Send Lawyers, Guns and Money

Will A. Sanborn

4/28 - 4/29/97

"Well kiddo, it's morning and I see you're still waiting..." the rat policeman chuckled as he regarded the young coyote sitting unhappily on the bunk of the jail's holding cell.

The coyote's response was a silent glare, to which the rat laughed once again. "Heh, what was that you were saying last night when we were booking you? Something about how your dad would have you out of this before I could finish dinner... and now here it is almost the end of my shift and you're still here." His whiskers twitched in amusement as he finished his teasing remarks.

"Well at least you're enjoying yourself," the coyote snarled back, his ears pressed against his head. "This must be about the only thing that livens up your day, having this stupid job and all. Don't you have some real criminals to chase after?"

"Hey there, you're in no position to be insulting me, mister," the rat was quick to retaliate with. "You're just lucky we got to you before Weasel's boys did. We know you were running up a pretty big debt at the casinos and he would have been coming to collect from you pretty soon. If it wasn't for us breaking up that stupid fight, you would've been in for some serious hurting."

After matching the kid's cold stare, the cop chuckled and returned his attention back to the terminal screen he'd been watching, tapping his claws slightly on his desk. Stupid punk, a foreigner, and a rich kid at that; he'd seen that type before and they always annoyed him with their arrogance. No doubt daddy would be showing up shortly to bail his little darling out of jail and whisk him back away to the safety of home. That was until the next time he decided to go out wandering and cause trouble again... and with his kind, they always did.

After the policeman looked away from him, the coyote's gaze settled once again on the blank wall in front of him. His thoughts burned at the rat's lecturing. What did he know anyway, he was a stupid cop on this backwater colony whose legal system was such a joke. He knew as soon as his father transferred the correct funds to his account and he could pay the necessary fines, the whole matter would be dropped. They wouldn't even need the lawyers this time. The situation was just ridiculous, and he was just aggravated that it was taking so long to get him out of there.

The previous night things had been going fine. Well, there was that little problem of his gambling debts, but he hadn't worried about it; he knew he could get the money from home as soon as he needed it. The managers of the casino had started leaning on him a bit, but it wasn't anything he hadn't seen before. This little vacation had been fun. He'd been enjoying his time on this colony, away from home once again and burning through is allowance as fast as he could do it.

The laws were pretty lax here, so he'd been enjoying the pleasures of the casinos for several nights straight. Even though he wasn't legally an adult by federation standards, a simple slip of some credit chips to the bouncers had gotten him into the temples of sin, and he'd been living it up ever since. The women here were very nice too, especially since they were very impressed with his bankroll. Many a night he'd stumbled back to his hotel room with one or two of them on his arms, their tails entwining together in promise of the carnal delights they'd soon be enjoying.

His wonderful little party had been interrupted last night when he'd stopped off at a local bar. It was an out-of-the-way place, and not the best of taverns, but he'd felt like slumming that night. One of the locals had taken offense at some of his remarks at the place, and an argument had ensued. Never one to back down from such things, especially when going up against some working-class slob like that, he'd kept at it and things heated up pretty quickly.

The police came after a fashion, but not after he'd gotten into a fight with his opponent. Things hadn't been too bad, and nobody was really hurt. They'd managed to separate them after they'd tumbled around a bit, but there was still some damage done to the bar and the regular patrons were furious. They made sure to detain him until the cops came and took him away.

They'd let the other guy go after hearing from the witnesses, telling him to go home and sober up. They'd then dragged him down to the station and charged him with the damages to the bar. That was typical of the cops, always looking out for the locals, blaming it on him. Well if it wasn't for tourist's business like his, their sorry little colony wouldn't have much going for it would it? After all it was only a little speck on the charts, a brief stop-over for some fun and relaxation while on a trip to somewhere important.

Most-likely they would have let him go, after getting the money from him of course, but their check into his account had shown he was almost broke. They'd said they were holding him for his own good, to keep him out of harm's way from the casino boss' men, but he knew better. Stupid tin badges, all they were doing was looking after their own interests. He knew that they'd get a commission from his fine money, so they had every incentive to keep him there until his bills were paid.

He scowled again as he looked blankly at the walls and the bars of the holding cell. What the hell was taking his father so long with the transfer to his account? He'd had the jailer check on it several times this morning and still the money hadn't shown up. It wasn't like his father to be late like this. It wasn't as if it was the first time this had happened, quite the contrary in fact and he should know the routine by now. Damn it, how long did it take him to send him some money? The inconvenience was certainly aggravating to him. He'd already been forced to spend the night in the damn place and he wanted out.

The aggravation grew into worry as the hours crept by and the money hadn't shown up. By late morning he was getting more anxious and had tried to contact his father, both at home and at his businesses, but he was always greeted with a servant or secretary telling him his father was away and unable to be contacted. That really bothered him. Where could his dad be that they couldn't get a hold of him?

