Tiger Town (9 page)

“Not many beds, but many different pieces of metal. Vladimir can do it. You will see.”

“But I don’t think we’ll be able to see tonight,” I said. “We have to be getting home soon.”

“Why do we have to go home so early?” Nick asked.

“Well … we have sort of an appointment,” I said. I hadn’t told him that we had a date with the acting chief. He wasn’t going to be happy about that.

“What sort of appointment?” he asked suspiciously.

I turned and faced him, put my hands on my hips and cast him a stern look. “Are you telling me you’ve forgotten?” I demanded. Sometimes the best defence was a good offence.

“Well … I guess that maybe I just sort of —”

“If you don’t remember, then I’m certainly not going to tell you. We have to be home by five.”

“That’s probably better, anyway,” Mr. McCurdy piped in. He was working on a pen at the far side of the barn, right beside Buddha.

“Why?” Nick asked.

“Same reason I asked the others to leave,” he explained. “Just safer.”

“Is moving the cats going to be dangerous?” I asked.

“Not for me and Vladimir.” Mr. McCurdy stood and walked over to where we were. “Nick, can you go up to the house and check on Calvin and Laura?”

“Laura’s probably asleep,” Nick said.

“It’s not her I’m worrying about. That Calvin can be a real handful some days. You know, a couple of weeks ago he practically turned the kitchen upside down looking for something to eat. Can you believe that?”

Nick and I exchanged looks. “Hard to believe,” Nick said. “I’ll go up and check on everything.”

I turned back to Mr. McCurdy. “Are you going to use the tranquilizer gun to move the animals?”

“For the jaguars and leopards. Not for the other animals.”

“Not Kushna or Boo Boo … probably not lions, either. We’ll use a leash and walk them to the pen,” Vladimir said.

“Why wouldn’t you want to use the tranquilizer for all the animals?” I asked.

“Not necessary,” Mr. McCurdy said. “And you got to remember that using a tranquilizer can be dangerous to the animals. I only like to use it when I have to.”

I stared at my watch. “Nick and I better get going. I’ll go up to the house, meet Nick and we’ll take off.”

“Enjoy your dinner,” Mr. McCurdy said.

“You are eating with the police guy?” Vladimir asked.

“His name is Martin. He was disappointed he didn’t get to meet you today,” I said.

“He wanted to meet me?” Vladimir looked uneasy. “He is coming back tomorrow?”

“Do you want me to tell him he should, so he can —”

“No!” Vladimir said loudly. “I mean … police are busy people, so no need to drop in. No need to see Vladimir at all. I will go and get Boo Boo. Bear needs to go for a walk. Vladimir needs to go for a walk.”

“What was that all about?” I asked Mr. McCurdy quietly as Vladimir left the stable.

“Not really sure. He just didn’t seem too happy about that police fellow coming around here.”

“I wonder why.”

“Lots of people are nervous around police,” Mr. McCurdy said. “Back in Russia, I think it’s different with the police.”

“What do you mean, different?”

“The police aren’t honest like they are here. I think they give people a hard time sometimes, take bribes, that sort of thing. That’s probably why he seems jumpy.”

“I guess that could be the reason,” I said, although I had another sneaking suspicion going around in my head. Was Vladimir jealous of my mother seeing the acting chief?

•

“I still don’t know why I have to go,” Nick protested, casting an evil eye at me. I’d told him on the way home what the “appointment” was. He wasn’t happy with me, although that was nothing new. “It’s not fair!”

“You’re going because Martin was nice enough to invite you. And quit squirming,” my mother said as she took a wet facecloth and rubbed away some dirt from his face.

“I don’t want to go. None of this was my idea.”

“Well,” my mother said, looking in my direction, “it wasn’t exactly my idea, either. And I’m going.”

“Are you telling me you don’t want to go to dinner with him?” I asked in amazement.

“I didn’t say that.”

“You better not, after what we talked about,” I said.

“What did you talk about?” Nick asked, breaking free of Mom’s grip to turn around and face her.

She looked as if she was trying to figure out what exactly she was going to say to him. Maybe it wasn’t fair of me to have put her on the spot like that.

“I’d just mentioned to Sarah that I enjoyed my dinner with Martin and would probably like seeing him again.”

