Tiger Town (8 page)

His words were cut off by the sound of a car horn blaring. Mr. McCurdy looked at me, and I knew we were both thinking the same thing. The road was just up ahead, and the buffalo must be on it.

“We’d better hurry,” he said.

We doubled our pace up the bumpy and rutted lane. Calvin let go of Mr. McCurdy’s hand so he could use both of his arms — knuckles on the ground — to keep up with us.

There was a swooshing noise and a flash of colour as a car sped past the driveway along the road. I listened closely, holding my breath, hoping that sound wouldn’t be followed by either a honk or a crash. Nothing. We reached the road. There, up ahead, were the buffalo. Two, the female cows, were grazing in the grass at the side while the third, the big male, was standing defiantly in the middle of the gravel road. That car must have had to edge over to one side to get by the big buffalo.

“What do we do now?” I asked.

“Me and Calvin are going to sneak through the field so we can get on the other side of the buffalo.”

“What do I do?”

“You just move that way a dozen or so metres,” Mr. McCurdy said, pointing down the road in the opposite direction from where the buffalo were.

All at once I felt relieved and disappointed. “But I want to help.”

“You will be helping,” he said.

“How will I be helping by getting out of the way?”

“You don’t understand, Sarah. Once Calvin and me get to the far side of the buffalo, we’re going to try to drive ’em back in this direction, and that’s where you come in.”

“Me?”

He nodded. “You’re going to scare ’em into going down the driveway instead of farther along the road.”

“Me? I’m going to do that by myself?” I sputtered.

“Hopefully not. By the time we work our way around to the far side, I’m thinking Nick’ll be here. So the two of you and a couple of shovels are going to drive those buffalo back down the driveway. Understand?”

I nodded dumbly in agreement. I certainly understood what he had in mind. Doing it was a different thing entirely. He wanted me — and Nick if he’d hurry up and get here — to stand in the middle of the road and direct a stampeding herd of buffalo. Gee, that certainly didn’t seem difficult. Nearly impossible, yes; difficult, no.

Startled by the sound of a vehicle, I turned in time to see a car speeding up the road toward the buffalo and me. I waved my arms to get the driver’s attention. He slowed down, and I moved to the side of the road so he could pass. The driver stopped beside me and rolled down his window.

“Wow, I’ve seen a lot of cows get loose around here and get to the road, but this is a first — a buffalo,” he said.

“Well, this is the first time they’ve gotten loose,” I answered. Of course, that was the truth, because today was the first time they’d ever been here.

“Is it safe for me to drive by?” he asked.

At least two other cars that I knew of had driven by. “Sure, I guess.”

“Good luck rounding them up,” he said.

He drove slowly forward, going to the far side of the road, away from the two buffalo grazing in the grass, and giving the big guy in the centre as wide a berth as he could. That went okay. Now, if my brother could just get here so I wouldn’t be alone.

Off to the side, in the field, I caught sight of Mr. McCurdy and Calvin. They were making a big circle around the buffalo, trying not to be noticed until they came out on the far side. It wouldn’t take them long to get into position and start driving the buffalo back toward me. A shiver went up my spine. Please, Nick, stop whatever you’re doing and get here, I thought. I promise I won’t yell at you for taking so long. Just get here as fast as you can …

I stopped mid-thought as I saw Nick coming up the lane. He was riding on the back of Peanuts!

I was hit by a wave of confused thoughts and emotions. I didn’t know whether to feel grateful, upset, angry, shocked or surprised. So I was all of them at once.

Nick waved at me, and even from that distance I could see that he was smiling. How dumb was he being? We needed him to drive the buffalo back into the pen, and he was selfishly taking this opportunity to joyride on the elephant and — of course! How dumb was
I
being? Nick was bringing the elephant to help. The buffalo were afraid of Peanuts, and Nick had used Peanuts to drive them into the pen in the first place, so he could do the same thing now. Rather than it just being me, or even me and Nick, trying to drive the buffalo down the lane, now it was Nick, an elephant and me! This just might work.

“Ya! Get moving!” Mr. McCurdy yelled.

I looked over. He and Calvin were on the road on the far side of the buffalo. He was screaming and yelling and flapping his arms, trying to drive the buffalo toward me. But Nick wasn’t here yet! He was still down the lane! Mr. McCurdy hadn’t seen him, and if the buffalo got to the lane before Nick got out on the road, he’d just drive them farther away.

“Get moving!” Mr. McCurdy shouted.

The biggest buffalo turned to face him, stubbornly not moving. It began to paw at the ground as if it were going to charge him. This wasn’t good. This was terrible! Mr. McCurdy was too old to be dodging a charging buffalo.

