Pet King

Even though Eddy was 99% sure that the person on the phone was the one who called earlier, he still both carefully and politely asked, “Erm… okay, Kathy. It was you who called earlier, right? I arrived at the office late today, so I’m really sorry that I missed the call.”

“Yes, and it’s okay. I did say I would call back again,” the person on the other end of the line said. “You are Eddy, right? My name is Louise. Can I call you Eddy?”

“Sure, of course.” Eddy shifted himself to a more comfortable position as he sat on the chair. “Kathy, what can I do for you?”

“It’s like this, Eddy––I would like to donate a sum of money to your Foundation. Can you let me know the remittance account number for the Foundation?”

“Oh! Please allow me to represent the Foundation and extend to you our sincerest gratitude for your generosity!” Eddy happily switched on his computer. “But please understand that we still have some procedures that need to be done, if you do not mind. To ensure your rights and interests, I will have to record this conversation.”

“Please, I do not mind,” the other party said.

Eddy subsequently pressed the recording and hands-free button and pulled out the information database from the computer. “Okay, I’ve begun the recording. Now can you tell me your full name again?”

“I am Katherine Donna Ryan,” the voice said.

With every word the other person said, Eddy would type out the respective letters.

“Katherine Donna Ryan?” Looking at the results that appeared on his screen, Eddy was stumped. He repeated the name another time, “Er, Ms. Ryan––I mean Kathy–– have you donated money to our Foundation before?”

“Yes I have, but I can’t remember the donation process. My memory isn’t that good anymore since I’m at that age, you know,” the person over the line stated, using a perfunctory tone as if they were trying to hide something.

“But…” Eddy swallowed a mouthful of saliva while staring at the screen before stating with much difficulty, “Kathy, your previous donation was made in the form of a will… Listen, no matter who you are, this joke isn’t funny.”

Eddy quickly browsed through the donation records for Katherine Donna Ryan. She had made a number of donations to the Foundation over the past ten years. The donation amount was different each time, but they were all designated to be used in lung cancer research. The last donation figure had the largest amount; it was processed by a lawyer as her will.

Was it a repeated name? It was very rare to have the same first name, surname, and middle name, much less choosing the same Foundation for a donation. It couldn’t be a coincidence; the only explanation would be that this was a prank.

“I know, I know,” the person over the line laughed. “I understand how you feel. The matter with the will is not wrong, but… an accident happened. Initially, I thought that I was gone for good––even the lawyer and doctor thought so––but I survived in the end. Look, I’m all healthy again and on a holiday now in China—can you hear the firecracker noises outside? They are having their New Year’s now, so it’s really lively here!”

Eddy said, “Of course, I know it’s the New Year’s period. Why do you think I was late this morning?

Feeling thirsty, Eddy picked up a paper cup filled with coffee and emptied it. He switched the receiver to the other ear and wedged it between his shoulder.

“Hold on for a moment; please do not hang up.”

He pushed the hold call key on the landline telephone before he accessed the old voice recording data for when Katherine Donna Ryan made her previous donations. He started to play the recordings.

A voice––exactly the same as the one over the phone––could be heard coming from the computer’s speaker. Other than the outdated audio file and a slight distortion caused by the conversion from analog signal to digital signal, Eddy judged that it was definitely the same person.

So, the lawyer and doctor really made a mistake?

The doctor misdiagnosed and issued the death certificate, and the lawyer then proceeded to donate all of her assets to the Foundation with that death certificate? It sounds rather ridiculous…

With all of that, Eddy took a deep breath. From the bottom of his heart, he felt sympathy for both the doctor and lawyer. How much money do they have to compensate her for making such a serious error? The doctor’s license might even be suspended for life.

It must be the case; there seems to be no other reasonable explanation for this.

Eddy closed the old recording files and reconnected the call. “Kathy, are you still there?”

“Yes I am, Eddy. Have you confirmed what you needed to?” The other party laughed, as if anticipating Eddy’s reaction.

Eddy cleared his throat. “I apologize, Kathy. I misunderstood you earlier.”

“Of course you did. Who would fake another person’s name to make a donation? It’s not like we’re here to withdraw relief funds.” The other party laughed and accepted his apology. “Okay, now let’s move on to the real business.”

Although what she said made sense, Eddy still felt like something was amiss, but he was not able to find any reason or proof to support his suspicions.

