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A LEOPARD'S TAIL

1.Part Two

Frank Gerold held the phone up to his ear, listening to it ring and waiting for someone to pick up. There was a large grin on his face. It was days like this that he really loved his job. After about a half a dozen rings, he heard the phone on the other end pick up.

"Hello? A groggy, rumbling voice called out. Frank looked at the clock on his desk. It sounded like he had just awakened whomever was on the line, but it was one o'clock already. Oh well. Different people, different sleeping habits, and it WAS Saturday after all.

"Hello, is this Mr. Peter Hoffman I'm talking to?" Frank asked cheerfully.

The voice on the other end cleared it throat for a second, and returned sounding a bit more normal. "Yes. That's me. Who's calling?"

"This is Frank Gerold from the zoo, Mr. Hoffman." Frank could hear a sharp inhalation of breath on the other end of the line, and smiled to himself, continuing before Peter could say anything. "And I'm pleased to be the first to congratulate you on winning a life time pass in our charity raffle!" Frank could hear Peter let out a deep breath.

"You have got to be kidding...."

"Nope. You won our raffle. You can come down and pick up the pass whenever is convenient for you."

There was a pause at the other end of the line. "Well, I suppose I could come down this afternoon..."

"If that's a good time for you. All you have to do is go to the entrance and let the person in the ticket booth know who you are. We'll be taking a few photos when we give you your pass, just for the local papers, and then you'll be able to walk around and see all of our wonderful exhibits." "Okay then. I'll be down in a few hours."

"That would be great. We'll be happy to have you down here. I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself."

"Uh... I'm sure I will."

Frank grinned to himself after he said his good-byes and hung up the phone. He loved calling people and telling them when they'd won something. Cheering someone up like that just made his day.

"The zoo. Wonderful." Peter grumbled to himself as he drove. The zoo was one of the LAST places he wanted to end up. "We'll be happy to have you down here..." Peter said to himself in a high pitched voice. He sighed. "That's exactly what I'm afraid of..." He let out a large yawn.

Talk about a wake up call... Peter had been having a nightmare about being trapped in a cage when the phone rang. It woke him up instantly, but it had taken him several moments to calm down enough to change back and pick up the phone. When he heard it was the zoo, he'd almost had heart palpitations. "Stupid raffle..." He remembered entering the raffle the last time he was at the zoo, a couple of months ago. He had never really visited the zoo too often.

Peter yawned again and looked at his car's clock. Two thirty. And speaking of time... Since when did he sleep in until one? Sure, it was Saturday, but he never, EVER used to seep in that late. He rubbed a hand over his face and calmed his nerves as he entered the zoo parking lot.

He really didn't want to be here, but he'd made a snap decision to come anyway. He'd been acting extremely paranoid since this whole thing began, and it was about time to confront some of his fears and get over them. He had been getting better and better at keeping relatively calm and not changing, and the zoo was perfectly safe. Nothing was going to happen to him. He'd gone out to several other places over the last few days, with no problems. Much as he disliked the idea, he seemed to be getting a bit used to this whole thing. Even waking up as a leopard each morning was becoming routine, even if he had started sleeping on a mattress on the floor to avoid shredding anymore bed sheets...

Peter shook his head to clear it of useless thoughts and concentrated on calming himself. He felt himself relax slightly, but none the less, he felt a twinge of fear when he walked through the main gates.

"Hello. My name is Peter Hoffman. I'm here..." Peter began saying to the woman behind the counter.

"Oh yes, you're the winner of the raffle. Congratulations!" The woman said, smiling. "Just one second, and I'll get someone to show you to the conference room."

Within five minutes Peter was standing in a small conference room with several zoo officials. The room was just an upraised stage at one end, with a podium, and several rows of chairs for reporters and camera equipment. Right now the place was pretty much empty, with just a few camera men taking snap shots as the head of the zoo handed him his pass. Apparently this wasn't one of the zoo's bigger publicity stunts. They'd already explained to him that this would probably just be a small article in the local newspaper. Peter didn't mind. He would have preferred not to have attracted any attention at all if it were possible.

Peter stood to the side, trying his best to smile and look cheery, while someone told a completely uninteresting and uninspired speech, most of which he ignored. Finally he went over to the podium, accepted his pass to the flash of several cameras, shook hands, and walked off. The 'event' over, everyone packed up and left. Well, I'm glad THAT'S over. I was afraid I was going to fall asleep... He tried to ignore thoughts of what would have happed if he HAD fallen asleep. I wouldn't need a pass to the zoo... I probably wouldn't be leaving in the first place...

