Tiger in Trouble (11 page)

My eyes fell on Vladimir. He was covered in blood from the tips of his fingers, up his arms, his shirt and pants. At his feet was a large puddle of liquid.

“How did this happen?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper, “Couldn’t we have done something?”

Vladimir shook his head sadly. “Nothing.”

“What if we had called a veterinarian?” Samantha asked.

“No. Could not help. Even old boss could not have saved deer.”

“Maybe we should have just left it alone,” she said.

“If we left it alone, then both mother and baby would have died. We helped and the little one was able to live. We do right,” Vladimir said.

My chin started to quiver, and my tongue felt as if it were getting thick. I knew that tears were close, but I didn’t want to cry. I bit down on the inside of my cheek to force the tears back.

The little deer moved in my arms. I pulled it closer. Poor baby. Poor motherless baby. Who would take care of it? How would it live without its mother? All of a sudden the tears exploded from my eyes. Almost at the same instant, Samantha began to bawl.

“Stop crying!” Vladimir barked. “Stop now!”

How could we not cry?

“You want babies to die, too?” he demanded.

“Babies? The baby deer might die?” I sobbed.

“Not might, will die unless we do things. No time to cry. Time to do.”

“What do we have to do?” I asked, sniffing back the tears.

“Come, bring deer.”

Vladimir stood up, swept the other baby deer into his arms and handed it to Samantha, who had released her grip on the mother deer and taken to her feet as well. I struggled to get up, and Vladimir reached down and grabbed me by the shoulders, helping me to stand.

“Must go quick,” he said.

Carefully Samantha and I started after Vladimir, who had already passed Nick and Danny. I wanted to move quickly but was afraid of tripping and falling on the little deer, or dropping it. I had to be careful.

Moving in the direction of the gate now, we were walking straight toward the other animals. The deer seemed to be watching us, as if they were wondering why we were carrying the babies, or perhaps they were thinking we were responsible for the death of their mother. Thank goodness the buffalo seemed completely absorbed in eating and weren’t even facing us.

I also couldn’t help noticing how all along the outside of the fence the park visitors were following us, trying to get a better look at the babies.

“Hurry up!” Vladimir called. He was at the gate. He’d already unlocked it, removed the chain and stood there with the gate wide open. Danny and Nick were by his side, along with a small crowd of people waiting just outside the fence.

Samantha and I moved more quickly. We reached them and exited through the gate while Vladimir secured it behind us.

“Take deer to Vladimir’s house. Go in back door to kitchen. I meet you there.”

“Where are you going?” I demanded.

“No time to explain. Just go.”

Vladimir moved effortlessly through the crowd. It wasn’t just that he was so big but that people got out of his way. Quite obviously nobody was interested in him. All they wanted to see were the newborn deer.

As I tried to move forward, the crowd closed in on me. People thrust their cameras and phones at us, snapping pictures, and hands came out to touch the deer. We were bombarded by questions and comments. I could hardly move.

“Excuse me,” I said.

People kept pressing forward, trying to see the babies. All I could hear was cooing and comments about how small and cute they were.

“Can I hold one of them?” somebody asked.

“No … you don’t understand. We have to get going.”

“Just let us take a few pictures —”

“Please leave them alone!” I screamed. “Leave us alone. If you don’t let us through, the deer will die!”

Suddenly there wasn’t a sound, and everybody seemed to be staring at me instead of the deer.

“We have to take care of them right away,” I gasped, embarrassed by my outburst as I stumbled forward and the crowd parted for us.

“I thought I was going to have to hit them with my shovel,” Nick said as we left the crowd behind.

“So did I,” I admitted.

We continued to pass people as we moved along the path. Their reactions were shock, surprise and delight. We must have had another half-dozen pictures taken as people fumbled for their cameras. It was strange being the centre of everybody’s attention — or at least holding something that was the centre of attention.

We circled around the side of Vladimir’s house.

“Can you get the door?” I asked Danny.

He opened it and we went inside. We were standing in the middle of the kitchen.

“What now?” Samantha asked.

“We wait for Vladimir.”

“Where did he go?” Nick asked.

“I don’t know any more than you do.” I paused. “I think you can put down the shovel now.”

