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Chapter 3 of Tales of Woe

Jeremiah Beta, September 27th 2016, 11:34pm

I paced back and forth across the hospital waiting room floor. I kept glancing at the door, waiting for someone to come out and tell me the good news. I saw two men come through, holding hands, and a trail of three younger kids following them. My first instinct was to call them fags, but it'd gone when I saw the shorter one's fox tail as he walked by. They sat down in the chairs near me and started filling out paper work. I couldn't help but see a shocking resemblance between the fox and Alex, and worse yet, between the ferret holding his hand and Seth. The kids chased each other around a little, and one of them bumped into me as they ran past.

The ferret waved his hand, "Hey, kids, get over here." He looked up at me, "Sorry, they're really excited tonight."

I swallowed before saying, "Oh, no problem. I remember when my kid was little. No controlling him."

"Heh. No change in times will ever make kids more controllable, I guess." The ferret went back to helping his partner fill out the paperwork, and I couldn't help but inquire about what he meant.

"What-... What do you mean, change in times?"

"Oh, well... uh-" The ferret stammered for words, but the fox spoke for him.

"His pastor worded it in a good way, times are like a pendulum. Like, right now, technology, denial of religion, and fascination in human sociology are big and popular, but twenty years ago? They added the "under god" to the pledge of allegiance because the nation was founded on Christianity. ... Times change, but they always arc back around. Give it another twenty years, and Creationism will be more common place than Atheism."

"... Your pastor?"

"Why's that a shock?"

"... My son... He-... He's..." I gestured at them and they got the message.

"Oh. And he went atheist?" I nodded in response to the ferret's question. "Oh. Maybe it's just a phase. When I figured it out I thought I wasn't going to touch a bible ever again. Four years later and I'm married and teaching my kids that god is love. If you don't mind me asking, how old is he?"

"He's sixteen, but, he's not just gay," I sat down next to the fox, finally being distracted from the thought of my wife in the other room. "He's got this whole posse of gay friends who come from families that don't think about the lack of cohesive religion in the household."

The fox looked a little annoyed, "A family doesn't need religion to survive. Look at me, I grew up in a family that didn't believe anything either way. We weren't atheist, but we weren't really Christian either, nor catholic or Jewish. We just didn't do religion."

"That's not what I mean though, one of them... I swear, he's bound to go insane. His father's Christian, his mother believes in Egyptian Mythology-"

The ferret piped up, "Wait, Pastor Mike?"

"Y-yeah, you go to... you go to that church?"

"Yeah. I usually leave before everyone goes off to their own families though, gays aren't exactly popular in our religion, as you well know."

"Right. Wait, I've seen you. Carter, right?"

"Yeah, and this is Aaron."

"Oh, nice to meet you guys." The fox nodded in acknowledgement as Carter continued.

"Well, I know who you're talking about, now and then over the past decade he'd bring his kid, and some time last year- around Christmas I think, he said his kid had hooked up with a fox... Oh. Wait, he's dating your son?"

"What? When did that happen? No, my son's dating... Well, I don't know what he is. He looks a lot like a fox, but his snout's too short, and his ears are too round, and his tail's too long, and those weird, glowing markings on his body don't help."

The fox growled at me, "Sounding a little prejudice there, bub."

"Oh, no, believe me, I love the kid, if there was anyone my son had to be gay with- it'd be him. He's so kind and sweet, but... they hooked up at a boarding school. I have no idea what they have and haven't done, and I barely saw my son over the summer, for all I know, he could've been doing it the whole time, and I'd have no idea!" The waiting room had quieted down at my sudden outburst.

The ferret paused before speaking, and even then, he spoke in a hushed tone, "Bro, they're teenagers, they're gonna make mistakes, and if it makes you feel any better, the reason it's a mistake usually, is because the girl gets pregnant. I don't think I need to explain to you how the anthran body works, especially if you're in this waiting room."

"Right... Wow. That... That helps, but-"

The fox looked at me, "And anyways, he's atheist. He doesn't believe in the word of your god. Before you get mad at him about being gay, understand that all your arguments? Mean nothing. At the very least, turn him to your religion before you get mad at him."

"Well, I came to terms with him being gay, and atheist, but... I don't know. I guess I didn't, really."

A German shepherd in a lab coat came out of the room and looked around, "Jeremy Beta?"

I stood up so fast I felt the chair behind me get pushed back a little, "Can I go in?"

"Now, you may be a little surprised by what you find."

"W-why's that?"

"Well... You'll have to see for yourself." I followed him into the room and saw my wife trying to hold all three babies on her own. It didn't take long to realize what the doctor meant. They weren't normal, by any means. They had no color in their fur, just black markings over their grey and white snouts. Their paw pads were, however, almost blinding to look at, with their glowing colors that cast no shadows. I went over to my wife, kissed her on the forehead, and looked down at them.

I couldn't help but blurt out, "Doctor Ebolo, why'd this happen?"

The German shepherd came over to me and leaned against the wall, "We don't know. They're definitely yours though. You can tell by their snouts. Foxes all have different markings, passed down through the generations. They're markings are the overlap of yours and your wife's."

"Oh..."

Diana looked up at me, "What'll we name them?"

"... What are they?"

"These two are boys, but the one with red is a girl."

"Umm... How about... Carter and Erin?"

"Why?"

"Oh, no reason. Just came to mind."

"Oh, well, I like it. What'll we name her, though?"

"You decide."

"You sure?"

"I chose their names, you chose hers."

"Oh, what about... Lorelai?"

"Lorelai? Man, I haven't heard that name since that show ended. I love it."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Lorelai, Carter, and Erin."

"Wait, which one's going to be Carter?"

"How about the one with blue?"

"Sure. You know, I thought we would name them biblical names."

"I think it's time we let go of the Bible. We've been clinging to it our whole lives, we're in. I think it's time we started living for now instead for then."

"But-"

"We'll still go to church and we'll still have Christian children and we'll still be amazing parents, but we don't need to cram it down their throats. That seemed to drive Alex away, anyways."

"Right... And if we decide to raise them like Alex?"

"Well a lot of names are in the Bible, we'll find some people named Carter, Erin, and Lorelai."

"Okay."

"Now, give me one of them, they need to be kept warm." She gestured to the one that wasn't in one of her arms, and I picked up Erin, holding him in my arms. I leaned against the counter and glanced out the window into the waiting room. For some reason, I could see similarities between the Erin in my arms and the one outside. And I know damn well why...