FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

INTERVIEWING FRANK (A WALTER FOX STORY)

by Little Bill

(WARNING: The following story contains references to sexual activity between humans and sentient alien animals. Please do not read this if you are a minor or are offended by such material. But if neither is the case, enjoy.)

(AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story follows the stories "The Furry Sex Scandal", "The Furry Sex Scandal: The Aftermath", "Good Will Sailing", “Jack", and “The Adulterer".)

If you have read my previous accounts, then you know all about the unfortunate business which nearly ruined my career at the Planet Earth Research Center and caused a colleague of mine not merely to leave his employer but also his whole world and people to be with a Earthian he had bonded to. I have since interviewed and informally visited both Sammy Skunk (the colleague who was formerly head of PERC's mathematics department) and his partner Jim, whose family name I of course will not divulge.

With my career still intact, the Earth authorities over us and PERC have made an agreement where I would interview all the participants in the aforementioned unfortunate business, and they were all expected to talk to me. I do not know if the Earth authorities had legal compulsion to make them talk to me if they refused, but so far nobody has refused. This procedure was meant to take place months ago, but the assault on Jim and Sammy Skunk and their recovery from it afterward of course interrupted things for a while.

I did interview Jim and Sammy Skunk before this assault, and when it did happen everyone at PERC was confined to PERC base until Jim was healed, except for me who was sequestered in a secret place at the hospital where Jim had had his brain surgery while Sammy Skunk had been imprisoned at a police station until Jim had had his surgeries and had largely been recovered. It was all the decisions of the Earth authorities to do this; once Jim was released from the hospital I was returned to PERC and my colleagues were then allowed to resume their normal researches.

I had already interviewed one of Jim's friends named Jack, the one who claimed to have felt Sammy Skunk's genitals unintentionally and caused Sammy to want to have sex with Jim and his friends. Sadly, Jack would be expelled from Jim's group because he himself had fallen in love with Sammy Skunk and could not be satisfied as a casual sex partner. I did feel sorry for him, as did Jim and Sammy, but that is how things were and nothing could be done about it.

Now it was my turn to interview Frank, whom I saw once before since the furry convention but not on an interview basis. He had been a friend of Jim's, but was not homosexual and did not participate in Jim's sex parties. When I had “lost" Sammy Skunk and was desperately searching for him, I happened to meet him and he had found out that Sammy had left the convention with Jim. We left as well to go to Jim's then apartment which was not far from the convention, but got there too late. Sammy Skunk had had sex with Jim and all his friends and even emotionally bonded to Jim.

As might be expected, we animal-people were definitely not supposed to have sex with any Earthians, in large part out of fear of spreading alien diseases. This was enough for me and my PERC colleagues; though I could like humans, they were simply a little too different for me to want to have sex with them. That was what made Sammy Skunk's having sex with humans all the more shocking, dear reader. It was his first time among humans, and at the furry convention he was hero-worshiped by the convention goers, and it clearly went to his head. He was not supposed to have left the convention by the front door, but he went with Jim and his friends to Jim's apartment. Jim claimed his original intention was not to engage in any sexual activities with Sammy, just to have bragging rights about having a real animal-person come to visit him. Even that was against the Earth authorities' rules, as we animal-people had our movements highly restricted at the time, but the consequences would have been far less dire.

The dire result that did happen was that Sammy Skunk, Jim and his friends, Frank, and I were taken by Earth authorities to be given a torturous physical examination, even though Frank and I had done nothing sexual, but the Earth authorities panicked and feared we might have given some humans a sexually-transmitted disease which might spread to other humans, despise the fact that all of us animal-people were carefully examined for any possible infections. No disease ended up passing either way, but what shocked the Earth authorities far more than the actual sex was that a member of a handpicked scientific team of space aliens could possibly have gotten drunk with being a celebrity and end up being sexually exploited the way he was, but that is exactly what happened. Though Jim and Sammy Skunk might have a loving relationship, I did remind Jim that he would never be popular among other animal-people for the way he had taken advantage of Sammy Skunk when he should have not done so.

