Dinner was interesting. When he was toldthat dinner was at eight he wasn’t
sure what to expect. The dining room was a good sized one.Decorated like an
old Adirondacks Great camp with timber and log walls with alarge fireplace in
the middle of one wall. It could easily hold 30 humans. Butmany of the diners
weren’t human or even humanoid. Two thirds of the attendees were human;
variousstaff, scientists and a half dozen guests. The rest were a mix of
leopards,lions, sabertooths and wolves. All of a species that until recently
had beenextinct. None of the prey species were there. Thepresence of so many
predators eating lots of meat made them understandablenervous. They had their
own dining room nearby. The human diners were seated on woodenchairs and the
four-legged ones were ensconced on wide benches. For the humans the meal was
lamb stew withvegetables or vegetarian stew for those who avoided meat. For the
four leggersdinner was simpler – beef and lamb cooked to varying degrees
depending on thediner. To drink there was soda, coffee and tea butnothing
stronger. With all the fur, teeth and claws present alcohol was off themenu by
universal agreement. “Are meals always this formal?” Jonathanasked. “No,
but it’s not every day we have a famousTV personality here,” a woman responded.
“So we decided to celebrate.” Tobias nodded his head. “Usually it’s
prettyscattered. People eating when they want.” “And many of us are usually
out in thefield,” A sabertooth added. “Are you self-sustaining?” Jonathan
asked. The lion shook his head. “No. There simplyaren’t enough prey animals.
So we heavily supplement things with food broughtin.” “Each week we need
almost half a ton ofmeat,” the lioness added. “That’s a lot of meat!” “We
lions can eat some 150 pounds of meat ina week,” The lioness responded.
After dinner many drifted away to projectsthat needed to be done or other
things. But a good-sized group drifted to themain lobby and gathered around the
fireplace. “We thought you’d enjoy a hunt,” a smilodoncommented. “One of
the bull mammoth’s is actingerratically. “He’s always been violent. So we need
to weed him out before hegoes completely crazy.” “A real mammoth hunt!”
Jonathan said. “Thatsounds exciting, bold and dangerous. Have you ever done a
mammoth hunt before?” “Well,” the feline paused. “There’s a firsttime for
everything.” “So, that’s a no.” “Correct.” “I’mnot sure my health
insurance covers being trampled by a hairy elephant.” “We have a complete
and modern hospital herefor both human and animals,” the smilodon said
cheerfully and showed more teeththan intended. Jonathan looked at the camera
for a moment.“You’re not inspiring confidence.” The lioness laughed. “We’ve
almost neverlost anyone.” “Almost?” **************** Morning came VERY
early. A loud thumping onthe door elicited only vague grunts from the sleepers.
A loud, predatory roar echoed thru thebuilding. Shaking the walls and
rattling the doors and windows. All four sleepers woke up immediately.
Jonathanrolled out of bed and hit the floor with a body jarring thump.
“We’re up!” Barbara shouted as she sat up inbed. “Wow!” Fred commented.
“That’s one hell ofan alarm clock!” They all gathered in the dining room for
a quickbreakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, meat (lots of meat) and coffee and tea.
"Let us slip you into something morecomfortable for hunting. What form do
you want?” “Form?” Jonathan asked. “What’s wrong withthis one? I’ve had it
all my life.” “Well if you want we can outfit you like aSTONE AGE hunter,”
the leopard responded. “Stone tipped spear and wearinganimal skins.”
Jonathan shook his head. “If I’m going towear an animal skin it has to still be
on the animal.” “So what animal do you want to be?” The lionessasked. “A
wolf,” the man answered quickly. “Why a wolf?” The lion asked. “If I go
for a cat my dog will never forgiveme,” He joked. The whole group laughed.
“I’ll admit I’m a bit nervous. I’ve neverbeen changed before.” “You’ll be
fine! It doesn’t hurt at all.” “It does itch a little.” *******************
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