Befuddlement

      Elsa did her best to contain her excitement as Mr. Toohey reentered with Tak in tow. She gazed at him fondly as one might regard a favorite toy. She was very careful to maintain her flighty young girl façade. "Well there he is, the silly little beast." She controlled her anger as she glanced at the chain. Mr. Toohey noted the glance and leveled a challenging gaze at her in response. "Oh, I do hope he wasn't any trouble for you, Mr. Toohey; he's normally such a docile creature."
      When his eyes once more met Elsa's, it was Mr. Toohey who became the docile creature. "Not at all, child; I merely prefer to practice extra caution when dealing with potentially wild animals."
      Elsa flashed a dazzling smile at the repugnant man, "How very clever of you. I imagine you have had to deal with some real monstrosities in your time with The Council."
      Mr. Toohey beamed under the girl's apparent adoration. Tak disguised a derisive snort as a playful yip. Mr. Toohey frowned at the interruption, yanked the chain, and shouted. "Quiet, you! Stay still until you're called upon!" Tak settled down and the man turned back to Elsa; shamelessly attempting to impress her. "You see, children and beasts are easy to manage once you let them know who is boss."
      "How very impressive." She replied, fooling no one but Mr. Toohey. "But tel me, Mr. Toohey; did you really come all this way just to see little old Tak? Of course, I love him more than my most favorite doll. But I simply cannot understand how he would be of interest to anyone else; especially someone as busy and important as yourself."
      Mr. Toohey tried to return to his harsh demeanor, but he was verily glowing from the little girl's words. "Well, child, we have received some rather serious complaints from several members of the community. They believe that the dog is dangerous and that your obsession with him is disruptive to the community at large." This last part was said almost apologetically. Elsa simply gazed innocently back at him in response. He stumbled, suddenly self conscious and guilty. After clearing his throat and seeing that Elsa would offer no verbal response, he continued awkwardly. "We have the incident of the dog attacking the young boy several years ago."
      Elsa's father stood up, red-faced. "That boy was attacking my little girl; Tak was merely defending her."
      "Hold your tongue, Freykin!" Mr. Toohey erupted, his pugnacity released from the serenity of Elsa's gaze. "The animal should have been put down after such a mauling. One more outburst from you and I'll have you put down as well!"
      Elsa's father stood glued to the spot. He seemed ready to launch into a counter assault. Luckily for those of us with tender hearts, the ensuing argument was undermined by Elsa's quick interruption.
      "As I'm sure you have already noted," with a glance, Mr. Toohey was back under her spell. "the boy in question was proved to be a wholly unreasonable individual. Any testimony from him would be tainted by his delusional fantasies."
      If Mr. Toohey noticed Elsa's sudden switch back to precocious young lady, he gave no outward sign. Tak did, however, notice the change. He gave Elsa a surreptitious warning glance which she ignored. She turned her head away from Tak and leveled one of Mr. Toohey's own challenging gazes in his direction.
      He fidgeted nervously, uncomfortably aware that somehow the tides had been turned. After trying and failing to break eye contact with Elsa, Mr. Toohey cleared his throat and continued. "Quite right, my girl, that incident had been ruled to be the fault of the boy. I am merely moving in the order of incidents involving the dog."
      "Of course, Mr. Toohey," Elsa's rebuttal snapped out just as the word 'dog' was fading off of Mr. Toohey's breath. "but obviously, we can't rely on the testimony of the unreasonable. It would seem that this event should be purged entirely from the official records." She spoke to him as an adult would a small child, raising one eyebrow quizzically.
      Mr. Toohey flushed. He stammered for a moment before agreeing with her and vowing to destroy all mention of the incident in the records.
      Several other incidents were mentioned and just as effectively debunked by Elsa's perfectly sound reasoning. Eventually, Mr. Toohey stood in a bemused daze and made his exit. He thanked them for their time, and promised to call on them the next day after speaking to The Council. He even placed Tak's chain into Elsa's hands before showing himself out.
      Elsa waited until she heard the latch click behind Mr. Toohey before flinging the chain into the fire. "Hateful, evil man!" She exploded, "If he harmed so much as one hair on Tak's head..."
      "Elsa!" Her father interrupted, "there is no time for that. You know he will return once he clears his head. And odds are, he won't be alone. Quickly now, the back door!"
      Elsa hesitated for a moment, "But, father, you don't know what's happening." It came out as a whimper.
      "Of course I do, my darling girl,  and I am so sorry. I hoped you would be spared all of this trouble, now go!" With that, she hugged her mother and father, and made for the back door, glancing back once to see her parents calmly sitting beside the fire, a perfect image of love and family.