The Wigamalefis part 16:
Waiting
A No More Fakes Story
(Monday, January 20)

	"RING!" the telephone rang.  I rolled out of bed.  "RING!"  I
straightened my fur.  I hated the way it matted when I slept.  I stumbled
through the living room to the TDD I bought a few weeks ago.  I needed
some way to talk to the company if they called me.  Mr. Kernz seemed very
pleased with the interview.  I answered the phone, and it was another TDD,
luckily.

	"Will, this is Sandy," scrolled across the LED screen.

	I typed, "Hi, what are you doing calling me this early?"

	"I just wanted to make sure you were up, just in case you get a
call about your interview," she said.

	"Thanks, my alarm just went off."  I was so glad I was using a TDD
and she couldn't hear that it didn't

	"Okay, I'll let you go.  Hope you hear from them."

	"I do, too," I typed.  "See you after work."

	"See you then," she typed and hung up.

	I hung up my end and proceeded to get ready for work.  Showering
takes a long time with this fur.  The hardest part is the drying off.

	After the shower, I proceeded to fix breakfast.  While I was
frying the eggs, I saw a streak of orange in the corner of my eye.  I
turned around just in time to brace myself from Kerry's leap.  He was
standing with his fore feet on my chest.  He reached up with his long
forked tongue to lick me.

	"Down, Kerry.  Down!" I said in wigamalefish.  He was the only
thing that could understand me.  Well, the officer that was turned into a
creature like Kerry could, too.  However, the magician who changed Kerry
back into a human also changed the officer.  I was so glad they dropped
charges.  There wasn't really anything that they could have charged me
with.

	Kerry fell down to all fours and dashed to his food bowl.  He
looked up expectantly.  If he is still Kerry the human on the inside, he
sure doesn't act like it.  There is no trace of human behavior in him.  He
acts more like a dog.  A rather big hairless dog with orange skin, but a
"dog" none the less.

	I got his food, which I found out that he liked dog food and horse
food mixed together.  Guess he's an omnivore.  He gave me room and watched
it come from the container and into his bowl eagerly.  As soon as I
finished, he was in it gobbling it up.

	Now, that Kerry was out of the way, I finished cooking my
breakfast and ate it.  I finished getting ready for work after eating, and
headed out the door.  Kerry, as usual, was there to meet me.  I patted him
on the head and left.  He gave me a big slurp on the hand.

---------------------

	Work went by slowly.  I couldn't wait to get home to see if I had
any messages.  We were still working on the game I was coordinating.  It
was almost finished, but we still had a lot of touchup work.  I was in the
middle of checking the checklist to see what hasn't been completed yet.

	"Wiggy!" Lance bellowed from behind me.  I hated when he did that.
Grunting, I spun around in my chair and looked up at the dragon.

	"Wiggy, was it you that made that device on the news?" he asked.

	I looked at him questioningly.

	"You know.  That thing that changed the officer and some other guy
into these orange creatures.  Was that your project?"

	My eyes grew big.  "How did the news know about that?" I asked
myself.  I hadn't told anyone about that mishap, and no one has even been
to my house since Kerry moved in.

	"I knew it was," he said and grinned the way only a dragon could.
He leaped over to his cubicle and grabbed his chair.  He rolled it closer
to me and plopped down in it.  "Tell me what happened."

	I retrieved my trusty notepad from my desk drawer and wrote, "I
can't."

	Lance's long neck stretched over to read what I was writing before
I even got finished.  "You can't?  Why?"

	"I just can't.  Top Secret," I wrote.

	"It was all over the news.  Why can't you tell?"

	I rolled my eyes and put the pad away.  Lance wasn't going to get
that out of me.  The police chief told me to not tell anyone and to say
that Kerry was another victim of the Racheous Chicken that needed a home.
Which was true to a certain extent.  He needed a home, but his is only a
victim indirectly.  If it weren't for me being confused right after the
incident and wanting to be a human for some odd reason, I would never have
built Project F.