As for Sammy himself, he would have been sent back to our world in disgrace, but he begged to Earth authorities to let him stay on Earth and be with Jim, and the Earth authorities agreed, with Jim being technically his “sponsor", and they have since shared a household. Obviously neither he nor any other animal-person could possibly blend in among human society, but presumably his bond to Jim was so strong as to make it worthwhile.

As might be expected, there were humans who were not happy about any space alien animal-person coming to live permanently on Earth, and Jim and Sammy got threats, but they figured they would die down and people would stop objecting over the long term. Unfortunately a group of thugs did come and attack Jim and Sammy, one of which hit Jim on the head and caused him serious injury. The enraged Sammy Skunk literally tore the thug nearly to shreds, and after a long medical and legal story which I described in my previous account, both Jim and the thug survived, though neither would wind up quite the same afterwards. As might be expected, the thug got it worse, and I have not seen him yet, but I am certainly he looks less pretty than before Sammy had attacked him.

This ironically turned out to be a boon to us at PERC, as humans were touched than an animal-person would so fiercely attack someone who had harmed the human he was emotionally attached to. Humans had largely been suspicious of us, but they became more welcoming. The Earth authorities had requisitioned us to live and work on an old disused military base, but after that they gave us some improvements to our facility, and best of all replaced our old jalopy motor vehicles with new ones. Even our irascible Director had to admit that having Sammy Skunk become an Earth resident ended up making things better for us.

I got very lucky as well. Our Director did not like me, though I am sure he had no friends at PERC other than his wife, but he neither fired me nor even demoted me despite everything, including my insulting him in print. However, for the latter offense he did have me publicly lick the sole of his sandal in apology-a strong gesture for us animal-people, but I did feel ashamed of myself for having done so, especially after he punished me so lightly. Not because he was generous, but I was the member of PERC most experienced in going out among Earthians and he felt it better to spare me this one time. I did lose some status among my PERC colleagues, but as supervisor of the sociological department, I and my assistants had to go out frequently among humans, a job not desired by anyone else at PERC. No surprise considering some of the people I had to meet.

A word about Billy Otter; he came from our world and was added to PERC a year after the original team of myself, Timothy Squirrel, and Freddy Lynx did. He did originally have the habit of sleeping in late when he was supposed to be up; I solved that problem by humiliating him in front of his colleagues, but when his colleagues taunted him afterwards I made them stop. It was important for them to know that I was the boss and called the shots. Billy Otter of course was cured of this habit.

Also of note is the fact that many of Sammy Skunk's former PERC colleagues regard him with scorn, though not all. Billy Otter, who arrived on Earth after Sammy Skunk had become an Earth citizen but before the just described violent attack on Jim, was not scornful of Sammy at all. Sammy Skunk was never popular among his PERC colleagues, and was seriously disappointed when he went through all the trouble to get to visit an alien world only to be confined to PERC base as head of the mathematical department. I felt pity for Sammy and decided to make him feel better by having him attend a furry convention with me. Needless to say, that was the worst possible thing I could have done.

I had the training to deal with the type of people there, but Sammy did not. In fact, the original idea of PERC was that only certain people like me would need be trained to deal with everyday humans, though everyone who went to Earth was expected to know at least partially the English language. Of course the incident with Sammy Skunk only proved that it was necessary for each and every PERC member to know how to deal with humans, so we had to add that to our agenda. The attack on Jim ironically helped us at PERC in another way. While I was confined to the hospital and everyone else was confined to PERC base, the Director and my assistants were able to conduct a crash course for everybody else at PERC to learn how to deal with Earthians and their society, there being little else anybody could do at the time anyway. It was not until Jim was able to be discharged from the hospital and I was returned to PERC base that things could be brought back to normal. Sammy Skunk was of course out of PERC and our community, but one of his former assistants simply took his place and we got new staff to add to our operation, as well as replace others who had to leave. Yes, back on our world we had a reserve pool of people for this purpose.

