HOME FOR THE HOLIDAY

By mutual agreement, we’ve all decided to step back and take a deep breath regarding wedding plans. I’ve got my gown and we’ve reserved the Unitarian church for June 5, so for now we’re not going to think about anything more until the holidays are over.
As usual, nothing ever stands still around here. Kell’s identical cousin Sheila has attracted the attention of one of Kell’s co-workers, a lion named Frank Mangle. He’s the father of Leona, part of Rudy’s hunting foursome. They met when Sheila came to a hunting competition to watch Rudy.
Mr. Mangle is on the same level as Kell in the Herd Thinners hierarchy, which means they’re in direct competition. R.L. has engineered his organization as a zero-sum game, which discourages cooperation. Thus, whenever Kell wins, he loses, and vice versa. It’s to Kell’s credit that she doesn’t let that affect her relationships with the rest of the employees. (Of course, it helps that she’s one of the best!)
I won’t even begin to speculate on the inner workings of Mr. Mangle’s emotions that draw him to a lookalike of his workplace rival. Kell, ever agreeable, has invited both of them over for Thanksgiving under the instruction that no one discusses Herd Thinners.
Mr. Mangle has an interesting background. I’ll repeat this part of my blog of 9/30/07 when I reported on Leona’s joining the hunting team: “He’s a single father who (in the eyes of his species) works in the traditionally female role of a hunter. Kell told me the backstory: When Leona was eight, her mother died after a lengthy illness. While she’d been sick she’d been unable to hunt, so her husband Frank secretly learned to take down prey to feed his family and so that people would think his wife was still healthy and active as a predator. It was supposed to be just a temporary arrangement until she recovered, but fate had other ideas.
“Mr. Mangle had become quite good at hunting, so after his wife’s death he applied to Herd Thinners and was hired. This, of course, meant that he was ostracized from his lion pride. Kell has faced similar pressures, but in Mr. Mangle’s case it caused him to develop a rather large chip on his shoulder. He’s surly toward Kell and to pretty much everyone else...except for his daughter.”
And now, an additional exception: Sheila Dewclaw.
This week: What are you thankful for?