Virtual Quill

I don’t think any of us really knew all of the implications involved in Kell ascending to the post of Herd Thinners, Inc. CEO but now, a week after the fight, it’s all beginning to sink in.
I’m back at Beige University within the cozy confines of Tree, filling her in on the details. Fenton is texting his mom, trying to get additional information out of her.
All these years I’ve only been dimly aware of the Herd Thinners corporate environment, having only been there once. (Although that was eventful!) Now it’s come into focus with a vengeance. Kell’s life is in actual danger.
Basically, the winner of a challenge gets exactly two months to be exempt from another challenge. The clock starts ticking from the moment they are declared the victor. This provides both stock stability and time for the victor’s wounds to heal. Then, any current Herd Thinners staff member can challenge her in a fight to the death.
Kell seems confident that she will be able to round up allies by then, but I have doubts. This could be my inner prey species talking, but she may be overestimating how many others will come to her defense. Predators, by and large, are mainly swayed by demonstrations of sheer power. After the special circumstances of her promotion, something tells me she’s going to have to win at least one battle on her own before others will join her. I hope I’m wrong.
Meanwhile, she’s instituted some very controversial reforms: eliminating quotas and having the predators hunt in groups, whether it’s traditional for their species or not. My next post will report on how that turns out.

It’s been 36 hours since Kell became CEO. A rollicking party has just ended with most everyone gone home. Gran and Elanor are cleaning up downstairs, and Fenton and I are straightening up the rest of the house.
Continuing where I left off last week, shortly after meeting Kell in the hospital R.L. issued a statement supporting Kell as his successor. That did a number of things. It ensured a stable period in which the company’s stock price would remain protected from harmful rumors of dissension. Second, it allows Kell time to build alliances for when she is challenged. Third, it took the focus off the unconventional way in which Kell was catapulted into her position. Basically it tells Kell’s potential rivals: The system worked. The downside: R.L. (and Angelique, until he’s able) will have a permanent seat on the board. If she doesn’t toe their line they could revoke that support at any moment.
The first thing Kell did was hire Fenton’s mom Desdemona as her executive assistant. That had been her job for about twenty years with other companies, and she brings experience that Kell will be relying on.
Fenton and I are staying here in Domain during this amazing time, and helping out in general. (It was mainly us who put the party together.) Dad’s trying to make sure that Kell doesn’t do too much. While her injuries were superficial ones compared to R.L. and Mr. Mangle, they’re real and they’ll take time to heal.
One factor that can’t be ignored will be the sudden change in Kell’s paycheck. At the party she told Rudy that he no longer had to be the Easter Bunny every Spring in order to get a college scholarship from the rabbits, but everyone was astonished when he said he wanted to keep doing it. As funny as it sounds, he takes genuine pride in the job, and it gives him the satisfaction of doing something high-profile that produces enjoyment for families all over the county.
I asked Dad if they’d be moving to a bigger treehouse and he said no. With me gone, and Rudy now a high school senior, they don’t need more space. (Less, in fact.) Unsaid is the example of Fiona’s parents next door. A huge mansion couldn’t save that marriage.
More developments to come, I’m sure!

It's now been 24 hours since the boardroom battle. Again, I'll report what I know.
As soon as I got Kell's text I made the two-hour drive back to Domain and arrived at Chewtoy Hospital. Kell had already been treated for her superficial wounds by Dr. Caduceus, while R.L. and Mr. Mangle were undergoing surgery. Their most serious wounds were internal injuries that would have killed them without prompt treatment, and in both cases the surgeons stopped the bleeding.
Dad, Rudy, Coney and Elanor were already there when I arrived, and we went in to see Kell where she told us the whole story. After she stopped the fight and got the two combatants loaded onto ambulances, she notified the rest of us. Then she briefly went to the CEO's office which already had her name on the door. She performed a traditional ceremony in which she claimed that territory as her own. (You don't want me to go into any more detail about that.) Another ambulance then took her to the hospital.
We all began processing the day's events, and none of us are close to a mental resolution. Kell, despite her injuries and the head-spinning situation, had the presence to issue a press release confirming that she was the CEO. That caused the Herd Thinners stock to rebound before the market's close, so her quick action saved the investors a lot of money.
Fenton flew in after nightfall, and for the first time he and I slept in my old room in my parents' house. (That was a strange feeling.) Today we all returned to the hospital. Frank Mangle was awake, but only allowed his daughter to visit. Meanwhile, Kell went to see R.L.
I said hello to Angelique. These days she and I are...cordial. I told her I hoped her husband would pull through. Kell went inside to see him, and while I couldn't hear what they were saying they were definitely speaking *feline*.

Okay, I don’t have all of the facts but something astounding seems to have occurred back home, and it appears that Kell is actually C.E.O. of Herd Thinners, Inc. I know, I know, it sounds ludicrous. I just got a text from her that she simultaneously sent to me, Dad, Rudy, Elanor and Ralph: IM CEO. It took a me a while to figure out that it wasn’t some acronym or leet-speak that I wasn’t aware of.
I’m trying to piece together the events which of course began when Frank Mangle asked Kell to meet him at an all-canine restaurant where no one would be able to speak feline. In that language he laid out his plan to challenge R.L. Basically, he needed to know if any other predators would come to R.L.’s defense during a battle.
At one time, that would’ve been Kell herself, and I’m sure she hesitated. However, her loyalty to R.L. was forever broken back when he fired her (which led her to work for Aby for a time) and while she was rehired she has never completely trusted him. If Kell wasn’t his ally, then he had none at all which apparently suited him. After all, he’s never had a problem defeating challenges before.
I can only speculate what happened. Mr. Mangle turned out to be a much tougher adversary than R.L. expected, or perhaps age has finally caught up with R.L. At any rate, the fight was evenly matched, and both parties suffered serious, perhaps life-threatening injuries. Knowing Kell, she would have intervened at that point to stop it.
The Herd Thinners, Inc. rules of boardroom succession are clear: Once a battle is joined, anyone can enter. Winner is the last one standing. That would have been Kell.
Now what?

First off, to tie up last week’s loose ends, Rudy ended up not getting the tattoo. I figured that would be the outcome when Fiona got involved. Rudy stopped little Wendell from getting one, and Fiona effectively stopped Rudy. Case closed, for now.
Moving on to the latest issue. Kell texted me that she received a curious request from Frank Mangle. He asked her to dress up as her cousin Sheila and to meet him at a canine restaurant on Monday. This is colored in all shades of Wrong. He’s up to something, but I can’t guess what it could possibly be.
Kell has misgivings as well, but she told me she’s decided to go along just to find out. The fact is, dressing up as her identical cousin comes awfully easy for her. She has the outfit, and once she puts that on she just slaps makeup on her face. (...A lot of makeup, but that’s Sheila.) Then she makes some internal adjustment to her bearing and, voila. Instant Cousin.
Hang on. I just got an additional message from Kell. Frank sent a follow-up E-mail insisting on utter secrecy about all this. Kell asked me not to repeat it anywhere.
Ooooooookay.
Um, forget I said anything. Move along, nothing to see here.
How about those baseball playoffs?