	"Well, I'll guess I'll just have to wait," Lance said finally
giving up.  He rolled back to his desk and continued his work.

--------------------

	The drive home from work seemed to last forever.  I wanted to be
there when they called about the job.  It would give them a bigger
impression of me.  Well, I hoped it would.  I just wished I could speak so
where humans could understand me.

	As I reached the block my house was on, I saw several vans parked
in front of my house.  "What are they doing here?" I asked.  I pulled up
into my driveway and parked the car.  Before I could even open the door,
reporters and television cameras surrounded my car.

	"Mr. Harryman...," they all began and started asking questions.  I
couldn't understand any of them since they were all talking over each
other.  I just grunted and pushed my way to my house.  Luckily I managed
to hold them back enough to close the house door behind me.  I leaned up
against the door and sighed.

	The light on my answering machine was blinking.  I ran over to it
and pressed the play button.  "Will, this is Sandy.  I won't be able to
make it until 8 o'clock.  I'll see you then."  The message clicked off.
Nothing else.  No message about the job.

	Good thing Sand wasn't coming over until later.  They would have
to fight the reporters back so she could even come in the house.  I looked
up from the answering machine and saw several people looking in my front
window.  I rushed over to it and closed the blinds.  "Humans are so
nosey."  I was so glad that I found out that I was really a wigamalefis
and not a human.

	Kerry jumped to look out the window.  His front paw/hand things
were grasping the windowsill.  He hissed a little at the reporters, which
he couldn't see, then looked up at me.  I gave him a pat on the head.  "If
the police didn't confiscate my project," I said to Kerry in Wigamalefish.
"Then I could show those reporters what it's like being different."

	Kerry let out a yip.

	"No, I'm not serious.  I wish I never made that thing."  I walked
over to the couch and clicked on the television.

	"This is Angela Harden Channel 13 news.  We are here in front of
Will Harryman's house."

	"Hey!  That's my house!" I yelled sitting up to get slightly
closer to the screen.

	The reporter continued.  "It seems that his new house guest has
drawn a lot of attention."

	I glanced down at Kerry that had climbed onto the couch next to
me.  He was watching the TV also.  I had no idea if he understood what it
was, or if he was just imitating me.

	The reporter continued on about Kerry the human and the new Kerry.
They even came up with a name for the strange creature he had become:  an
orange thing.  "How original," I though.
	
	Apparently, what had happened at the police station got out to the
media, and they swarmed the incident since it had been a while since the
Raucous Chicken.  The reporter had even stopped people along the streets,
including my neighbors, interviewing them.  Most of the people from around
here said they weren't bothered about it, but the other people were
complaining.  Some said that it was an evil device that caused it.  Others
said that Kerry should be studied.  There were so many points of view
about it, that I couldn't keep them all straight.  I flipped through the
stations, and all of them had a report about Kerry.  Most of them were in
front of my house.

	Soon after the Orange Thing reports went off, there was a knock at
the door.  "Will, it's me!" shouted a voice that sounded like Sandy's.  I
peeked through the peephole and saw the distorted image of Sandy.  Behind
her reporters were crowing in.

	I quickly opened the door and she ran in shouting behind her, "His
name is WILL!"

	We both slammed the door and leaned against it for a few seconds.
"Will, this is horrible!" she said.

	I just nodded and grunted.

	We sat down on the couch.  Kerry curled up next to Sandy.  She
petted him on the head.  A grin seemed to appear on his face.

	"Will, what are you going to do?" Sandy asked after she stopped
petting Kerry.  "I mean, look at those people out there."

	I shrugged.  "I have no idea," I signed.  "I didn't know Kerry
would cause such a fuss."

	She just nodded and petted Kerry some more.  His orange face lit
up with glee.  Sometimes I wish I knew what was going on in that strange
head of his.

	"So," Sandy said breaking the silence.  "any news about your job?"