So what is the story with Frank, you may ask? I admit I have formed my own emotional bond with him, though of course not so strong that I would want to stay on my home world forever to be with him. By why bond so strongly with somebody I barely knew? Because he was the one who was my aid when I was in such dire straits at the furry convention, with no idea where Sammy Skunk had gone, and I had to find him wherever he was. Sammy had violated the rules by leaving the convention, and I never would have known where he was until I met Frank and he told me. He even drove me to Jim's apartment. I cannot describe how terrified I was at the time, and what a relief it was when I had found Frank and he solved my problem.

With my emotional bond with Frank, as I shall describe further later on, I decided I just could not do a proper formal interview by myself. That is why I brought the comparatively inexperienced Billy Otter with me, who had never done a one on one interview with an Earthian. I knew Billy had to get into practice sooner or later, so I picked him to come with me for this. Billy knew of course how I felt about Frank, and he seemed a bit nervous that he might ask something of Frank that might displease me. I assured him that if he made any mistake I would correct him, and I would not be angry if he did a reasonably good job.

We arrived at Frank's residence, and he was surprised to see Billy Otter with me, but I explained to him about the fact that I was training Billy. It was not until we were all inside and the front door closed that I went and shook hands with Frank, restraining myself from hugging him and licking him as I would have done if this were not a formal interview session. He then shook hands with Billy, and he offered us water to drink, presumably unsure what else either of us could safely consume. He also brought us a bowl of grapes which we both ate some of, before Billy Otter set up the recording equipment.

We went through the formal consent motions before Billy turned on the recording equipment. I had of course gone through a mock interview process so Billy would know what to ask when.

The first part went smoothly, and in fact despite my emotional bond to Frank I actually did not know much about his background before then. He did not go into every detail about his life, other than to mention his job and how he joined the furry community years ago, basically as when real animal-people came to this world it was the in thing to do. Not that Frank was a fad follower as such; it was like joining a social club, and there he met Jim. They only became casual friends, and Frank did find out about Jim's habit of having orgies with other gay furry friends, and Jim even offered Frank a slot in the group, but Frank declined, not being homosexual, let alone someone who wanted to participate in sexual activities with a group of strangers. Frank had a girlfriend who was also into furry for the same reasons, though they would eventually break up. In fact, I learned a number of details about Frank's background I never knew about. Not that they had any effect on my opinion of him, dear reader. No, Frank did not have any special background or great education.

As I was expecting, of course, the time when he and I first met was when things got difficult. He still had the fox ears and tail he had worn when I first met him, but they were in storage somewhere, and rather than dig them out, he did find the storage card of the pictures he had taken at that very convention. He said he had an extra copy and gave it to me, and I plugged it into my portable phone and there was the picture he took with me, just before I had asked him if he knew about what happened to Sammy Skunk at the convention. Not that I specifically thought he knew, but I had lost trace of Sammy Skunk and was agitated at the time and was asking random people. He did in fact know about Jim taking Sammy Skunk with him and the friends who were with him at the furry convention, and he had not known that Sammy was not supposed to leave the convention until I told him.

“You knew about that but didn't say anything?" asked Billy.

“I had no way of knowing that Sammy Skunk wasn't allowed to leave the convention through the front door," replied Frank.

“We weren't allowed to move freely among humans at the time like we can now," I broke in, “The Earth authorities were still afraid of us when we first came to Earth. We literally had to have permission to go anywhere, and humans weren't so comfortable with us animal-people then." I then explained to Frank that Billy Otter had not come to Earth until a year after I did.

“I didn't know that at the time," admitted Frank, “but I realize why they felt that way."

“The front door security guard didn't even pay attention," I said, with a feeling of displeasure at the memory and how he could have stopped the whole sorry situation.

“Look, I was only an acquaintance of Jim's," Frank replied defensively. “I had no idea what he was going to do with Sammy Skunk, or I would have certainly gone to his apartment myself, even before I ever met you!"

