Tiger Town (16 page)

Mr. McCurdy smiled, but it was a sad smile. “I appreciate all you’re saying. I really do. And I know you mean well, but I don’t think it matters what you do or what any of us does.”

“But we could try,” I said.

“It’s useless. No matter what we do the mayor isn’t going to let his cousin pass us. He’s going to find one thing or another that’s going to finish us, even if he has to change the way the law reads.”

“It won’t happen that way,” Martin said. “Because I won’t let it. I know the law, and if you meet the standards, I won’t allow them to do anything.”

“The mayor won’t like that,” I said.

“And then he won’t let you become the chief of police,” Nick said.

“First of all, I want to be the chief to uphold the law, not to do what the mayor or anybody else wants. Secondly, if I follow the law, nobody, including the mayor, can punish me for it. If he tries, I’ll sue him!”

“I know a good lawyer,” I said.

“I don’t know if I can afford your mother’s rates,” Martin said.

I smiled. “I can’t say for sure, but I figure the cost of a couple of dinners might cover it.”

“Are you sure she’ll go for that?” Martin asked.

“I’ll talk to her,” Nick said, jumping in before I could answer. “She usually listens to me. She trusts my judgement.”

Martin smiled. “That’s important, you know … trusting people.” He paused. “Do you people trust me?”

I nodded.

“So do I,” Nick said.

“Vladimir?” Martin asked.

Vladimir shrugged. “You seem okay to me.”

All eyes now turned to Mr. McCurdy. He cleared his throat. “Trusting you is one thing. You being able to help us is something else. Unless you have some idea about how we can fix up those pens and how we can feed the animals afterward, all the trust in the world isn’t going to do a thing.”

“You’re right, and that’s why I’ve been thinking.”

“You have an idea?” I asked.

“I have lots of ideas, but the most important of those is the one all of you already came up with — the one you talked to me about.”

“What idea is that?” I asked.

“At dinner that night with your mother and brother you mentioned how wonderful it would be to turn this place into an animal park, a zoo, just like Vladimir ran before,” Martin said.

Mr. McCurdy scoffed. “We’re having trouble just hanging onto what we got without trying to build an impossible dream.”

“I was just talking,” I said.

“You don’t understand. That dream is what will hold everything together,” Martin insisted.

“Even if we wanted to try,” Mr. McCurdy said, “we can’t even get the material to fix the pens we have and —”

Suddenly I was hit by an inspiration. “What about the materials at the old park?”

“The old park?” Vladimir asked.

“What happened to the cages, the ticket booth, the snack bars and the other stuff?” I asked.

“It is still there until the property is taken over by the city,” Vladimir said.

“Could we take them?” I asked. “Would anybody mind?”

“Nobody would mind. I could take!” Vladimir said. “I can take the truck and go and get all of those things!”

“How far is it from here?” Martin asked.

“About ten hours each way,” Mr. McCurdy answered.

“Less … I drive fast,” Vladimir said.

“Okay, about a day round trip, plus the time needed to take things apart and load them into the truck.”

“It would be faster if he had somebody to share the driving and help load things up,” I suggested.

“How about if I go along?” Nick asked.

“You?”

“Yeah. I can’t drive, but I can help with everything else.”

“Would that be okay with your mother?” Martin asked.

“I think it would,” I answered. “You could go along, too.”

“I think I should stay here. I can start to get the pens ready — I’m pretty good with tools — and there are a few other things I want to look into. Besides, it might be better if I stay around in case the mayor or that inspector or even those demonstrators cause any problems.”

That made sense.

“There’s only one thing we need to set this plan in motion.” He turned to Mr. McCurdy. “I know it’s a long shot, but do we try?”

Every eye was trained on Mr. McCurdy. He didn’t answer right away.

“Nope,” he said, and I felt my heart sink. “We aren’t going to try … we’re going to succeed.”

•

I followed Martin and Mr. McCurdy as they moved from pen to pen.

At each pen Martin would ask questions, check the inspection papers and make notes. We’d started at the pen with the buffalo and deer. From there we’d checked out Peanuts and now were finally looking at the cats and Boo Boo. It certainly wasn’t going quickly.

I looked at my watch. Nick and Vladimir had been gone almost four hours. They’d charged out of here so fast they didn’t even stop to pack a toothbrush — of course, that would be fine with Nick.

I still had about three hours until Mom arrived. Three more hours to figure out how I was going to explain why I’d allowed Nick to go with Vladimir. Hopefully she’d understand, but if she didn’t … so what? What was she going to do — chase after him?

