Page 43 of Tiger's Quest
Sometimes, I would do nothing but sit with Ren’s tiger head in my lap and watch him sleep. I stroked his white fur and felt his chest rise and fall. Being a tiger was part of who he was, and I was comfortable with it. But, now that I’d finally accepted that he loved me, I was overcome with a desire to be withhim.
It was frustrating. I wanted to share every moment with him. I wanted to listen to his voice, feel his hand in mine, and lay my cheek against his chest while he read to me. We were together, but we weren’ttogether. Ren spent most of his human hours at school, which left little time for us to develop our relationship. I was starving for him. I could talk to him, but he couldn’t reply. I quickly became an expert on reading tiger expressions.
I snuggled with him on the floor every night, and every night he picked me up and put me back in my own bed after I fell asleep. We did homework together, watched movies, finishedOthello, and moved on toHamlet. We also kept in constant contact with Mr. Kadam. When I answered the phone, he spoke to me about school and Nilima and told me not to worry that my test of the four houses research had proven futile. He was polite and asked about my foster family but then he’d always ask for Ren.
I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop but it was obvious that something was going on when they spoke in hushed tones and sometimes switched to Hindi. Every once in a while, I’d hear strange terms mentioned: Yggdrasil, Naval Stone, and Noe’s Mountain. I’d ask Ren what they were talking about after he hung up but he’d just smile and tell me not to worry or that they’d been discussing business or that they were in a conference call with others who spoke only Hindi. I remembered the e-mail from Mr. Kadam about documents and had suspicions that Ren was hiding something but afterwards he would be so unguarded and genuinely happy about being with me that I eventually forgot my worries, at least until the next phone call.
Ren started writing little poems and notes and placing them in my bag for me to find during the school day. Some of them were famous poems and some were his own. I pressed them into my journal and kept a copy of my two favorites with me all the time.
You know you are in love
when you see the world in her eyes,
and her eyes everywhere in the world.
—David Levesque
If a king owned a pearl without price
A gem he cherished above all
Would he hide it away
Bury it from sight
Afraid others would take it?
Or would he display it proudly
Set it in a ring or crown
So that all the world could behold its beauty
And see what richness it brings to his life?
You are my pearl without price.
—Ren
Reading his innermost thoughts and feelings almost made up for our non-tiger time together being limited. Not quite. But almost.
After art history one day, Ren surprised me by falling into step behind me.
“How did you know where my class was?”
“I got out early today and tracked you. Easy as peach pie with whipped cream, which you promised to make for me later.”
“I remember.” I laughed, and we headed toward the language lab to return a long-forgotten video.
Behind the language lab desk was Artie.
“Hey, Artie. Just returning a video.”
He shoved his glasses up onto the bridge of his nose. “Ah, yes. I’d wondered where that video was. It’s very late, Kelsey.”
“Yeah. Sorry about that.”
He slipped it into an empty spot that I imagined he’d probably been staring at week after week as it drove him slowly crazy. “I’m glad you had the integrity to return it at least.”
