Tiger Town (4 page)

“That’s very sweet.” She came over and gave me a little kiss on the cheek and a hug. She did the same to Nick. “I’ll see you two later tonight. Be good, and be safe.”

The acting chief nodded good-bye and the two of them left the stable. I breathed a sigh of relief. “Would you do me a favour?” I asked Nick.

“Depends. Is it easy?”

“It’s simple. The next time you start to talk about us going away to camp and the things that happened — don’t. Just keep your mouth shut.”

“Come on, Sarah, I didn’t say anything I shouldn’t have.”

“You were close. There’s lots of things it’s better Mom doesn’t know, and even worse … don’t talk around that guy.”

“Why not? He’s seems like a pretty good guy.”

“Just don’t! Okay?”

Nick shrugged. “Sure. It’s not like I’m going to be running into him every day or anything.”

“Thank you. Now let’s go back inside and I’ll make us both some breakfast.”

“Now you’re talking, Sarah.” We left the barn and started toward the house when I heard the sound of somebody driving up the lane.

“Do you think they forgot something?” Nick asked.

“I don’t know. I just wish they’d both go away and —”

I stopped mid-sentence. Driving up the lane, slowly, was a gigantic tractor trailer truck.

Nick and I stared as the gigantic truck came to a stop with a loud huffing of its air brakes.

“Who is that and what does he —”

Mr. McCurdy popped his head out of the driver’s side window of the rig! He had on a baseball cap, his grey hair sticking out from under it in a thousand different directions. He was wearing his special driving glasses — special because they helped him see, but also because they were pink women’s cat’s-eye glasses, covered in rhinestones, which he’d bought at a flea market.

“Sarah! Nick!” he yelled, waving to us.

Running to the side of the truck, we looked up — way up — to where he sat. He opened the door and started to climb down. He looked so small against the massive truck. I was afraid he might fall, so I tried to get underneath him and catch him if he did.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I live here, remember?”

“Of course, but —”

“I just asked you to watch my house for a few days, not move in for good!”

“I … I mean, I just wasn’t expecting you back at least until tomorrow, or even a couple of days from now.”

“By the time I got there, Vladimir had already gotten a lot of the work done. There wasn’t much left for me to do but load the animals in the trucks.”

“Trucks? As in more than one?” Nick asked.

“Like one plus one. Vladimir is driving the second. He should be here soon.”

“But where did you get these trucks from?” I asked.

“I called in a couple of favours. I still know a lot of people in the circus business, so I borrowed a couple of rigs.”

I looked at the side of the truck. In big, bold letters it said BICKFORD BROTHERS CIRCUS. Underneath the words was a gigantic picture of a tiger jumping through a flaming hoop.

“Do you think Buddha could do that?” Nick asked, gesturing to the picture.

“Look closer at that picture,” Mr. McCurdy said.

“Is that … is that Buddha?” I stammered.

“Can’t you tell?” he asked. “That was in his younger days.”

“But I thought the circus you worked for went out of business,” I said.

“It did, so they sold off the equipment, including this truck. The Bickford Brothers left the picture but painted out the name of that circus and added their name.”

Nick stared up at the graphic. “Wow, that’s amazing! I didn’t know Buddha could do tricks like that.”

“He can do all sorts of things. Buddha is one smart tiger, and I was one smart trainer. Sounds like you were doubting one of us was smart.”

Nick smiled. He always was able to figure out faster than I could when Mr. McCurdy was joking around. “I never had any doubts about the tiger,” Nick said.

Mr. McCurdy chuckled. “Did I travel all this way to get this sort of grief?”

“Could Buddha still do tricks like that?” Nick asked.

“He could, but he’s not going to ever again.”

“Why not?” Nick asked. “It would be cool.”

“No, it wouldn’t,” Mr. McCurdy said. “What it would be is hot … very hot. And dangerous. How’d you like it if I made you jump through a ring of fire?”

“You wouldn’t have to make me,” Nick said. “Build me a ramp and I’ll get on my Rollerblades. I’ll jump through all by myself.”

I shook my head. I knew he wasn’t joking, and that was the scary part. Put my brother on his aggressive inline skates, and he’d jump and grind and spin until he either got really tired or fell down and hurt himself. It seemed to end either way about the same number of times.

“Maybe you’d do it gladly, but a smart animal like Buddha wouldn’t want to go anywhere near fire. All animals are afraid of fire.” Mr. McCurdy paused. “Hated to train animals to do things like that.”

“Then why did you?” Nick asked.

“Not much choice. I didn’t own the circus. I just worked there. Besides, the crowds loved it when something looked flashy, and nothing’s as flashy as fire.”

“But Buddha would still know how to do it, wouldn’t he?” Nick persisted.

“We’re not going to find out. Buddha and I are retired. Nobody’s going to make either of us jump through any hoops ever again.”

