It was an unusually cold November evening in the great state of Georgia, the brisk cold air kissed the earth as her citizens made ready for the upcoming holiday season. Thanksgiving was only a few days away and preparations were being made to celebrate it. Not too far outside the city limits of Savannah, an old pickup truck drove down a country road, kicking up a trail of dust behind it. The man in the truck, Christopher Carter; was making his way back home after spending a long day helping build things for the local fluffy shelter. It has been almost a year since the attack on the Carter family homestead had occurred, and a lot had happened.
During the night of Chris’s “episode”, he called his breeder friend to escort him to a mental health facility where Chris had remained for nearly a full month. It was a dark and trying time for him, his treatment and recovery being a difficult process. After Chris was deemed no longer a danger to himself, he unfortunately was not out of the woods yet. The cities whispered of a disabled veteran whose home had been destroyed by a surprisingly robust herd of feral fluffies, a herd that decimated his own pet foals and proceeded to wage a psychological war on an already vulnerable person. Rumors became whispers and whispers into protests, until this tragedy became a national sensation. However, this further displeased a certain corporate giant, that was already reeling from the countless lawsuits and bad press.
Within five days of Chris’s release from the hospital, he was served with papers for a lawsuit from Hasbio. The lawsuit claimed what Chris’s testimonial on what happened were baseless lies, slander against their corporation and their products. Chris was being sued for nearly two million dollars and once again he felt like he had stumbled from one hell into another. Fortunately for Chris, a well to do lawyer came to his aid pro bono to help him out. Afterall, the story of a wounded warrior being bullied by a corporate giant was too good publicity to pass up on. When Chris finally made it to court, he realized that this whole scenario was going to be a very Difficult uphill battle.
Initially the trial seemed to be in the favor of corporate giant Hasbio, the maker of man’s true best friend, the fluffy. Almost immediately as the trial began, Hasbio’s legal team relentlessly assaulted Chris’s character, arguing that he was both malicious and not competent enough to give a proper testimonial for the court. They argued that the war had made Chris insane, and that he had an unquenchable lust for blood. Pushing the assault forward, they claimed that fluffies were incapable of such cruelty and that even if the story was true, that Chris should be charged with a count of felony animal abuse for every fluffy killed. A man with a history of such violence, only looks to cash out at the exploitation of poor defenseless creatures. Everything seemed to be going the way of Hasbio until two pieces of evidence were brought forward; a video recording of the incident and a surprise testimonial.
The jury watched in horror as the surveillance tapes from the Carter home saferoom were shown to the court. The saw everything from Chris caring for his precious foals, to the malicious violence of the feral herd that invaded. Hasbio had not realized that Chris cared so much about his four little angels, that he felt the need for a security camera to help bolster their safety. Then, Chris’s breeder friend Nick, was brought up for a surprise testimonial as he had given Chris his four foals. Unbeknownst to the Hasbio legal team and Chris himself, Nick had enrolled Chris into a trial program to study if fluffies could be a good alternative to service animals. Until his foal’s untimely demise, the data Chris had provided was sufficient enough for Hasbio R&D to apply more funding into this potential cash cow of a program. The legal team had focused so hard to tarnish Chris’s character, that they had failed to adequately research all avenues of the situation outside of protecting their public image. Eventually the jury had come to a verdict, and the case was entirely dismissed. Finally, Chris thought that his dealings with this whole situation were to be over, but unfortunately that would not be the case.
Almost immediately after the loss and fearing a potential counter suit, Hasbio decided to take Chris to arbitration and settled out of court on a substantial amount. Chris was awarded five million dollars, more than double what he was originally was being sued over. Hasbio also footed the bill to rebuild Chris’s home, offering to upgrade and modernize it to prevent a future incident. Also, in a show of good faith to the understandably displeased veteran customer base, created the “Carter Grant for Disabled Veterans” to receive a subsidized rate on their emerging Service fluffy market, using Nick’s breeding facility as their flagship breeding center for this program. It would take almost six months for Chris’s home to be repaired, so after putting his belongings into long term storage, Chris had decided to travel.
Chris spent four months trotting the globe, hitting many of the popular travel destinations as he made his way through the world. Kyoto, Reykjavik, Prague, Istanbul, Cape Town, Dubrovnik, Venice, Santorini, and Dubai; were some of the more famous places Chris traveled to in this time. He met all kinds of interesting people in these exotic locales, shipped many fun souvenirs back to his storage unit, and took many pictures of the beauty that surrounded him. However though, he still felt empty on the inside and knew that despite this newfound wealth; it was made from the suffering of the foals he missed so dearly. When Chris finally returned back home to Savannah, he moved into Nick’s spare bedroom for the time being while his own home was being finished up.
The fluffy breeding facility was at full expansion, with Nick struggling to keep up with the foals. Chris decided to volunteer his free time in helping Nick, out of courtesy for the food and board he was provided. Chris was very popular with the expecting mares, they found him to be a nice man who treated them with care. Chris also had a calming effect on the newborn chirpies and had the foresight to frequently identify foals who may have needed additional special care post birth. Mare survival was at an all-time high, and foal rejection at an all time low and by the time Chris’s home was finished, he has helped deliver nearly one thousand happy foals into this world. Nick was appreciative of the help, deciding to assist Chris in moving back into his rebuilt home.
Hasbio went out of their way to modernize Chris’s home, bringing the old depression era farmhouse, into the 21st century. The house was torn from its foundation and repaired with safer, stronger materials but retaining its old southern charm. The old hole from the outside, had been fixed, so an invasion was no longer something he needed to ever worry about from another feral herd. Chris noticed the layout had changed significantly to a more open concept, perhaps Hasbio believing that he would prefer to be more aware of what transpires in his own home. All the appliances had been replaced with new top of the line ones, and even some of Chris’s furniture had been replaced giving his house a show room vibe. Interestingly enough, Hasbio had decided to rebuild the Safe room Chris had made for his foals and stock it up with the latest in Hasbio merchandise. When Chris had saw it, memories flooded him of the short time he had with his foals. It was like staring through a window into the past, the ghosts of happier times discorporated from his field of view. It had taken a few days to full move in, but the months seemed to slip through his fingers like sand. Suddenly, a full year had passed before he could even realize what had happened.
Chris pulled up into the driveway and grabbed his mail from the mailbox in his yard. He flipped through the bills and ads, until he found a letter from his good friend Nick. The letter was an invitation to an upcoming thanksgiving dinner at Nick’s house for his employees. Upon further inspection, there was a small note at the bottom corner of the invitation. “Chris, we need to talk about something important when you come”. Chris wondered what Nick wanted to talk about, but he would be sure to find out on Thanksgiving.
