Tiger in Trouble (17 page)

“Good to see you haven’t forgotten me.”

I rushed over and threw my arms around him. He staggered slightly, and for a split second I thought the two of us were going to topple over.

“Careful, Sarah, at my age if I break I don’t heal too fast.”

“You’re here,” I gasped.

“Course I’m here.”

“But how?” Nick asked.

Mr. McCurdy reached over and threw an arm around Nick’s shoulder. “Drove.”

“But it’s over eight hundred kilometres.”

“Eight hundred and twenty-seven, maybe a few less. I made a wrong turn outside town. You two look shocked to see me.”

“We are.”

“I don’t know why. You called Erin and said it was an emergency.”

“I just thought you’d call,” I said.

“I did for almost two hours. Couldn’t get through.”

“The phone died,” I said sheepishly.

“Erin told me it was life and death, that you had a sick tiger, and I know that the first few hours are the most dangerous, so I had no time to lose. I threw my medicine bag in the car, and me and Calvin jumped in and —”

“Calvin’s here?” Nick asked in disbelief.

“He’s sleeping in the car. Poor ape loves car rides, but he’s too old to stay up that long.”

“How long have you been up?” I asked. He looked tired, his hair flying in a hundred different directions and a layer of grey stubble on his face.

“Erin woke me up around two in the morning, and I started to drive, and it’s now —”

“After four in the afternoon,” I said. “I can’t believe you drove all the way here.”

Mr. McCurdy shrugged. “I heard there was a sick tiger. Besides, I promised you two that if there was anything you needed I’d be there for you, so here I am.”

“You’re … you’re … the best,” I stammered.

Mr. McCurdy looked embarrassed. “I’ve been called a lot of things in my day — most of which I couldn’t repeat in front of a fine young lady like yourself — but this is the first time I’ve been called that.”

“She’s right, Mr. McCurdy,” Nick said, and Mr. McCurdy gave a sly little smile in response.

“You must be as tired as Calvin,” I said. “Do you want to sit down or rest?”

“There’ll be time to rest later. I need to see that tiger right away.”

Nick and I exchanged a look. What was he going to think when he found out the tiger wasn’t sick?

“I’m just surprised that Russell would need my help,” Mr. McCurdy said.

“Russell? Who’s Russell?” I asked.

“Russell Armstrong. I recognized the place when I drove up. Is he still the owner?”

“Yes, I mean, no. He did own it, but he died.”

“Awful sad, but I guess that’s no surprise. He would have been close to eighty by now.”

“I’m surprised you knew Mr. Armstrong,” I said.

“The exotic animal world ain’t that big. Eventually everybody gets to know everybody. Not that I knew him well, but we had our dealings. He was a crusty old man, but he knew animals and cared about them.”

“That’s what Vladimir said,” I said.

“Who’s Vladimir?”

“He’s like the head animal guy,” I explained. “He knows lots of things about animals, not like you or Mr. Armstrong, but he’s smart.”

“Maybe you better bring me to him, and we can start talking about what’s ailing his tiger.”

“Definitely I want you to meet him, but I can tell you what’s wrong,” I said.

“Good. What’s the problem?” Mr. McCurdy asked.

“The problem is that he’s got less than a day and a half until he’s dead,” Nick said.

“That’s not like you to be thinking the worst. You just have a little faith in me and my medicine bag,” Mr. McCurdy said, patting the side of his bag.

“It’s not that,” I said. “Please let me explain.”

“Maybe I’m more tired than I thought, ’cause you aren’t making any sense at all, neither of you.”

I took a deep breath. “It’s like this. The tiger is fine.”

“It’s fine!” he bellowed. “I drove eight hundred kilometres right through the night, and he’s fine?”

“Please keep your voice down,” I said, trying to shush him.

“Don’t you be shushing me, girl. You may be like a granddaughter to me but —”

“I’m like a granddaughter to you?” I asked, cutting him off.

“Well, I never had one, so I don’t know for sure, but if I did — don’t go changing the subject! What do you mean the tiger isn’t sick? What sort of an emergency is it?”

“He’s fine, he’s healthy, but what Nick said is true. By this time less than two days from now, if we can’t help, the tiger will be dead.”

“You’re talking nonsense,” he said. “Why would anybody want to kill a perfectly healthy … They’re going to slaughter it for body parts, aren’t they?”

