We'll Always Have Parrots(43)

He saw me watching and frowned.

“Don’t try this,” he warned. “You might think she’s just like an ordinary housecat—”

“No, actually the four-inch claws and fangs are a dead giveaway. I suppose you can do that because she knows you.”

“Yes,” he said, giving Salome one last scratch before withdrawing his hand. “And because I accept the fact that she might kill me, or do something like this again.”

He pulled back the sleeve of his sweatshirt to reveal two red scars running parallel down his right arm, from wrist to elbow.

“Yikes,” I said, stepping a little farther from the cage.

“She ate a Pomeranian once,” he said, pulling the sleeve down again.

“You’re not serious?” I said, frowning.

“She tried. She would have, if I hadn’t distracted her.”

“So you’re just trying to scare me.”

He shrugged, and walked over to the door to hang up a CLOSED sign. I noticed that he didn’t have full use of that badly clawed arm. I edged farther away from Salome’s cage. Maybe “scared” was good in this case.

“So what makes you want to own a tiger?” I asked.

“I don’t own her.”

“Sorry,” I said. “I realize you can’t own a wild animal, or even a domestic one in the same sense you can own a car or a house; that at best we’re only temporary guardians of the earth and—”

“No, I mean I don’t own her,” he said. “I can’t afford it. I work at the sanctuary. The Willner Sanctuary. They take in big cats and other exotic animals that have been mistreated or abandoned, and try to give them an appropriate environment.”

“Sounds worthwhile. But what’s she doing here? Even with the jungle decorations, I’d hardly call this an appropriate environment.”

“It takes a lot of money to run a place like that. Do you know how much meat a tiger eats every day?”

Salome chose that moment to yawn.

“I don’t even want to guess,” I said, watching Salome’s teeth.

“Eight pounds, in her case,” he said. “Not as much for the smaller cats, of course, like the servals and bobcats, but more, for some of the larger cats. And the sanctuary currently has thirty-seven big cats.”

“Expensive.”

“So we do educational and fund-raising events,” he said, pointing to a jar in the corner.

I walked closer to the jar—it took me farther from Salome as well. The jar contained a scattering of coins and one lone dollar bill.

“Doesn’t look as if it would pay for the gas to get here,” I said.

“This doesn’t seem to be a very generous crowd,” he said. “A shopping mall appearance does better.”

“So, if it’s not working out, do you take her home early?” I asked.

“I only hope I get to take her home at all.”

“Why wouldn’t you?”

“Mrs. Willner is negotiating to sell her,” he said. “The sanctuary’s having a hard time making ends meet as it is. If she sells Salome, she has one less mouth to feed, and the proceeds can support the others.”

“Sounds reasonable, I guess,” I said. “Sort of a bloodless way to let one tiger feed the rest.”

“If the buyer likes her, and the sale goes through, I’ll have to escort her to her new home.”

He stared mournfully into the cage. Salome stared back, looking equally depressed, though for all I knew she merely regretted that the bars prevented her from making him an hors d’oeuvre.

Maybe separation from Salome was exactly what this guy needed.

“So she’s going to another sanctuary?” I said.

“No. To a private owner.”

“Is that legal? I mean, can anyone just go out and buy a tiger?”

“In most states, perfectly legal,” he said. “And it should be illegal to own an animal unless you’re genuinely qualified to take care of it, and willing to take the responsibility.”

“If you tried to enforce that, half the cats and dogs in the country would be homeless.”

“Probably,” he said. “Certainly most of the people who own big cats wouldn’t be allowed to. And that would be just fine with me.”

He fell silent, and I decided that if he and Salome faced separation, maybe I should give them a little time together. I pulled out my camera and took a picture of the two of them, and then I fished into my wallet, plunked a ten dollar bill into the jar, and tiptoed out.

Mother had disappeared by the time I emerged, but I ran into Dad.

“Meg! Just the person I was looking for!” he exclaimed. “I want to hear about the body.”