“Kathy, do you have a fax machine on your end? I will need to fax over a copy of the confirmation letter for the donation to you. Our bank account will be on the confirmation letter and we support fund transfers through PayPal, too. Can you fill up the letter and fax it back to me? Is that okay with you?”

There was a pause on the other end of the call. The handset transmitter was covered up, and it seemed like the other party was discussing something with someone before returning to the call with a slightly bothered tone. “Can’t you just give me the account number? Must it be so troublesome?”

Eddy was caught off guard for a moment before he explained, “Forgive me, Kathy, but this was your request for all of the previous donations, because of your request to have the donations used in the funding for the research towards lung cancer. If you do not wish to limit the usage of the funds, then it would no longer be necessary for you to fill out the confirmation letter. So, Kathy, do you wish to limit the usage for the funds, or would you prefer not to place any limits?”

Just like earlier, the other party paused for a moment and continued with a resigned tone, “Fine, fine. Fax the letter over to this number here.”

Eddy faxed over the confirmation letter.

“Kathy, have you received the confirmation letter?”

Moments later, the voice responded, “Yes, I’ve received it, but how do I fill this thing out?”

The suspicions in Eddy’s heart grew. Although Kathy’s previous transactions were not handled by me, she should have already filled out countless confirmation letters by now. Why is she still having trouble filling out the letter?

Regardless, Eddy still patiently explained, “On the first section, you will have to fill in your email address and residential address, so that we can send you the donation receipt. For the second section, you will have to select your funding target from a single selection to multiple selections. You will be able to see selections like lip cancer, colorectal cancer, gallbladder cancer, liver cancer, bone cancer, and names of various different cancer types. If you plan to only fund the research for liver cancer, please select option number ten. The third section will be for you to fill in the amount that you wish to donate. As for the last section, please check the reason for your donation as listed below there: in memory of someone, to pay tribute to someone, or if you just wanted to make the donation.”

There were rustling noises, heavy breathing, and mumbling coming from the other end of the phone, as if the person was softly grumbling while filling out the letter. Occasionally, noises of cats meowing and dogs barking could be faintly heard, too.

Not more than a few minutes later, the other party put down their pen and said, “Okay, I’ve filled it all out. Now, what do I do? Can I make the transfer now?”

It was Eddy’s first time meeting someone in such a hurry to make a donation, as if they could not wait to donate out their money.

He licked his lips and said, “Please sign on the signature line of the confirmation letter, then fax it back to me.”

“What? I still have to sign?”

The other party seemed to be very surprised and unwilling to sign, but Eddy insisted on getting their signature.

With no other choice, as if explaining themselves, the person explained, “It’s been a long time since I hand-wrote something. I’ve almost forgotten my own signature…”

Eddy said, “Even if it has been a while since you wrote something, is it even possible for you to forget how to write your own name?”

Moments later, the fax machine started to ring as the faxed document arrived.

“Eddy, is that all?” the other person asked.

Eddy pulled over the document, gave a quick glance at the donation amount that stated “$4,000.00,” and replied, “Yes, Kathy. I’ve received the confirmation letter, so you can transfer the donation now.”

“Okay,” the other person said. “Please confirm the amount transferred.”

Eddy refreshed the page for the bank account and saw that $4,000 had been transferred to the account. “Once again, allow me to express our sincerest gratitude to you! We assure you that every single cent of your donation shall be used per your request to fund the battle against cancer.”

During the time Eddy had been rendering his services in the Matthew Davis Foundation, he had repeated this line of his countless times and would continue to in the future.

“Okay, Eddy,” the other person said in a relaxed tone. “That should be all, then. Have a great day ahead. See you!”

“See you, Kathy.”

The person hung up the call.

Beeping noises were heard from the handset receiver. Eddy, too, placed the handset down and switched off the recording.

Although the process was a little strange, in the end, the donation went quite smoothly.

Receiving a donation amount of $4,000 right when he started work was a great start for the day. It was enough to brighten his depressed mood from the terrible weather, just like sunbathing at the beach under the sun.

Humming an old, classic song from a few years back, Eddy pulled open the drawer of his desk with the intention of temporarily keeping the confirmation letter in there, until tonight where he would file it in before getting off from work.

“Hm?”

Right at the bottom of the confirmation letter, Eddy noticed the person’s signature: “Katherine Donna Ryan.”

Nothing wrong with the name, but the problem was that… how could the handwriting be so ugly? Even a primary school student could write better!

