Later that night Perry awakened to find himself in Vicki's bed.  Vicki lay beside him stroking his fur lovingly.  His breathing was still labored, but as he released himself to her touch his suffering gradually subsided. 

     "You gave me quite a scare, you know," said Vicki.  "I've never seen you so sick."

     "I don't think I've been that sick since I was a child," said Perry. 

     "Why did it happen?" asked Vicky.  "Did that human thing do something to you?"

     "You saw a pure human, wearing pretentious garments?" asked Perry. 

     "Yes," said Vicki.  "She said she wanted to help, but I didn't trust her.  I chased her away."

     "Thanks," said Perry.  "I think one more of her rude comments would have finished me off."

     "If she comes near you again I'll scratch her eyes out," said Vicki. 

     "I can't really avoid her," he said.  "She lives in my house.  She's supposed to be my cousin."

     "Does she know about your illness?" asked Vicki. 

     "I haven't had a chance to explain much to her," said Perry.  "She's only just arrived?"

     "From where?" asked Vicki. 

     "Some other planet, I guess," said Perry.  "I don't know how she got here or why my family is taking her in.  I liked her at first because she's all human and cute.  At least I thought she was cute.  Then suddenly she just changed.  She became a whole other person - a really ugly person.  And all I could think of was I wanted to get away from her.  All the love I'd been building up in my heart for her just drained out and left me dry."

     "And your poor little heart couldn't take the shock," Vicki assumed. 

     "The worst part of it was that she let me go," said Perry.  "She either didn't believe I was sick or she didn't care.  She thinks I'm some kind of disgusting animal that's not good enough for her."

     "Well, what do you expect from an alien human?" said Vicky.  "They're supposed to be the most arrogant species in the universe.  That's why we work so hard to be better than them.  I think I'll have a little chat with her this morning and let her know just how special you really are."

     "Promise me you won't claw her," said Perry, warily. 

     "Not even just a little if she won't take a hint?" asked Vicki, with cute sarcasm. 

     Perry pressed the palm of her hand to his mouth and kissed it.  Then he placed her hand on his cheek and said, "Please.  Paws.  No claws."

     "Oh, Perry," she sighed adoringly.  And in the next instant Perry found himself lovingly engulfed in blue fox fur. 



     That morning Pamela called Christine for breakfast, and was rather surprised to find her alone.  She was even more surprised to discover that Perry was not in the house. 

     Christine sat at the breakfast table looking troubled and not daring to meet anyone's gaze.  Finally Sir Jon said, "You know, you might find it a lot easier if you'd just tell us what happened."

     "Did you and Perry have a fight?" asked Sonny. 

     "I don't know what happened," Christine confessed, tearfully.  "I had a mood swing.  I said some stupid things and hurt his feelings.  I swear I didn't mean to hurt him.  The next thing I knew he was lying unconscious in the arms of a really weird looking blue fox."

     Suddenly Christine felt a paw strike her sharply on the back of the head, and she whirled around to find that very same fox standing behind her, having entered through the kitchen door without knocking. 

     "Weird looking am I?" Vicki protested.  "I'll have you know most people think I'm fashionably cute, at least when I'm in a good mood."

     "Good morning, Victoria," said Sir Jon, pleasantly. 

     "Oh, good morning, Sir Jon," said Vicki in a sudden sweet tone of voice, and she batted her eyes at him for extra emphasis. 

     "Yes," Sir Jon agreed.  "That is definitely one cute fox."

     "See?" said Vicki.  "I'm cute, not weird looking."

     "Alright," said Christine, still utterly terrified.  "If I admit that you're cute, will you spare my life?"

     Vicki blinked in surprise at the comment and said, "Has anyone ever told you that you're totally pathetic?"

     "I tell myself that all the time," said Christine, nervously. 

     "Yeah, well, you're not lying to yourself, sister," said Vicki.  "Sir Jon, do you mind if I take her out in the back yard and beat some sense into her?"

     "My back yard is your back yard," said Sir Jon with indifference. 

     "Sir Jon," Christine implored, but he just went back to scanning his newspaper.  "Sonny? Pamela?"

     Sonny and Pamela looked at each other and chorused, "Pathetic."

     Vicki grabbed the front of Christine's blouse, towing her out of the dining room and up to the kitchen door, saying, "Come on, Miss Pathetic.  Let's see if we can give you a little attitude adjustment."

     "Oh, Victoria," called Sir Jon in a reminding intonation. 

     "I know, I know," Vicki called back in a cutesy tone of voice "Paws.  No claws.  Mustn't claw the selfish human thingie."

     Then she looked Christine in the eye and flashed her white sharp teeth, saying, "But nobody said I couldn't chew on you a little."

     Christine let out a helpless "Meep," as Vicki pulled her out the kitchen door and into the backyard. 

     "Please don't hurt me, Miss Fox," Christine pleaded. 

