OMG! The Tiger!!!!!

I was at Robins cousins 100th birthday party yesterday and my grandsons where in the backyard playing with some of the other kids who where there and they ran up to the fence where a neighbor had some large dogs which greeted them and I got that little rush of fear as I do not know these dogs. Well this triggered a memory that doesn't get thought of very often pertaining to my eldest son who does not like being reminded of it so I'll tell it here before I email it to his new girl friend.

A couple of years after I had lost my then eldest son. I was doing some work for a fella named Charlie who had an animal reserve of a unique kind, he was an animal trader for zoo's across the country and the world. The compound was large and you never knew what animals where there or where they came from. The kids where particularly fond of captain which was a young leopard and was domesticated if a large cat can be. But the absolute biggest joy for the kids where the two full grown Bengal tigers that Charlie had in a very large caged in area where he would take the kids inside and let them play with the cats. Now if you have never been up close and personal with a Bengal you cannot begin to imagine how extremely large these creatures are, one of them could easily have placed my entire chest into its mouth and bitten me in half. Standing with all four paws on the ground and their head held up they stand an easy 5 foot tall. I was always uneasy about them being in the cage but Charlie would always assure me that cats are not as everyone imagines them unless they are hungry, it was monkeys that terrified Charlie and would go into a panic if the kids got near them. According to Charlie monkeys are the most dangerous of all animals because they are just plain mean and unpredictable, go figure.

Well a couple of months go by and one of the tigers got shipped off and Charlie said the other was due to be leaving soon and he had one coming in that he knew nothing about. It was early summer and Logan wanted to know if he could go with me out to Charlie's as I had some work to do there. I said alright but I could only take one of the kids with me I did not know if Charlie would be there or not and I couldn't watch all three while I worked. We arrived at Charlie's and as soon as I got the truck stopped Logan pops out and starts running, I yell at him to stop not knowing where hes headed. With a pretty good lead on me I instantly realize hes going towards the tiger cage and not captains. Remembering what Charlie had said about the tigers I'm in an instant panic yelling at Logan to stop and chased after him, Logan running all the faster and me screaming at the same time to stop. All of this noise wakes the tiger up in his enclosure and he sticks his head out to see what its all about. Spying Logan running toward him he comes out and starts running toward the chain link fence and Logan running toward him and me following screaming my head off.

The tiger leaps toward the fence as Logan gets there, me screaming at the top of my lungs, Logan sticking his arm inside the fence, the cat lands inches from where Logan is standing, growls and rolls over on its back to let Logan scratch his belly. While they are enjoying each other I'm cleaning out my pants, while simultaneously being angry beyond words, relieved and nearly in tears.

Logan did not get to go with me to Charlie's ever again and neither did any of the other Kids. Those types of heart attacks I could live without.

This is my revenge for what he did to me and I hope none of his kids do the same to him but will serve him right if they do just so long as they don't get hurt.

Don grandfather to Chase age 10 w/CF and now it looks like Larina has it too age 1 year.
http://livingwithcysticfibrosiscf.blogspot.com/



This message was edited Jan 8, 2007 10:54 AM

This message was edited Jan 8, 2007 10:58 AM