At first, the two cats can’t figure out how the humans could make this mistake. Surely, they could tell the difference between a monkey bite and a tiger bite! They sit, and they lay and they walk around the shade of a very tall tree.
“What about – “ Slippers stops, shakes her head. “No, that wouldn’t make sense either.”
A few moments later, Tom Quartz jumps to his paws. “They could have – but, no, that wouldn’t work.”
The two cats think and think and think, but they can’t come to any real conclusion. Eventually, Slippers announces, “the only thing to do is go back and speak to Ebe.”
Back at the tiger enclosure, the two cats find themselves hidden away behind a massive red-tinged rock. It would be very bad if any of the humans realized there were strange animals in with their wild cats.
After relaying the story to Ebe, the tigress shakes her head. “I know that monkey. And I know why the humans are doing that. We have one nearby, in the next enclosure over. His name is Piotr. The children love him. Right now, the zoo is running a promotion where the monkey’s are the star, and Piotr has been used on all of the posters. It would be very bad for their business if they had to put their star primate down.”
“They can’t put Ada down, though! It’s not her time to go,” protests Slippers.
Ebe shakes her head. A deep growl bubbles out between her massive fangs. “I can’t do anything! She’s my sister, and I can’t do anything about it!”
“You might not be able too,” says Tom Quartz. “But we can.”
The protocol for a monkey bite and a wildcat bite are two very different things. That is information that the room magically allows Tom Quartz to know. It appears in his mind, a flash of knowledge, of words, as he and Slippers clamber out of the enclosure.
Slippers asks, “what’s your plan?”
Tom Quartz says, “someone has to know that it wasn’t Ada. Another person or – or – does this place have videos? Security cameras? Something?”
“I’m not sure,” answers Slippers. “I don’t know if we’re in the right time frame for a security camera. But…you might be onto something. I think I have an idea.”
Excitedly, Tom Quartz asks, “what is it?”
Slippers shakes her head. “You go wait with Ada. Make sure to let her know that we can fix this. I’ll take care of getting everything sorted out!”
And before Tom Quartz can say anything else, Slippers turns on her paws and races off into the crowd of zoo-visitors.
Katelynn E Koontz – Author