	I shook my head.  I wish I had.  Waiting on that phone call is
making me just as nervous as the reporters camping outside my house.

	"I'm sure they will contact you soon."

	I nodded and grinned a little.  "I hope so," I signed.  Humans
have such strange business habits.  I never know how to take what most of
the companies tell me.

	Suddenly a siren sounded outside.  Sandy and I looked at each
other before we ran to the window. The flashing blue lights of  police car
could be seen on the closed blinds.  I looked out.  They had come to our
rescue.  All the reporters were being forced into their vehicles.
Eventually the yard was clear except for the police.  One of them came to
the door.

	Sandy answered it.  "Good evening, Ma'am."  He saw me coming to
the door.  "And, ...Sir.  I'm sorry it took so long to get them
dispersed."

	Sandy smiled.  "Thank you, officer.  We were hoping that we
wouldn't have to live on what we had in the kitchen."

	"Yes, Ma'am," the officer said quickly.  "If you need us, just
call."

	"Thanks, again," Sandy said.  "We will keep a look out for any
renegade reporters."

	The officer tipped his hat and walked away.  Sandy closed the door
and turned around.  "Well, at least we don't have to worry about those
reporters any...."

	Someone jumped up from behind her and grabbed her.  He wrapped his
arm around her neck.  "Back off, blue thing!"

	I growled.  How did he get in here?  Humans can be so sneaky.

	"I want you to back up and sit down on your couch," the man said
getting a tighter grip on Sandy as she tried to pry his arm loose.

	I backed up and backed right into another human.

	"That's it.  Just walk this way," came a female voice as she
grabbed me from behind.  I growled, but she just gripped tighter.  I
couldn't get in a good position to break loose.

	The two of them slowly forced us to the living room.

	"Just keep quiet, and no one will get hurt," the man said as he
got closer to the couch.

	Another human male came from the hallway with ropes.  One rope was
already tied around Kerry.  The poor creature was whimpering when he saw
us being restrained, too.

	The three humans paced as we sat on the couch bound and gagged.
They seemed uncertain, but then I still wasn't great at reading humans'
actions.  It had been 20 minutes since the police dispersed the crowd
outside.  I wished they would come back now.

	After what seemed like an eternity of them pacing, the man who had
grabbed Sandy walked over and stuck his face up to mine.  "The police have
that machine, don't they?"

	I looked at him confused.

	"That machine you built.  The one that created that monster from a
perfectly normal human," he yelled pointing at Kerry.

Kerry whimpered.

	"We want that machine," the female said.

	The man motioned her to be quite.  He then pulled out a cellular
phone.  "I'm going to call the police station, and you are going to ask
for the machine back.  Got it?"

	I slowly nodded.

	The man dialed on the phone and held it up to me so I could hear
and talk.

	"Police department.  How may I help you?" came a voice from the
phone.

	I started grunting and growling in Wigamalefish.  The man glared
at me.

	"Is this some kind of a joke?" the policeman asked.

	The man jerked the phone from me and turned it off.  "What do you
think you are doing?"

	I just grunted.

	The man spun around and kind of grunted himself.  He stormed over
to the others.  They began discussing.  The woman kept watching us.

	Then the phone rang.  The three of them watched the phone
nervously.  Sandy looked at me.  I could see a mix of hope and worry in
her eyes.  Kerry perked his head up as far as he could lift it with the
ropes tying him down.

	Ring!

No one seemed to move.  Sandy, Kerry, and I couldn't, really.

Ring!

The first man looked briefly at the others.  None of them made any
movement to the phone.

Ring!

The answering machine picked up this time.  Sandy's voice started
speaking, "Hi, you have reached the Harryman residence.  Please leave a
message after the beep."

A woman's voice started speaking, "Mr. Harryman this is Mr. Kernz's
secretary.  I am calling to inform you that we have decided that your
qualifications aren't what we are looking for.  We will keep you in mind
if any other positions open."