The horrendous signature and the person’s voice both gave Eddy two strikingly different impressions.

Soon enough, he noticed the last section of the confirmation letter—if this donation was made in a memory of someone, to pay a tribute, or just with an intention to donate.

The person selected the second option: paying a tribute to someone. On the blank space beside it was written “K.D.R.”

Which meant that the person donated this amount as a tribute to a person with the initials of “K.D.R.”

K.D.R…

Incidentally, the abbreviation for Katherine Donna Ryan was K.D.R too.

Paying a tribute to herself? Or is it just a coincidence?

Eddy examined the confirmation letter that he was holding onto. The more he dwelled on this issue, the stranger it felt for him.

No matter what, that voice he heard over the phone was certainly that of Katherine Donna Ryan’s. Eddy trusted his hearing, so he was certain that he could not be wrong.

So how could one explain this?

Eddy stood up, leaned on the windowsill, and looked off into the distance.

The light rain continued to fall. Based on his familiar understanding of the San Francisco weather, the rain would not stop anytime soon. Within the parking lot were a few familiar vehicles. There were no new cars driving in, so it seemed as though there would be no visitors for the time being.

Eddy glanced over at the landline telephone again; it was just lying there on the desk without any intention of ringing.

“Okay, fine.” It seemed like Eddy had just made up his mind. “Let’s take a look, Katherine Donna Ryan. Just what secret are you hiding?” he mumbled to himself.

Eddy clutched the confirmation letter in his hands, switched on the telephone answering machine, locked the doors of his office, and left.

He turned a corner, arriving outside the office of the colleague he greeted earlier in the corridor.

The nameplate on the door read: The Archives.

Eddy knocked before pushing the door open and entering the room. “Hi! Jason!”

“What’s up, Eddy? Don’t tell me you’re heading to the pub now. It’s not time to knock off yet right?” Jason joked as he looked at his watch. He was seated right behind his desk.

Eddy laughed. “No, Jason, I have an issue. Help me find a few copies of past archived confirmation letters––the donor is Katherine Donna Ryan.”

“What’s wrong?” Jason asked in a concerned tone.

“There’s no problem at the moment. I just wanted to check.” Before things were made clear to him, Eddy did not want to spread the word to everyone.

“Sure, let me take a look.” Jason checked the computer and, soon enough, he found of the portfolio number. He then retrieved the files from the filing cabinets and handed them to Eddy.

Eddy opened up the age-old portfolio, picking out a few confirmation letters.

A detailed comparison was not needed, as it only took him one glance to see that the signatures on these confirmation letters were completely different from the one he received earlier. The words on these letters were neat and beautifully written, making it obvious that they were not written by the same person. Another thing he noticed was that on the section for the reasons of donation, it was selected as “in memory of someone” for these few confirmation letters, and the person in memory of was Katherine Donna Ryan’s deceased husband, who passed away due to lung cancer.

There was only a single exception in the few confirmation letters. This specific one was submitted by a lawyer named Adams. Attached to the letter was a photocopy of the will execution authorization letter.

Eddy quietly read through it a few times. He did not make any noise and memorized the contact details of lawyer Adams before he slotted the confirmation letters back into the portfolio and placed it back in its original position.

“Thanks, I’ll be treating the alcohol tonight––that is, if the rain stops.” Eddy waved to Jason as he left the archives.

…

China, Binhai City, Amazing Fate Pet Shop.

Zhang Zian hung up the call and said with a guilty conscience, “Why do I feel like this person is rather attentive… he won’t pick up any problems, will he?”

“Ga ga! Probably not, but if there are any problems, they would definitely stem from your dog poo of a signature!” Richard cried out while flapping its wings. “I have to say, are you an idiot that can only hang me upside down when you have nothing to do? Why did you not practice your signature?”

“Your poop might not be any nicer looking than a dog’s poop.” Famous, who coincidentally came up to drink some water, overheard what Richard said. Immediately Famous retaliated, as it was displeased with what Richard said.

“Even if I were to practice my signature, I wouldn’t be practicing it with other people’s names, right?” Zhang Zian protested against the unfairness. “Are you blaming me now? I thought that a donation would be as simple as just transferring the money over. How would I know that there would be so many troublesome procedures?”

Richard raised one of its wings, pointed towards the rope dangling from the ceiling, and cried out, “Ga ga! Who else to blame but you? I would advise you to hang yourself!”

Zhang Zian said, “This stupid bird is looking for trouble again!”