“Okay, that’s all the animals in the field and the barn,” Martin said. “Now we have to decide what to do with your house pets.”

“What do you mean, what to do with them?” Mr. McCurdy asked.

“The orders specifically mention the cheetah and your chimp. We have to fix something for them.”

“There’s no way in the world I’m ever going to keep Calvin or Laura in a cage in the barn!” Mr. McCurdy shouted.

“Nobody’s talking about keeping them in the barn or a cage,” Martin said.

“Then what exactly do you have in mind?”

“Let’s go up to the house. It’ll be easier for me to show you than to explain it.”

We left the barn and headed for the house.

“How many acres you have here?” Martin asked.

“Close to two hundred.”

“Are you working any of the fields?”

“I’m no farmer,” Mr. McCurdy said.

“How would you feel about a farmer working some of the fields — renting them from you?”

“Thought about it, but there’s not much money to be made.”

“Maybe not much money, but how about a trade?” Martin asked.

“What sort of trade?”

“Let’s say a farmer rents a couple of your fields and he puts in some grain and some hay. In exchange for working your fields he gives you enough grain, hay and straw to take care of your animals.”

“That would be great!” I said, answering for Mr. McCurdy.

“Do you think that could happen?’ Mr. McCurdy asked.

“I was talking to a couple of the local farmers this morning when I dropped into the coffee shop — a lot of them get their morning coffee after doing their first chores — and I sort of mentioned I knew somebody who might want to make a deal like that.”

“What did they say?” Mr. McCurdy asked.

“They were practically tripping over each other. If you want, I’ll bring you there for a coffee tomorrow morning and we’ll see if we can get the deal done.”

“That would be amazing,” I said. “Thank you so much! Now if only you could figure out a way to get food for the cats.”

“Oh,” Martin said, “didn’t I mention it? I have that one figured out, as well.”

“You do? How? What?”

He smiled. “Would the cats eat deer?”

“Deer? There’s no way they’re going to eat our deer!”

“Not your deer. Dead deer. Remember when your mother almost struck that deer?”

“Of course I do.”

“Well, I was talking to my buddy, the animal-control inspector you met, and he was telling me there’s a couple of deer killed by cars every week throughout the county. It’s up to Animal Control to pick them up. He told me it would be no problem to drop them in here. It would make it easier for them to dispose of the bodies. Would the cats eat deer?”

“For sure! The cats would eat ’em, and those they don’t eat right away I could store in the freezer for later.”

“Good, then that sounds like two problems down,” Martin said.

We entered the farmhouse and walked down the hall to the kitchen. Laura was asleep on the couch. Calvin was sitting at the kitchen table. On his head was Martin’s police hat!

“Hey!” Martin shouted. “Take off my hat!”

Calvin looked suitably embarrassed. He reached up and took the hat off, handing it to Martin. It was slightly bent out of shape and there was something — some sort of stain — on one side.

“At least he didn’t take your gun,” Mr. McCurdy said.

“That is a plus, which of course leads us to our next problem. You need a cage for Laura and Calvin.”

“There’s no way they’re going in any cage in the barn!” Mr. McCurdy thundered.

“I wasn’t thinking about the barn, or a cage. I was thinking more of a guest bedroom.”

“You want to explain that?” Mr. McCurdy asked.

“How many bedrooms do you have in this house?” Martin asked.

“Four.”

“So that’s one for you, one for Vladimir, one for other guests and one we’re going to convert to a special bedroom for your two house pets.”

“There’s no way they’ll stay in one room.”

“It’ll help if you put in Laura’s favourite couch, her litter box, that chair that Calvin likes and —”

“And the fridge?” Mr. McCurdy asked. “That fridge is Calvin’s very favourite thing in the whole house. He’ll keep leaving that room to get himself a drink.”

“Not if there are bars on the windows and the door.”

“It doesn’t seem right to keep them in a cage like that … just doesn’t seem right.”

“I only want you to keep them in that one room when the inspector is here. After he leaves …”

“They’re free to wander the house as usual,” I finished.

“Exactly,” Martin agreed. “Does that seem okay?”

Mr. McCurdy nodded.

“So what do we do now?” I asked.

“I’ve got to get to town to take care of some business,” Martin answered.

“I’ve got to finish feeding the animals,” Mr. McCurdy said.

“I can help you with that,” I added.

