Little bug-eyed Gary is all smiles and giggles as he retreats behind the curtain again.
“No,” the asshole in the wheelchair whispers. His head begins to shake as he chants the word louder. “No...no, no,no!”
“Who is Ashwin?” Quinn asks.
I point toward the curtain as Gary grunts behind a large crate on wheels. The large metal cage creeps closer and closer. “Thatis Ashwin. He’s a three-year-old Bengal tiger who has been abused by this piece of shit since the day he was born. We are here to witness his final performance before he heads off to a sanctuary in Nepal.”
The man in the chair thrashes until he tips himself over. I give his head a solid kick with my boot, which dazes him. Blood mixes with the sawdust beneath his head as I bend to untie his arms and legs. Once he’s free, I hoist him over my shoulder and drop him near the edge of the ring, right beside the fence.
“Come on, lass. Ashwin’s not the friendliest toward humans, as you can imagine.” I hold out my hand, and she takes it. It’s a comfort to me when it shouldn’t be, but I tuck that emotion down in my gut. I can explore feelings later.
The front-row bench has been set up just for us. I lead Quinn to the red blanket covering the creaky wood, and she takes a seat. She plucks up a red-and-white container of popcorn and studies it.
“No turmeric, so it’s safe to eat,” I say. “I checked.”
She smiles to herself before settling in with her snack. Seconds later, the lights dim until only the spotlight on the center ring remains. I asked Gary to choose a common circus song for the main event, just to really set the mood. Unfortunately, something got lost in translation, as “Circus” by Britney Spears begins blasting from the overhead speakers.
“Oh my god, I love this song!” Quinn squeals. “It’s our own private performance!”
As the bonnie lass starts swaying and rolling her hips to the music, I’m entranced. Bright lights flash and zip overhead, casting her in a rainbow of allure. She takes a piece of popcornfrom the box and drags it from her lip down to her tits before popping it into her mouth.
God, make me that popcorn, and I’ll never ask for any?—
A loud bang pulls me out of the trance, and I turn toward the sound. The tiger is sick of being in that cramped crate, and he’s banging around inside. I don’t blame him. In just a few minutes, he’ll have the most fun he’s had in his life, and then he’s off to live out his days in a jungle, just as God intended. No more cages for the poor bastard after today.
Gary wheels the crate up to the gate and locks it in place. About this time, the animal abuser comes to and realizes what’s about to happen. He totters to his feet, still dazed from the knock to the head. Gripping the chain link, he begins to climb.
“Shit, he’s escaping!” Quinn shouts.
I tap her shoulder and direct her attention to the top of the cage, which is beginning to close, clamshell style, with a top made from nylon netting. We didn’t want to use barbed wire. The last thing we want to do is harm the animals any more than the harms they’ve already known. But we also don’t want to have an escaped monster on our hands, and that includes our human victims.
“The netting will keep everything contained,” I tell her, and she nods her head in approval.
Right as the chorus starts and Britney commands all eyes to the center ring, Gary raises the gate on the tiger’s crate. The great orange beast shoots from the darkness and heads straight for the greasy man making his way up the cage wall. Black stripes quiver within the orange fur as the fatal missile connects with its target. Claws poke from the massive paws and disappear into flesh.
“He’s killing me!” the man screams as the tiger pulls him down from the wall.
“We know!” Quinn shouts back at him. She tosses her head back and laughs.
It even earns a laugh from me.
“Jesus fucking Christ!” Quinn screams.
My head jerks toward her, terrified she’s somehow been injured, but she’s just staring back at me.
“What?” I ask, feeling my body to be sure I don’t have a second head growing somewhere. “Is something on me?”
“No. I just haven’t heard you laugh like that before. It’s nice.” She gives me a playful nudge with her shoulder and goes back to watching the mauling.
Yeah, it was kind of nice, wasn’t it?
I return my attention to the event as well, but it’s almost over. The man hardly struggles beneath the tiger. He just kind of groans and spits blood while the animal lies on top of him and pants. Ashwin is clearly pleased with himself, as he should be.
Britney’s voice fades out just in time for us to hear the powerful jaws close around the man’s skull with acrunch. His legs jerk a few more times, and then it’s over.
Quinn sighs and drops her head to my shoulder. “That was fun. What’s next?”
I close my eyes and enjoy the feel of her being so close. It won’t last long. She plays like she’s an open book, but the lass is just as closed off as I am.
