Pamela Tracy - Katie's Rescue

“Are you still there?”

“I’m still here, but, Mr. Rittenhouse, I can’t do anything for Aquila. I stopped helping my father more than a decade ago. I wouldn’t know what to do. I don’t even keep a pet and—”

“I’m not letting Aquila die. Not if I can help it.”

Katie seriously doubted that Aquila was dying. He was only twelve years old. Panthers, in captivity, usually lived into their early twenties.

“I need you to come to Scorpion Ridge.”

Katie almost dropped the phone. “Are you nuts?” she said, getting the attention of the few students scurrying late to class. “Scorpion Ridge? What kind of place is that?”

“It’s in Arizona.”

“I’m not coming to Arizona. I—”

The man had no trouble finishing her sentences. “—signed a paper guaranteeing all of your father’s animals were in good health.”

“My father’s animals were in excellent condition,” Katie exclaimed. “Not only did my father’s vet, as well as yours, examine each and every animal before the sale, but we hired an independent consultant to attest to their health. No way can you claim—”

“Lady, I’m telling you, nothing we’ve tried has worked. Aquila is dying.”

Katie paused as the memories washed over her. She’d been eleven when Aquila and his brother were born on her father’s property. She’d cried for a straight week after their mother, an always standoffish black panther, rejected her two cubs. So Katie went to work alongside her father, bottle-feeding, seeing both Tyre and Aquila open their eyes for the first time, rubbing their heads, watching the silky gray babies turn black, soothing the cubs after the vet took blood samples, cleaning up after them. Anything her father asked, Katie had done because she loved those cubs, especially Aquila.

Later, her father had said she’d done “too” good a job with Aquila. The cat wasn’t supposed to be a pet; he was supposed to be a performer. But in the end, the truth couldn’t be changed. Aquila loved her, liked her father, but wouldn’t perform for Jasper—her father’s right-hand man.

Tyre, Aquila’s brother, was a typical panther and much like his mother, disdained captivity and prepped to attack. He didn’t care for anybody. When her father started training him, Tyre performed but only because his reward was food.

“Are you still there?” Luke demanded.

“I’m still here. What’s wrong with Aquila?”

“If a cat can be heartsick, I think this cat is. He won’t eat, he barely moves and he won’t perform. We’ve tried just about everything. We’ve fed him live game. We’ve put enough toys in his area to make him feel he’s gone to stalk-pounce-chase heaven. But so far he just lies there. I can’t watch him die.” His voice softened, giving Katie hope. This man wouldn’t give up on Aquila. He’d find a way to help him.

A way that didn’t involve her.

“Mr. Rittenhouse. I can’t come to Scorpion Ridge. Plus, I have a sister to take care of.”

“Isn’t your sister in college?”

So, Mr. Rittenhouse had done some homework.

“Yes,” Katie said, “but in some ways she needs me now more than ever.”

There was a long pause. Finally, he said, “Look, I have sisters, too. But I also have a responsibility to these animals, plus my employer and employees. Right now my number one priority is keeping Aquila alive. And, apparently, I need your help.”

Katie didn’t say anything.

His voice grew firmer. “Aquila was the inspiration for my purchasing your father’s menagerie, and I’m sure you’re aware I paid top dollar.”

Yes, Katie knew to the penny what the man had paid for each animal and for some extras. He’d made a wise investment. George, the brown bear, had appeared in more than one movie. The camel, Kobie, could untie a knot in a rope. Ollie, the orangutan, waved and blew kisses.

Aquila, however, had been the reigning prince of Bob Vincent’s menagerie. He could jump through a ring of fire, dive into a swimming pool and he actually danced to Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.”

Katie hadn’t always agreed with her father’s ideas of what his animals should do, but Aquila’s affinity for dancing was entirely Katie’s doing. Most of Bob’s animals had been good dancers, at least to Katie’s music.

Well, maybe not the snakes.

Luke went on. “If he can’t perform, then I made a bad deal. One I cannot afford to keep. There’s a six-month reversal clause for breach of contract, so I’m going to have my lawyer contact your lawyer...”

Katie opened her mouth but no sound came out, and she sank to the cold, hard, tiled floor. The reversal clause would be for the whole kingdom, not just Aquila. She didn’t have any place to put four large animals. Her father’s house and land had been sold, allowing her to pay his bills and bury him. The money from the animals had allowed her to pay off her debts, get Janie into college and move into a decent apartment.

As for the lawyer, she barely knew him. Plus, from what she remembered of her dad’s lawyer, he’d be on the side of the animals.

Not that she wasn’t, but... Two deep breaths later, she managed to croak out, “Mr. Rittenhouse, are you aware I’ve not been in contact with Aquila for years?”

“Yes, Jasper told me.”

Katie all but collapsed against a wall and tried to ignore the students hurrying down the hall. She could have been one of them, if not for her life experiences and responsibilities.

“Jasper’s with you?” she whispered.

“Yes.”

The man had to be nearing eighty. He’d been like a grandfather to her once, and yet Katie had never looked into how he was doing after her father died. He and Bob had worked together for almost thirty years.

Guilt tapped her on the shoulder again.

“It was Jasper who suggested I call you before I called my lawyer,” Luke said. “He’s sure that Aquila would remember you and pull through.”

Pulling together every ounce of stamina she could manage, Katie said, “Mr. Rittenhouse, wild animals aren’t supposed to pine for people. Besides, I don’t think you realize what you’re asking. Last time I worked with Aquila, I was a kid. I’m a different person now.”

“Yes.”

She didn’t know if he was agreeing with her or encouraging her to go on. No matter, Katie had a feeling the man on the other end of the phone didn’t think much of the different person she’d become.

“Mr. Rittenhouse, the animal kingdom is no longer my world. I have no desire to work with animals again....”

She didn’t mention she also had no desire to sacrifice her job, schooling or endanger herself or her family. She didn’t say any of these things because if he worked with animals, he was a showman, and he accepted the sacrifices and ignored the risks.

“Lady, I don’t have the time or willingness to play games. I’ve gone over the sales agreement for Bob’s Backyard Animal Kingdom, and I’m real comfortable with my rights. You either show up here within twenty-four hours to help with Aquila, or my lawyer will begin proceedings to enforce the reversal clause.”

“Twenty-four hours? I’ve already told you, I have a job. I have a home. I have a little sister to take care of.”

“Just give me two weeks. Bring your sister along if you have to. Help me with Aquila. Then you can go back to whatever you’re doing now. Two weeks. Jasper said you could do it. See you in twenty-four hours.” He hung up.

Katie stared openmouthed at her cell phone until the silence of the hallway caught her attention. Thursday-morning classes had started and students were either cocooned safe inside their rooms or were already in the student union or out in the parking lot. As an interpreter for the deaf, she belonged in statistics class with her student, and no doubt both student and instructor were growing concerned. Her student, all of nineteen and extremely bright, could read lips, but this particular instructor spoke English with a heavy accent. More than once Katie had signed, “One hungry student” when the instructor had really said, “One hundred students.” The instructor also tended to speak louder whenever he looked at the deaf student, which made the class giggle.