Tiger in Trouble (9 page)

“Come on, Sarah, nobody here cares how your hair looks,” Nick said. “Actually, come to think of it, nobody anywhere cares how your hair looks.”

I shot him a dirty look.

“Vladimir’s waiting, and I want to get started this morning,” Nick protested.

“I’m done,” I said, as I finished pulling my hair up into a ponytail.

Vladimir was outside standing beside the other kids.

“So, can we start off by getting a look at the baby lions?” Samantha asked.

“Or maybe riding the elephant?” Nick suggested.

Vladimir snorted. “No time for play till work is done.”

“What sort of work?” Nick asked.

“Giving animals fresh water, cleaning pens, giving food …”

“Feeding them would be cool,” Nick said. “I can do that.”

“No. Nicki and Danny will give water.”

“And me?” Samantha asked. “What will I be doing?”

“You and big girl Sarah will work on food.”

“Great, we get to feed them,” she said, a taunting quality in her voice.

“That’s not fair!” Danny said.

“Maybe you can do the food tomorrow,” I offered.

“Let’s get going,” Samantha said.

“First I will show the boys their job and then I will show the girls.”

We trailed after Vladimir. He gave both boys a couple of watering cans. They were just like the type you would use to water plants but with very long necks. That was important, because while the water bowls for each animal obviously had to be inside the pen, the boys could add water from the outside. That was important to me. I needed to know they would be safe before I felt free to leave them.

Each time, before adding the water, the boys had to reach inside with a long-handled scrub brush and give the bowl a good scour. That way they didn’t add good water to bad.

The first water delivery was to the two leopards. The cats, despite Nick’s efforts to coax them closer, sat in the far corner of the pen, ignoring everybody. As we walked away, I noticed the leopards were already lapping up the fresh water.

The next animal was a jaguar. He, too, started off in the far corner, but as soon as Vladimir and the boys crossed behind the spectators’ chain, he started to move. Slowly, going from behind one piece of cover to the next, he came toward them. It was obvious he was stalking them. Finally he made a tremendous rush for the fence and bounced against the mesh.

Nick, Danny and their water containers flew into the air, and Vladimir burst into laughter. Once I was sure they were all safe, I had to admit I thought it was pretty funny, too.

Vladimir walked over to where we stood, and the boys followed. He was still chuckling. “The rest of the animals are no problem. Boys, keep giving water. I will show the girls their job.”

We followed Vladimir into a small building. A big freezer, sort of like a meat locker, was on the far wall. On the other side there was a sink, a counter and a big chopping block. The place was like a big, run-down kitchen.

“What’s with all the flies?” Samantha asked.

That was a good question. They were buzzing through the air, and there must have been about a dozen fly strips covered with flies hanging from different places around the room.

“Flies like food. Food is kept here.” Vladimir turned to me. “Big girl Sarah, your brother said you like cooking.”

“I think it’s more that he likes me cooking so he can eat.”

Vladimir chuckled again. “Funny joke.”

“Are we going to cook something for the animals?” Samantha asked.

“Not cook. Fix. I will show you.” Vladimir opened the door of the big meat locker. A frosty fog escaped the freezer as he walked inside. He grabbed a large container, walked out and pushed the door closed with his foot, dropping the container onto the floor with a thud.

“The animals will eat chicken,” he said, taking off the lid to reveal the contents. It was filled with chickens — still covered with feathers. He reached in and grabbed one by the neck. Its lifeless limbs were still attached. “But before we feed, we must fix.”

Vladimir dropped the bird onto the chopping block, grabbed a large cleaver with one hand and brought it down with a resounding thud, cutting the head off the chicken. Samantha screamed and I shuddered. Quickly he spun the bird around and chopped off both feet, stretched out one wing, cut it off and then did the same with the second wing.

“Next we must take care of the feathers,” he said. With one hand he held the chicken, while with the second he started to rip out feathers. They came away from the flesh with a soft ripping noise, like the sound when you undo Velcro. “This bird is ready,” he said as he tossed it into the sink.

“You want us to give that bird to an animal?” Samantha asked.

“That bird and all the rest. We need forty chickens. Here,” he said, holding out the cleaver.