My heart sank out of my throat where it was a moment before.  That was the
job I was waiting for.  Hopefully....

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Harryman," the man said walking away from the other
three.  I didn't like the way he mocked my name.  "But, now I see that you
aren't the one we need to talk."  

He looked over at Sandy.  "Now, I want you do talk to the police and ask
them for the device," he said as he walked over to her with the cellular
phone.

Sandy reluctantly started talking on the phone after the man held it up to
her.  She told the police all that the man wanted as he stood over her
with the gun.  When she finished, he hung the phone up.

"There, that wasn't so bad.  Was it?" he said placing the cellular phone
back in its holster on his belt.

Sandy stayed quiet.

"There's a nice girl," the man said and backed up to join the others but
keeping an eye on us.  "Now, all we have to do is wait."

The ropes that bound me were unbreakable.  I couldn't even reach the knot
to untie them.  I sure hoped Kerry could have chewed through his, but
apparently he couldn't.

	Suddenly, a bang came from the back door and it opened.  A large
green figure bounded in.  "Hey, W!  It's me, Lance!" yelled the dragon.

	The captors spun around to face Lance.  "What the...?" one of them
said.

	Lance, fortunately, realized what was going on and dove into a
side door before they could fire their guns.

The leader signaled the other two forward.  They reluctantly eased to the
door with their guns ready.  The woman peaked in.  A short moment later
she turned around and shrugged.  At that moment, a large scaly claw
grabbed her and pulled her into the room.

Lance jumped out with the woman's gun aimed at the other man.  He quickly
knocked him in the head with his tail.  The man collapsed.

The leader aimed his gun at Lance.  "Hold it right there," he said.

Lance stood there, but he didn't act like backing away crossed his mind.
"No, you hold it right there.  My scales will make it tougher for the
bullets to penetrate than your skin."

The man looked panicked.  He pointed the gun at me.  "Ah, but they will
penetrate him," he said smugly.

I saw my life flash before my eyes.  Both lives.  At that point, I didn't
care which was the real one.  What was happening around me seemed to blur.
The next thing I knew, the police had arrived and were all pointing their
guns at the man.

"Will.  Will!" Sandy said shaking me.  I came out of my state of shock or
panic or whatever I was in.  Sandy had been untied, along with Kerry and
myself.  Lance was standing near me also with Kerry rubbing up against his
leg.

The police were escorting out the leader and a medical team was removing
the other two.  I was just glad they were out of the house.

After taking care of everything at the house, the police took us back to
the station yet another time to file the report.  I was getting sick of
that place.

Then, it came down to the point I didn't want to come up.

"Will, we need to do something about this machine," the chief said.

I nodded sadly.

"We can dispose of it properly," he continued.  "We just need you to sign
this."  He handed me a clipboard with the papers attached.

I skimmed over them.  Basically they said that I gave them permission to
destroy Project F.  I slowly picked up the pen and signed.

-----------------------

	The next day was uneventful compared to yesterday, so far.  Sandy
was over watching TV that night.  We were hoping something would be on the
news about the hostage situation, but since we had run off the media just
before, it wasn't covered.

	Kerry was curled up on the floor sleeping.  He seemed to enjoy
being that orange creature.  I still couldn't tell if he was still human
on the inside or not.

	That's when I decided to do what I had been wanting to do for a
long time.  "Excuse me, Dear," I signed to Sandy and ran to the bedroom.
I dug through the sock drawer and found the box that I hid there so long
ago.  I calmly walked into the living room even though my nerves were
going crazy.

	I walked over to Sandy and knelt on one knee and held out the open
ring box.  I signed, "Sandy, will you be my wife?"

	She seemed shocked.  She glanced at the ring box and looked into
my eyes.  "Who is asking me?" she asked.

	"Does it matter?" I signed.

	She shook her head and hugged me.  "Yes.  Yes I will."


The End.