I smiled ruefully. “I have had my own experiences where I thought I knew someone, and I turned out to be wrong about that!"

“Me too," broke in Billy, “and I used to be a policeman!"

“If I get the right idea," said Frank, “Sammy Skunk was taken to an unfamiliar place, got high on being a celebrity, and was in a position to be taken completely advantage of!"

“Yes, and he was part of a handpicked scientific team to travel to another world!" I replied. “The Earth authorities couldn't believe it at first when I told them Sammy Skunk was actually in a moment of psychological weakness with people who he thought were his friends, and let himself be sexually exploited! They had assumed Sammy Skunk was deliberately seeding people to spread a disease, and it took time before they realized the truth. Unfortunately, Sammy had formed an emotional bond to Jim and wanted to stay with him no matter what. The Earth authorities agreed, to our surprise. But we did sign an agreement that if any animal person wanted to come live on Earth and they allowed that person to do so, we couldn't say no." I paused and added, “When I say that we space aliens had no rights and we could be vivisected alive if you Earthians so chose, I was not kidding!"

Frank leaned over to me and put his hands of me briefly. “No wonder you were so upset!" Then he pulled back and added, “I suppose the Earth authorities did Sammy Skunk a tremendous favor."

“Admittedly it was not entirely out of kindness I'm sure," I replied. “It was their golden opportunity to find out how a space alien would react over the long term to living on Earth. If they didn't make Sammy Skunk an Earth citizen, he would have been sent back to his world in disgrace. He probably would have been a pariah back on his own world, and he probably would have pined for Jim for the rest of his life. At least Jim had the decency to take in Sammy Skunk and keep him, even if he got violently attacked for it!"

“I'll credit Jim for that," said Frank. “But all the same I prefer not to see him again."

“I understand," I replied. “And I am so glad you changed your mind about not wanting to see me again."

“Well, when you..." Frank broke off when he remembered he was not alone with me and he was being recorded.

“Yes, I groveled abjectly and cried loudly and crawled before you," I confessed. “And I'm not ashamed that I did this, since I won you back even though you had every reason not to be my friend."

“I didn't expect you to react that way!" Frank replied defensively, and I realized how bad I made him sound and felt embarrassed. I looked at Billy Otter and noted how discomfited he looked. Then Frank relaxed and added, “Then you told me how lonely you really were, and how you so much wanted a real friend, even a mope like me."

“You're not a mope!" It was my turn to be defensive.

“Well, in the sense that I am nobody special, not somebody with wealth or fame or great knowledge. I came to you when you were in dire straits, and that is why you bonded to me."

“That is true." I smiled and said, “And you were little more than a stranger and I knew nothing else about you."

“And yet Sammy Skunk..." Frank began.

“Bonded to someone who exploited him sexually," I finished. “I don't like this, and none of my PERC colleagues do either. Our world is not the gay paradise that human furries like to think it is, but even if it were, this isn't a story of romance. This is a story of an animal-person in a state of emotional vulnerability and a human who used him for his sexual fantasies!"

“Sammy Skunk must know this, and yet he stays with Jim!" It was Billy Otter who spoke.

“Sammy wasn't forced to be with Jim," I replied. “There were plenty of other humans who would have taken him into their care, and they wouldn't have used him for sex. But it was with Jim he bonded with. Why? It turned out Sammy Skunk grew up in a wealthy household but had an unhappy childhood. He tells me he really is homosexual and never knew he was until he met Jim, and he indicates his home life with Jim is quite happy."

“He really enjoys having sex with Jim's friends?" Frank asked.

“He did it when they first met, remember? In any case, they have sex with other people once a month at most. It's something they just enjoy doing. Besides, as Sammy pointed out, it would have been too much to ask of Jim to abandon all his friends for him. Although a couple of people did get kicked out of the group since Sammy arrived."

“What for?" asked Frank. “Sorry, that's none of my business."