“You want us to do that?” Samantha asked in total disbelief.

Vladimir nodded.

“There’s no way in the whole world I’m ever going to do that!” Samantha exclaimed. “Never!”

Vladimir looked confused. “Little girl Samantha does not eat chicken?”

“Of course I eat chicken. I just never —”

“Give me the thing,” I said, walking over and shaking my head.

I took the cleaver from his hand. I was amazed at how heavy it was. Vladimir took out another chicken and plopped it onto the chopping block in front of me. Suddenly this didn’t seem like such a good idea. I eyed the chicken. Its lifeless form looked back at me, the head tilted on a strange angle. It could have been sleeping. I really, really didn’t want to do this. I glanced over at Samantha. She looked completely disgusted. Smiling, I brought the cleaver down with a resounding smack, cutting right through the neck.

The first half-dozen were the hardest. After that it was just chop, chop, chop, chop, and the chicken was separated from its head, legs and two wings. Samantha had gone from looking as if she were going to run out the door to actually being able to help. She’d noticed an old pair of work gloves on a window ledge and, after putting them on, had slowly, carefully plucked one of the birds. She got faster with the second, and then faster again, and was now almost keeping up with me.

“These flies are driving me crazy,” I said.

“They’re disgusting. I wish there was something we could do about them.”

“Let’s finish up fast and wait for Vladimir outside,” I said. Once we’d gotten started he’d left to check on the boys and do some other chores.

“This isn’t what I thought I’d be doing here,” Samantha said as she stripped away the feathers from another bird.

“Me neither. I thought I’d be cuddling with baby animals.”

“It sounds like Mr. Armstrong doesn’t keep the babies around long enough to cuddle with,” she said.

“I guess it takes a lot of money to buy all the stuff they have. It has to come from somewhere. I wonder what a lion cub is worth.”

“I don’t know, but I do know that Mrs. Armstrong shops at some pretty expensive stores,” Samantha said. “Did you see all those bags from Granville’s? That’s a really fancy place.”

“You’ve shopped there?”

“Not the one in this town, but the one where I live. Haven’t you ever been in one of their stores?”

She had that annoying “I’m better than you” tone to her voice again. “I’ve never even heard of it,” I said. “So I doubt they’ve got a store near where I live.”

“That’s too bad because —”

“Chicken all ready?” Vladimir asked as he came back in through the door.

“Almost,” I said, grateful for the interruption. “Just a couple more to do. How are the boys doing?”

“Doing good. They have finished with the water. Now they are cleaning the pen.”

“Which pen?” I asked in alarm.

“Kushna, the tiger.”

“But you said he was dangerous!”

“He is, but the boys are safe. Kushna is locked in his side pen. Big girl Sarah, you worry too much. Vladimir will take care of everything. Everything is fine. Come, feed the animals.”

We followed Vladimir across the compound. He was pushing a wheelbarrow filled with the chickens we’d prepared.

“Look, goats!” Samantha said.

There were five or six wandering around.

“Do you want us to catch them?” I asked.

“No catch,” Vladimir said. “I let the goats go free in the park each morning. Goats, ducks, chickens, pheasants all go free during the day and are put away at night in their pens.”

“Why do you put them away at night?” I asked.

“To keep safe.”

“Safe from what?”

“Coyotes.”

“I didn’t know you had coyotes,” I said.

“I do not have coyotes. Nature does. Coyotes live in the forest and come into the park at night sometimes, to eat from the garbage cans.”

“And they’d eat the goats?” I asked. Those goats were a fair size and had horns. They looked as if they could take care of themselves.

“Wouldn’t it be easier to keep the goats and other animals in cages all the time?” Samantha asked.

“Easier, but visitors like to pet animals.”

“Speaking of visitors, when does the park open?” I asked.

Vladimir looked at his watch. “The park opened ten minutes ago.”

I looked around. Other than us and the goats I didn’t see anybody else.

“It will be busy today. Many groups of kids are coming to see the animals.”

The words were hardly out of his mouth when I caught sight of a bunch of kids coming along the path. They were all wearing red baseball caps and were led by a large woman sporting the same hat. As the path opened up, the kids spread out. Some stayed behind the leader, while others walked or ran off in different directions, peering into the various cages.