A car appeared on the road behind Mr. McCurdy. It was small and blue and moving at a tremendous pace. The driver bounced up the road, saw him, swerved, slammed on the brakes and screeched to a stop, just missing him!

The big buffalo spun around and began to run in my direction. The other two joined in. All three were racing toward me! Oh, my God!

“Hurry up, Nick!” I screamed in desperation.

I glanced up. The buffalo were still coming forward. Mr. McCurdy and Calvin were yelping and waving their arms, driving them. The buffalo reached the lane and started down it but skidded to a stop at the sight of the elephant lumbering toward them. They’d gotten there before Nick had. All three buffalo turned and galloped back the way they’d come. This was awful — Peanuts wasn’t forcing them toward the pen, but away from it! Nick and Peanuts came out onto the road right behind the buffalo. Now there were three buffalo and one elephant on the road!

Then, behind Mr. McCurdy, another car appeared. It slowed down and came to a stop. Almost before the wheels had ceased spinning, a man jumped out of the driver’s door. He had a camera in his hand and began frantically snapping pictures. A tow truck pulled up behind the car. What was happening here? There were never this many vehicles on this section of road. It was like a traffic jam in the middle of a deserted country road.

I heard the noise of another car. This one was coming from behind me. I heard it but couldn’t see it over the crest of the road. Then it appeared. It was a shiny white car, and it practically jumped off the road as it headed over the rise and barrelled forward, bearing down on us! Could it stop in time before hitting one of the other cars, or the buffalo?

A cloud of dust flew up as the driver hit the brakes and the car spun around. It was suddenly facing the wrong direction, then back around, then the wrong direction again, and then it slid into the ditch at the side of the road. That wasn’t great, but at least it had stopped and — oh, no — it was a police car!

The captain — the acting chief — leaped out of his car and climbed onto the road. I had to fight the urge to sink deeper into the other ditch and out of his sight. But no matter how much I wanted to do that I couldn’t. I rushed toward him.

“Are you all right?” I asked.

“I’m fine,” he said calmly — a lot more calmly than I’d have been if my car had just done a three-sixty and I’d ended up in the ditch after almost running into a herd of buffalo and an elephant.

“What about your car?”

“It’s fine. That’s what you call a controlled skid.”

“You mean you meant to put your car in the ditch?”

“I meant not to hit anything. The ditch was better than hitting something else. More importantly, is Nick okay? Do we need to help him get off that elephant?”

“Oh, no, Nick’s fine. He’s using the elephant to help herd the buffalo. We have to get them back onto Mr. McCurdy’s farm and into their pen.”

“It doesn’t look like Nick’s having much luck.”

That was an understatement. Nick and Peanuts were chasing the buffalo all around the road, but they kept skittering away, breaking off on their own and then reforming as a little herd again. It looked like a strange animal square dance. Nick kept chasing them, but they weren’t going anywhere near the lane. The only thing keeping them from running away were the ditches and fences on both sides of the road and the backup of cars blocking the road itself in both directions.

Where had all these vehicles come from? There were two cars blocking the way in one direction. The other way there were two cars and two tow trucks. Just then a third tow truck appeared with its lights blazing. It certainly wouldn’t take three tow trucks to get one police car out of the ditch. There was no point in all three of them being here unless they thought the buffalo or the elephant were going to damage a car, which could happen. A charging buffalo could easily put a dent in the side of a car, and I didn’t even want to think about what would happen if Peanuts stomped on a vehicle. Nick and Peanuts continued to charge around after the buffalo, and I suddenly saw the cars as not just blocking them but being in danger.

At least everybody was staying in their cars — except the guy with the camera. He was still running around snapping pictures.

“That guy should get back into his car before he gets hurt,” I said, gesturing toward him.

“He’s just trying to do his job.”

“His job?”

“He’s with the newspaper. Don’t you recognize him? He’s the guy that took the picture of you and Nick with Buddha last year that ended up in papers across the country.”

“That’s him?”

“That’s him, but I guess you really didn’t get a very good look at him, did you? After all, if you remember, you were under the tiger just after he took that shot.”

Being under a tiger is one of those things you don’t forget. His flash had startled Buddha, and he’d almost broken free, dragging me along with him.

“How does he always know when to show up?” I asked.

“Same way I knew. He’s listening in on the police radio calls.”

“This was on the police radio?” I asked in shock.

“A car driver called it in, and then it came over the radio asking me to investigate. The tow truck drivers and news photographer must have picked it up over the radio. They’re always monitoring our calls, looking for a little action. These news outlets try to find out what we’re up to so they can — oh, great!”

