Page 28 of Tiger's Curse
“Do you understand me when you are a tiger? Can I still speak to you?”
“Yes, I’ll still be able to hear and understand you.”
I took a deep breath. “Okay. I’ll stay here with you until the shaman comes back. I still have a lot of questions for you though.”
“I know. I’ll try to answer them as best I can, but you’ll have to save them for tomorrow when I’ll be able to speak with you again. We can stay here for the night. The shaman should be back around dusk.”
“Ren?”
“Yes?”
“The jungle frightens me, and this situation frightens me.”
He let go of the apron string and looked into my eyes. “I know.”
“Ren?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t . . . leave me, okay?”
His face softened into a tender expression, and his mouth turned up in a sincere smile. “Asambhava. I won’t.”
I felt myself responding to his smile with one of my own when a shadow fell across his face. He clenched his fists and tightened his jaw. I saw a tremor pass through his body, and the chair fell forward as he collapsed to the ground on his hands and knees. I stood to reach out to him and was amazed to see his body morph back into the tiger form I knew so well. Ren the tiger shook himself, then approached my outstretched hand and rubbed his head against it.
9
a friend
isat on the edge of the bed thinking about what Ren had shared with me. Looking at the tiger now, I thought, or perhaps hoped, that I might’ve actually imagined everything.Maybe the jungle is causing me to hallucinate. Is all this real? Is there really a person underneath that fur?
Ren stretched out on the floor and rested his head on his paws. He looked at me with his gorgeous blue eyes for a long moment, and at once, I knew that this was real.
Ren had said that the shaman wouldn’t be back until dusk, which was still several hours away. The bed looked inviting. A nap would be nice, but I was filthy. I decided that a bath was the first order of business and went to investigate the tub, which needed to be filled old-school style—with a bucket.
I began the arduous task of pumping water into the bucket, dumping it into the tub, and starting all over again. It looked easier on television than it was in real life. I thought my arms were going to fall off after only three buckets, but I pushed through the ache knowing how good a bath would feel. My tired arms convinced me that a half bath was more than adequate.
I kicked off my tennis shoes and started to unbutton my shirt. I got about halfway down when I suddenly realized that I had an audience. I held my shirt together and turned around to find Ren watching me.
“Some gentleman you are. You’re being as quiet as a mouse on purpose, aren’t you? Well, I don’t think so, Mister. You’d better sit outside until I’m done with my bath.” I waved my arm in the air. “Go . . . keep watch or something.”
I opened the door, and Ren slowly dragged his body outside. Quickly undressing, I stepped into the tepid water and began scrubbing away at my dirty skin with the shaman’s homemade herbal soap. After soaping through my hair with the lemony sage bar and rinsing off, I lay back in the tub for a moment, thinking.What have I gotten myself into? Why didn’t Mr. Kadam tell me any of this? What are they expecting me to do? How long am I going to be stuck in the jungle in India?
Questions whirled around in my mind, displacing any coherent thoughts. They tossed around, spinning into a cyclone of confusion. Giving up trying to make sense of it all, I climbed out, dried off, got dressed, and opened the door for Ren who had been lying with his back pressed against it.
“Okay, you can come back in now. I’m decent.”
Ren wandered back in while I sat on the bed cross-legged and began combing the tangles out of my hair.
“Well, Ren, I’ll sure be giving Mr. Kadam a piece of my mind after we get out of here. You’re not off the hook yet either, by the way. I have a thousand questions so you’d better prepare yourself.”
I braided my hair and tied a green ribbon around the tail. Tucking my arms behind my head, I lay down on the pillow and stared up at the bamboo ceiling. Ren put his head on the mattress near mine and looked at me with an apologetic tiger expression.
I laughed and patted his head, awkwardly at first, but he leaned in, and I overcame my shyness quickly.
“It’s fine, Ren. I’m not mad, really. I just wish you two had trusted me more.”
He licked my hand and lay down on the floor to rest while I turned on my side to watch him.
