Tiger in Trouble (13 page)

“That would be great,” I said. “I was wondering, do you think we could name them? The four of us were talking after the lights went out last night, trying to figure out names. We had some ideas.”

“That is good, but the baby deer have names already.”

“They do?”

“Yes. They named themselves.”

“But I hoped we could maybe —”

“Too late. I will tell you their names. See, big one is —”

“Which one is the big one?” I asked.

“Big one is one not small,” Vladimir said with a chuckle. “This one,” he added, tapping it on the back.

I looked at it, and then the other. I guess it was a little bit bigger.

“Big one is a girl deer, so I named her after her mummy.”

“That’s nice,” I admitted. “What was the mother’s name?”

“Not was, is. Mummy is called big girl Sarah, so this deer is now called big deer Sarah.”

“You named it after me?”

“Only fair. You lose sleep but gain daughter deers.”

“And the other one?” I asked.

“Little deer Samantha.”

I couldn’t help but smile. Underneath that mangy hair, scruffy beard and mass of muscle there was a gentle man. It would be something to come back here someday, maybe even next summer, and see my babies all grown up and read their names on a plaque. If they were here …

“Vladimir, can I ask you a question?”

He nodded.

“When I got the gloves, I ran into Mr. Armstrong and —”

“Too bad you were not in a car.”

“What do you mean?” I questioned.

“If you were in a car and ran into him, that would be good, especially if it was a big car — a really big car.”

I started to laugh. Obviously Vladimir didn’t like him any more than he liked Vladimir.

“Maybe if he was hit by a car it would drive sense into his thick head,” Vladimir continued.

“Well, when I was talking to him, he mentioned something. Maybe he was joking around about going onto the Internet and finding a place that wanted to buy the fawns, but I was wondering —”

“Pig!” Vladimir said angrily, turning and spitting on the ground. “That man is nothing but a dirty pig. No, worse than dirty pig. Pigs are nice animals, smart animals. Pigs are not greedy for money!”

“You mean he would sell the babies?” I asked, although from his comments concerning the lion cubs, I thought I knew the answer already.

“He would sell his own mother if he was offered enough money.”

“He mentioned something about a petting zoo,” I said.

“Petting zoo is no zoo. It is a place where baby animals are poked and picked up and trampled and hurt by people trying to take pictures and feed them junk.”

“We can’t let that happen to Sarah and Samantha,” I said, reaching out and protectively placing my arms around them as they continued to nurse.

“We will keep the deer at least a while, weeks, maybe a month. I will tell him they are too small to leave.”

“But then when they’re bigger he’ll sell them?”

“Maybe, maybe not. Either way, Vladimir can’t stop. He is the owner, so he can do what he wants.”

“That doesn’t seem fair. There must be something we can do.”

“Nothing,” Vladimir said. “Nothing, but watch animals leave.”

“How often has he done this?”

“Many times. Look around. You see many babies in the whole park?”

“No, I don’t, but I just thought I hadn’t noticed, or maybe there weren’t any born.”

“Animals have babies when animals are happy, and I make sure the animals are happy!”

“So there were some births other than the lions and deer?” I asked.

“Many, many babies this spring. A pair of buffalo, little spider monkeys, a litter of three leopards, lion cubs, other deer babies, little goats. Vladimir was there for them all.”

“And they’re all gone?”

“All gone except the lions and new deers. All sold.”

Vladimir’s tone had gotten huskier, and the look in his eyes was almost scary — no, more than almost. I was afraid, sitting there looking at him, even though I knew he wasn’t mad at me. “And that’s why you don’t like Mr. Armstrong?”

“I don’t like him for many reasons, not just selling animals. Old boss sold animals.”

“He did?”

“Sometimes he sold, sometimes bought, sometimes he lent animals to other parks to breed. Sometimes he borrowed animals for breeding. But always, always he loved the animals.”

“And Mr. Armstrong doesn’t love them,” I said, stating the obvious.

“He does not love anything except money. He sees animals as nothing more than money. Sell animal, get money; buy animal, cost money.”