He'd wanted to talk to one of his father's accountants to get him to transfer the funds to his accounts, but the officer in charge had gotten tired of him using up the com lines and had cut him off. He could try later, but as the hours ticked on, he began to worry more.

Later on in the afternoon, he was pulled away from his nervous thoughts when he heard a familiar-sounding voice talking with one of the policemen out in the hallway. His ears perking up, he strained to hear the conversation, and after a few moments he was sure of it. All doubt vanished from his mind as the voice resolved itself into that of his father's and hearing it, his spirits lifted. His dad was here, he had come for him, and at that very moment he was working out the details of his release.

"... very well then, now that the money's taken care of, why don't we go and get him out..."

"Very well sir, and thank you for resolving this little matter."

As the youth watched the door, it opened to reveal his father, an older, distinguished coyote, and one of the jailers, this one a gray mouse. Seeing his dad, the younger coyote brightened visibly, his ears snapping to attention, his muzzle broadening to a smile as he jumped up to greet his savior.

"Dad, you came!" he shouted, all the worry flowing out of him at the prospect of his freedom.

"Yes, Josh, I came, and the money's all taken care of... once again." As he finished his response, the older canine's face darkened slightly, a fact to which his son remained oblivious to.

As they were talking the jailer opened the door to the holding cell letting the younger coyote free from his imprisonment. Walking out from behind the bars, the youth grinned, then questioned his father. "But why didn't you just transfer the money Dad? You didn't have to come all the way out here... I could've handled myself okay once you did the transfer..."

Sighing, his father paused before giving his reply. "And how long would it have been before you got into trouble again Josh? Don't you think you've done this enough?"

"But Dad, I was just having some fun, like you said I could... just seeing the galaxy a little..."

"When are you going to settle down and stop all of this Josh? I was hoping that you'd get it out of your system and you'd go back to school, but that hasn't worked so far."

"But why should I go and waste all that time studying Dad? I'm just going to take over the company from you someday. I can let the advisors help me out with it anyway..."

Sighing again, he looked at his son with resignation. "I know... we've had this talk before and you still don't want to do it... So you're certain you want to go flitting about and see more of the galaxy before settling down then?"

Seeing his son nod eagerly, awaiting his freedom to go gallivanting off on another adventure, the coyote's lips curled into a slight frown. "Very well then Josh, I'll let you do that..." Turning to the doorway he called out, "you can come in now Owen."

At his cue, an orange-and-white, tiger-striped feline made his way into the room and greeted the coyote with a nod. From the jumpsuit he wore he must've been one of spacers working for his father's shipping fleet.

"Josh, I'd like you to meet Captain Owen Thompson, he's an old business associate of mine and has been shipping cargo for me for some time now." The younger coyote had seen some of the laborers working for his dad before and they didn't really impress him. He paid little interest to the cat standing before them, idly wondering what he was doing here.

His father noticed his ambivalence and quickly continued, with a look of tired determination on his face. "You've been running down your allowances for quite some time now Josh, and you've been costing me a lot of money. I figured it was time for you to carry your own weight for a change. Since you didn't want to go to school or come work for me, you can have your exploration of space..."

He caught his son's reaction to what he was hinting at and came to the gist of his speech. "Captain Thompson has trade routes all over the galaxy and as a member of his crew you'll be able to see a lot of it. With the money it cost me to bail you out of this mess, I had to sign you up with a one-year contract aboard his ship; he's always telling me how he needs more able-bodied men. I trust him to take good care of you, it'll be hard work, but he'll keep you safe. Some work like this will be good for you, and maybe when it's all over you'll be ready to come home and settle down."

"But dad, you can't be serious…" the youth stammered out, his front of fearlessness crumbling once again, he was shivering slightly at the prospect of it.

"I've thought about this a good deal and this is the way it has to be. You did say you wanted to do more exploring... so here's your chance. Good-bye Josh, and I hope you'll learn from this…"

Finished with his decision and his farewell, the older coyote simply turned and exited from the room, leaving his nervous son there with the feline spacer and the mouse policeman. The jailer was making no attempts to hide his amusement, his teeth showing even more than usual as his muzzle broke out into a smirk. Even the cat showed some entertainment at the cruel punishment the youth's father had bestowed upon him.

With his own muzzle showing the smallest hints of a grin and a sparkle in his eyes, Captain Thomas turned to him and asked, "Well josh, are you ready to start your adventures?"

The coyote knew that the contract would be binding and without money from his father to buy him out of it, he was forced to follow the feline down the hall. Watching the cat's tail swishing slightly in idle amusement, he snarled to himself; he knew full well that he was only leaving this prison for one of a different kind.


Copyright 1997, Will A. Sanborn - was1@shore.net