Chapter 5

Where is the point at which a child truly becomes an adult? Is it a specific age, or maybe a specific way of thinking? Is there some event that can trigger this change? How does one know when they have stepped over the border between childhood and adulthood? Can someone go through life without ever having made this change?

**************************************************************

The door opens and I see a golden brown feline foot appear just below the bill of the hat. A female voice asks, "Who is it?"

"I have a flower delivery for a young lady that lives at this address." I say, remembering that I am supposed to be playing the delivery guy.

"I guess that would be me," She says giggling. "Who's it from?" She asks. It seems that she was not expecting anything today.

My grin begins to widen, but I catch myself before saying, "Not sure. He wouldn't give his name. He just gave us the address and paid with cash." Continuing this act is a great deal harder than I thought it would be.

"I think he did sign the card though, but no one at the shop could read it. It looked like he wrote his name in another language." I continue, giving her the only hint that she would need. It's getting difficult to contain my excitement.

Watching the ribbons from the box fall to the ground, I can no longer control the smile on my face. At least I am keeping the hat down.

She opens the card and reads aloud, "A new world awaits, The night is your plaything now, Your tiger journeys."

"I know who it's from, Domon." She ends the sentence with a slightly accusatory tone.

I take off the hat and let my hair fall down. For the first time I get to meet her gaze. I now see that she is a mountain lioness. "Caught me." I say with a smile.

After a moment of being caught in her gaze, I ask, "What gave me away?"

"I'll answer that in a bit, it appears that the raccoon wants your attention." She replies and points toward the van. I can see the raccoon motioning for me to hurry up.

"I'll be right back... My bags are in the back of the van." I say just before I take a running jump. It is only when I am twenty feet in the air that I notice yet another change that has taken place.

The landing feels as natural as the jump. The look on the raccoon's face is a mix of surprise and shock. "Relax, I didn't know I could do that either." I say, trying to snap him out of his current state. "I'm going to go ahead and get out of this jumpsuit, you can head on back without me when I'm done." I tell the raccoon just before I climb into the back of the van.

Getting out of the jumpsuit is much easier than putting it on, especially with my tail. I hang the outfit on a hook in the van and step out holding my bags. "Thanks for the help." I say to the raccoon.

"Don't mention it, you were a big help today. I've gotten over your leaping... I guess it was to be expected. You are a tiger after all." He chuckles as he puts the van into gear and drives off. I have a feeling that he is going to be telling the rabbit at the flower shop about this.

As I turn around to head back to the doorway, I see that the lioness has already come to the street. "Come on inside, it's warmer in there." She says as she starts to lead me to the door. The roses still in her other arm.

I can feel her hand shaking from the cold. I had not noticed how cold it was. Seeing her shiver makes me feel bad about choosing such a cold day to visit.

Stepping inside, I can feel the temperature difference. I don't know how I was able to handle it being so cold for as long as I did.

The silence in the entryway feels awkward, but I don't want to break it. After all these years, I am still so shy around women that I cannot ever seem to start a conversation. The fact that I cannot seem to take my eyes away from her is not helping matters much.

Digging deep, I reach for anything to break the silence. "It seems that you finally have that tail that you wanted."

She starts giggling and twitching her tail with more enthusiasm, but doesn't answer.

"So, how did you know it was me delivering the roses?" I ask, still trying to engage some type of conversation.

"Oh, that was simple enough. Most delivery men just get a signature and vanish. They usually don't stick around while the box is being opened." She answers with a sly tone to her voice. "Not to mention that you were distinctly avoiding eye contact, and your tail was twitching like crazy."

"And you used to call me a detective. My acting still needs work it seems."

"It wasn't that bad, you probably would have fooled me if you had your hat bill a little higher and your tail wasn't going crazy." she says with a giggle. "Oh yeah, It's my turn to ask you something. How did you get here so quickly? We just spoke on the phone yesterday."

"Really, fortune just happened to fall in my favor. The building superintendent was home and willing to look in on my cat. The bus station was running, and they even have a stop in this town. It was almost too easy. Except I haven't slept since yesterday."

"You must be almost dead on your feet."

"Now that you mention it, I guess I am tired." I admit. "Where is the nearest hotel?"

"Don't worry about it, you can just crash here." She says while leading me to the couch. Then she asks, "How many days are you going to be here?"

"I have the whole week off, but I will be leaving on Saturday evening." I answer feeling more drowsy by the second. Without warning I just fall over and go to sleep for the first time since the transformation.