“You can do that after you finish a couple of other things,” Martin said.

“What sort of things?”

“You’re going to make some lemonade and bake muffins — Mr. McCurdy, Nick and your mother all agree you make fantastic muffins.”

“I could do that.”

“After you’re finished, you’re going to take the lemonade, a bunch of glasses, all the muffins and go up to the top of the driveway and offer them to the protesters.”

“Why would I want to do that?” I couldn’t believe my ears.

“Because they must be thirsty and hungry.”

“I don’t care if they’re dying of thirst!”

“You’re also doing it because you’re a nice person, and because they’re really not that much different than you.”

“How can you think I have anything in common with some nut named Rainbow?” I demanded.

“She’s not responsible for the name her parents gave her. Why do you think she’s out there in the hot sun holding up a sign?” Martin asked.

“Because she’s a nut!”

“No, because she has a true love of animals and is committed to trying to save them … which sounds a lot like why you’re here.”

I didn’t know what to say to that.

“And finally, you’re going to be nice to them because maybe, just maybe, we can convince them we really do all have the same goals in mind, and we might all end up on the same side. Does that make sense?”

I nodded. “What kind of muffins do you think Rainbow would like?”

“Judging from her name, I think something with a lot of fruits, grains and nuts would be most appropriate,” Martin answered.

I walked behind the little knot of people that included Mr. McCurdy, my mom — acting as his lawyer, the bylaw inspector, the animal-control officer, Rainbow, Martin, the newspaper reporter and, finally, the mayor. I knew the mayor was only there for one reason — to try to make sure Mr. McCurdy failed the inspection. Boy, was he going to be disappointed.

Nick and Vladimir were nowhere to be seen. Partly that was because until the paperwork had come through — my mother had filed it with the immigration department the day before — we wanted Vladimir to lie low. The other reason was that the two of them were going from pen to pen, just before we’d get there with the inspector, to make sure everything was perfect.

“I’m so glad to be a part of this,” Rainbow said quietly to me.

“After all the work you and your friends did to help, you deserve to be here.”

“It was just so wonderful to be part of saving these magnificent animals,” she said.

Rainbow and a few of the other protesters had worked as hard as anybody over the past two days to get the farm in shape. Once they understood that if Mr. McCurdy failed the inspection, the animals wouldn’t be freed — they’d be killed — they decided to help make things work. Martin had been right about them loving animals. Actually Martin had been right about a lot of things.

My mother stopped at the door to the stable. “Before we allow you to start this inspection —”

“You should realize you have no choice but to allow this inspection!” the mayor said, cutting her off.

“And you should realize you’re simply a guest … here only because Mr. McCurdy has allowed you to be.”

“I’m the mayor!”

“I don’t care if you’re the Queen of England,” my mother countered. “You have no authority to be here on private property.”

“As the mayor I have —”

“No authority to be here,” my mother said firmly. “Perhaps you might want to check with the acting chief.”

The mayor stared at Martin. “Well?”

“She’s correct. The only people who have the authority to be here are the two inspectors. Technically they could ask me to leave, as well.”

“I think it’s essential the chief be here. You wouldn’t do that … would you … ask the chief to leave?” the mayor asked. He suddenly didn’t sound so confident.

“He can stay,” Mr. McCurdy said.

The mayor smiled, and the tension on his face seemed to dissolve.

“But you’re a different matter,” my mother said, looking directly at the mayor. “So I’d mind my manners, or I’ll ask the police to have you removed.”

The mayor remained silent while others among us tried to stifle laughter.

“Now that we all agree on those points,” my mother said, “I want to make a statement for the press.” The reporter pulled out his pad. “We welcome the press, inspectors and the public. We’ve made every effort to bring all parts of this operation up to the standards established by the municipal bylaws … and believe me, I’m completely familiar with each of the bylaws.”

“As are our inspectors,” the mayor said.

“Excellent. Then there will be no confusion,” my mother continued, “because I’m also very familiar with the difference between an inspection and harassment.”

“Are you implying we’re harassing your client?” the mayor asked.

“I’m implying nothing. I’m stating that I know the difference between the law and a lawsuit and would be prepared to launch the latter if the former isn’t followed.”

The mayor didn’t answer. He didn’t look nearly as smug or happy as he had before. “Please, let’s get on with the inspection,” he finally said.

