Tiger's Curse Read Online Free PDF Page A

hurried to the kennel and found Matt’s dad playing with the dogs. He looked a lot like an adult version of Matt, with the same brown hair and brown eyes. He turned to me as I approached and said, “Hello. It’s Kelsey, right? I understand you’ll be my assistant today.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    He shook my hand warmly and smiled. “Call me Andrew or Mr. Davis, if you prefer something more formal. The first thing we need to do is take these feisty little critters for a walk around the grounds.”
    “Sounds easy enough.”
    He laughed. “We’ll see.”
    Mr. Davis gave me enough leashes to hook to five dogs’ collars. The dogs were an interesting assortment of mutts including a beagle, a greyhound mix, bulldog, a Great Dane, and a little black poodle. The animals bounced around everywhere, getting the leashes all twisted around each other—and me. Mr. Davis leaned over to help and then we started off.
    It was a beautiful morning. The woods were fragrant, and the dogs were very happy, jumping about and pulling me in every direction except the one I wanted to go. They kicked up rustling pine needles and leaves and exposed bare brown soil as they sniffed every square inch of the terrain.
    As I unwound a dog from a tree I asked Mr. Davis, “Do you mind if I ask you some questions about your tiger?”
    “Not at all. Ask away.”
    “Matt said that you guys didn’t know much about the history of your tiger. Where did you get him from?”
    Matt’s dad rubbed a hand over the stubble on his chin and said, “Dhiren came to us when Mr. Maurizio purchased it from another small circus. He wanted to liven up the acts. He figured that I worked well with other animals, so why not tigers. We were very naïve. It usually requires extensive training to work with the big cats. Mr. Maurizio was insistent that I try and, fortunately for me, our tiger is very tractable.
    “I was extremely unprepared to take on an animal of that size though I stayed and traveled with the other circus for a while. Their trainer taught me how to handle a tiger, and I learned how to care for it. I’m not sure I could have dealt with any of the other cats they were selling.
    “They tried to get me interested in one of their very aggressive Siberians but I quickly realized that she wasn’t for us. I negotiated for the white cat instead. The white was more even tempered and seemed to like working with me. To tell you the truth, our tiger seems bored with me most of the time.”
    I pondered this information as we silently walked down the trail for a while. Untangling the dogs from another tree, I asked, “Do white tigers come from India? I thought they came from Siberia.”
    Mr. Davis smiled. “Many people think they’re from Russia because the white coat blends in with the snow, but Siberian tigers are larger and orange. Our cat is a Bengal or Indian tiger.”
    He looked at me thoughtfully for a moment and asked, “Are you ready to help me with the tiger today? The cages have safety latches, and I will be supervising you at all times.”
    I smiled, remembering the sweet scent of jasmine at the end of the tiger’s performance. One of the dogs ran around my legs, trapping me and breaking the reverie for a moment.
    “I would really enjoy that, thanks!” I replied.
    After finishing our walk, we put the dogs back in the kennel and fed them.
    Mr. Davis filled the dogs’ trough with water from a green hose. He looked over his shoulder and said, “You know, tigers could be completely wiped out in the next ten years. India has already passed several laws against killing them. Poachers and villagers are mostly responsible. Tigers generally avoid humans, but they are responsible for many deaths in India every year and sometimes people take matters into their own hands.”
    Then, Mr. Davis gestured that I should follow him. We walked around the corner of the building to a large barn that was painted white with blue trim. He opened the wide doors for us to