     "Miss Fox?" said Vicki, indignantly.  "You really are clueless.  My name is Victoria Anderson.  I'm a human being just like you.  And just like him."

     Christine turned around to see who Vicki was pointing at, and there she saw Perry sitting in a lawn chair watching her.  Beside him were two other chairs, and he waved the two females to come join him. 

     As she sat down, Christine guardedly asked, "Is this some kind of intervention?"

     "Yes, we're intervening in your stupidity," said Vicki.  "Like, don't you think there's something else you should be saying to Perry right now?"

     "Um, probably," said Christine, fearfully.  "But it's kind of hard to think when you're scared to death."

     "And what is it that you're so scared of?" asked Perry. 

     "You mean besides this big ball of blue fur with the claws and the teeth?" asked Christine, anxiously.  "Perry, please don't let her shred me."

     "Why are you acting so helpless?" asked Perry.  "I know you know how to defend yourself if you need to.  It's perfectly obvious that you work out and train regularly.  Vicki isn't stronger than you are."

     "But she's a natural born killer," Christine protested, fearfully.  "Killing must be second nature to her."

     Vicki pointed at herself with a hurtfully mystified expression and said meekly, "Me?"

     "Yes you," said Christine.  "You were going to kill me last night."

     "I was only defending my home and my friend from an intruder," said Vicki, innocently.  "But it's not like I've ever had to do that before.  I don't really know how to use my claws as a weapon."

     "Christine, Vicki's claws and teeth are a result of the kind of animal her human DNA is mixed with," Perry explained.  "They don't indicate that she's more prone to violence than anyone else.  Actually Vicki is a very kind and loving person.  And she'll be your friend if you let her."

     "Are you sure?" asked Christine, with great uncertainty. 

     "I've known her all my life," said Perry, confidently.  "If you trust me you can trust her.  Now, will you give her a chance to befriend you?"

     "You promise not to eat me?" asked Christine of Vicki. 

     "Ick!" Vicki exclaimed.  "What a disgusting idea.  Why would I want to eat another person?"

     "Where I come from foxes are predators," said Christine.  "They eat other animals."

     "But I'm not a real fox," Vicki protested.  "I call myself a fox because I look like one.  But my genus is homo sapient exuviae."

     "Forgive me," said Christine, in a perplexed tone.  "My Latin is a bit rusty."

     "Homo meaning man or human," Perry translated.  "Sapient meaning a thinking creature.  Exuviae meaning pelt covered.  But we like to think of it as meaning Intelligent Anthropomorphic Furries."

     "You can't be serious," said Christine in a shocked tone. 

     "Do I look like I'm not being serious?" asked Perry. 

     "But have you no dignity as a species?" asked Christine.  "You know if you wanted to save some breath you could just call yourselves funny animals."

     "Ah, I see you know about the ancient texts," said Perry with interest. 

     "Ancient texts?" Christine queried. 

     "Yes," said Vicki.  "In the town of Coxshire they have a religion based on certain ancient texts left behind by the elder race.  They take these to be archaeological evidence that our species exists elsewhere in the universe.  One of them is called Funny Animals."

     Christine smacked her hand to her forehead and hid her eyes for a time while she struggled to accept what Vicki had said as fact.  Then she said, as if bemused beyond her senses, "Please tell me the god of that religion is not Bugs Bunny."

     "Of course not," Vicki laughed.  "That would be an idiotic religion."

     "So who is their deity?" asked Christine, now sitting on the edge of her seat with interest. 

     "They worship The Holy Brothers," said Vicki. 

     "Holy Brothers?" Christine queried. 

     "Surely you know about the holy brothers," said Vicki.  "They who are said to have traveled the universe documenting the history of unique life forms like ours."

     "Wait a minute," said Christine.  "You don't mean .  .  ."

     "The Holy Brothers Grimm," said Vicki. 

     In her shock Christine leaned too far forward on her chair and it slid out from under her, leaving her sitting unceremoniously on the ground with her mind reeling from the lunacy of what she'd just been told. 

     Showing great concern, Perry and Vicki quickly righted Christine's chair and helped her back into it, noting that she seemed to be in quite a daze. 

     "Christine, are you sick?" asked Perry, attentively. 

     "I think the shock of being where I am is just starting to set in," said Christine, still acting as if she were dizzy.  "What is this place?"

     "You are on the planet Cygnus in a town called Suburbia," said Perry. 

     "I don't mean that," said Christine, pressing her fingers to her temples as if to say she had one whopper of a headache.  "I mean what comic book did I fall into, and how do I get the house to take me back to Kansas?"

     "Kansas?" said Vicki, thoughtfully.  "If you came from Kansas, I think you should visit the town of Oz."

     "Town of Oz?!" Christine exclaimed. 

     "Yes," said Vicki.  "There they have a religion based on the testaments of a scribe called Baum.  Kansas is a sacred place to that religion."

     "Does every town on this planet have a religion based on some kind of ancient literature?" asked Christine. 

