Chapter 36: The Animal Trainer

Dhiren and I froze. I gripped his leash tightly.

What now?

I didn't have long to wonder. A moment later, Mr. Davis limped into view. He was aiming a large rifle right at me. "You're not going anywhere," he announced.

Matt whimpered. I guess he was still awake.

"Shut up," Mr. Davis growled, pointing the gun at his own son.

I swallowed. I suddenly had a good idea of who had beaten up Matt.

Dhiren stepped in front of me.

"She was right. You are trying to steal my tiger," Mr. Davis said. The rifle was now aimed my way again.

I stared at the gun and told myself to stop shaking. Cathleen must have told Mr. Davis that I was here. Who knows where she was now, but Mr. Davis was here and he had brought that gun. An elephant rifle. It looked old, but Mr. Davis held it steady. He knew how to use it. I struggled to remain calm. Even though things had gone completely crazy, I needed to stay calm.

My mom would have been proud of how steady my voice was when I said, "I'm not stealing your tiger, Mr. Davis. I bought him from Maurizio. I have the certificate right here in my pocket." I slowly reached into my pocket but I didn't pull the paper out.

The look Mr. Davis was giving me put Ruth's death glare to shame. I couldn't move as he thundered, "I don't care if you own the whole damn circus. You can't have my tiger. I would rather kill him than give him over to you."

"What!" I cried, all thoughts about staying calm forgotten. "You wouldn't."

"I would," he said with a sadistic smile. "So, don't test me, Hayes. Turn around and put the tiger back where you found him."

I didn't move. This man and his son must truly hate me. How else could he do this? How could he think to kill his own pet just to spite me? How could he call himself an animal trainer? It was evil! Anger washed out my fear.

"Move it!" He jerked the gun at the enclosure.

My hands balled into fists and I slowly turned and headed back to the enclosures. Dhiren followed me. I opened the door for Dhiren to get inside. The tiger looked at me as he entered the cage. He was putting on a brave face as if to tell me thanks for trying, but it was useless. The tiger looked like he had known that Mr. Davis would come here with his rifle, like this was a normal thing.

That look gave me a sick feeling. This shouldn't be normal. No show animal should be used to the sight of their trainer carrying a gun and threatening people. And yet there Dhiren was, acting like everything was fine. He was so used to stuff like this that he was actually trying to console me. He was always trying to console me.

I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe I'd ever thought I could leave Dhiren with these people. I wasn't even sure I could leave him for the time it would take to fetch back up. In fact, I was positive I couldn't. One look at Matt showed how dangerous Mr. Davis could be. If I left Dhiren here, he might be dead when I came back.

"That's enough," Mr. Davis growled. "Come back here and give me the keys."

I gave Dhiren one last look and then I closed the door. I turned and faced Mr. Davis making sure I was between him and the tiger.

The man still had the gun pointed at me. "What are you waiting for? Move it, Hayes."

"No," I said quietly, standing my ground. Mr. Davis might be willing to kill an animal, but I doubted he wanted to be charged with homicide. "I'm not going anywhere. Not until we talk this over with Maurizio."

"MOVE!" Mr. Davis roared at me.

"No!" I was never going to leave Dhiren with these villains again.

I expected Mr. Davis to argue further. Instead, he fired his gun.

I flinched. My eyes closed reflexively.

In what seemed like a moment: There was a roar. The enclosure fence rattled. Mr. Davis shouted. And then there was yet another gunshot. All before my eyes opened again.

When they did, I couldn't believe what I saw. Dhiren had seemingly teleported. He was suddenly on top of Mr. Davis and snarling at him. Mr. Davis struggled underneath the tiger and tried to reach for the rifle that had flown out of his hands.

"Get off me!" Mr. Davis growled as he attempted to get up.

It did him no good. Dhiren continued to pin down each of the man's limbs, too livid to listen to his trainer. He instead roared at Mr. Davis again. Even though I could not see Dhiren's face from this angle, I could feel the raw fury coming from him. Docile Dhiren was gone. Mr. Davis was facing an enraged tiger that looked ready to kill.

Ready to kill?

