Big Cat Mishap

by Calamity Rene

Part 1

“There’s a cougar hangin’ around.” Chad grunted, causing everyone in the family to lift their heads up from the morning meal. Twelve-year-old Andrea Carter stared at her dark-haired older brother, thoughts racing through her head.

          “A cougar?” she repeated, contemplating the words. “How do you know?”

          Chad jerked his thumb in the direction behind him. “Found tracks this morning when I herded the cattle to the north pasture waterin’ hole.” He replied. “Big tracks, too. This feller’s gotta be at least three and a half feet tall.”

          Andi’s oldest brother, Justin, choked on his spoonful of eggs at Chad’s words. This of course led to smothered snickers from her blond-haired brother Mitch, causing Andi to let out a giggle also. A look from her mother silenced any remaining nonsense from the two noisemakers and they turned their attention back to the conversation.

          “Chad, you’ve got to be exaggerating,” Justin stated after taking a drink of water to clear his throat. “Three and a half feet tall? There has never been a cougar that big in the area.”

          Justin’s right, Andi thought. Chad’s gotta be pulling our leg. But Chad’s face remained stubborn as he glared at Justin.

          “I’m not exaggerating anything,” he retorted, slamming his fork down and leveling his eyes at the oldest brother of the house. “I told you what I saw, and I mean it. If you don’t believe me I suggest heading out to the barn and saddling up your horse, ‘cause I’m going to make a believer out of you after you see those tracks!”

          “Chad, please don’t yell,” their mother, Elizabeth Carter, scolded. “I believe you saw some tracks, but I must side with Justin on the matter. Cougars don’t get that big.”

          “I’ll be happy to ride out with you and see the tracks if you want, Chad,” Justin offered. “If it would make you feel any better about the matter.”

          “As a matter of fact, it would,” Chad grumbled, spooning the last of his eggs into his mouth and then standing up. “See you in the barn.” With that he left the room.

          “Boy howdy, he is downright set on being right today,” Mitch remarked.

“Not any more than usual,” Mother added with a smile.

          “But cougar tracks that big? He’s got to be dreaming. Wait until I write to Melinda and Grandmother about this!” Andi snickered, and Mitch and Justin joined in.

****

Plop. Andi scooped a pile of manure from the stall floor into the wheelbarrow and sighed. She straightened up and brushed one of her brown braids behind her shoulder, then looked towards the barn door longingly. Whoever invented barn chores must have been really bored. She decided. Of course then again chores have been around ever since God created the earth. Perhaps in a perfect world she’d like doing chores. But this wasn’t a perfect world and she most certainly did not like doing chores. Better get back to work.

          She’d just bent down to pick up another pile of manure when the sound of horses caused her to pause. That’s gotta be the boys, back from checking out the tracks. She glanced at her beautiful Palomino mare, Taffy, eating her hay quietly. She then looked down at what she had left to clean up in the stall. I can always finish this later. With that thought Andi dropped the pitchfork and unlatched the stall, running towards the front of the barn to see what her brothers had to say of their venture to the watering hole. Skidding to a stop next to the snubbing post, Andi took one look at their faces and paled.

          Justin, Chad and Mitch dismounted from their horses and tied them to the snubbing post, their faces grim.

          “What’s wrong? Did you find the tracks?” Andi burst forth, not wanting to wait for an answer one second longer.

          “Yep, we found the tracks,” Mitch responded.

Chad's hand next to the big cat's track

          “Then what’s wrong?” Andi demanded.

          “Chad was right, this cougar is a monster,” Justin told her, his eyes betraying the worrisome thoughts in his mind. “Andi, you can’t go riding out until we trap this cat. This cougar is no doubt responsible for the loss of five of our cows in the north pasture.”

          Andi shuddered. She remembered when Mitch came riding home and told them he thought some wolves had killed the cattle. One cougar killed five full-sized cows? Another thought popped into her mind.

          “Wait a minute!” she cried, running towards her brothers as they headed towards the house. “Cory and I were going to go for a ride tomorrow and go fishing!”

          “Well you’ll have to tell Cory it’s off until we’ve killed it. It’s not safe out there.” Chad cut her short, his voice warning her not to press the matter any farther.

          Andi scrunched up her face and sighed, then turned around and dragged her feet back to the barn. This is not fair. I can’t believe some dumb ol’ cougar had to show up and scare the boys and mess up my fishing trip! This is worse than the fact school’s starting next month!