“The Earth authorities already know, so I think I can tell you." Frank said nothing, so I went on, “One person had a wife and family whom he cheated on, and Jim didn't know this beforehand. As you might expect, Jim didn't like this fact, and he was kicked out of the group."

“That was terrible."

“Another person fell in love with Sammy Skunk as well. I mean actually fell in love, not just wanted him as a sex partner. Everyone was unhappy, but they were forced to have him leave as well. I actually felt sorry for him. So did Jim and Sammy, and I even passed notes between them to make things better, even though it was not my job."

“That was good of you."

“I created the situation, however indirectly. For the sake of decency I had to do that."

“I understand."

"And for the sake of decency at least you agreed to be my friend even though I only caused you trouble. But you came to my rescue at a time I was really terrified, which is why I bonded to you as I did."

Frank paused before he responded. “It did come as a tremendous shock when you got so emotional. Then I realized how stressful it must have been to be on an alien world where you really couldn't be sure what could happen to you. I mean, when you think about it, if you have trouble, what can I do? Of course you seemed to want just to be cuddled and have someone to lick because you couldn't get any of that from your own people."

“We at PERC simply cannot get too intimate with any of our colleagues. There have been cases of people at PERC having sexual affairs, which is technically legal but discouraged. No surprise when these affairs inevitably come to grief and the people involved get sent back home in disgrace. No, I'm not much interested in sex anymore, now that I have gotten older. But I never realized how much I wanted physical intimacy which I lack. I can only cuddle with my assistants when I travel with them, and even then we simply cannot get too close."

“You must have seen how animals in pet shops and zoos might cuddle with each other," broke in Billy. “At PERC Walter gets his own bedroom while I and the others in our department share one bed. No, we don't have sex or anything."

“I confess one other thing," I said. “You're not the only human I have bonded with."

Frank looked surprised, then said, “What, are you afraid I'm going to be jealous?"

“I hope you're not."

“No, why should I be? It's not as you're my spouse or anything. We see each other once in a while, we talk, but it's not as if we're intimates. May I ask who it was?"

“Probably you don't know him, but..." And I told the story about my handler who came to visit me at the hospital where I was hidden when Jim was receiving brain surgery. I have of course told the full story in my previous account.

“I certainly don't see why you shouldn't bond with him," said Frank at the end. “He was with you when you weren't sure what was going to happen to you. He brought you food, he made sure you were properly taken care of at the hospital..."

“And when he first came to me at the hospital and genuinely expressed remorse over how I was treated at the lab, he wasn't sure how I would react, my being a space alien who for all I knew would have scorned him for it."

“And nobody ever came to apologize to me," replied Frank. “No matter, whoever he is, I admire him as well."

“My bond with you is as strong as ever," I reminded him.

“Well, I'm glad of that," said Frank. “But I'm basically a nobody, and if you want someone to talk to and if you want me to pet you and if you want to lick me, that's fine with me. But I'm not someone who can do much else for you."

“I'm not asking you for favors." I replied. “My handler did things for me, but that was his job, to be with me at the hospital. He was supposed to report on me, see how I would react over time...he petted me, but he thought it was yucky when I licked his face."

“I don't think you lick your naughty bits," Frank joked.

“Of course I don't. I guess he just doesn't like the sensation. But it's not as if he is some sort of high-placed functionary who can get me what I or PERC wants. It was his bosses who decided to billet me in some forgotten office at the hospital."

“Why there?" asked Billy.

“Why not?" I answered. “The same hospital where Jim was kept, a place where I could be kept close but out of sight where nobody untrustworthy would likely think to look for me, where I wouldn't need to go outside for any reason, basically a safe house that nobody would have to rent or pay utilities for, just bringing me food and water. I'm sure the Earth authorities did recompense the hospital for having me stay there, since it was an imposition."

“You were in an office?" Frank asked.

“Not a big one, either. About the size of this living room, only smaller," I indicated by gesturing with my arm, “with a desk and some chairs and a video screen, and a small mattress on the floor to sleep on. And they took me to random rooms in the hospital where I would bathe every several days."

