the city, the main meal was all ready to be wheeled out from the kitchen and into the main dining room. Edward who had become known as C54 was crispy brown in colour, the roasting had been successful as the rabbit laid there on his back on the silver platter dish, the various roast potatoes laid next to him, alongside some green garnish, the thick large jug of gravy steamed, mixed with the alluring rich flavour of the cum from the rabbit's own balls. The tiger pushed the cart as it parted to two doors, and he entered the main dining room. "Ladies and Gentlemen, your feast for tonight, I give you roast rodent with mouse infused cum gravy." There sitting along the table were the main group of shadow figures, all in full view as the large monitor lizard stood up, drool hung from his mouth. "Ah excellent, let us raise a glass." The lizard looked about the table. "Let us hope that C54 tastes a lot better than his performance of as late." The monitor lizard nodded to the tiger who began to carve up the meat as orders came in from around the table. The monitor lizard though was first as he ordered the groin, the lizard being served a large section of the upper thighs of the mouse, the cock and balls, the rump and part of the belly. There the lizard poured some of the gravy on top as he waited for the others to be served.

Several went for an arm, leg, hands, and feet, all of which were expertly carved up by the tiger as various predator species filled their plates. Around the table were an eagle, two wolves, a lion, tiger, black panther, fox, a crow, an alligator and crocodile and various others such as a hyena. This was the council for the area. Once all had been served the monitor lizard nodded as the group began to carve into their portions with their cutlery, savouring the sweet taste of freshly cooked rodent, then the group began to talk as they enjoyed the evening. A stoat came up alongside the monitor lizard and whispered. "She's on the plane, our operatives have confirmed it." Then the stoat backed away as the lizard, cutting the mouse penis off as it hung, impaled by the fork. "Good news everyone!" The monitor lizard spoke. "It seems for now our rabbit pest has been distracted and is on her way." The news of such brought much enjoyment and relief around the table as they continued to consume their former trained slave.