“But if he just keeps selling animals, then eventually there won’t be any more animals in the park.”

Vladimir nodded sadly. “That is the plan.”

“That’s a plan?”

“To close the park. To have no more animals.”

“You think he wants to close the park?”

“Not think. Know.”

“But if he wants to close the park, why doesn’t he just sell off all the animals now?” I asked.

“He wants to. He can’t.”

“Why can’t he?”

“Ah, Vladimir knows something big girl Sarah does not know. I know something new boss does not know that I know,” he said, pointing a finger at his head.

“What do you know?” I asked, not really expecting him to tell me.

Vladimir looked around, as if he were scanning the area for spies. Nothing was in view but animals, and I figured that even though they were owned by Mr. Armstrong, they weren’t planning on telling him anything, even if they could.

“When old boss died, he left the park to his son in his will,” Vladimir said.

“Yeah, you told us about that already.”

He nodded. “But I didn’t tell you what old boss told me about the will.”

“What did he tell you?”

“He said he knew his son does not like animals much, so he made what he called a condition.”

“What kind of condition?”

“The condition says that if he wants to get the park, then he must live here for three years and run it as a zoo, like his daddy did. And for three years, he must sleep in the park every night.”

“You mean he can’t even leave for a week to go on a vacation?”

“Not a week. Not one day. He must be here every night.”

“He must feel like he’s trapped here,” I said.

“Yes, like an animal in a cage. In a cage with even angrier animal — wife animal.”

“You’re right. She doesn’t seem like she’s the sort of person who likes to live in the country.”

“She hates living in the country. She is a city girl in city clothes. She hates everything about being here. Do you want to know the funny part?”

“What?”

“She is allergic to cats. She can not stay in the park too long or she starts sneezing. Very funny.”

“Is that why she’s always in town?”

“Yes. In town. Shopping. Boss lady loves shopping, spreeing.”

“So even if he wants to, he can’t leave. He has to stay here.”

“He can not sell yet — for two more years. Old boss thought that if his son lived with the animals for three years, then maybe he would learn to love animals.”

“And that’s not working.”

Vladimir scowled and spat on the ground. “He did not like them before. Now he hates them. He blames the animals for not being able to leave.”

“If he did leave, what would happen?”

“He would lose everything.”

“Who would get it instead?” I asked.

“The land would go to the government. It would become a park where families come and wild animals are free to live.”

“And the animals that are here already?”

“They go to Vladimir,” he said quietly.

“That would be wonderful!”

“Not so wonderful. I do not have a place to put the animals. If the park goes, then the animals must go.”

“Well, maybe Mr. Armstrong won’t be able to find anybody to buy the place in two years and —”

“Many people want to buy the land.”

“What do you mean?”

“The land would be sold to build houses.”

“This would become houses?”

“Lots of houses. Many would be on the lake. People love water as much as elephants love water. This land is worth lots of money.”

“Plus the money he could get from selling the animals.”

“That is just a little money.”

“It must be more than a little to support all the things his wife buys,” I argued.

“Babies are worth a lot of money. Big animals are worth little money. I will give you an example. A baby tiger is worth five thousand dollars. A big grown tiger is worth less than five hundred dollars.”

“I didn’t know that,” I said.

“Little tigers are good for taking pictures, and petting zoos, and letting people hold and handle. Lots of people want to buy them. But nobody can handle a big tiger. It needs a cage and food — a lot of food. Not many people want a grown tiger, so it is not worth much money.”

“And is it the same with deer?”

“Same with all animals.”

“So all those babies they sold got them a lot of money.”

“The only thing worth more than baby wild cats, like lions and tigers, is a dead big tiger.”

“How can a dead tiger be worth money? It’s already dead.”

“Yes, dead, but not gone. They can use parts.”

“You mean like the skin for a coat?”

“The skin is worth money, but not much. The bones and organs inside the body are worth much more.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Many people believe tigers have magic inside. They grind the bones and organs to use in medicines to fight diseases or make people strong.”

“You’re joking, right?”