“You would?” Nick questioned. He didn’t sound pleased.

“Why wouldn’t I want to? He’s a nice man.”

“There are lots of nice people in the world, but that doesn’t mean you have to eat dinner with them every night of the week,” Nick grumbled.

“Nick, two nights in a row is hardly every night of the week,” Mom said.

“If the week started on Friday night, it would be every night this week so far. I know a trend when I see one.”

“It’s not a trend. It’s dinner … two dinners. It’s not a big deal.”

“If it’s not a big deal, why did you give Sarah a hard time about arranging it?” Nick asked.

“I didn’t give Sarah a hard time — did I?” she asked me.

I shrugged. “Maybe a bit.”

I wasn’t thrilled about Mom dating, but I’d come to accept it. Nick wasn’t that understanding. I think on some level he still expected Dad to come back. It was funny how the more time passed, the more Nick remembered their marriage as being a lot better than it was. It hadn’t been good for a long time before Dad left.

“I guess I was just a little surprised, that’s all,” Mom said.

“
You
were surprised?” Nick frowned. “What about me?”

Mom ignored him, turning back to me. “What if you’d agreed to all this and I already had plans? Like another date or something?”

“I knew you didn’t have any plans. I was going to make dinner for us, remember?”

“You still should have checked with me,” Mom said.

“And me,” Nick added. “Especially if it involves me having to go along.”

“I’m sorry. If I wasn’t so busy with the buffalo, maybe I could have checked both your social calendars before I agreed to —”

“What time is it?” Nick asked, cutting me off.

Instantly I knew why he wanted to know. I looked at my watch. “It’s almost six o’clock.”

“Quick, turn on the news,” Nick said as he raced out of the bathroom.

“Are you sure it’s going to be on the news?” Mom asked.

“I can’t be certain, but the helicopter was there. I figure an elephant chasing around a bunch of buffalo would be news.”

“You’re probably right.”

Mom and I followed Nick. He’d already turned on the television to channel eleven and was sitting on the edge of the couch, remote in hand.

“I’m just happy that you two chose to tell me what happened this time instead of trying to hide it from me,” Mom said.

The first time we’d made the news we’d tried to keep it from Mom. We’d even hidden the newspaper from her, hoping that since we’d just moved here, nobody who saw our picture on the front page of the local paper would know who we were, and nobody would tell her. This time there was no point in trying to keep it from her. The escaped buffalo were sure to come up as part of the dinner conversation with Martin tonight.

“Even if it’s on the news, it could be one of the last stories or —” I started to say before I was interrupted.

“And now for something completely different,” the newscaster began. In the background over her shoulder appeared a bouncing video of Peanuts, the three buffalo and cars and trucks jamming the road. The newscaster disappeared and the whole screen was filled with the images. “Three buffalo escaped today from a private zoo operated by a local resident, Mr. Amos McCurdy.”

“His name is Angus,” I said.

“The news always seems to get things wrong,” Mom said.

“Would both of you please be quiet?” Nick hissed.

“In an effort to capture the buffalo, an unnamed boy …” the newscaster continued.

“That’s me!” Nick exclaimed.

I shhhhed him.

“… used a trained elephant to try to force them back into their enclosure.”

The camera zoomed in on Nick and Peanuts. Nick appeared to be having a wonderful time up there.

“But as you can see, this was not successful,” the newscaster continued. “Finally, with the assistance of the police department, the large and dangerous animals were driven back and secured in their pens.”

The footage showed me holding open the fence, and the three buffalo running back in to join the deer.

“The only casualty of the episode was one police car,” she said, and the camera focused on the cruiser sitting in the ditch. “It’s believed that the officer driving the car when it crashed was the acting chief of police.”

“I hope the police services board doesn’t hear this and hold it against him,” Mom said.

“What’s the services board?” I asked.

“The board that’s in charge of the police department.”

“I thought the chief was in charge of the police department,” Nick said.

“The board, usually with the mayor as the chair-person, is in charge of the chief, and it decides if Martin finally gets to become the chief.”

“Oh, that’s not good,” I said.