With the photo session over, Peter was left to wander around the zoo and look at the exhibits. He was offered the chance to join a tour group, but he preferred to walk around by himself. The zoo was surprisingly empty. Guess they need some better publicity stunts. He thought to himself with mild amusement.

Peter spent over an hour walking randomly around the zoo, watching the animals and reading the little plaques in front of each enclosure and cage. He noticed that some of the animals seemed to shy away from the edges of their cages a bit when he came by, but he managed to ignore that. He was just beginning to relax and really enjoy himself when his head suddenly started to ache. He brought a hand up to his head and rubbed his temples, wondering what brought on this headache, when he looked around and noticed which enclosure he was standing in front of.

He didn't have to read the plaque to recognize the animals below him. Panthera Pardus. Leopards.

Why me? Peter asked himself as he slowly walked to the edge of the enclosure and looked down, rubbing his head. The area looked nice enough, with a thick layer of grass and a few trees. One or two leopards could be glimpsed laying on branches in the trees, barely moving. But one animal was laying down on a small rise, stretched out on its side. Peter rubbed his head harder as he looked at that animal. It looked fine... But somehow he KNEW beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was sick.

How much more messed up can my life possible get? He asked himself. He wished he could just ignore this whole thing, but he knew that cat was ill (he didn't like to think about HOW he knew), and he wasn't the kind of person who could just ignore it and let the creature suffer.

Peter sighed and rubbed his head. Well, there's only one thing to do... As he walked away from the feline enclosure to find someone to talk to, a family with two small children walked by.

"Look mommy! A kitty!" Peter paused for a moment and shivered before turning around. To his relief, the child was pointing down at the leopards an not at him. He quickly turned and walked off at a brisk pace. He'd find someone to tell, and then get the heck out of here. The zoo was DEFINITELY someplace he didn't want to be.

Karen Fuller sighed as she got up out of her chair and stretched, brushing a strand of red hair out of her hazel colored eyes. She had finally finished all of her paperwork, and it was just about time for a break Damned bureaucracy... She thought to herself. How can one section of one zoo create so much paperwork? She reached down to take an apple out of her desk for lunch, and headed towards the door. Being the head of the feline section of a large zoo wasn't all it was cracked up to be, but she still loved her job. Besides, at what other job could you take a walk through the living areas of animals from just about every continent during your lunch break?

Karen stepped outside and took a deep breath of the fresh air. I was great to be out after spending most of the day in that little office, especially with her secretary, Lauren, off today. Lauren somehow always managed to keep everything neat and orderly, despite her boss's propensity for making a mess out of schedules, paperwork, and just about anything else she could get her hands on. Somehow she'd always manage to slip out of a meeting or paper pushing session to work with the animals. As a trained veterinarian, she much preferred checking up on her 'patients' than working on a stack of moldy old papers.

She was just turning the corner of the building and was about to take a bite of her apple when she ran into someone. Literally. A brown hared man of about average height

wearing a blue shirt and pants, and a slightly preoccupied expression. She blinked when she got a look at his eyes. For a second they had looked almost yellow, instead of the blue she now saw. The apple she was carrying had gone flying out of her hand when she stopped, but the man's hand shot up reflexively and caught it in midair.

"Sorry... Nice catch." Karen said, straightening out her uniform. The man looked at the apple in his hand, and seemed somewhat surprised to find it there.

"Um, here." Peter replied, quickly handing the apple back. It only took him a moment to notice the pin on her shirt with the zoo's logo on it. "You work here?"

"Yep." Karen replied, taking a bite of her apple unconcernedly.

Peter cleared his throat, not exactly sure how to proceed. This whole thing was way too weird, and all he wanted to do was tell someone the cat was sick and get out.

"Um.. One of the leopards in the enclosure is sick...."

Karen finished taking a bite from her apple and took a moment to chew, watching the man in front of her. He seemed a bit nervous for some reason. And one of her cats being sick? All of the cats had just gone through their usual medical, the last finishing just a few days ago, and they had all seemed fine... She had looked over the reports herself to make sure. "What did you see that leopard doing that makes you think its sick Mr...." Karen paused, realizing she hadn't gotten his name yet. With a little luck this person was probably just overreacting to something the animals normally did. She heard things like that pretty often.