“It is not a joke. That is why the tiger is an endangered animal. Poachers kill them and sell body parts.”

“That’s just awful — killing a beautiful endangered animal for a few dollars.”

“Not a few dollars, big girl Sarah. Big dollars.”

“How much could a dead tiger be worth?”

“A full-grown male tiger like Kushna is worth maybe a hundred, a hundred and twenty-five thousand.”

“Dollars?”

“Dollars. American dollars.”

“My goodness, that’s an incredible amount of —” I stopped and lowered my voice. “Do the Armstrongs know about this?”

“The know, but they can do nothing.”

“But if they know, why don’t they kill Kushna?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper, as if saying it out loud might make it somehow come true.

“The tiger is an endangered animal, protected by international law. It is against the law to kill an animal in a park. If he killed Kushna, he would go to jail. And if he went to jail, he could not live at the park and would lose everything. So Kushna is safe.”

“But the deer aren’t?” I asked.

“Only endangered animals are protected. Tiger, leopards …”

“The lions?”

He shook his head. “Lions are not endangered. They breed like bunnies. Now there is no more time to talk. Must work.”

“I’ll go wake up the others, and we’ll eat and help,” I said.

“Help would help,” Vladimir said. “And, big girl Sarah, the things I am saying are just for you to hear. You understand? Nobody else, not even your brother.”

“I won’t tell anybody. Promise.”

“Good girl. There is much work to do. Later we will take the elephant for a bath.”

Nick would love that. I started to walk away, my babies bumping against my side, and then turned around. “Vladimir, can I ask you one more question?”

He nodded.

“Why do you stay?”

“I need this job. Without a job, I will be sent back to Russia.”

“But you can get a job doing something else.”

“Something with animals?”

“I don’t know … maybe.”

“I do not read or write English well. I do not even speak well.”

“Your English isn’t that bad. I’m sure you could get something.”

“Maybe something, but Vladimir is not leaving. I am staying here to watch my animals. If I leave, what happens to all the animals? Who would watch over them?”

“I guess nobody,” I admitted.

“I will stay. I will care for the animals.” He paused. “And I will watch and make sure new boss does not leave, even for one night.”

I smiled. “Is that why he doesn’t like you?”

Vladimir laughed. “No, no, big girl Sarah, boss doesn’t not like Vladimir. Boss hate Vladimir. Wishes Vladimir would leave — go far away, back to Russia. He wishes I would disappear from the face of the earth. But Vladimir will stay. That is what old boss would want.”

All I could see was the very tip of an elephant’s trunk sticking out of the water. He was beneath the surface, cooling off, using his trunk like a snorkel to breathe without having to surface.

“That was the very, very best thing of my entire life,” Nick said as he stood at my side.

“That was pretty good.”

“Pretty good? That was way, way more than pretty good. I was there on top of the elephant, not just riding on it like some carnival ride, but steering it, telling it where to go!”

Nick and Vladimir had gotten up onto the back of the elephant in the pen and then ridden him on the trip to the lake. Vladimir had told Nick the four basic elephant commands, and then Nick had been in control, giving orders. Amazingly the elephant listened!

If he wasn’t my brother, I would have admitted that it really, really was something. I’d even snapped a couple of pictures of him up there without him knowing. I thought I’d blow one up, put it in a frame and give it to him for a Christmas present. As well, Samantha had been filming a lot of it with her video camera, and I was hoping that I could get a copy of that, too.

“How long do you let him stay in the water?” I asked Vladimir, who was lying on the sand, his eyes closed, hands behind his head.

“He can stay as long as he likes,” he said without opening his eyes.

“But shouldn’t we be doing something?” I asked.

“Lots of things to do, but they will wait,” he said, sitting up. “We have already worked hard.”

Vladimir was right. We had worked hard. Before taking the elephant out we’d cut up some more chickens, fed and watered all the animals and cleaned out two more cages. That was in addition to giving my babies two separate feedings. Those deer could really eat.

“Besides,” Vladimir pointed out, “how do you figure we get an elephant to go if he does not want to go yet?”