     "Not always literature," said Perry.  "But each town does have its own unique set of ideas."

     "Dare I ask what the religion of Suburbia is?" asked Christine. 

     "Well, Suburbia has more of a philosophy than a religion," Perry explained.  "Our philosophy is based on the most peaceful and happy period of the elder race as documented in their TV shows of that era.  We strive to emulate their ideals and values."

     Christine looked around her and took note of a certain lack of color in the architecture of the nearby houses.  Wherever anything was painted it was rare to see anything but black, white and shades of gray.  Only the grass, trees and Vicki's vibrant blue fur defeated the illusion of a black & white world. 

     Christine grabbed Perry by the back of the neck, pulled him close to her and said, "You've based your entire life on black & white sit-coms, haven't you?"

     "Not just sit-coms," said Perry.  "Any type of show that emulated what the elder race referred to as family values."

     "So that's why nobody swears here," said Christine, letting go of Perry and leaning back in her chair, apparently having overcome her disorientation. 

     "Do you disapprove of our ideology?" asked Vicki, defensively. 

     "Before I answer that I have to ask you one thing," said Christine.  "You people do understand the meaning of the words fiction and fantasy, don't you?"

     "Of course we do," said Perry.  "But we also understand the meaning of the word faith, which means believing in the impossible.  Our research into the ways of the elder race led us to believe that this was essential to any religion.  So, when we created our various religions we didn't bother to apply logic to them.  We simply looked for ideals that we found attractive and built religions around the icons of those ideals."

     "And you found the sterile ideology in black & white era television that appealing?" asked Christine. 

     "Well, our ancestors apparently did," said Perry.  "It's not like anyone who invented any of our religions is still living.  But I've lived here all my life, and I've never heard anyone complain or suggest that our way of life was sterile.  We're all very happy this way."

     "Ok," said Christine, doubtfully.  "If you're really happy this way, than I approve."

     "Gee, thanks," said Vicki, sarcastically.  "It's so nice to have your high and mighty humanship sanction our way of life."

     "Don't treat me like a stuck up aristocrat," said Christine, in an offended tone. 

     "But isn't that exactly what you are?" said Vicki.  "You look like a stuck up aristocrat.  You act like a stuck up aristocrat.  You even smell like a stuck up aristocrat.  It's perfectly obvious that you think of us as your inferiors."

     "Perry, please tell her I'm not like that," Christine pleaded. 

     "But you are like that," said Perry, regretfully.  "You revealed your true feelings last night.  You let me know that it's fine with you if I want to serve you, but not if I want to love you."

     "Guess I really screwed things up, didn't I?" Christine sighed. 

     "Not at all," said Perry, in a downcast tone.  "I'm glad you revealed your true feelings before I fell any deeper in love with you."

     "Stop it," said Christine emotionally.  "I don't know what you think you sensed last night, but a human female is a very complex thing - very easy to misjudge.  And I'm telling you, you're totally wrong about me.  And you're being very foolish to judge me by how I acted on my first day in a very strange world."

     "But you judged me," said Vicki, defensively. "You've set it in your mind that I'm some kind of horrible killer.  Why shouldn't I judge you harshly for that?"

     "Maybe because two wrongs don't make a right," said Christine, regretfully.  "Didn't you learn that from those black & white TV shows?"

     "Actually, I did," Vicki confessed.  "Maybe you and I should start over.  Would you like to try that?"

     "I'd like that very much," said Christine, sincerely. 

     The blue fox got up from her chair and approached Christine.  Christine stood up to meet her. 

     Vicki held out her paw-like hands, pads up, so that Christine could once again see her claws.  But as she watched the claws receded into Vicki's fingers until they looked like nothing more than oddly shaped fingernails.  Vicki then touched both of her fur covered hands to Christine's face. 

     For an instant Christine's heart jumped with fear, but then her attention was taken by how pleasant the hands of the fox felt on her skin.  She could not recall ever having felt anything so soft.  And suddenly Christine's lifelong love of animals, which had somehow slipped her mind the previous night, overwhelmed her. 

     Vicki could feel Christine's emotions through the pads on her hands.  And she could scent the change in Christine's feelings for her. 

     Christine touched Vicki's face in return, recalling that this was a way many animals greeted each other, or offered familiarity to each other. 

     Now Vicki could look deep into Christine's eyes and see through to her very soul.  And she realized that she had indeed truly misjudged Christine, who really was not an aristocratic snob by nature, but rather a lost and frightened child wandering in a mist of confusion and uncertainty. 

     Vicki smiled sweetly as Christine caressed her face, and her eyes shown with a friendliness Christine had not seen in them before. 

     Suddenly Christine saw Vicki not as a threat, but as a dream more beautiful than her forgotten childhood fantasies. 

     Tears welled in Christine's eyes, and she began to sob as she fell into Vicki's arms and clung to her as though she were a dear friend she had not seen for ages and had feared lost forever.