As that group dispersed, I saw more people heading up the path. There was an older couple, a family with three kids and behind them another cluster of kids. Vladimir was right; it was going to get busy.

•

The boys were still inside the tiger’s cage with a shovel, a rake and a big garbage can. They’d been scooping up tiger poop, bones and food scraps and putting them in the garbage can.

Kushna was locked into a little pen at the side of his cage. Vladimir said it was a “lock-out” pen. I hadn’t noticed before he’d mentioned it, but there was one of those attached to every pen. It was where they put the animals when the big pen was cleaned or if they needed to have a closer look at the animal.

We moved around to the lock-out area to feed Kushna. As we walked, I watched the tiger. He was studying the boys as they cleaned his pen. His eyes were on them the whole time. Then Kushna caught sight of us coming up the side. He bounded over and stood straight up in the pen, reaching almost to the top of the mesh. Thank goodness it had a fenced roof or he could have been over in a second. In the little cage he seemed even bigger, and scarier.

“Come give Vlady a big kiss!” Kushna met Vladimir at the fence and rubbed against him.

“Give Kushna two chickens. Push them through the hole,” Vladimir said.

I took two of the birds and walked over to a small metal-ringed hole in the fence that was large enough to allow a chicken through. As I pushed the first chicken in, there was a whoosh and Kushna bounced over and ripped the bird out of my hands. I stumbled back a step in shock.

“Kushna likes chicken. Put in the second birdie.”

I looked down at the bird in my hand, over at Vladimir and then at Kushna chomping on the first chicken.

“I think Samantha should give him this one,” I said, offering it to her. “I wouldn’t want to cheat her out of the chance to feed a tiger.”

She didn’t look too happy about the suggestion, but reluctantly came forward. She took the bird and pushed it through the hole. It dropped to the ground, almost hitting Kushna in the head as he crunched down on the first one.

“Is that all he gets to eat?” Samantha asked.

“He eats different types of meat. Today it’s chicken. Four chickens.”

“But we only gave him two,” I said.

“Two for breakfast. He will get two more at his lunch feeding. Let’s feed the other animals now.”

We circled back to the front of the cage. I gave Nick and Danny a little wave.

“We’re almost finished!” Danny called out. “The pen’s looking really good!”

“How often do you have to clean the pens?” I asked Vladimir.

“I clean when I have the chance. In the old days I tried to clean every few days.”

“But you don’t clean them as often now?”

“No time since old boss is gone.”

“I guess he’d help,” Samantha said.

“Not just him. Others helped, too.”

“What others?” I asked. I hadn’t seen anybody else helping out.

“There were other people to help feed and clean the pens. Now there is nobody but Vladimir.”

“You must have to work almost nonstop to keep up with everything,” I said.

“I work all the time, but I can not keep up. There is always a pen that should be cleaned, or fence to be fixed, or an animal needs food or water, or is sick. There is always something,” he said, shaking his head. “Big girl Sarah, little girl Samantha and the boys are a big help to Vladimir.”

“That’s okay we’re just glad to —”

“Hey, what you do!” Vladimir screamed.

He stomped off toward a boy about Nick’s age who was standing in front of a pen. He had a stick in his hand. Vladimir reached out and grabbed the stick from the boy. “What you think you do, poking animal!” he yelled.

“I … I … I …” the boy stammered.

“You think fun to hurt animal?” Vladimir demanded. “How you like if Vladimir poke you with stick?” As I’d noticed before his accent seemed to get thicker when he was angry or upset.

The boy’s mouth opened again, but no words came out.

“You nothing but mean boy. Fat, mean boy!”

The boy certainly was a little chunky, but not fat, and even if he was, that wasn’t a very nice thing to say.

“Maybe I should put fat boy in cage with animal he tease. You like to be meal for jaguar, fat boy?”

“Muuuuummmmmy!” the boy screamed, turning and running away as fast as his legs would carry him.

“I don’t think you should have done that,” I said to Vladimir.

“I can not let the boy hurt or tease animals.”

“But what if his mother comes back?” Samantha asked.