Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom is another of my unfinished works. It dates back to at least 1992, although it may be older than that. I can't remember. It's been a long time since I looked at it. The concept was simple: There is a place wherein animals rule and people are conspicuously absent. The animals are all intelligent, self-aware and can talk. They also have their own government. There are places where animals from this world can reach the Animal Kingdom, and vice versa. In fact, certain crimes in the Animal Kingdom are punishable by banishment to our world.

The story I began follows Sparks, a German Shepherd dog assigned to the Special Agent Task Force (law enforcement), during an investigation of a murder. (A swine has been brutally murdered near the border with cats - lions, tigers, panthers.) Against orders from Eschae, who rules the kingdom, Sparks enlists the aid of Casper, a Black Panther (an actual cat, not a member of a 1960s civil rights organization) who is also a member of the Special Agent Task Force. The assumption is one of the predator animals has violated kingdom law and killed for food. The law states that predators are required to leave Animal Kingdom to do their hunting. Sparks can't believe it and seeks the evidence he needs to aquit the predators before Eschae is forced to order all predators out of the Animal Kingdom - which would include Sparks.

There is quite a series of odd characters, including: Quintas the Crow, who acts as an informer; Mairden, the Musk Ox, who is Chief Inspector; Lita, the sexy Poodle; Kudi, the old Goat; Sgt. Muffle and the Hounds; and Maden and the Rat Patrol. There are others, too.

I thought I had written quite a bit, but I've only been able to find about 2,000 words. At least it's the beginning. Here, for your amusement, is Animal Kingdom.

Animal Kingdom

by Bevie James

"Inhabitants of the Kingdom are being slaughtered! What are you doing about it?"

That was how Eschae, the Kingdom Mare, greeted me. I had been summoned to the slender bay’s stall without being told why. I still didn't know.

"I'm sorry, Miss Mare. I don't know anything about a slaughter."

"I thought not!" she said, angrily stomping her foot and swishing her tail. "What is the bother of having a Special Agent Task Force if they’re clueless? This is the worst disaster the Kingdom has ever faced! You’re supposed to be my top agent, Sparks."

If you've ever been called before your boss for something which wasn't your fault you understand how I felt. While I was officially listed as the Agency's top agent, I was not its chief inspector. That was Mairden. But Mairden was a Musk Ox, and they had yet to return from winter migration. I wished German Shepherds migrated.

"Have there been many incidents?" I asked.

I said the wrong thing.

"Many? I don't care if it's only one! One is too many!" she said.

"How many have there been?" I repeated.

"One."

(This ends the portion which was edited. The rest is all rough draft.)

Well, that was something of a relief. It's hard to be in the right place to stop the first one. But Eschae was a good mare, and she cared for the Kingdom and its inhabitants. Still, one was a far cry from a crime rampage. Perhaps this could be dealt with quickly.

"Where was the incident?" I asked.

"To the north. In the area of the Hogs. Mazink found the remains of one his nephews. He immediately contacted one of Bescha's Pigeons who came to me. I, of course, sent her on to you. That was two days ago."

"Yes. I came as fast as I could. But it will be nearly two more days before I can get up there. And we'd better send a Pigeon to find Casper. I may need his help."

Eschae paused uncomfortably. She gave me a side look and turned to look out over the Great Lake.

"Maybe you should do this one alone, Sparks," she said.

I felt a chill, and I became uneasy. She was leading up to something. Something she was loth to say.

"But the Hogs area is so close to the Panthers. I think Casper can be of help. If you don't want him on this case, why did you summon me? You must have known he would be my first choice as a partner."

While Casper tended to be unorthodox in his methods, he was the best partner I had ever worked with. I believed I could trust him with my life. In fact, he had proven himself worthy to the Kingdom on several occasions. So why would be he left out now when we were faced with the biggest crises ever?

"I summonded you because I need my best agent on this one."

She began pacing again, but avoiding my eyes. As if meeting their gaze would catch her in some guilt.

"Sparks, you know how most of the Kingdom feels about allowing predators in?"

"They're somewhat nervous. I know that."

Eschae's whinny was as grim as joyful. And this time she looked me full in the face. "Nervous? Sparks, some are out and out terrified. Outside the Kingdom, these very same predators are killing their kind. In the outside world, they are food for the predators."

"But we are not in the outside world, Miss Mare," I said. "And all predators have taken the oath to leave the Kingdom to do their hunting. Some have even taken to restricting their diet to fruits and grasses. And that is a great sacrifice."

"I am aware of the sacrifices of the predators," she said. "But, Sparks, some just do not believe an oath can change a behavior pattern that has been inbred and ingrained since birth. They are the minority, I assure you. But minority or not, their concerns are my concerns. It is my duty as Mare to keep the Kingdom's inhabitants safe from harm. Especially when that harm comes from other inhabitants."

"There is already a restriction on how many predators can be admitted to the kingdom," I said. "And they have been consigned to the southeast where they can come and go from the kingdom without being seen by the others."

"Yet there are still areas where the two kinds abut each other. One of those is the Hogs and the Panthers."

She stopped her speech and just looked at me. There was sorrow in her eyes. Yet there was something else. An unspoken message."

"Are you saying it was a Panther who killed Mazink's nephew?"

"That is what Mazink is saying. And guessing I would send for you, he has explicitly stated he does not want Casper to be part of this investigation."