We all filed into the barn, one after the other. It was brightly lit — all the fluorescent lights were glowing. The floor was clean and bare. Strangest of all was the smell. The barn smelled like fresh flowers, courtesy of two whole cans of air freshener. The stables along both walls had been replaced with the specially fitted mesh and bars that had made up the cages and enclosures at the Armstrong animal farm.

The two inspectors went to the cage. One pulled out a tape measure and began measuring the bars. The mayor, my mother and Martin stood right behind the two of them, peering over their shoulders. I retreated to the far side of the barn where I could watch but keep some distance from the action. Along the wall there were hundreds of bales of hay — part of the deal Martin had arranged between Mr. McCurdy and the farmer who was going to plant two of his fields. Rainbow came over and stood beside me.

“It really looks good in here,” she whispered.

“Really good.”

“Do you think it’s going to take a long time?”

“I’m worried it’s going to take as long as they need to find something wrong,” I said under my breath.

“We might as well make ourselves comfortable,” Rainbow said as she sat on one of the bales of hay. I sat beside her. I could watch just as easily sitting as I could standing. Besides, with Martin and my mother right there, they’d make sure things went the right way.

•

“We’re finished here,” the bylaw-enforcement officer said.

“And?” my mother asked.

“We should go and inspect the pen holding the buffalo and deer.”

“But what about this area?” my mother persisted.

“I’m finished with this area,” the bylaw-enforcement officer said.

“I understand that. Did it pass the inspection?”

“Yes, I would think there’s no need to look further if these pens are unsatisfactory,” the mayor said.

The inspector scowled and didn’t answer right away. Did that mean he was just waiting, savouring the bad news and then —

“They’re fine,” he said softly.

“They passed inspection?” the mayor sounded shocked.

The inspector nodded.

“Fantastic!” my mother exclaimed.

Rainbow and I exchanged high-fives.

“So we’ve passed the inspection?” my mother asked.

“You’ve passed the first part of the inspection.”

“Therefore, there are no grounds for the removal of any of these animals,” my mother stated.

That meant Buddha, Kushna, the leopards, lions, jaguars and Boo Boo were all okay — nobody could take them away. I looked at Mr. McCurdy. For the very first time I saw a little smile appear on his face.

“There are still other animals to be inspected,” the bylaw inspector answered.

“I suggest we go around to the front of the barn where you can look at the new enclosure that’s been constructed for the elephant.”

“You built a new enclosure?” the mayor asked.

“We built new enclosures for all the animals,” my mother answered.

The mayor didn’t seem happy. Mr. McCurdy started to giggle, and my mother shot him a dirty look. He stopped. Before anybody arrived, my mother had warned Mr. McCurdy that he was to do nothing to insult the mayor or make fun of him.

“Please follow me, gentlemen,” my mother said, and the parade of people filed out of the stable. I watched them walk off and then quickly moved back the other way to the rickety old steps running up to the main level. I took the stairs two at a time. I needed to get upstairs before they did to warn Vladimir and Nick they were coming. The two needed to get out of there, out of sight and up to the deer enclosure.

“Nick! Vladimir!” I called out as I reached the top of the stairs.

They stepped out of the shadows. Peanuts was standing in the big doorway, partway out and partway in the barn.

“They’re coming. You two have to get up to the deer pen.”

“We were trying to listen,” Nick said. “How did it go?”

“The pens passed the inspection,” I said.

“Fantastic!” Nick yelled, and Vladimir picked him up and spun him around.

“Can you two save your little celebration dance until it’s all over? You have to get out of here fast before they come!”

Vladimir put Nick down. They both headed for the big door.

“Not that way!” I yelled. “Go down the stairs and circle around the barn — really wide — so they don’t see you.”

I started back down the stairs, and they were practically riding on my heels. I ran for the stable door, trying to catch up to the group. I didn’t want to miss anything that was going to happen.

“Sarah!” Nick called out, and I skidded to a stop and turned around. “Sarah … take care of Peanuts.”

“He’s okay, isn’t he?”

“I mean, don’t let them take Peanuts away,” Nick said.

“He’ll be fine.”

“Promise?”

“You want me to promise you he’ll be okay?” I questioned.

Nick shook his head.

“But I don’t know if his pen will pass the inspection,” I pleaded. “I can’t guarantee that.”

“I don’t want you to guarantee it. I want you to promise that if it fails the inspection you’ll come up with something to save him, something that’ll stop them from taking away my elephant.”

“But, Nick, I don’t know if I can do that.”

“Sure you can, Sarah. You always think of something. That’s why I trust you so much,” he said.

