An Anthro's Tale

Great Eight Festival

I didn't even know where to start in this mess. There were cars, superbikes, food trucks, the stuff was just everywhere. There were fireworks going off in the sky and there was a band giving a concert. I was totally and completely disoriented. After some thought, I developed a hit list. First I'd see the cars, then the bikes, after which I'd check out the food trucks and then go see the concert if it was still going on.

With no further delays I started walking. The cars were underneath a huge, over crowded tent that resembled what you might see in a circus. The car I was checking out was a blazing matte yellow Bugatti Veyron Super Sport with an after market wing, rims and a custom interior. The car was sitting on sticky race treads and the drivetrain had been switched from all wheel drive to rear wheel drive. The paper on the window said the car's top speed was around 234 miles an hour.

“Hey Seth”, Tess said walking up behind me, “what you looking at?”

“Veyron SS”, I replied, “the guy cut the front driveline out.”

Tess just looked at me.

“The engine only drives the rear wheels”, I said slowly and clearly.

Tess punched my shoulder, “I'm not a car freak, but I do understand basic English.”

I smiled, I would have said something else when she grabbed me by my shirt collar and dragged me over to a '67 Chevy Impala. The car was a bright red with white and blue stripes on the hood. The head and taillights were aftermarket and the car's chrome bumper had been replaced with one that looked like it was custom built for that car. The interior was all new. It was sporting modern day gauges and readouts, a CD player and a pair of Momo seats and a steering wheel. The interior was done in tan with blue as a secondary color and the back bumper was redone as well. The badge on the bumpers and sides read “F60 America” there was a “Cummins” sticker on the windshield. Under the hood was a Cummins straight 4 with a Precision Turbocharger. Everything about this car was American. The car was sitting on American Racing rims and the paper on the door read.

“2015 Chevy F60 America, a diesel powered tribute to the greatest nation on Earth, production is set to begin February 2015, only 400 will be produced. The car will feature a 7 speed Ricardo Manual rear wheel drive transmission and the engine will be tuned for 650 horsepower and 650 pounds of torque with a projected top speed of nearly 230 miles an hour and a price of only seventy five thousand dollars.”

“I love it!”, Tess said pretty much hugging it, “oh I want one so bad!”

“You just might get it too”, I said, “depending on how we do during the events over the next few days, you might win enough to buy one.”

Tess laughed, “Believe me, I'll own one someday.”

Tess and I turned around to find three people standing there as if they'd been watching us. One was a man who looked real rough and was dressed in Army clothes and the other was a small lady with blonde hair and green eyes. The third man looked like a doctor.

Tess snuffed, “what do you two want?”

“Honey”, the woman said, “we found someone who can help you.”

“Psshh”, Tess snuffed again, “go away, I don't want anything to do with you.”

“Tess?”, I asked, “you know these people.”

“I wish I didn't”, Tess said, “little brother...these are my parents.”

I looked at them with the same surprise that they gave me.

“Did your family adopt her?”, Tess's Dad asked.

“Yeah they did”, Tess snapped, “what of it?”

“We found someone who can cure you”, Tess's Dad said,

“Cure me of what?”, Tess demanded.

“Your...condition”, the third man said, “your parents gave me pictures and I believe I can repair the damage that was done to you.”

“What damage?!?!”, Tess barked, “you think I'm sick or something? I'm not! This is who I am! DEAL WITH IT!”

“Tess”, her Dad said.

“What?”, Tess barked.

“Come home, please.”

“Don't think so!”, she shouted, “if you really wanted me at home, you wouldn't have thrown me out and you wouldn't think that this is a disease! It's not! It makes me who I am and if you can't accept me for what I am, which is a Anthro, then I will NOT call you my parents and you have no right to call me your daughter! I've finally found others like me and I won't give it up for the likes of you. Come on Seth, let's get out of here.”

I glanced at them again and followed my sister out. On the way to the superbike tent, Tess sighed.

“Well shit”, she huffed, “I probably just ruined this for you.”

“You kidding?”, I asked, “that was a once in a lifetime. I've never seen anyone defend something that hard.”

Tess's frown turned into a smile as she hugged me tightly, “you could learn a thing or two from me little guy.”

I laughed, “and you could learn four or FIVE from me.”

She laughed, “buy me an F60.”

“In your dreams”, I laughed back.

We walked into the tent that housed the superbikes. Right off the bat I was drawn to a desert camo patterned Kawasaki Ninja that was stripped to the bare minimum and still being able to run. The tires were bigger tan normal and it was sporting an interesting transmission with eight gears. Tess was checking out a red and white Boss with a V8 from a Ford GT that was chain framed and chrome platted. A cool thing was that the back wheel was just one big O, no spokes in the rim or anything.

After hitting the concert for a while Tess and I went to the group of food trucks. There was a McDonald’s one, a Burger King one and a Pizza Hut one. Tess and I hit the McDonald's and the Burger King. We got a large sausage pizza with stuffed crust, two boxes of 20 piece nuggets and large McDonald’s fries with a medium sized pepperoni pizza bites pizza and drinks from the Pizza Hut truck. We found the others gathered around the same food from the tailgates of the Ford and DJ's Saleen.

“Oh look”, DJ said, “they brought more munchies.”

“Yeah well”, Tess said, “these are our munchies and inferior humans may not touch under penalty of death.”

DJ laughed as Tess and I sat down. I guessed that Mom must have saw the look on Tess's face because she asked.

“Everything okay honey?”

“No”, Tess replied setting her pizza down, “I had a run in.”

“With who?”, Mom asked.

“My birth parents”, Tess replied.

Everyone looked shocked.

“Well that's good isn't it?”, Tristan asked.

“Not really”, Tess replied, “they said they found someone to “cure” me.”

“Your sick?”, Mom asked.

“No”, Tess said, “they thing being a dragon is a disease. If they won't accept me for who I am, then I wont let them call me their daughter.”

“Good on you”, Frank said, “I'm not one for speeches, but you kids have a gift, don't let anyone say it's a disease.”

“Amen”, Tess said, “from the minute I turned I had something that no one else did.”

Everyone agreed. The rest of the night wound on with going to see the concert and then watching the Koenigsegg Vs Audi 650 Horsepower RWD shoot out, in which the CCGT and #8 Joest tied for the lead. After the race we boarded our cars and then went to the hotel. Dad payed for rooms on the top floor and we showered and rolled into bed and fell asleep, eager for tomorrow.