President Fox

Chapter 4: Face Versus Sense

Fox smirked at his own reflection in the pond after he polished his canines by chewing on a fibrous reed stem. He had met with the vultures the week before, and they had agreed to buy over the jungle's debts and to pay him an introduction fee. A very generous introduction fee. A few days after the meeting, the vultures had invited him to join them for a meeting with the hillside goats. Vulturia had haggled the principal of 5 billion bird's seeds debt down to 2 billion. Fox found it so satisfying to watch the hillside goats' leader, Goatsent, getting more and more frustrated as the meeting progressed. By the end of it his pink nose had turned purple from anger and frustration.

After Vulturia's negotiation with the hillside goats, Rat was up for two days and two nights preparing a motion to be presented in parliament. Vulturia helped him to word it, so that his arguments could be presented in the best light possible. Fox now turned his attention back to the floor, where the resulting motion was being scrutinized by the members. Whispers and mumbles popped up here and there in the clearing as the animal representatives discussed among themselves

Owl landed on the jutting branch of a log just behind Fox. He was so distraught, his feathers looked misaligned. "Mr. President, what have you done?"

"I just saved the jungle from the goats," Fox said smugly. His fur was still glowing from the week's victory. Nobody disrespected him. He had the power to hurt people if they disrespected him.

"But the vultures are worse. The goats only charge an annual interest rate of 8% on the original principal, but the vultures charge 30% and any unpaid interest is added back into the principal." Owl was so upset by what he read in the proposal that he had scratched and beaked his feathers until they'd become a criss-crossing mess over his chest and abdomen. A few were even pointing straight out and he had not bothered to brush them down. No one had ever seen him in such a state. If he had paws, his tufts would have been pulled out.

Fox looked Owl up and down, thrilled that he had finally upset the bird so much. Owl had always looked so put together that he appeared as though he was looking down on everyone. Well, that would teach him to be more respectful of his superiors, Fox thought. He had been in debt enough times throughout his life that he was aware of the difference in the rates. But he did not care. Not his seeds: not his pain. Let all these hoity-toity animals take care of the aftermath. If they were really as smart as they claimed themselves to be, they would be able to find a way out of this debt, the way that Fox had freed himself from the loan bears. Fox was smart, because he found a way to make everyone happy (except for Owl and Goatsent). If this motion passed, the goats would be getting some of their seeds back, the vultures would take over the government debt, and Fox would be paid an introduction fee. Added to that, if he could get the representatives to hand over another quarter of government assets and services to the vultures to compensate them for their troubles, Fox would get a big thank-you bonus. He was going to make a killing.

Fox said lazily, "It's the same thing. They are both interests. Anyway, many animals supported my move. Imagine the gall of those goats, threatening to sue us in the animal courts just because they think we can afford to pay them back but are not."

But we can, Owl almost shouted. Instead, he took a deep breath and hooted a few times to calm himself. He should not have let his emotions get the better of him. Nothing could be solved properly from outrage. He must be rational; use reason and logic. Nobody could shoot down reason and logic because it was like the sun. It was too high up to be destroyed, and too obvious and clear to be ignored. The motion for the sale of those debts still needed to be passed by parliament. He still had time to persuade Fox to cancel it, or make the other representatives see reason.

Owl did a sudden wet-dog shake to try to release some of the anxious tension in his body. Then in a calmer voice, he said, "Well, it is quite a problem though. If this motion passes, we have to pay an annual interest rate of 30% on the 5 billion seeds loan. That amounts to 1.5 billion seeds a year."