“They made you jump through flaming hoops?” Nick asked in amazement, and Mr. McCurdy burst into laughter.

“Nick, it’s just an expression.” I explained.

“It wasn’t with Buddha,” Nick argued.

“But it is with people. It means making people do things they don’t want to.”

“That’s right,” Mr. McCurdy agreed. “And now that I’m an old man, I’ve earned the right not to have to do anything that I don’t want to. Buddha’s earned the same right.”

“Where’s your car?” I asked. Mr. McCurdy drove an old pink convertible.

“I lent it to the same guy I borrowed the trucks from. They don’t need the trucks for a week ’cause they’re set up in town, so he’ll drive around in my car until he needs to load up and move to the next place.”

Suddenly the sound of another truck could be heard. I turned and saw a second big rig creeping along the rutted driveway. It pulled up and halted right behind the first. The truck had barely stopped moving when the driver’s door burst open and out came Vladimir. The second truck was the same size as the first, but it seemed smaller compared to Vladimir. He was just about the biggest human being I’d ever seen, and somehow he looked even bigger than I remembered. Leaping to the ground, he came charging toward us, and I fought the urge to take a step back. I knew Vladimir was just a big, friendly teddy bear, but with his massive size, beard and long hair, he reminded me of a grizzly bear.

“Vladimir!” Nick called out as he rushed to meet him.

“Nicolai!” Vladimir wrapped his arms around my brother, and Nick practically disappeared from view as the Russian picked him off the ground and spun him around. He then gave Nick a big kiss on first one cheek and then the other!

“So good to see you, Nicki!” he said with his thick accent, as he put my brother back on the ground. “And big girl Sarah!” he bellowed. “Good to see you!” He reached out and grabbed me, practically pulling me off my feet. Wrapping me in his arms, he did pull me off the ground. Vladimir spun me around, and I felt like a rag doll. He gave me a kiss on both cheeks before returning me to the ground.

“Don’t you even think about picking me up, you big lug!” Mr. McCurdy warned. “I want my spine to stay in one piece! You understand?”

Vladimir nodded. Walking over, he gave Mr. McCurdy a kiss on one cheek and tried to plant one on the other side before Mr. McCurdy pulled away.

“Now, you just go stopping that as well!” Mr. McCurdy yelled as he wiped his cheek with the back of an old, wrinkled hand.

“But Vladimir always kisses cheeks of friends. Are you not my friend?” he asked, sounding hurt.

“Of course I’m your friend! It’s just that men don’t go around kissing each other!”

“In Russia, men kiss friends.”

“This ain’t Russia. Here we just shake hands or give a little slap on the back — but then again, with those paws of yours it might be better if you don’t go around slapping people, in case they go flying across the room. Understand?”

“Da, Vladimir understands.”

“Good, because we don’t have time for me to be teaching you about manners. Not when we’ve got all these animals to unload.”

The animals! In all the excitement of the trucks arriving, I’d forgotten what was in them.

“Let’s see how they all did on the trip,” Mr. McCurdy said.

Vladimir and Mr. McCurdy circled around to the back of the first truck. Nick and I followed so closely that we almost tripped on their heels. Vladimir reached up and flipped a big bolt, slid it to the side, and the big door swung open.

“Let’s go in and have a look,” Mr. McCurdy said. He put a foot on the bumper and started to climb into the trailer. He was partway up when he seemed to waver. I gasped. Was he going to fall? I started to run over to catch him when I was bumped out of the way by Vladimir. He’d moved as fast as a cat to get beneath Mr. McCurdy, his hands ready to catch him. Mr. McCurdy grabbed the handle and regained his balance, pulling himself up. Vladimir quickly put down his hands. I knew, and I guessed Vladimir did as well, that Mr. McCurdy wouldn’t have been happy with us trying to “save” him.

“Want help up?” Vladimir asked.

“Not me,” Nick answered. He scrambled into the back of the trailer.

“Big girl Sarah?” he asked.

It looked pretty high. A little help wouldn’t hurt anybody. “Sure … thanks.”

Vladimir took my hand, and as I went to put a foot on the bumper, I felt myself being lifted and placed in the back of the trailer. I’d expected a hand, not an elevator ride! Vladimir climbed in beside me.

“This is amazing!” Nick yelled.

I turned. For once he wasn’t exaggerating. The entire truck was filled with animals. There was an aisle down the middle, and both sides were lined with cages. Each one housed an animal. The first cage held the big male lion, Simba. He was lying on his side, eyes closed. Beside him were his mate and two little cubs. The mother was also lying down, and the cubs were nursing. On the other side of the aisle, in the same pen, were the two leopards. They were curled together in a little ball in the back corner. They looked content to be there, as if to say, “As long as we’re together, we’re happy.”