“Yes,” I said. “I heard them talking. Please, let’s go find Vladimir so we can talk about things and —”

“Hold your horses, girl. This Vladimir fella, is he part of killing this tiger?”

“Never!” I said, shaking my head vigorously. “He’s on our side, on the tiger’s side. It’s all the work of Mr. Armstrong.”

“I thought you said he was dead.”

“He is. It’s his son who owns the place now, but he doesn’t care about the animals. He’s selling them off, just waiting until he can sell the whole place to build houses and —” I stopped myself as I looked around and realized this whole conversation was taking place with visitors to the park walking all around us. Besides, I was supposed to keep this stuff in the will a secret. I’d promised Vladimir, but maybe he could tell Mr. McCurdy, or give me permission to tell.

“How about you come back to our cabin, and Nick will go and get Vladimir?”

“That might be an idea. My legs are starting to feel a tiny bit tired, and I could use something to drink. A good strong cup of java would be just what the doctor ordered.”

“Great. Is Calvin okay in the car for now?” I asked.

“He could use something to drink, as well, I figure.”

“Okay. Nick, after you find Vladimir, could you go and get Calvin?”

“Sure, it’ll be good to see the old ape.”

“And bring him in through the back gate.”

Nick gave me a questioning look.

“I don’t want the Armstrongs to know anything. I think it’s better if we don’t draw any attention to Mr. McCurdy being here.”

“Too late for that,” Mr. McCurdy said.

“What do you mean?”

“I was talking to some girl at the front. I tried to explain I was here to help with the tiger, but she didn’t seem to understand. Made me pay seven dollars and fifty cents to come through the gate.”

“What did she look like?” I asked.

“Young. Not much older than you, and not nearly as bright.”

“Then we’re okay. My guess is that whatever you said she didn’t understand and whatever she understood won’t go any farther. But just in case, if anybody asks or sees you around today, you’re our grandfather, just here for a visit to see us for the day. Okay?”

“Makes sense. Makes good sense. You always seem to have yourself a plan, don’t you, granddaughter?”

•

“Great honour, pleasure to meet you,” Vladimir said as he pumped Mr. McCurdy’s arm.

“Mighty fine to meet you, too, son.”

“Big girl Sarah and Nicki say many fine things about you.”

“I could say some mighty fine things about them, too. Now tell me more about what’s happening here.”

“What happening is new boss is a greedy pig! He is nothing but disgusting, no good —”

“He’s a terrible man,” I said, both confirming what Vladimir had started and cutting him off before he got too carried away. “When old Mr. Armstrong died, there was a term in his will that made it impossible for his son to sell the park for three years,” I started to say. I had been so relieved when Vladimir said I could explain everything to everybody. “Instead, he’s selling off the animals bit by bit.”

“And the bit he wants to sell now is his tiger,” Nick said.

“Kushna is the tiger’s name,” Vladimir said. “Good tiger, nice tiger, old tiger.”

“Old or not, there are people who’ll pay lots of money —” Mr. McCurdy began.

“Eighty-five thousand dollars,” I said, jumping in.

Mr. McCurdy nodded. “I’ve heard of more being offered. Have to admit that for that kind of money there’s lots of people, good people, who’d have their heads turned.”

“Boss not good people. Boss is pig! Disgusting, greedy pig who would sell own mother if —”

“Okay, okay,” Mr. McCurdy said, holding up his hands. “I get the idea. The man is a pig.”

“Disgusting pig,” Vladimir said, almost spitting the words out.

“Right, a disgusting pig. Now how do you even know about this plan to sell off Kushna?”

“I heard him talking to a man,” I said.

“Is it possible you heard wrong?” Mr. McCurdy asked.

“Anything’s possible, but I was pretty close when it happened. As close as Nick is to me right now,” I said, pointing to my brother at the other end of the cabin.

“And they talked about their plan with you right there?” Mr. McCurdy questioned.

“They didn’t see me. I was hiding. It was the middle of the night, so it was dark.”

“Good thing you’re telling me about this instead of your mother. She never is too happy about you wandering around in the middle of the night,” Mr. McCurdy said with a smirk. “You’re sure they didn’t know you were there?”

“Positive.”

“Good, because this all could be mighty dangerous.”

