Page 108 of Tiger Queen
“You should have seen it when I got here a year ago.”
Ashley shook her head and glanced at my parents. “She has me to thank for all of this, by the way. I’m the one who made her apply here.”
“As a joke!” I argued. “You didn’t want me to actually work here…”
“I don’t remember it that way!” she said cheerfully. “You have your dream job thanks to me, and that’s that.”
Mary Beth and a handful of other people from the US Fish and Wildlife Service were there too. I chatted with them for a few minutes. Mary Beth had gotten a promotion out of everything that happened last year, and now she ran a team of six.
“No, the KWS didn’t mind us backing out of the deal,” I said in response to one of her questions.
“Really? Kenya didn’t mind at all?”
“Fortunately, we backed out of the animal transfer before their plans were set in stone. Also, we made a huge donation to the KWS.”
“There it is. Money always helps!” Mary Beth said happily.
David waved at me from the edge of the building. I groaned. “Oh no. They’ve set up a red ribbon and some scissors.”
“Come cut it!” David called.
“We don’t need to do anything ceremonial…”
The crowd disagreed. They all turned to face me and started clapping. Jake and Anthony joined their brother by the ribbon. There was no use fighting it so I took the scissors from David and prepared to cut the ribbon.
“Speech!” Ashley shouted. “Give us a speech first!”
I glared at her, but the chant went up in the crowd. “Speech! Speech!” I patted the air to calm everyone down until they were silent.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do today, so I’m going to keep this short and sweet,” I began. “I first came here a year ago because my stupid roommate insisted I get an inside look at Crazy Carl’s Zoo.”
I glared at Ashley, and she blew me a kiss.
“The zoo was famously bad. I took photos of the poor conditions, told off David and Anthony, and then drove away like the police were chasing me. But David tracked me down and convinced me that they wanted to do the right thing here. To move the animals to proper homes in a real wildlife preserve. I never imagined that place would be here. And I certainly never expected to make a career out of it. I—”
I cut off as David gasped. “Dad?”
Carl Haines came walking up like he still owned the place. His head wasn’t shaved into a mohawk anymore, revealing an auburn head of hair that looked a lot like Jake’s. Prison had made his skin paler and his face more gaunt, but he looked healthy in jeans and a t-shirt.
Anthony and Jake stepped forward like guards protecting me. I felt a pang of fear. The last time I had seen him, he had tried to kill me.
“What are you doing here?” David demanded. “How did you get out…”
Carl raised the leg of his jeans, revealing a black ankle bracelet. “They let me out on temporary release for the day. Earned enough credits for good behavior to make this little pit stop on the way to cleaning trash off the highway.”
I noticed a policeman standing a short distance away, arms crossed and watching Carl. That must have been his escort.
“I came back here,” Carl said hotly, “to see what y’all have done to my zoo.”
He took a slow look around. The other visitors backed away slowly, like he was a bomb that might go off at any moment. Carl’s three sons tensed as they waited to see what he would say—or do.
“I like it,” Carl suddenly announced. “Proud of what you’ve done with the place.”
Everyone relaxed.
“I got into this business a long time ago because I liked animals,” Carl explained. It sounded like something he had rehearsed, and his tone was humble and sincere. “I wanted to take care of animals. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. It’s why I bought all the land surrounding here, ‘cause I wanted to expand. Let the animals roam free. Cost too much money to ever make happen, though. So I opened the zoo and started saving up.
“But I lost sight of what mattered along the way. I forgot that it’s about the animals, and what’s best for them.” He nodded to me. “I’m glad someone came along and righted that wrong.”