Lulu Bell and the Tiger Cub (4 page)

Lulu hung back. She didn't want to leave the hospital and all the fascinating patients there. Everyone went to say goodbye to Dr Bradley and Rachael.

‘Perhaps I could skip lunch and stay here?' Lulu asked her mum. ‘I'm not at all hungry.'

Mum laughed. ‘I don't think so, Lulu. We have to go or we'll miss the seal show after lunch.'

Lulu looked disappointed. Dr Bradley smiled at her.

‘Don't worry, Lulu,' said the vet. ‘Perhaps you can come back to visit soon. Then you can see how Berani and Linh are getting on. And I'd love to see the rest of the Bell family too.'

Lulu turned to her mum. ‘Oh, could we, please? Can we come back
really
soon?'

‘I'm sure we can, honey bun,' said Mum. ‘We'll bring Dad and Rosie and Gus along too.'

Dr Bradley walked them to the door. Just as they were leaving, Lulu had a thought.

‘We haven't finished the treasure hunt trivia,' Lulu reminded everyone. ‘But perhaps Dr Bradley can help us with the last two questions?'

Dr Bradley nodded. ‘I'll try. What do you want to know?'

‘All right,' said Lulu. ‘Which is the sleepiest animal in the zoo?'

‘Ah, that would be the koalas,' said Dr Bradley. ‘They sleep for up to twenty-two hours each day.'

Lauren wrote down the answer.

‘And lastly, which is the most popular animal in the zoo?'

Dr Bradley laughed. ‘That's easy. We did some research and asked thousands of people which was their favourite animal. And do you know what most people said?'

Lulu shook her head. ‘At first, we thought it might be the elephants or the giraffes or the koalas,' she said. ‘But now, I can't choose between Linh the leaf monkey and Berani the tiger cub.'

Dr Bradley winked at Lulu. She leaned over and whispered the answer in her ear. Lulu grinned with delight.

Then everyone hurried outside and down towards the park. The other year three students and the teachers and parents were just finishing their lunch. Miss Baxter was relieved to see Lulu's group finally arrive.

The park was sheltered and warm. The wide grassy lawn was surrounded by a low sandstone wall. Purple lavender blossomed in the flower beds, filling the air with its sweet scent. A turquoise peacock strutted past. He lifted his tail in a gorgeous display, like a green-and-blue patterned fan.

‘Look at those colours,' said Mum, snapping a photograph. ‘He's exquisite.'

Max and Daniel went over to a group of boys sitting on the wall. Max immediately began to entertain them all with his monkey impersonation. He leaped and cavorted. He scratched his head and made ‘oooh-oooh-aaah-aaah' noises. The boys chuckled and giggled as Daniel told them about their adventures at the vet hospital.

Lulu, Molly and Lauren went to sit with Mum in the sun beside the lavender hedge. Everyone opened their lunch boxes except Lulu.

Linh the monkey had destroyed most of Lulu's lunch, so she shared a lamb-and-tomato sandwich with Mum. Molly gave her some of her spicy noodle salad with lime juice and mint. They finished off the meal by passing around juicy red strawberries. The fruit was sweet and delicious.

‘This is wonderful,' said Lulu. She leaned back against the grass. ‘Do you think this has been the best excursion ever?'

‘Absolutely,' said Lauren and Molly together.

One Friday a few weeks later, Dad organised to finish work early. Mum, Dad and Gus came to pick Lulu and Rosie up from school.

Gus was wearing his all-in-one tiger suit, in honour of the trip. Lulu and Rosie wore their warm jackets and scarves over their school uniforms.

As they got in the car, Lulu wriggled with excitement.

‘Hurray,' said Lulu. ‘I'm so glad we're going back to the zoo. I can't wait to show you Berani and Linh.'

Dr Bradley met them at the zoo entrance. She gave everyone a big hug.

‘Come this way,' invited Dr Bradley. ‘I want to show you our new François' leaf monkey enclosure.'

Dr Bradley led the way towards the Asian rainforest trail. Lulu, Rosie and Gus ran from enclosure to enclosure so they could see the different animals on the way. They passed the orang-utans, Asian elephants, gibbons and tapirs.

They stopped at an enclosure surrounded by a glass wall. It was filled with tall trees, vines and fallen logs. Thick leaf litter carpeted the ground. Ten leaf monkeys were inside. Unlike Linh, these monkeys were black with tufts of white whiskers on their faces.

Some were foraging for leaves and fruit. Some were resting and grooming each other high in the branches.

‘Can you see Linh?' asked Dr Bradley.

Lulu noticed that one black-and-white François' leaf monkey was sitting on a high branch. Tucked in her arms was
a smaller monkey with a bright orange head.

‘There she is,' cried Lulu. ‘That's Linh, the baby monkey who escaped.'

‘She has been living with her family for the last few days,' said Dr Bradley. ‘But we still give her bottles of milk several times a day.'

Linh scrambled out of her mother's arms. She galloped along the branch, her tail curled above her head.

‘But Linh doesn't look like the other monkeys,' said Rosie. ‘She has an orange head.'

‘She will stay orange for a few months, then she will turn black like her mother,' explained Dr Bradley. ‘She is quite an acrobat these days.'

The monkey grabbed a hanging rope and swung out high above the ground.
She leaped through the air and landed safely on another branch. She swung and jumped from pole to tree all the way back to her mother.

‘It's so wonderful that we can come and watch these rare animals,' said Dad. He turned to Dr Bradley. ‘You are doing a fantastic job here at the zoo. It's so important that endangered animals like these can survive.'

Dr Bradley smiled. ‘For a while there, we thought we'd lost one baby leaf monkey. Luckily, Lulu found her before she wandered too far.'

Mum hugged Lulu. ‘Our Lulu has an amazing knack for finding lost and injured animals.'

Lulu felt a thrill of pride.

Gus was impatient to be off. ‘Go see tigey.'

Dr Bradley laughed. ‘You make a great tiger yourself, Gus.'

The vet led the way to another rainforest enclosure. Inside, the mother tiger was lying in a patch of wintry sunshine. Three roly-poly tiger cubs tumbled all over her.

‘The biggest one's Berani,' cried Lulu. ‘Look, he's hardly limping at all.'

‘I checked his leg this morning and it's healing beautifully,' said Dr Bradley.

‘The cubs are gorgeous,' said Rosie. ‘I love the littlest one with the white patch on her tummy.'

Gus galloped around pretending to be a tiger cub. He butted into Mum's leg and growled ferociously. Dad scooped
him up and swung him high in the air. Gus sat up on Dad's shoulders and looked down at the real cubs.

Berani noticed the humans and lolloped towards them. He rubbed his furry face against the window. He jumped up, resting his front paws against the glass. Lulu pressed her hands
against the window and pretended to rub his tummy. She imagined she could feel the warmth of his body through the cool glass.

Lulu turned towards Mum and Dad. ‘Can you guess which animals in the zoo are the most popular?' she asked.

‘The pandas?' guessed Dad.

‘The monkeys?' guessed Mum.

Lulu shook her head. She gave Dr Bradley a big smile.

‘The tiger cubs,' announced Lulu.