Chapter 5 | Lula Mae’s Cat

Lula Mae’s cat’s gone missing. Not the big tiger cats she trains, the little tabby that showed up out of nowhere one day, the one she once shoved out the cab door when they were stopped at a light. She's worried sick, has got Paul and Rusty and Doc out looking while she tends to the big cats.

“You can come look!” she calls out to Tulip and the boys. “Just careful you don't get too close.” As a child, Lula Mae had gotten too close. She'd wandered from home and through a gate that had been inadvertently left open. The cherimoya trees were in bloom, full of fruit. She was reaching up into the branches when the dogs came silently upon her. One of the dogs nicked her arm as a large man yanked her into the house.

Lula Mae turned her attention to one of the white tigers recently arrived from Bhutan. They’re just getting to know and trust each other, the sight, the scent, the sound. They've not yet played with fire. The fire comes later. First comes earth and water, fistfuls of dirt, large blocks of ice, shattered with a pick axe to learn the element of surprise. We drill on surprise till it's no longer a surprise. Jack pops out of boxes, Jill breaks her crown, and Lula Mae swings her pick axe. The tiger sized blocks of ice crack upon impact, sending millions of glistening shards flying.

Weeks or months go by before the mesmerized animal even sees a flame. First a match, or the burning end of a cigarette. A muzzle flash, paper in an ash tray. The process of graduating to a flaming hoop is long and meticulous, and not every tiger makes it. Some become tiger meat for the piranhas, and for Lula Mae’s missing tabby.

Lula Mae hands Tulip the pick axe, almost as big as the girl. “Just hold onto it for now, I'll be back in a minute.”

Tulip leans on the pick axe as the white tiger stretches out in repose. “Stay, kitty, stay,” whispers Tulip. Lula Mae’s watching, unobserved. The same way Sal taught her the dogs all those years ago. The sight, the scent, the sound. Each crucially important, a delicate balance.

Paul leans in and gives her a kiss. He's holding the missing tabby. Tulip is approaching the tiger, and the boys don't know what to do. “That's close enough!” Lula Mae calls. Though the big cat is chained, he's still got plenty of reach.

Lula Mae gives Paul a wink. He nods in assent. “Welcome to the family, little girl.”