No! Dhiren couldn't do that. Murdering Mr. Davis would get Dhiren executed. I couldn't let that happen.

"Dhiren," I said over Mr. Davis's shouts.

The tiger's ears twitched so I know he heard me, but he didn't look at me.

I took in a deep breath and rushed over to the pair.

It was only Dhiren. He was my friend. He would never hurt me.

I continued this mantra until I was facing the tiger and could see how his face had been contorted with rage.

I could do this. "Dhiren," I said firmly.

Dhiren glanced at me. For just a moment, his face went slack with surprise, but then he snarled at me as well. It was a warning.

I tried to give Dhiren a reassuring smile. "It's alright, Dhiren," I told him. "It's me. Everything is going to be okay." As I talked, I was slowly reaching my hand out.

Dhiren stared at the incoming hand and his expression softened. Though he was angry, he no longer looked like a crazed animal. I just had to keep talking and...

Mr. Davis tried to get up again and the spell broke. In an instant, Dhiren's face morphed as the tiger became a predator once more. He slammed Mr. Davis back onto the ground. The man howled in pain. Had Dhiren broken something?

Before I could do anything, I heard Maurizio's voice call out in the distance, "Kelsey! Andrew! What's going on?"

Dread crept up my spine. People were coming to investigate.

"Dhiren. Please," I said holding out my hand again. "I know you can understand me. Leave Mr. Davis be and-"

It was too late.

From behind me, Maurizio called out, "Kelsey, get back!"

There were several more cries of alarm and one ear-piercing shriek. We officially had an audience.

"The tiger is loose!"

"Oh god! Matt!"

"Someone, call the police!"

"Call animal control!"

So many voices and none of them were helping. Everyone was frantic. Soon the authorities would come and see Dhiren snarling at Mr. Davis who was moaning and swearing in turns. And it would be over. Dhiren would be killed.

I couldn't let that happen. I couldn't lose him. I wouldn't.

I took in a deep breath and bellowed, "SHUT UP!"

It came out like a holy commandment. People listened. The crowd fell silent. Dhiren stopped snarling. Even Mr. Davis was quiet.

"Dhiren," I said in a steady authoritative voice. "Look at me."

The tiger's eyes met mine.

"You need to listen to me," I told him. "Let Mr. Davis go and come here."

The tiger snarled at me again. He was angry and confused. I knew he couldn't understand why I wanted him to let Mr. Davis go and there was a part of me that didn't want Dhiren to let him go. That part of me wanted Dhiren to maul Mr. Davis to death in front of this live audience.

Mr. Davis was an evil person. He was probably the true cause of most of my problems at the circus. He had threatened Dhiren and he had shot at me. He beat his son, got my parents killed, and did who knows what else to my tiger over the years. I wanted him to suffer. He deserved to suffer and yet…

"He's not worth it," I said firmly. "He's not worth you getting into trouble. You'd be killed as punishment, Dhiren. And you're too important for that. You're too important to me. I need you. So please, leave him be and come here." I extended my hand out one more time.

Dhiren looked between my hand and Mr. Davis. I held my breath as I saw him dealing with the same internal conflict that I had faced with Matt.

"Come here," I said again.

The tiger stared at me looking for weakness, for permission to ignore my orders. In that moment, I had no reservations. I was sure.

Finally, the tiger huffed out a breath. The anger left his face, but he did not move immediately. After a moment, I noticed him glancing pointedly at the abandoned rifle which was a few feet away from Mr. Davis.

I understood. I scooped up the weapon.

Seeing that I had the gun, the tiger finally got off of Mr. Davis. The man was in too much pain now to get up. He laid on the ground, softly swearing as Dhiren came over to me.

As soon as Dhiren was close enough, I reached out with my free hand and rubbed the tiger's cheek.

"Thank you, Dhiren," I murmured to him.

The tiger chuffed as I petted him. He was back to his usual self.

Thank goodness.

Behind us, someone began to clap. I turned around and saw the large crowd. The entire circus had been watching us.

"Well done, Miss Animal Trainer! Well done!" a loud voice said. The crowd parted and a stranger immerged from the sea of people. The stranger stopped clapping and said, "Sorry, I'm late."