“I sort of forgot I was still holding it,” he admitted, leaning it against the counter. “Do you think I could hold the deer instead?”

“Sure,” I said as I offered it to him.

“Me, too!” Danny exclaimed.

“Okay, my arms were getting tired, anyway,” Samantha said as she handed the baby to her brother.

“It’s so light,” Danny said as he took it into his arms.

“Not after you’ve been carrying it for a while,” I said. “I just hope Vladimir gets here soon or else —”

“Have to wash deer, dry deer!” Vladimir yelled as he burst through the door. Under one arm he was carrying a pile of books and papers. He put them on the table and went straight to the sink.

“Must fill with warm water. Mummy deer would clean. We must clean,” he said as he started to fill the sink with water.

“Big girl Sarah, you look at books and papers.”

“What are they?” I asked.

“Animal books — to make food.”

“Like a cookbook?” I asked.

“Cookbook?” Vladimir asked.

“Yeah, they contain recipes for food.”

“Yes. Those are cookbooks. We have to find recipe for deer.”

“For the deer?” I gasped.

“To eat. Must eat.”

“You can’t!” I exclaimed. He wanted to eat the deer!

“We won’t let you!” Samantha shouted as she stepped forward and put herself between Vladimir and the two babies in the arms of our brothers.

Vladimir turned from the sink and looked at us. He wore a look of total confusion. “But need to eat. Have to eat.”

“We won’t let you eat these deer!” Samantha yelled.

Good for her!

“No, no, not eat deers. Deers must eat,” Vladimir said.

“You want to feed the deer?” I asked.

“Yes. No mummy to feed, so we must feed.” He paused and his brow furrowed. “You think I want to eat babies?”

“Well …” I muttered, looking at the floor.

“That is what you said,” Samantha argued.

Vladimir’s face got serious and scary, and then he began to laugh — big, loud, rolling laughter. “Vladimir is here to protect animals, not to eat them. Come, bring deers.”

Nick and Danny brought the deer to Vladimir, who gently placed first one and then the other in the sink.

“Hold little ones here, gentle like made of glass.”

While Nick and Danny again put their hands on the deer, Vladimir turned on the taps and filled the sink with water. He tested the water, adjusting first the hot and then the cold tap.

“Mummy deer would lick clean. We scrub.”

“I think this one likes the water,” Nick said.

“Mine, too,” Danny added.

“Big girl Sarah, you go through the books. Find the page that tells us what to feed the deer.”

I looked at the stack of notebooks and loose pages.

“Where should I start?”

“Start at the top, go to the bottom.”

“But that could take all day.”

“We do not have all day. Quit talking, start looking.”

“But don’t you have any idea where to look?” I asked.

“Yes. Look in books.”

“Couldn’t you help me?” I pleaded. Surely he’d have a better idea than me where to look, or would recognize it when he saw it.

“I am washing the deer. And besides, I can not read.”

“You can’t read?” Nick asked in amazement.

“Can’t read English. I can read Russian and Polish and some Latvian. Even some English, but not well. How many languages can Nicolai read?”

“Um … just one.”

I chuckled. “And not even very well in that one.”

“Shut up, Sarah!”

“Do not tell Sarah to shut up. You should always respect your big sister.”

Nick looked as if he wanted to say something back, but I figured the thought of respecting me had caught him so off guard he didn’t know what to say.

“Those books were made by old boss. He made lots of notes about animals. Lots of things like how to make sick buffalo better, or fixing the broken wing of a bird, what vitamins to add and what to feed animals.”

“Do you want me to help look?” Samantha offered.

“No,” said Vladimir. “You have a job to do. Find towels to dry the babies after the bath.”

“How about if we blow-dry them?” Samantha offered.

“I do not have a blow-dryer.”

“I do,” Samantha said.

“I brought one, too,” I said. “Would those work?”

Vladimir nodded. “Go and get.”

Samantha raced out the door, and I flipped open the cover of the first notebook. There was a messy, handwritten index. I scanned the page. It listed things like “A lion had a belly ache,” “Raccoon chow” and “Shoes for a sore-footed sloth.” If I had time, I would have liked to have read through those. Maybe I could look at them later.

