Grooming Terror

The situation is quite beyond serious
may even become a matter for possible
disputes resolution, perhaps even arbitration
yet a dark shadow of matters descending
completely out of the arena of settling
out of court and spiralling into a dreaded
criminal investigation also looms on the
horizon. You stand accused. The evidence
is there, and not merely one individual
but two may be prepared to launch such
proceedings. Unspoken, but obvious their
intention is to alert authorities that you
undertook an act that had the potential of
imperilling their very existence. You might,
it is darkly hinted, even have been inspired
by terrorists who espouse the utility of
using whatever menacing means are at
hand to inspire terror in the hearts of their
victims, let alone conspiring to act in the
agency of a lone wolf. Headlines could read:
the attacker wielded a large, sharp pair of
scissors. Violence may not have been your
intention, and you may now incline to speak
gently to your accusers but they were subjected
to an event that inspired fear and panic and
you were responsible. Mind, it is true that
they look almost respectable now that their
haircoats have been trimmed because the
sibling poodles looked downright like
unkempt ragamuffins and by now they've
laid aside their panic, nuzzling you in trust.