“What? What’s wrong?” I asked apprehensively.

“We’ve got more company.”

“Where?” I looked around. “I didn’t see anybody else drive up.”

“Not drive. Fly,” he said, pointing skyward.

A helicopter was coming across the field! “What’s a helicopter doing here?”

“If I’m not mistaken, that’s the traffic chopper for the local television studio.”

“It’s coming to cover this traffic jam?” I asked.

“Not the traffic jam, but what caused the problem. This must be quite a scene from up there.”

I couldn’t argue with that. It certainly looked pretty strange from down here, so the picture from up there would have been incredible. The helicopter swooped over us and then did a tight circle. On the side were the call letters of the station, and a television camera stuck out of an open window.

“I bet this is going to make the news tonight,” the acting chief said. He suddenly began to laugh.

Was he losing it? How could he find any of this funny?

“This remind you of anything?” he asked.

How could three buffalo being chased around by my brother on the back of an elephant remind me of anything except some sort of deranged nightmare?

“Escaped animal, police, newspaper photographer … any of that seem familiar?”

Of course, this was similar to the time Buddha escaped — the first time I’d met the captain.

“But things are a little bit different this time,” he said.

“They are?” I didn’t like the way that sounded. The last time everything eventually worked out the right way. Did he mean it wasn’t going to be okay this time?

“What do you mean, different?” I asked.

“Well, for one thing, this time we’re all on the same side. You want my help, don’t you?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Good.” The acting chief turned and headed to his car. He reached in and grabbed something — a gun! What was he going to do with that? Shoot the buffalo? I couldn’t let him do that, but I couldn’t very well stop him, could I?

“You can’t shoot them!” I yelled.

“Shoot them?” he questioned.

“The gun,” I said, pointing at his hand.

“My gun is in my holster. These are flares,” he said, raising them.

Now that he held them up, it was obvious it wasn’t a gun, but they did have sort of a barrel like a gun.

“What are you going to use flares for?”

“You’ll see. Can you get Nick and the elephant to go away?”

“I guess so.”

“Good, because we’re not going to be able to do anything with the two of them disturbing the buffalo like that.”

I walked away from the acting chief and toward the action. I didn’t want to get too close, but near enough for Nick to hear me.

“Nick!” I screamed. He didn’t even turn around. I went a little bit closer. “Nick!”

He turned to face me and gave me a questioning look.

“You and Peanuts have to stop!” I yelled. “It isn’t working!”

He nodded. That wasn’t the response I’d expected. I thought he’d argue with me.

“Take Peanuts down the lane. When we get the buffalo back onto the farm, you can chase them back into the pen!”

“How are you going to make them go back down the lane?” he yelled back.

That was a very good question. I knew it had something to do with the flares, but I didn’t exactly know what. “The acting chief has a plan,” I said.

Again Nick nodded. The buffalo were on the far side of the road. The two cows had gone back to grazing while the big bull stood staring at Peanuts. Nick gave the elephant a command and he started off toward the lane, walking slowly until he disappeared around the curve. Peanuts must have been pretty happy to stop. None of this would have been particularly fun for him, either. All he probably wanted to do was to jump back into the pond.

I looked over to where Mr. McCurdy, Calvin and the acting chief stood. Along with them were three other men — the drivers of the tow trucks. The acting chief handed each of them a flare. Then they fanned out until they formed a big circle on all sides of the buffalo. On cue they lit their flares and a bright sparkling light went off.

“Sarah!” Mr. McCurdy yelled. “Go down to the pen and open it up so we can drive ’em in!”

I ran toward the lane, glancing back over my shoulder. It was obvious what they were doing. They had the buffalo in the middle of the circle and were moving in on all sides, leaving only one opening — the lane. I ran faster. Those buffalo only had one place to go, and I wanted to make sure I was far away when they began to move in my direction. Besides, I had to get the pen open in time.

It wasn’t long before I caught up to Nick and Peanuts. The elephant was standing in a shady spot on the lane, pulling leaves off a big maple tree with his trunk and stuffing them into his mouth.

“You have to move farther away!” I shouted to him. “The buffalo are going to be coming soon, and if you’re here you’ll scare them back the other way!”

Nick bent down and said something to Peanuts. At first it looked as if the big beast was ignoring him, then slowly he started to amble down the lane.

“Stop just beside the trailer!” I hollered.

On the ground were the two long pieces of clothesline. I quickly tied one end to the trailer and the other end to the fence, right beside where I was going to open it up. I didn’t have time to hang anything on the lines, but maybe this would be enough to direct the buffalo where they belonged.