"Peter. Peter Hoffman." Peter replied, too anxious and nervous to think of anything else to say. "And I, um, really didn't see anything, but I know one of the leopards is sick"

Karen raised an incredulous eyebrow, apple still in hand. "Let me get this straight. You didn't see anything wrong with the animal, but you think it's sick?"

"I KNOW it's sick."

Karen paused for a moment to think. This was ridiculous. What does this guy know about cats? This is either a joke, or this guy is a nutcase... She looked at Peter for a second, making him fidget slightly. He seems pretty nervous, like a prankster. But he seems too... I can't put my finger on it. But there's something about him... Now that she thought about it, one of the Leopards had been acting a little listless lately. Nothing that unusual, but still....

"So, let me make sure I understand you correctly.... You want me to take your word that one of the leopards is sick for no other reason than you 'know' it's sick? And you want me to what? Tranquilize it, take it down to the infirmary, and perform a checkup on it, something which the animal rarely appreciates? And all just because you think, excuse me. KNOW one of the cats is ill? " She asked, giving him a look.

Peter, becoming increasingly anxious, shrugged. "It doesn't matter if you believe me or not. You care about the animals, so you'll check them out whether or not you believe me, just to be sure." He started to turn away to leave. He'd done his job and told someone. Now he just wanted to get out of here before anything else happened to make his life more difficult.

"Dang." Karen said, a small grin of respect on her face. "How did you become such a good judge of character?"

Peter paused for a second, not turning around. "I'm not... But I know someone who it." He twitched. He had never been a very good judge of character, but... The CATS knew her... This was really too much.

"It's the small male, the one who keeps laying on the mound in the center of the enclosure." And with that he walked away, not turning around, and headed out towards his car, his mind a whirl of worries and fears.

Behind him, Karen Fuller stood by the corner of her office, absently eating her apple, pondering her conversation, and, of course, planning to run some tests on the indicated leopard. After a few minutes she walked off to go to work. It looked like she was going to have a long day.

Peter let out a deep breath and calmed his mind as he rode the elevator up to his office's floor. After Saturday's... incident... at the zoo, he'd spent most of Sunday in his room, working on some mental calming exercises and such. They actually seemed to work pretty well, but he was still nervous about returning to work, images of changing in front of his coworkers still fresh in his mind. The collar on his shirt seemed to be strangling him as he swallowed hard, mentally preparing himself for the day to come.

"Hi Peter. Have fun on your time off?" Ted asked.

"Good morning Mr. Mu.. I mean, Ted." Peter said, doing his best to smile and look cheerful. "Oh yeah, I had a pretty good time. Mostly just stayed home an relaxed. You know." Or rather, you don't know. Nobody knows. And hopefully I'll be able to keep it that way...

Ted nodded. "Just a little peace and quite. I know what you mean. Well, anyway, I've got a couple of projects for you to catch up on. Nothing too major." Ted handed over a sheaf of papers and data disks. "You picked a good time to take some time off. Business has still been pretty light. We've got a few more personal entries, and one or two corporate jobs, but nothing all that heavy."

Peter nodded and took the papers before heading towards his desk. He waved as he approached his friends who were already hanging around their work areas.

"Hey Peter. Have a nice time off?" Dan said as he approached.

"Oh yeah, I had a pretty good time." If you consider waking up with fur and claws every morning a good time... Peter smiled as best he could and tried keep a happy, rested look on his face.

"Go out anyplace interesting?" Brooke asked.

"Oh, no. Not really. Just hung around my apartment and relaxed for pretty much the entire time." Peter replied nervously.

"Except when you went to the zoo." Frank called out. He was sitting inside his cubicle, leaning back in his chair, and reading the paper, which hid his face. Peter swallowed.

"Oh yeah, the zoo..." A little spark of fear entered his mind.

"Yeah. Congratulations." Frank said, lowering his paper so everyone could see his face. "It says here you won a free lifetime pass." He held up the paper, finger over a small article with a picture of Peter accepting his prize.

Everyone offered their congratulations and Peter nodded his head. "Well, I'd have preferred to have won the lottery, but if I had, I'd be sitting somewhere in the Caribbean by now instead out here with all you lovely people." Peter shrugged and turned to Jake. "I don't suppose you know what the lotto pot is up to this week?" Peter grinned as the other chuckled lightly.

"You know, you guys.. And gal.." Frank said, looking over his paper with a slight grin. "Should read the paper more often." He leaned back in his cubicle, putting his feet up as he read.