I closed the first notebook and grabbed the second. This one was even messier, the handwriting shaky and hard to read and there was no index at the front. I’d have to go through it page by page.

I couldn’t help but glance up at the action at the sink. My view was partially blocked by the backs of the boys and Vladimir, but I could still see the little deer. They were standing in the water in the sink, and everything except their eyes was covered by thick white suds and lather. They looked cute and silly at the same time.

Vladimir picked up a plastic cup from the counter, dipped it in the water, and poured it over the head of one of the deer. The suds melted away with the water, revealing a shiny brown coat punctuated by tiny white markings that hadn’t been visible before.

“I got them!” Samantha yelled as she charged through the doorway holding a blow-dryer in each hand.

“Good, good. We are almost finished washing. Just getting off the soap. Big girl Sarah, have you found food?”

“I’m still looking,” I said, flipping the pages again. “There’s a lot of information in here and I — I found it!” I jumped up from the kitchen table and brought the book over so everybody could see. “It says you can use cow’s milk, homogenized, and then add some cream to it to make it even richer. It should be heated to match the temperature of a deer, but it doesn’t say what temperature that is.”

“I know temperature,” Vladimir said. “Does it say more?”

“Yeah, it says to add vitamins, some liquid vitamins.”

“Probably vitamin D and maybe iron,” Vladimir said.

“That’s exactly what it says.”

Vladimir smiled. “I’ve got lots of vitamins in feed shed.”

“And then … This is strange.”

“What?” Samantha asked.

“It says we’re supposed to use a glove to feed them.”

“A glove?” Samantha blurted. “You’re kidding, right?”

“No, that’s what it says. There’s even a picture,” I said, tilting the picture toward her. It showed three crudely drawn little deer each suckling a different finger of a glove. The other end, the place where the hand would go, held a big bottle, and it looked as if it was secured by a big elastic band.

“I think it’s some sort of rubber glove with holes cut in the end,” I said. “Do you have something like that around?”

Vladimir shook his head. “But I have bottles we could use and — wait, I have seen boss’s wife use gloves to wash dishes. Maybe we can take an old pair.”

“Do you think she’d mind?” I questioned.

“Maybe, maybe not,” Vladimir said, shrugging. “Big girl Sarah, you go and ask.”

“Me? Why me?”

“Other kids will dry the deer. I will mix food for deer.”

“But wouldn’t it be better if you were the one who asked?”

Vladimir snickered. “Better if you ask. It’s better if anybody instead of Vladimir asks. You go.”

“Could Samantha come with me?”

“Sure, I could go along with —”

“No,” Vladimir barked, cutting her off. “Little girl stay to read the book so I can fix the food.”

I opened my mouth to argue, but closed it again. As much as I didn’t really want to go, either alone or with somebody, I was quickly learning that there was no point in arguing with Vladimir. Maybe he didn’t look like my mother, but they did have that in common. Besides, there really wasn’t time to argue — the babies needed to be fed.

“Hurry,” Vladimir said, shooing me.

I handed the book to Samantha and started for the door.

“And do not go to the front door of the house. Go side, kitchen — servant’s entrance.”

•

I knocked on the door again. There was still no answer. I knocked a third time, much louder, so loud that the window rattled ominously and there was no doubt it could be heard in the entire house. That was assuming somebody was home. I waited and listened, holding my breath, my head turned, an ear almost touching the door. I didn’t have time to wait for them to answer the door. Maybe they were still in bed. If they had been asleep, that knock would have woken the dead. Maybe they weren’t home.

I looked up the driveway. The garage door was open. The big new SUV, which I had helped unload yesterday, was nowhere to be seen. They must be out, and I certainly didn’t have time to wait for them to get back. Then again, maybe I didn’t have to wait.

I put a hand on the doorknob and tentatively turned it. It wasn’t locked. Slowly I pushed the door, and it swung open silently to reveal an empty kitchen.

“Hello!” I called out.

Nothing. I leaned in, my head over the threshold but my feet still firmly planted outside. Craning my head, I could see the whole kitchen. There was nobody. I took a small half step into the kitchen. Part of me was screaming that I shouldn’t be walking into somebody’s house, but the other half was just as sure I had no choice. I had to do it for the babies. That half won the internal argument, and I moved forward.