I looked back the way I’d come. The three buffalo were heading down the lane. It had worked! But had it worked too soon? I fumbled with the first strap holding the fence closed. It didn’t want to come off! I glanced over my shoulder. The buffalo were almost at the trailer now! Right behind them were the acting chief and Mr. McCurdy, flares still in their hands, blazing away. Overhead the helicopter was still hovering. I didn’t have time to worry about the chopper. I had to get the fence open!

Grabbing the fence with both hands, I pulled at it with all my might. The three straps securing it went flying into the air. I peeled the fence back to create a large opening — big enough to let in a bunch of buffalo. I hoped this would be good enough.

The buffalo galloped forward. Seeing the trailer and Peanuts blocking their way in front, a fence off to the other side and the men with the flares coming up from behind, they broke toward the pen with the big male leading the way. It looked as if he was going to run through the clothesline when he suddenly turned left and continued along beside it. The two females followed, and all three of them ran straight into the pen!

For a split second I was so happy that I didn’t move. Then I realized I had to seal up the opening so they couldn’t change their minds. Bringing the fence back across the opening, I closed it.

“Good work, Sarah!” Mr. McCurdy yelled out as he and the acting chief rushed to my side. Mr. McCurdy began gathering up the straps so he could tie the two sections of fence into place. “That worked pretty darn good!” he chortled. “Darn good plan!”

The acting chief smiled. “Certainly not as exciting as chasing them around with an elephant, but I was pretty sure it would work.”

“Believe me, that wasn’t my idea,” Mr. McCurdy protested. “Say, if I didn’t know better, I would have sworn you’ve done that before.”

“Not with buffalo,” the acting chief said. “But I grew up on a dairy farm, and the cows were always getting loose. That happens on farms around here all the time. I figured what worked for cows would work for buffalo.”

“It worked wonderfully,” I said. “We’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.” I paused. “We’re not in trouble, are we?”

“You’re in no more trouble than those farmers whose cows get loose. You fix the fence good, though, because I wouldn’t want to make this a habit.”

“Doing it right now,” Mr. McCurdy said. “And once the permanent pen is built, that will never happen.”

“Thank you so much for your help. We were lucky you were so close by,” I added.

“I was actually on my way to your house,” the acting chief said.

“
My
house?”

He nodded. “I was going to see if your mother wanted to join me for lunch.”

“She’s not there. She’s at the office working.”

“I guess that means lunch is out.”

“She’s free for supper,” I blurted out, and then realized I maybe shouldn’t have said anything.

He smiled. “Are you her social secretary?”

I felt myself blushing. “No. I just know she had me take out a roast for dinner, so she doesn’t have any plans.”

“It sounds like she does have plans. Plans to eat with you and your brother.”

“That’s okay. She can eat with us anytime.”

“Well, I have an idea. Could you tell her that I’ll pick all three of you up around seven?”

“All of us?” I questioned.

“Unless you or your brother have other plans.”

“No … um … not really.”

“Good! Then I’ll see you at seven. That’ll give you a chance to see yourself on the news at six.”

I’d forgotten about the television helicopter, even though it was still hovering overhead.

“Wave for the camera,” he said as he gave a big wave. “I’ll see you later.”

•

“I can’t believe you got all this stuff from the dump,” Nick said.

“Lots of stuff … good stuff. This is a rich country so has rich garbage,” Vladimir answered.

“I just wish it hadn’t been so heavy,” Nick complained.

“Metal is heavy,” I said to Nick. “I guess it would have been a lot lighter if we’d been making the cages out of tissue paper.”

“Very funny, Sarah. I just think it would have been a lot easier if Mr. McCurdy had let some other people stay around and help do the lugging.”

A lot of our friends — Mr. McCurdy’s friends — had shown up and offered to help. He’d shown them all the animals but asked everybody to leave and come back next week when everything was set up. He’d said it was better not to have so many extra bodies milling around. It was easier on the animals and safer. I didn’t want to ask too much about what he meant by safer.

Vladimir was strapping the second of two old metal bed frames to the very top of one of the cattle stalls. They filled the gap between the stall and the ceiling. He grasped it with both hands and gave the top section of the cage a good shake. It moved but stayed firmly in place.

“Good and strong to hold the animal,” Vladimir said.

“Which animal did you have in mind?” I asked.

“This is the cage for Boo Boo.”

“I thought you’d build her something outside like she had before,” I said.

“I will build one outside later. First, we must have a place for all the animals. We must build seven pens.”

“Do you have enough bed frames to convert that many stalls?” I asked.