“Do you really think she’s suitable, Anita?” the largest of the four asked. She was a honey coloured black bear, her body large, thick and heavy. She cut into her steak, the blood pooling into the plate and smiled as she took a healthy bite, eyes half-lidding as she made appreciative noises. She wore a sleeveless, shiny green dress that showed off her heavy curves well, and she seemed comfortable in her own skin as she dug into the steak with relish.

The marten she was speaking to rolled her eyes. “Sure, she seemed a dame at first, Veronica, but I’ve been watching her. She’s one of us.” Anita, was slim, and nearly two feet shorter than the honey furred bear, but shared her easy confidence. She wore a blue sundress made of cotton that looked good on her pale yellow fur as she dug into her own smaller steak.

“You were against me joining back in the day, Veronica,” said the third member of their table of four, a rabbit lady. Her dress was a low cut black thing that plunged daringly into her white cleavage, showing off her figure. An ear draped over an eye as she talked, and her forked crunched into lettuce.

Veronica snorted. “I might have to oppose again, Jill. Salad?”

Jill gave Veronica a look. “It’s a caesar, and it probably has more calories than your steak, the way Fred makes it. Besides, I like salad.”

“I still think it’s against the princi–“

“All right, enough you two.” The porcupine lady’s dress was a silver thing, looking a bit like armour on her squat, square, brown body. She still looked as confident as the others, and her expression and eyes had as shared the same amount of sparkle and wit. She dug her fork into noodles of pasta and twirled, tangling up the waiting seafood and sauce. “How did you find her, ’Nita?”

Anita laughed heartily. “You’ll never guess, Taylor. I was driving one evening and there she was, on the road, earning her membership.”

“Earning her membership?” asked Jill, confused.

Taylor’s eyebrows furrowed as she puzzled it out, until a look of understanding came over her face. “You don’t mean–“

“Yep.” Anita nodded. “There she was, on the side of the road, in an evening dress, changing a tire.”

Jill laughed, almost a giggle, but not quite. She grabbed her martini and sipped. “You can’t object to her now, Veronica. Not if she was doing that before initiation.”

Veronica snorted again, and said nothing, chewing her steak.

Anita nodded. “She’s got manners, wit, style and class and she’s into jazz. Not enough confidence, but we can fix that easily enough.” She picked up her red wine, as the other three ladies picked up their own drinks. “Ladies, I nominate Deanna Lynx be introduced to the Way of the Broads. Any objections?”

There were none. A clink sealed things as across town, a young lynx lady relaxed, unaware, as her life was changed.