Always plan for the unexpected.
Sit down and go through contingencies before you set off on your trip.
On the way to Uncle Bob’s, the hot wind whips through my hair. I close my eyes and tilt my head toward the open roof, letting the sun warm my face.
Mo grabs my hand, but his eyes remain glued to the road. I can tell he’s not happy about this plan.
For a second, I put aside everything that’s happened over the last few days.
I try to forget that Sadie and Dylan are still missing. I try to forget that Uncle Bob almost killed me. And I try to forget that poor Annie was shot in the back and left as lunch.
For just one second, I pretend Mo and I are driving down to the beach. Al is long gone. I am safe. And we’re going to spend the entire afternoon lying on the sand, eating a picnic, and kissing.
There must be kissing.
When the Jeep parks, I keep my eyes closed for one more second, reveling in my pretend world.
“You with me?”
I open my eyes and turn my head. “Always.”
He hops out and comes around to open my car door.
Chivalry is not dead. Not as long as Mo is in this world.
I slide out of the car and follow Mo up to the fence.
Uncle Bob’s place is dark and deserted. The first time I was here, it seemed less...run down. I didn’t remember it being this depressing. A shiver runs down my spine, thinking of all those animals penned in the back. Though the place looks the same, I am different. It’s scary how things—people—can change so fast. Even when you expect things to change, you are never prepared for how they will or when.
Faint growls and snarls drift from behind the building.
It tells me one thing: some animals are still alive. There’s hope yet.
Sadie will be so happy.
I move over to the gate and shake it but it’s draped with a heavy iron chain and lock.
“I’ll have to climb over.”
“Wait. I may have some bolt cutters.”
I check Mo’s face to see if he’s kidding, but he’s serious. “Because everyone carries those.”
“I—Blossom—am not everyone.” Mo leans over and kisses my nose. “Wait here.”
I peer through the fence and holler through the slots, “Cat? Cat!” I follow up the calls with clicking noises. Pretty sure it won’t work because it’s not like the panther knows the nickname I awarded her.
A few minutes later Mo comes back. “No bolt cutters. But I have this.” He raises a gun. “Stand back.” Then he shoots off the lock.
I plug my ears and watch the chain clatter to the ground. “A little drastic, don’t you think?”
Mo clicks the safety back on and sticks the gun in the back of his pants. “You want to get in, don’t you?”
“Yes, but you’ll scare the animals.” I push open the gate. “Not to mention, this is illegal.”
“Let me handle that.”
Mo and I move toward the back pens when his phone rings. The noise is loud and startles me, sending my heart blasting out of my body.
“It’s Sweeney.” He holds his cell phone up in the air and swings around. “Can’t get a bloody signal. Let me take this and I’ll be right behind you. I’ll get him to meet us here.”
“Okay. Tell him that there are definitely a few animals alive so he may need help.”
“Let’s hope it’s more than a few.” Mo runs back up to his car on the dirt road and plugs his ear as he talks. He looks in my direction and covers his mouthpiece with one hand. “If you’re scared, wait for me.”
I scoff under my breath and yell back. “Yeah right. You wish!”
I walk around the side of the house where just days ago, Sadie, Dylan, and I were trying to rescue Cat ourselves. If I could rewind my life, I’d go back to that moment and make a hard decision to leave Cat behind, knowing it would save my friends. It’s my fault they’re missing. If I’d stayed at home that day, we’d all be safe now.
Then again, Cat would definitely have been dead. A necessary sacrifice?
That’s the hard part for me. In the moment, when I make a decision, it feels like I’m doing the right thing. But in hindsight, I wonder if I would always make a different choice. Knowing the aftermath that follows.
A horrible smell finds my nose.
I smack one hand over may face and almost gag. The stench is so strong, it forces me to take a step back.
I know this smell.
The smell of death.
Bad memories of finding Simon mutilated in the Smokies back home flood back to me. Poor, sweet Simon. I wish I could have saved him. Sometimes, when I lie in bed, I wonder if Lucky, the little cub I did save, ended up making it on his own. I’d like to think he romps through the forest with his family and friends. But after knowing and experiencing the poaching problem first hand, I’m not sure that’s possible.
I wave both hands over my head to try and capture Mo’s attention, but his back’s toward me.