Dan laughed, still wearing his sunglasses, as always. "Well Frank, I'm sure we would all love to, if we didn't have to do something called 'work'." Dan turned to Peter and spoke in a fake low conspiratorial voice, loud enough for everyone to hear. "I still think he has a bunch of elves under his desk doing all of his work for him.."

A few more jokes were traded back and forth before the group broke apart and everyone got to work. Peter breathed a sigh of relief as he sat down at his desk and turned on his lamp. He took a deep breath, mentally commanded himself to stop being so nervous and worrying so much, and began looking over his papers.

Peter spent several hours working before he was disturbed. Brooke walked over into his cubicle and tapped him on the shoulder, bringing his attention from the schematics in front of him to the world around him. He turned to face her.

"We're all taking our lunch breaks now Peter. You going to join us?"

Peter nodded. "Sure. Just let me close this up." Peter quickly organized the papers he was working on, and stood up from his cubicle. He suddenly noticed Brooke staring at his face in concentration.

"What?" He asked self consciously, resisting the urge to run a hand down his face to check for fur. He clenched his teeth tight in nervousness.

"Oh, nothing..." Brooke said, still looking at his face. "It's just that your eyes.. They look a bit odd.. They look a bit more.. yellow than I remember."

Peter chuckled nervously. "Oh it's nothing. Probably just the lighting here. My eyes are fine."

Brooke nodded. "Yeah, I guess so.. Still, maybe you should see an optometrist. You might be getting an eye infection of some sort."

Peter nodded. "Well, if it starts causing problems, I certainly will." Brooke nodded in return and left his cubicle, heading out of the office. Peter breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed his eyes. Come on. Stay focused. You can handle this...

Peter headed down to the cafeteria and got a large meatball hero before sitting down next to his friends. A hero was hardly his usual choice at lunch, but he'd been having an unusual taste for meat lately. He didn't like to dwell on why that might be.

Peter sat there for about a half an hour, chuckling nervously at jokes and watching as his friends exchanged amusing stories and jibes, growing more and more anxious with each passing minute. Finally he excused himself, explaining that he wanted to catch up on the work he had missed. It was a relief to get back into the relative safety of his cubicle, and away from the exposure of sitting in the middle of the lunchroom.

This is driving me insane... Peter ran his hands down his face, trying to get a grip. After a few moments, he sat back down and went to work. It looked like it was going to be a long day.

Peter sighed in relief as he entered the supermarket once again. He'd decided to stop by and restock on groceries after work. He'd managed to catch up with most of the projects from his 'vacation'. Some vacation... He though to himself as he walked down the aisles, trying to avoid as many people as possible. He chuckled dryly to himself. In his dreams he would fear finding himself trapped in a cage or cell. But when he was awake he feared being caught out in the open in case he started to change. The irony was not lost on him.

He was just finishing his shopping and turning a corner to get on line when he bumped into someone. Someone with familiar looking red hair. Peter blinked hard. You have got to be kidding me. This is ridiculous!

Karen Fuller blinked when she looked over at the person she had bumped into. Hey, isn't that the guy I ran into at the zoo? The guy they said won that free pass? What was his name.. Pat.. No.. Peter. Peter Hoffman.

"Er, I'm sorry..." Peter began nervously. I really do NOT need this...

"Oh, that's okay." Karen replied, smiling slightly. "We do seem to have a knack for running into each other."

Peter laughed slightly. "Yes, I suppose we do."

"Actually, I'm glad I saw you. I wanted to thank you for pointing out that sick leopard for me. It seems I owe you an apology. It WAS ill." And I'd be really interested to know how you knew that... She thought to herself. "Oh. I'm sorry. I know your name, but I never told you mine. I'm Karen Fuller, head of the feline section at the zoo." She held out her hand and Peter shook it.

"Pleased to meet you." Peter replied, trying not to look her in the eye. Wonderful. Of all the people to meet, I had to run into the head of the feline department. Why does this stuff keep happening to me?

"I'd really like to know how you could tell that animal was sick." Karen spoke conversationally as they waited in line. "I wasn't even sure until after I ran some blood work."

Peter fidgeted a bit and looked away. "Call it a lucky guess." He said, tying to sound cheerful.

"Well, you seemed pretty sure for a lucky guess." Lucky guess my foot! He's definitely hiding something. He might as well have it written on his face. But what? He seems like a pretty nice guy... "Well, anyway, I owe you something for helping me out. Why don't I buy you dinner?"