“Not too comfortable I assume," replied Frank.

“Not a comfortable time, either. I did worry about how you humans were going to think of us after Sammy nearly tore apart that thug. I was wondering if you humans were going to think of us as vicious monsters and be scared of us animal-people. Thinking back on it, I realized nobody seemed to be scared of me, but I was still worried. I was relieved when you Earthians eventually came down on Sammy Skunk's side and thought he was a loyal pet protecting the human he loved. Also, I was really anxious that Jim would recover, if for no other reason than I couldn't bear the thought of how Sammy Skunk would suffer if he didn't. You were shocked when I was upset over the idea of your rejecting me as a friend. The thought of how Sammy Skunk would have reacted to the death of the human he left his own world to be with is something I dare not imagine."

“You animal-people do bond like that to each other as well?"

“Oh, absolutely. We can even bond to people who take advantage of us. You have romance and mystery novels of all sorts on Earth. We also have stories of animal-people bonding to each other, for good and ill."

“Before you met me..." asked Frank.

“Yes, I did form emotional bonds to other animal-people. There were the normal family emotional bonds to my mother and father and twin brother. My parents died and my brother and I drifted apart. And when I joined the military on my world, there were the inevitable emotional bonds with other people in my unit, which I happen to be aware that humans also form. I did go into combat, and when my enlistment was up I decided not to reenlist, in part because my old unit got wiped out and I didn't want to go through with it all over again."

“I discovered my talent for learning other languages in school, and it was useful in the military, but I didn't want to stay there. There were jobs for translators in civilian life, and I did well enough in that. By then it was known to our world about the existence of this one, and when I learned that the National Space Agency needed translators I took a position. At first I was given the job of learning English from people who had visited this world previously. Then there was the decision to send a number of us to Earth to go out among human society in general, not just meet with selected people in the government.

“I volunteered, taken by the idea of really visiting an alien world. No, I never expected it to be some wonderful Utopia, just different from ours, and I was right. Also, I had no family I was close with, so I didn't worry about being missed. Also, if I were to come back, find a good wife for a change and have children, imagine what stories I could tell them!"

I stopped, suddenly embarrassed, and told Frank, “Oh, dear. I'm supposed to be interviewing you and I'm talking about myself."

“Well, I wouldn't want you to get into trouble," replied Frank. “But I'm happy to learn about your background. After all, you bonded to me so strongly even when I was literally a stranger to you and I didn't know you either. I may not be a part of the furry community anymore, but you're a space alien animal-person, not a furry like a cartoon character."

“I'm glad you recognize that."

“Yes, I know. I did read your account and realize how many goofballs you met, and hopefully you consider me more normal."

“Yes, of course. You certainly never tried to exploit me as many of them would have done."

Frank looked uncomfortable before he spoke again. “Well, since we agreed to be friends, you and I never met again until now. All we did was send each other a few emails and make a few phone calls. And we didn't say anything too personal because I assumed everything I would say to you would be looked at by other people."

“Yes, that is so," I admitted. “Why shouldn't they be? It's part of our agreement with the Earth authorities. They're more relaxed with us than they used to be, but that doesn't mean they trust us completely. When I was taken to the hospital to stay when Jim was attacked by the thug, they didn't take away my portable phone. But I only used it once to tell our Director about my being kept in the hospital. Until I finally was able to see Sammy Skunk, the only communication I had was from the broadcast news on the office video screen and my handler and the hospital staff who met with me."

“I would have gone crazy with boredom," said Frank. “But you are a highly trained person, I understand."

“They don't just send anybody to an alien world, especially one we only partly understood."

“That's why I was so shocked when you acted like you did when I first said that I didn't want to be your friend," replied Frank. “I thought you had some sort of nervous breakdown."

“No, I really was that desperate for you to like me. Maybe I looked ridiculous, but..."