Now it was my turn to get angry. Even if Mazink's suspicions were true, that was no reason to punish the entire cat kingdom. And Casper was my friend.

"Just who is Mare of the kingdom? You or Mazink?" I allowed my tone to be harsh. Ordinarilly, when a Dog used such a tone, Horses, Cattle and nearly everything else would quail and run. But Eschae knew me well enough to take it in stride. Also, she had not been made Mare for being an idiot.

"Sometimes I wonder," she sighed. "Being Mare isn't like what you might think. To be a good leader, one must serve the Kingdom. And that kind of makes everyone else my boss. The rules of office frequently restrict me from enjoying the things I might otherwise enjoy. They prevent me from holding to positions I might otherwise hold. And they force me to make decisions I would not otherwise make."

"Then you are ordering me not to take Casper as my partner?"

"I'm sorry," she said, and I knew she meant it.

Now it was my turn to sigh. Were the Mare anyone but Eschae, I might be tempted to think she was succumbing to political pressure. Spring was nearly over and summer always seemed short. And come fall, it would be time to elect a new Mare. Or reelect the existing one.

"Very well. I will not ask Casper to be my partner," I said, and I turned to leave.

"Who will you take?" she called after me.

"I don't know. For now, I'll go alone. I want to see what is what."

"Take care, Sparks. I fear we may have bigger problems than a single murder. If one of our predators has gone awry, the Kingdom could be split along species lines. We can't let that happen. We'll lose everything. Everyone will."

"I know," I said, and left. But as I ran, her self-spoken words followed the wind to my ears.

"Sometimes I wish I were pulling a plow in Kansas."

- - - - -

The area where the Hogs lived was beyond the Great Lake to the northeast. It was situated in a tight area between the Northern Lakes and above the forest line. If I ran all day and all night and again all day, I just might make it by evening the following night. But I would be exhausted and require rest. And if there was a crazy Panther roaming the land, I would be doing myself no favor by wearing myself out. I was good. But I would have no chance against a Panther when the fight was on his terms. Actually, not even if the fight were on my terms. But I hated to admit that.

The safest route would be to follow the eastern shore of the Great Lake, cross the Lateral River and head straight north to Northern Lake One. I could then come into the Hog lands from the west. But I had already lost two days and was destined to lose two more. I needed a more direct approach. And that meant going right through the Land of Cats.

Eschae would no doubt be alerting other law enforcement agents around the kingdom via the Pigeon Grapevine as it was called. But the real danger was here in the north central region of the Kingdom. This was where the crime had taken place.

As I worked my way north I hoped I would 'accidentally' stumble upon Casper. Perhaps that was why I had chosen the direct route. But the odds of meeting one specific Black Panther by chance was beyond the realm of probability. Mostly what I saw were birds and squirrels. They regarded me with some interest, but kept to themselves.

Yet as the sun stood directly overhead, I began to hear the whisperings in the trees. Word of the murder was at last spreading south. And now they all knew why I was here. Which meant the murderer might also know I was on my way. But that would depend on whether any blabbermouth bird told him.

I took a rest about midafternoon in an apple orchard. It was cool and quiet and there were plenty of apples on the ground. This was by divine providence. To help deter the sort of crime I was now on my way to investigate, the Founders had planted fruit trees which bore their produce all year around in the eastern lands where the predators had been consigned. I lay down and began to take my fill of the juicy red apples.

"Well, lookie here! A hound dog with an apple in its mouth!"

I looked up to see a large black Crow sitting in the branches over my head. His laughing caws over his own joke filled the air.

"I am not a hound dog, Quintas. I'm a German Shepherd," I said.

"It's machs nichts to me," he said. "But it's interesting to see that prejudice exists within the predator species as well as without it."

"I did not say or imply there was anything wrong with being a Hound Dog," I began, but he continued his speech.

"But it could have been worse. I could have mistaken you for a Hog with an apple in his mouth. Then it would have been difficult to tell whether you were simply eating dinner, or whether you were dinner."

His words and their abrupt ending caught me. I did not especially care to be baited, but I understood the reason. Perhaps were our positions reversed, I would be no different. But I liked to believe I would be.

"I take it you have heard about the incident up north?" I asked, and he laughed.

"Oh yeah! I heard all right. By now, everyone must have heard. One of you high and mighty Lords of the Jungle got hungry and decided that grass and fruit just didn't do it for him anymore. So he decided to have himself a pork rind."

"That is yet to be determined," I said.

"Oh come on! Who do you think did it? A Tweety Bird?"

"At this time, I don't know! And neither do you!"

"You padfoots all stick together, don't you? When a bird chooses to hang around an area for any length of time because it's a nice area, how long is it before the Hawks and Eagles are summoned to drive him away because he happens to have bowels? But ho! Let a big cat come along and chew up a hog and justice just doesn't seem to move so fast anymore."

"We're doing what we can, Quintas!"

"Of course you are, Sparks. Laying about eating apples when the murder is already two days old. Just gathering food for thought, eh? What does it matter that the trail is cold and getting colder? I know! You're just waiting here hoping that cat will come to his senses and walk up to you and turn himself in? You're right, Sparks. You ain't no Hound. You're a cur

(And there it ends. Sorry. I'm sure I wrote more. I have vague recollections of Casper arriving and Sparks and him talking over the case. If I ever find it - or rewrite this - I'll give it a post.)