Anne looked annoyed finally by Karyn's pestering. "Look, I'm trying to get used to the situation here and figure out a solution, and it's not any easier with your whining," she snapped. "I wish you'd just deal with it unless you have something useful to suggest."
I groaned faintly as Karyn wobbled and looked dazed. It was hard to concentrate on what was going on -- one of my kittens lost track of where it had been feeding and I had to nuzzle it back into place. I knew that wish could not be a good thing, though!
"Uh. Yes, ma'am," Karyn mumbled, swaying on her feet a bit. "Well..." She looked down at the zoo employee uniform she was wearing. "Well, I always did want to be a veternarian and work with animals. You think I could work here and help take care of Jonni since she's going to be like this for a few months?"
Oh no! Anne's wish had made Karyn accept the situation! This was not good. I growled faintly but then stopped as it disturbed my kittens. It was taking more and more effort to really pay attention to the two. My instincts were constantly distracting me about my offspring.
Geeze. My offspring?
Anne blinked at Karyn, then looked down at the stone. "Oh my. This is dangerous, isn't it?" She looked back at Karyn. "That's an excellent idea, dear. In fact, I think I can arrange that even without this... this stone. Jonni will probably need a little help if she's not that used to ... well, being a leopard, plus you can help with, well, your kittens as well as hers." Anne looked pleased. "That could work out very well."
Karyn nodded and smiled, then looked over at my cage. "Sorry, Jonni -- this just seemed the best thing to do in the situation. We wouldn't want to be bad mothers, would we?"
I opened my jaws to snarl a reply, but found myself distracted by licking and grooming the kittens instead. I muzzily realized that if Karyn didn't want me to be a bad mother, I couldn't be one!
"Here, Karyn, let me show you around. You can help me feed Jonni and the other cats and we can see about getting you hired," Anne said. Karyn nodded quietly and followed Anne out.