“Even then, I realized you weren't just anybody, that's why I was so shocked. I did try to help you by trying to rescue Sammy Skunk from being taken advantage of, but...we were too late."

“I know," I replied sullenly. “But if I hadn't found you, I might have never figured out where Sammy Skunk had gone, or what he would have done if I hadn't gone to Jim's apartment. Unfortunately, you also suffered harshly for having been with me."

“Which is why I originally wanted nothing to do with you anymore," admitted Frank. “But you were so upset at my doing so, I couldn't have turned you away without feeling like an absolute heel. I didn't understand the idea of your emotionally bonding with me at first, but I realized it's how you are. I'm out of the furry community, but that has nothing to do with you, I understand. You probably don't like them yourself."

“I do have people I like in the furry community," I replied. “They're not all weird drama queens obsessed with fetishism and sex. I can even be friends with some of those. Certainly they're better people than some of the real lowlifes I had to deal with."

“Even so," said Frank, “I decided I didn't want to be part of the furry community anymore anyway. Not just because of what I went through, being taken to the laboratory and all that, but my only reason for even joining it was to have something to belong to, and I decided it wasn't really something I wanted to be part of. I made no real friends through them anyway, and there are other groups I can join."

I decided not to ask whatever groups he did join, since we did not really need to know every detail of his life, just how it related to us animal-people. Other than this interview and the phone calls and emails I mentioned earlier, Frank had nothing really to do with us. So Billy Otter and I formally concluded our interview and shut down and packed up our equipment. Frank stood up, and Billy went over to him and shook his hand goodbye, and then I went to shake Frank's hand goodbye...

Unfortunately I forgot myself and went up to Frank, hugged him tightly, and started licking his face...and then I felt my arms grabbed and pulled from around Frank, then pulled back from him so that I nearly stumbled and fell over. I turned and looked and saw Billy's face glaring at me. I drooped in sudden deep embarrassment.

Frank quickly said, “It's all right, Walter has done this before with me and I'm fine by it!"

“He's not supposed to act this way during a formal interview session!" Billy shot back, and I added that he was right. I grabbed one transit case and quickly headed out the front door, not daring to say or do anything else. I went to our car, unlocked it, and threw my case inside. Before I could act further, Billy Otter came out with his transit case, opened the unlocked rear door, and threw in his transit case. He took the car key from my hand and went to the driver's side and got in while I went to the passenger's side and got in. Wordlessly he started the car and left the parking space, heading onto the road.

“Stop cringing like that and sit up straight," Billy said, and I did. “You sure did the smart thing in inviting me along!"

“I didn't expect to have done this, I..."

“Yes, I remember how you humiliated me when I had the bad habit of sleeping in late, and I deserved it."

“So now it's you turn."

“To humiliate you? No, I think you learned your lesson."

The incident just mentioned involved my substituting a similar female outfit for his regular clothes he was going to wear that day when he and the others were asleep, and when he did not dress and show up for a morning meeting like the others did, I called out to Billy to get dressed and quickly join us, and he did-unintentionally putting on the women's outfit that I had substituted, and the others laughed at him. However, without my permission, later that evening my assistants went further and borrowed the karaoke machine and sang the Aerosmith song “Dude (Looks Like A Lady)" to Billy, and I went in and made them stop, telling them I was the one who handled the punishments. Fortunately, they realized it was the end of the matter and Billy never slept in again, and the incident, as far as I knew, never got known at PERC outside our department, except the female colleague whose outfit I had borrowed, and she was also a supervisor and sympathized with the idea of handling a disciplinary problem.

I admit I had wondered if Billy held a grudge against me for this, even after admitting he was in the wrong for what he had done. But when we got back to our quarters, Billy did not mention how I acted toward Frank at the end of the interview, and it was turned in and processed like anything else. Later in the evening I did send a message to Frank explaining how my behavior was wrong during that time, and he responded that he understood and hoped we could meet again on a less formal basis. It was all I could do not to run around PERC base in joy.