“Yeah, right, so what’s the punchline?” I asked, not expecting a compliment from my brother.

“No punchline. I do trust you. Please, promise me.”

“If it fails the inspection, I don’t know what I can do.”

“You’ll think of something, Sarah. Just have as much faith in yourself as I do. Promise?”

“Okay … I promise. Now get going!”

Nick and Vladimir circled around the barn in one direction — they were going to take a route through the forest to stay under the cover of the trees — and I ran around the other direction to catch up to everyone else. I caught up to the group just as they reached the fence surrounding the outside part of Peanuts’ enclosure.

“This little fence is hardly high enough to contain an elephant,” the mayor said. “We can’t have it rampaging along our roads anymore.”

“I don’t believe it ever was rampaging along the roads,” my mother said. “And that little fence is certainly high enough. You see, elephants aren’t noted for their ability to jump over things.”

“Jumping isn’t involved. He could just step over it,” the mayor said. “Wouldn’t you agree?” he asked the inspector.

Before the inspector could speak, my mother jumped in. “It doesn’t matter what he thinks because we know. This fence was built to the specifications supplied by the National Zoo, and here are the papers to prove it. Would you like to see them?”

Without saying a word the inspector reached out, took them from her and began flipping through them.

“Regardless of the height, what’s to stop the elephant from simply smashing through that fence? It certainly doesn’t look that strong,” the mayor said.

“Two things,” my mother said. “Those posts are driven into the ground almost a metre deep. And you might notice the small strand of wire extending along the fence. It’s electrified wire.”

“You mean like they use to contain cattle?” the mayor asked. “But could that control an elephant?”

“I’m certain it would be effective,” the animal-control officer — Martin’s good friend — said. He’d been here a lot over the past three days helping, giving advice and even pitching in with the work. I knew he’d say nothing to hurt us.

“Well,” the mayor said, “is the electricity turned on?”

“Why don’t you reach down and touch it to find out?” Mr. McCurdy suggested under his breath. My mother shot him a dirty look.

The mayor didn’t say a word. Either he didn’t hear Mr. McCurdy, chose to ignore him or just didn’t understand exactly what he had meant.

“I can’t help but notice how you’ve made this pen very livable for the animal,” the animal-control officer said.

“We’ve spent a lot of time and effort to do that,” Mr. McCurdy answered.

“What are those two poles for?” the bylaw inspector asked. He was referring to two tall poles, even taller than Peanuts. There were two bales of hay tied to the top of each of them.

“Elephants are used to reaching up to get leaves from trees. This makes it similar,” Mr. McCurdy said.

“Wasn’t that pond filled with filthy water when I was here for the original inspection?” the inspector asked.

“Yes, it was,” my mother confirmed. “But as you can tell, it’s now clean and fresh. So fresh you could drink from it.”

What my mother didn’t explain was how it got clean. Martin had arranged for one of his friends — the fire chief — to send over one of his pumper trucks. The firemen had used the truck and hoses to drain the whole pond and then refill it from the creek. Martin had explained that the fire chief didn’t like the mayor any more than he did, and was happy to help out.

Mr. McCurdy had told us there was a little spring at the bottom of the pond. Between the spring and rainwater, if all went well, it might stay clean for a long time. And then, the fire chief had offered to bring back his pumper truck to start all over again.

I couldn’t help but think what the mayor would do if he found out what his fire department had done, but Martin had told me it was “covered.” Apparently the fire chief had listed it in the log as a training exercise for his pump crew and just hadn’t written down where the “exercise” took place. Actually Martin had arranged for a whole lot of his friends and fellow city employees to come and help.

People from the power company came and hooked up lines to supply the electrical fences, a works department crew drove the poles into the ground for Peanuts’ enclosure and clerks down at city hall made sure we got some of the special papers and permits we’d needed.

There were the other people who had helped: Rainbow and the other protesters; two guys from the lumber company who donated wood and materials; and the farmer who had brought over grain and hay in exchange for the fields he was going to work next spring.

“You’ll find this pen to be in perfect shape,” my mother said. “You’ll find that all the pens are not only able to pass this bylaw inspection but are up to the standards established by zoos across the country. And we’ve done that for a very special reason.” She paused and then slowly turned to me. “Sarah, can you do the unveiling?”

I walked over to the shed that sat just outside Peanuts’ enclosure. A gigantic tarp covered the entire side of the small building. I reached up and pulled it away to reveal brilliant, newly painted letters that read TIGER TOWN.