"That's really not necessary..." Really, really, REALLY not necessary...

"Nonsense. You helped me take care of one of my patients, so I owe you. You've got to at least let me repay you." Karen smiled.

"Um..." This is NOT good. Think fast. Peter looked down at the stuff in his cart as the line moved forward and Karen started putting her purchases on the conveyer belt. "I've.. Got to bring my groceries back to my apartment."

"Well.. We could just leave our stuff in our cars.. I know a pizza parlor a few blocks down. Not much, but it would be something."

Peter sighed mentally. "Actually, my apartment is only about two blocks away...."

"Well, that settles it then. I'll stick this stuff in the trunk of my car, we can stop by your apartment and drop your groceries off, and I'll buy you a pizza. It's the least I can do."

Peter nodded reluctantly as he stared to put his things on counter. "Okay then."

A few minutes later Karen had her groceries stowed in the trunk of her car, and the two of them were riding the elevator up to Peter's apartment, his groceries in hand. Peter opened his door and entered, motioning her to follow. "Well, the place is a bit of a mess, but that's no reason for you to stand out in the hallway." Peter said, trying to sound amusing. Karen chuckled and followed him inside while he put his groceries on the kitchen counter.

"Nice place. A bit small though." Karen said, examining the surroundings.

"Well, I guess it is a bit small." Peter replied while placing some of his groceries in the refrigerator. Various meat products were occupying an unusually large amount of the shelf space in his fridge. "But I like it this way. It's just the right size for me."

Karen looked over at some books laying on a small table near the end of his sofa. "Interesting choice of reading materials." She said, reading the subjects. "Medicine, Mythology, Animal Behavior, Meditation..."

"Yes, well..." Peter cleared his throat. "I've got everything put away..."

"Oh, good. Then let's go get that pizza, shall we?"

Peter could almost feel his nerves pull taut as he sat in the pizza parlor, waiting for their order. He had to resist the urge to keep darting his eyes around the room. This is not good...

"So Peter, what do you do for a living?" Karen asked, taking a sip of soda.

"I work in an office examining technical specs for various things. Engineering stuff."

Karen nodded. "Tell me, do you have a pet cat?" She asked conversationally.

Peter resisted the urge to fidget, instead scratching his wrist under his watch. "Um, no. Why?"

"Oh, no reason. I just thought I saw cat hair in your apartment, and was wondering if your building allowed pets."

Peter nodded and continued scratching his hand nervously, slipping his watch off into his pocket to get it out of the way. "Oh, and let my congratulate you on winning that raffle. I read about it the zoo paper."

"Thanks. I guess I just got lucky..."

"Lucky like when you diagnosed that Leopard as being sick without viewing any odd behavior or doing any testing?" Karen asked intensely, looking over the table at him.

"Er.... Peter looked down at his hands to avoid Karen's gaze, in the process seeing what had made him start scratching his hand in the first place. A light coat of fur. "Um... I've really got to go... I'm sorry..." Peter said, quickly standing up and almost knocking his chair over. "I, um, just remembered an appointment. I've really got to go. Sorry." In his hurry to get out, he almost ran into someone sitting at the next table. "Er, sorry..." Spouting apologies, he quickly headed for the door and was outside before anyone could respond.

Karen just watched him go, slightly dumbfounded, half out of her seat. Well, THAT was a brilliant move... Why not just send a pack of rabid pitbulls after him instead? It would have had the same effect. Karen let out a deep breath. Just as she was about to sit back down, she spotted something glittering on the chair where Peter had been sitting. Getting up and walking over, she picked it up. His watch... He must have dropped it...

Just then the waiter walked over with the pizza in hand. "I think I'm going to have to make that 'to go'" She said. The waiter shrugged and nodded, heading back to the kitchen. Now what am I going to do with a half cheese half meat pizza?

After leaving the restaurant, Peter walked a few blocks towards his apartment, trying to avoid looking at people, before stepping into a small side alley. In the dim light, he quickly felt his face and examined his arms. His face felt pretty normal, except for a very slight pointyness to his ears. But his hands and arms were covered with a thin layer of fur.

"Get a grip, get a grip..." Peter said to himself, breathing in and out to calm down. When he opened his eyes again, the fur was gone. "Whew... I hope no one saw anything..." Peter shook his head. 'I have an appointment.' Smooth. Real smooth. I'd better get back to my apartment before anything else goes wrong today...