“Many of you may remember,” the newscaster continued, “that it was another animal of Mr. McCurdy’s, a tiger, that escaped last year. One time was perhaps an accident, but two incidents of escaped dangerous animals? Perhaps there is a need for further investigation into this matter by both the local press and municipal officials.”

“Oh, boy, that really doesn’t sound good,” Nick said, and I really couldn’t disagree. The newscaster went on to another story, and Nick clicked off the TV.

“Don’t worry,” Mom said. “This is television news. The story is here today and gone tomorrow when something more interesting or newsworthy comes along.”

“I hope you’re right,” I said.

“I just hope that all of this doesn’t upset Mr. McCurdy too much,” she said.

“The only way that’ll happen is if we tell him about it,” I said. “Remember, he doesn’t have a television.”

“Or a phone, microwave or video games, or —”

“We get the idea, Nick,” Mom said.

“So if we don’t tell him this was on the news, he won’t know.”

“But what about the newspaper?” Mom asked. “You said there was a photographer there, right?”

“Yeah,” Nick agreed. “It was the same guy who snapped that photo of me and Sarah and Buddha. You remember that picture?”

Mom shot Nick a nasty look, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. What a stupid thing to say. There were some things you didn’t kid around about, and that was one of them. It was over a year ago, but I knew it was still a sore point with Mom.

“Well, at least this time it won’t create any problems for Mr. McCurdy,” she said.

“That’s right. He’s allowed to have his animals … right?” Nick asked.

“That is correct,” she assured him. “Nobody will ever try to take his animals away again.”

After Buddha escaped and was recaptured, the mayor had gotten a court order to have the animals removed. He sent in the chief of police, the captain — now the acting chief of police — and lots of other officers and the animal-control people to confiscate the animals. If it hadn’t been for Mom fighting them in court, they would have succeeded. It had been the first time in my whole life I’d been grateful that she was a lawyer; grateful for us, the animals and especially Mr. McCurdy. I didn’t think he could live without those animals.

The phone rang, and I jumped.

“Sarah, it’s just the phone,” Nick said. “Take a pill or something.”

“Nicholas, don’t talk to your sister that way.”

“I’ll get it,” Nick said, grabbing the receiver. “Hello? Oh, hi, Auntie Elaine!” It was my mother’s sister. She lived on the other side of the country.

“Yeah, sure, they’re both here,” Nick said. “Sure, I can put you on the speaker phone.” He reached down and pushed the button on the base of the phone.

“Hello, Ellen. Hello, Sarah,” her voice crackled out of the tinny speaker.

“Hi, Auntie Elaine,” I said.

“Hello, Elaine. It’s nice to hear from you,” Mom said.

“I thought I’d talk to you about your children’s latest appearance in the news.”

“You saw us on TV?” I asked.

“In living colour.”

“How did I look?” Nick questioned.

“You looked like a kid on the back of an elephant,” she answered.

“But a cool kid on the back of an elephant, right?”

“Nicky, how could any kid on the back of an elephant not be cool?” she asked.

Nick laughed.

“How did you see it?” I asked. “It was just a local television station’s traffic helicopter that filmed us. How could you see it all the way on the West Coast?”

“It’s probably just like that newspaper picture last year,” she said. Great, just what I needed — somebody else bringing that up. “If a local story is important or interesting —”

“Those two words pretty well define me,” Nick said, cutting her off.

“Or if a story is strange,” she continued.

“Well, that certainly defines Nick,” I said.

She laughed. “If it’s any of those things, then it gets national, or even international, coverage.”

“Are you saying they could have been watching us in Europe?” Nick asked.

“I can’t comment on Europe, or any other continent, but I figure if I saw it here, it must have gone right across the country at least,” she said.

I couldn’t help wondering if my father had seen it. He was somewhere in the Midwest on a photo assignment, and we hadn’t heard from him in over a month. Maybe if he saw it, he’d call.

“I just wanted to make sure you knew about this, Ellen,” Aunt Elaine said.

“They told me about this one,” Mom answered.

“There was also a newspaper photographer,” Nick said.

“So perhaps if we’re lucky you’ll be in tomorrow’s paper,” my aunt added.

“If we’re really lucky, perhaps we won’t be,” I said.

“I don’t know,” she said, “it’s sort of cute to see my niece and nephew in the news. Don’t you think so, Ellen?”