18

WITHOUT FEAR

Wendy intended to stay awake until Kyle came home so she could tell him about the bobcat kittens, but after showering that evening, she made the mistake of lying down on her bed and falling asleep. She was wakened by a crashing sound coming from the kitchen, and some choice swear words coming from her husband.

Wendy went flying down the stairs, pulling on the thick cowhide gloves as she ran. Kyle stood at the open refrigerator door staring at the bobcat on the bottom shelf, while food pushed out of that space rolled around him on the floor. Wendy ignored the ferocious grow, which in bobcat language meant, “Mine!” She grabbed the cat by the scruff of the neck and as she jerked him out, said to Kyle, “Quick, shut the fridge door!”

The refrigerator door clicked shut, but Kyle’s mouth was still hanging open. “I thought I’d seen everything,” he said. “But a bobcat in the refrigerator? Where did you get that thing?”

“From Dr. Singh,” Wendy said apologetically. “I couldn’t say no. And he didn’t tell me about BB’s refrigerator fetish.”

“BB?”

“Buzzsaw Bob,” Wendy explained. “BB for short.”

Kyle picked up a can of Coke from the floor, and absently popped the top. The Coke, having rolled across the floor, spewed into the air. Shaking his head, Kyle went into the living room and sat down on the sofa. Wendy followed him, carrying BB.

“What’s that noise?” Kyle asked.

“What noise? Oh, that.” Wendy smiled. “That’s BB. He’s purring. He’s really very affectionate. As soon as he adjusts —”

“Wendy,” Kyle interrupted. “Is there any chance that he could adjust to living somewhere other than in our refrigerator? How about somewhere other than in our house?”

“Oh, he’s not going to stay in the house! Just until I can build him a proper enclosure. By tomorrow, or the next day for sure, he’ll be out of here.”

For a few minutes Kyle was quiet, watching BB, who lounged contentedly against Wendy’s chest, his oversized paws draped over her shoulders. Then he smiled. “Have I ever told you how cute you are when you’re wearing a bobcat?”

• • •

For the next two days Wendy rose at daybreak, fed the animals, then headed out to the field to work on a pen for BB. Danny came after school and helped with building the pen and feeding the animals.

By the weekend the large enclosure was ready. It was twice the size of her living room, with something like a flat-roofed doghouse in one corner to serve as a den. BB could either lie on the roof and watch what was going on around, or, if he wanted privacy, hide inside. They had been careful not to trample down all the vegetation in the pen, so the young bobcat could sneak through the grass and pretend to be hunting field mice. Or he could hunt actual mice, if any were reckless enough to come inside his enclosure. There was even a small sapling he could climb.

Danny had been taking BB for walks every day, so all they had to do to get him in the pen was for Danny to walk in. BB came leaping after him through the high grass, not quite able to keep up because, not yet half grown, his legs were still very short. Once inside the enclosure, BB explored every inch of it, including the den box. The whole enclosure seemed to interest him — until Danny slipped out and closed the gate behind him. BB climbed partway up the wire and made a pathetic noise, which in bobcat language surely meant, “Hey! Don’t leave me in here all by myself!”

“He’s mad because we didn’t put a refrigerator in it,” Wendy joked.

“Will he have to stay there forever?” Danny asked. He obviously felt guilty about having tricked the kitten into the pen, then abandoning him there.

“I’m afraid so. Otherwise he’ll wander off. The first time he spooks somebody’s horses or tangles with the neighbour’s hunting dogs, out will come the shotgun and that will be the end of young BB. Besides,” Wendy added, “although bobcats aren’t normally a threat to humans, one that isn’t afraid can be dangerous.”

“Not if people would leave him alone.”

“It’s not that simple, Danny. What if the neighbours’ five-year-old went to put a bowl of kibble on the back porch for her puppy, and BB made a grab for it? The child would certainly be frightened and could easily be injured. BB wouldn’t realize he had done anything wrong — in fact, he would probably think the kibble was meant for him, just like he thinks that what’s in our fridge is for him. So he wouldn’t run. He’d stay right there on the porch eating that kibble until the child’s dad put a bullet in his brain.”

They were halfway back to the house before Danny spoke. “Velvet’s not afraid of people, either.”

“I know,” Wendy said sadly. “What we’ve done for BB and Velvet is the best we can do for them, Danny. Humans and wild animals don’t mix, and when they do, the result is often a disaster for the animals. All we can do is pick up the pieces.”

Wendy didn’t mention how much it had cost to pick up these particular pieces. But that night, going over her bills, she saw that the materials for BB’s big enclosure had cost over a thousand dollars. And she hadn’t even started on Velvet’s yet.

She sat there staring at the blank computer screen, trying to figure out what to do. In the past, the wild animals she had taken in, if they survived, were eventually returned to the wild. Now she had one that she would be responsible for — how long? She did not even know how long bobcats lived. Ten years? Twenty?

And what about the bobcat kitten? Wendy had already decided that Lucky, as Danny had named her, would be switched to solid food as soon as possible and moved to an outdoor pen. But it would be weeks before she was old enough for that. In the meantime, the tiny thing had to be bottle-fed. Wendy was almost sure that Lucky would end up like BB, thinking she was part of the human family, and that people, not the forest, should provide her with food.

The door to Wendy’s office cracked open behind her, but she didn’t notice, not until a small damp nose nuzzled her. She turned from her desk and touched the soft tan skin, flecked with the white spots of a fawn.

“And then there’s you, Velvet. Just like Kyle predicted. You’ve figured out how to climb the stairs, and here you are, reminding Mommy Wendy that you’re hungry and she should stop what she’s doing and feed you. How am I ever going to teach you to be afraid of humans?”