I cover my mouth and nose with my shirt and force myself forward. I stop when I reach the first cage. One lion lies in the corner, covered in flies. I’m too late. Their condition was already bad enough; add a few days of not eating to it and it’s hard to live on. Especially when there is nothing to live for.
My heart sinks as I approach the animals’ prison to get a better view. The other lion lies behind the fake rock. I stop, expecting it to attack the cage again.
He forces himself to his feet and tries to make it across the floor. He’s so skinny his rib bones are practically sticking out of his skin. He stumbles toward me and falls on the floor. He gives up and stays where he is. But he keeps his eyes on me.
Tears spring to my eyes.
Because his fight is gone.
This lion is giving up.
Which makes me want to save this place even more.
“It’s okay boy I won’t let you die.” The lion sighs and drops his head to the cement. “I actually hope you want to eat me again someday.”
I stand on my tiptoes and peek over to the next cage where Cat used to rest. Can’t tell if it’s empty or not. I hope I’m ready for what I may find.
I cautiously walk around the front of the lion cage and pinch my nose. The smell isn’t only coming from the lion cage. It’s everywhere. My heart races as I move closer and closer to the monkey cage. The last time I was here, these things were the loudest animals in here.
Now it’s quiet.
Death has no voice.
I approach the cage. One monkey stands on top of a makeshift cardboard box.
I’m relieved. “Hey you. What? You got nothing to say today?”
The monkey picks up her dead baby and drags it behind her. When she reaches me, she drops the skin and bones at my feet. She nudges it and makes a few noises. As if she’s talking. This needs no words. Then the mommy monkey sits and stares, as if waiting for me to make everything in her life okay.
I can almost hear her saying, please help my baby.
I squat down to her level and blink back tears. More dead monkey carcasses are in the back. The monkey must have moved them. Cleaned her space of death so hope could continue to live.
This is the problem with zoos like this one. Not only are these animals cared for improperly, but there are so many of them that only a few get any attention. Not love, not food, not anything they need or deserve. “I’m so sorry.”
The mommy comes over and sticks her hand through the fence.
I reach into my backpack and pull out a box of raisins. I pour some in through the chain link and watch as she scarfs down every last one. Then she sticks her hand out again.
I don’t have the heart to ignore her. She’s already lost everything. I hand her the box. She snatches it and hobbles to the back corner with half the speed she once had. There, she eats, protecting her stash from all the other dead monkeys. She either doesn’t know they’re all gone or she’s pretending not to know. We do what we have to do to survive.
I check to see if Mo’s coming, but he’s out of sight.
I swallow the lump in my throat and move onward, toward Cat’s cage.
I pray with each step.
Please don’t let Cat be there. Please don’t let Cat be there.
I don’t know why I need to save this panther. Or why I am so attached to something that will never, ever be mine. Maybe I just need to know I can make a difference. That I can save one. It won’t make up for all the animals that died here or the ones that have died on my watch.
But it would make a huge difference to me.
I need to believe I can do something right in this world. I can make a difference.
When I stand in front of the cage, my eyes scan the large space. I open the door, which scrapes across the ground. Then I check behind the rock and in the very back.
The cage is empty. My body sags in relief. This doesn’t mean Cat’s alive, but it does mean she didn’t die here. In the Everglades, she is free. Hopefully she gets a fighting chance.
It’s time to go home and be with my family.
Someone whistles behind me.
“Mo, she’s not here.” I spin around but don’t find anyone. “Mo?”
The whistling gets louder until I can make out the song. The tune slams into my memory bank.
Dixie.
Only one person I know whistled that haunting song.
Al.
I race to the cage door when Al steps out of the shadows. His eyes are narrow and his lips are plastered in a perma-sneer. “Well, well, well...long time, no see, Grace.”
I come to a skidding stop and back up even quicker.
“No.” My brain turns to mushy stuff and I can’t think of another word to use.
In my head, I’m screaming them. But nothing comes out of my mouth.
For a moment, I freeze in time. For a moment, I’m not sure what I can do.
Al walks toward me. Slowly. Methodically.
He’s still tall, bigger than I remember, and still very scary.
He pulls the cage door behind me, blocking us both inside. “We have some catching up to do.”