My Eurofurence fund has taken several leaps ahead lately; go here to find out what that's all about: http://www.sofurry.com/page/252855/user, and please click here to donate: https://inkbunny.net/donate.php?user_id=3176. More on that later. With that boost, and it being the end of the month, I wanted to give you guys and girls a little show of faith. A lot of chapter 16 is done, and so with no further delay, here is an exclusive sneak preview of it:
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Valerie picked up the phone and then stopped, the receiver partway to her ear. Her heart pounded; this wasn't like her. There wasn't time for this. There wasn't time to waste. Pride came before a fall, and she had to swallow hers. The vixen began dialling, glancing round her darkened office. Everyone had gone home hours ago, herself included. A pause, some clicks, and then the ringing tone. She could always go home again later. Another click and then a male voice answered.
"Julian. Who is this?"
She took a deep breath, squeezed the phone a little tighter, then spoke. "Mr Fleck, sorry to bother you at this late hour--"
"I said who is this?" He cut her off, impatience and tiredness bleeding through his words.
"Mr Fleck, this is Doctor Shoemaker, you saw me--"
He cut her off again, "You've got some nerve. Do you have any idea what we're going through? Do you have any idea what you did? Do you have any idea how we felt, taking those hateful paternity tests? How dare y--"
She raised her voice, hackles raising too. "Mr Fleck. Mr Fleck! We havn't got the time for this. She called me."
The words died in his throat with a strangled sound. "...What?"
One paw clenched into a fist, she pleaded with the empty air above her office desk. "Katie called me." Now, suddenly, the fennec was trembling.
A sharp intake of breath. "You've spoken to her? To them? They're okay? You know where they are?"
"Yes Mister Fleck, but--" A tinny growl crept from the phone's earpiece to the doctor's large ears, conveyed from mercifully far away.
He snarled down the line. "Well, tell me woman! Where are they? Tell me!" The leopard was shouting now.
Valerie cringed, pausing for a moment to gather herself. "I'm sorry Mister Fleck, she made me promise I wouldn't." There was a sudden sound down the line of plastic groaning and creaking well beyond its design limits, a crack, a loud electronic squeal, then silence. The line went dead. The fennec gently replaced the phone on its receiver, and with a tight smile, retrieved a small can of pepper spray from her desk. She sat down and waited.
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To be continued!
(Yeah, I know, he’s worried about his kids who ran away, etc. Doesn’t negate the fact that A) he and his wife are at fault for that, and that B) he really is a hotheaded idiot, anyway, IIRC from the previous couple of chapters.)
Can’t wait for the full thing, V. :) And hope you get what you need for Eurofurence.
In doctor/patient confidentiality, if the patient is under the age of 18, the parents have a right to know. This is considered sexual abuse (regardless of the consent of the Tommy and Katie) by law.
So long story short, by law the doctor has to tell the parents the whereabouts of Tommy and Katie.
As for the law … in what twisted alternate universe is merely refusing to disclose information about a missing child’s location, as bad as that may be, considered “sexual abuse”? You do know that there actually has to be both abuse, and that it has to be of a sexual nature, for such charges to apply, right? Otherwise, Valerie could be charged with kidnapping or whatever. But sexual abuse, no.
Finally, I personally value moral principles far above what the fickle law may say. In this situation, even if she’s breaking the law and endangering her medical license (among other things), I side with Valerie for doing the objectively right thing (even if the rules say otherwise).
Or, at least, I assume it is, given that all we have to go on is a tiny teaser. :P