“What do you mean?” Samantha asked.

She’d been surprisingly quiet since Mr. McCurdy and Calvin had arrived. She’d been keeping a close eye on Calvin who was sitting on my bed, sipping from a can of Coke. If I’d known a chimpanzee would have kept her quiet, I would have tried to get one a few days earlier. When she first walked in, she bumped into Calvin, screamed and scaled the bunk bed as if it were a tree.

“Well, we’re talking a whole lot of money here. People are sometimes willing to do mighty desperate and bad things when money is involved,” Mr. McCurdy said.

“Desperate, like what?” I asked.

“’Specially if it might mean going to jail if they’re caught.”

“They could go to jail for this?” Nick asked.

“The laws on endangered animals are mighty strict. There are big fines and the potential for going to jail.”

“So we should call the police then,” I said. Now I wasn’t just worried about Kushna. I was worried about the rest of us.

“Yeah, let’s call in the cops and they can arrest them all!” Nick said enthusiastically.

“Not that simple. First, you’ve got no proof except for Sarah’s hearing them talk, and second, who’re you going to call?”

“That was sort of why we called you in the first place,” I said. “We thought you’d know.”

“I do know. It just won’t do any good.”

“Why not?”

“If we were in India, or other parts of Asia, even Siberia, you’d just call in the local police department, and they’d enforce it.”

“But can not do that here, right?” Vladimir asked.

“Nope. Local police don’t know what to do. Sarah and Nick have already seen that the local police don’t know anything about these animals or the laws,” he said, referring to the recapture of Buddha when he escaped last summer.

“Maybe they do,” Samantha said. “Maybe we should just call and talk to them about it.”

“And then they come here and talk to Mr. Armstrong, he denies everything and they go away,” I said. “Then he knows that somebody knows.”

“That not good,” Vladimir said.

“Not good at all,” I agreed. “All we’ll do is delay things, maybe a few days or a week, and the next time he’ll do it more carefully.”

“If only we had some evidence for the police,” Nick said.

“Evidence — wait, maybe there is a way to get some evidence,” I said.

“Hello, is this Mrs. Armstrong?” I asked, making my voice sound deeper and older.

“Yes, it is,” she said on the other end of the line.

“I’m calling from Granville’s Department Store.” From all the bags I’d carried in, I knew she did a lot of business with that store.

“Granville’s?”

“Yes. We have a package for you.”

“A package. I don’t know anything about a package. What is it?”

“I don’t know, ma’am. It’s a box. All wrapped up. Very fancy. And it has your name and address and phone number on it.”

“I have no idea what it could be,” she said.

“Neither do we, ma’am. I believe it’s been here for a long time. Is it possible you requested something that wasn’t available and we ordered it in for you? Perhaps you simply forgot?”

“I guess I could have. I was planning on coming into town tomorrow so I’ll drop in and —”

“Tomorrow!” I exclaimed, my voice rising to its natural tone. Tomorrow might be too late. I needed them to leave right now. “This evening would be better. You see … it’s been undelivered for a while now. Our records show it’s been close to two months, and today is the last day before it’s no longer available for pickup.”

“You’re telling me that if I don’t pick it up today, then I can’t pick it up?”

“Um, yes, exactly.”

“And nobody has even attempted to call me before today?”

“No. I don’t see anything written down …” I said.

“Do you have any idea who I am?” she asked angrily.

“You’re Mrs. Armstrong,” I answered, realizing I must have sounded as confused as she seemed angry.

“I am one of your best customers, and this is how I’m being treated. What’s your name?” she demanded.

For a second I was so shocked I almost blurted out my real name. “My name is Jane … Jane Smith.”

“Well, Jane Smith, you can be certain I’m going to speak to your manager and inform him how poorly this has been handled and what a rude employee he has!”

Rude! The only rude person on this line was her. I had a good mind to … I couldn’t do that. “I’m so sorry, Mrs. Armstrong. I really am. It isn’t my fault, honestly! I just started working here, and I really need this job. I saw this package, and it’s just so beautiful and fancy and pretty, and I knew I had to call.”

“Well … maybe this time I won’t tell him.” She paused, and I could tell she was enjoying making me squirm. “Is there a bill to be paid on this package?”

“No, ma’am, no bill. All you have to do is come and get it … if you could.”