Boo Boo the black bear was beside them. As Mr. McCurdy and Vladimir walked by, she made a sound like a bawling baby and put both paws against the bars.

“How is my baby bear?” Vladimir asked as he bent and pressed his face close. Boo Boo pushed her face against the cage. Her tongue snaked between the bars and licked Vladimir’s face. I shuddered. Boo Boo has just about the worst breath in the entire world.

I walked past Vladimir and stopped in front of the pens holding the two jaguars. They were glaring at me, and the tips of both of their tails were waving back and forth. They weren’t happy — about the truck ride, or being in the small cage, or me being here. I knew enough about jaguars to know they were probably the most unpredictable, dangerous and least trainable of all the cats. I knew all of that without any real experience. I was going to try to keep it that way.

There was a puffing noise, and I turned around. There was Kushna, Vladimir’s big old Siberian tiger. He puffed again. I was glad he was happy to see me. I knew it was crazy, but I thought he understood I’d been part of saving him from those poachers. In my head I figured that it was just wishful thinking, but somehow I thought he sensed it.

Mr. McCurdy stooped beside Kushna’s pen. The tiger came forward and rubbed his head back and forth the way Buddha always did. Mr. McCurdy reached in and began scratching the old cat behind the ears. I had the urge to ask if I could do the same, but this wasn’t the time or place.

“Start unloading now, boss?” Vladimir asked.

“Not yet. First let’s check the other truck.”

“Are my girls in the other truck?” I asked anxiously.

“Course they are. What did you think we’d do, sell ’em?” Mr. McCurdy asked.

“We’ll go see all the other animals.” Vladimir turned to Mr. McCurdy. “Unless Angus wants Vladimir to give food and water to Boo Boo and cats first?”

“They can wait a few minutes more. Besides, I want to have your help with the other animals. Let’s go.”

I walked carefully down the very middle of the aisle between the cages, trying to keep equal distance from the animals on both sides. Vladimir jumped from the truck, and Nick followed closely behind. The Russian reached up and offered me a hand. Cautiously I took it, and he helped me down. I’d been afraid he was going to pick me up again. Mr. McCurdy came next, and Vladimir moved slightly away, not offering a hand. Instead, as Mr. McCurdy turned to climb down, Vladimir moved back, standing right behind him, ready to catch him if he fell. As he got close to the bottom, Vladimir darted out of the way so Mr. McCurdy wouldn’t notice him.

Nick rushed off to the second truck, with Vladimir following almost as quickly. I stayed behind, walking with Mr. McCurdy. He was moving very slowly — more than usual — and looked tired. I wondered how much he’d slept over the past three days, how much he’d had to eat. I knew the last thing on his mind would have been taking care of himself.

“Don’t worry, Sarah. I’m sure they remember you,” Mr. McCurdy said.

“What?”

“The girls. I’m sure they remember you. Isn’t that what you’re worried about? You sure do look worried.”

What was I supposed to say — that I was worried about him? He wouldn’t appreciate that any more than he would Vladimir standing by to catch him. Mr. McCurdy was one stubborn, proud old bird.

“Yeah … that’s what I’m worried about,” I lied.

“Thought so,” he cackled. “I know you so well. I can read you like a book.”

By the time we’d reached the back of the truck, the door was already open and Nick and Vladimir were in the back of the trailer.

“How are they?” Mr. McCurdy called up. “Any fatalities?”

“Fatalities? You mean deaths?” I gasped. “Some of the animals are dead?” My girls were just little — they’d be the most vulnerable!

“Hot, tired, but good. Very good. Come and see,” Vladimir said.

I scrambled up the side of the truck like a mountain goat. I wanted to see the girls. I wanted to see all the animals. Immediately I was struck by a major difference. There was a terrible odour in this trailer.

“It stinks in here!” Nick said, voicing my thoughts. “Smells like something died!”

Oh, my gosh … was he right?

“It’s just the smell of so many animals is such a small space,” Mr. McCurdy said. “Don’t go worrying your sister any more than you have to.”

Of course, there were more animals. The whole place was filled with animals. There were the three giant buffalo in stalls at the side, more than a dozen deer and Peanuts the elephant.

“There are your babies,” Mr. McCurdy said.

One whole side of the trailer was home to the deer. There were legs and spotted bodies and antlers all jammed together. And there, right at the front, side by side, stood my little girls. I bent by the bars and reached in.

“Come here, girls.” They didn’t move. “It’s me … it’s your mommy.”

Of course, I wasn’t really their mother, but I had been there when they were born. Vladimir had had to deliver one of them, because their mother was having trouble. He was able to help the second of the twins, but the mother hadn’t lived. That was one of the saddest things that I had ever seen in my whole life. Because their mother was dead, we had to wash and feed them. Since it was me who did most of it, the two little deer had decided I was their mother.