          Storming over to Taffy’s stall she was shocked to find her palomino mare not in it.

“Taffy!” Andi cried, realizing she’d forgotten to latch the door when she’d left the barn. “Oh no, Taffy where are you?”

A flash of gold caught Andi’s eye and she turned towards the other barn door that led towards the rest of the Carter ranch. There she is!

Taffy was running like a young filly, bucking and twisting around as she enjoyed this newly found freedom.

“Oh great, just what I need today!” Andi moaned, grabbing Taffy’s halter and running out after the quarter horse. “Taffy come here! Here girl!”

Taffy paused momentarily to glance over at Andi, considering her master’s bidding. With a toss of her head she kicked up her heels and ran the other direction, deciding a run sounded much more fun right now then getting caught.

“No no no no!” Andi raced after her beloved horse. “No, Taffy come back!”

But Taffy continued to run until she disappeared into the wooded area of the ranch.

Andi stopped short of the trees, panting and holding her sides. This is not how I wanted to spend the morning. Now she’d have to follow Taffy on foot until she could catch the naughty mare.

Taking a step into the shaded area of the trees Andi stopped short. Chad and Justin’s warning raced through her head as she remembered what they’d said about the cougar. “Andi, you can’t go riding out until we trap this cat.”

The twelve-year-old girl glanced back at the ranch. The barn seemed so far away now and she could barely make out Mitch putting away the horses. No one seemed to have missed her-yet.

I can’t let Taffy roam the woods by herself with that cougar hanging around, what if he killed her? She couldn’t let that happen! And yet her brothers did warn her not to ride into the woods alone…

A thought popped into Andi’s head and a slow grin crossed her face. “Of course, I’m not riding alone, just walking.” She said aloud, her grin growing wider. “They didn’t say I couldn’t walk alone. Besides, Chad would be furious if anything happened to Taffy. I have to catch her!”

Andi’s mind was made up and without another thought she jogged into the treed area in search of her horse, pushing back any thoughts of doubt or guilt.

 

Part 2

 

Half an hour later found Andi glaring at a sweaty palomino mare drinking her fill from the watering hole in the north pasture. The hot August sun beat against Andi’s back and she was red as a strawberry.

“Taffy, why didn’t you listen to me?” she groaned. “This is where the boys found the cougar tracks this morning. They’re going to kill me when they find out I came out here!”

Taffy ignored her and continued to drink from the water, then lifted her head up and stuck her tongue out at Andi.

Andi couldn’t help it, she burst out laughing and haltered up the horse. “You silly girl. Come on, let’s get out of here before we run into any trouble.”

Andi decided that since it was such a long walk back to the ranch she might as well ride, she would be in enough trouble as it was when they found out she’d disobeyed. Unless of course they haven’t realized I’m gone yet. Fat chance of that.

Leading the mare over to a rock, Andi tied the halter rope like a pair of reins and hopped onto Taffy’s back, settling in and then cuing her horse to a walk.

She was about to turn Taffy onto the trail that led through the treed area when Andi caught sight of the tracks her brothers had been ranting about. She reined Taffy in and stared at the tracks, her mouth dropping open. Chad was not kidding, this cat is HUGE! Andi couldn’t imagine a cougar this big. She’d only seen one or two in her life, the first one when she’d been out with Justin riding towards town and second one was when Mitch shot it and brought it home.

Taffy put her head down and smelled the tracks, then locked her feet in place and froze, her head up and her ears straight forward. “Yeah Taffy, I know,” Andi murmured, stroking Taffy’s neck as she stared at the tracks. “That’s gotta be one mean ol’---"

She should have been paying attention to what Taffy was staring at.

Before she even knew what was happening Taffy reared up and took off towards the trees, dumping Andi right then and there next to the water.

“Taffy come back!” Andi screamed, leaping up as she saw the last glimpse of the palomino’s tail as she faded from view. Snap. A stick broke.

Andi whirled around back towards the water and gasped. Her heart nearly stopped as she stared into the eyes of the biggest cat she’d ever seen. A lion.

*****

Andi couldn’t move. She couldn’t scream, she couldn’t cry, she could barely breath! Her sister Melinda told her once about what a lion looked like after she’d been to a circus with Justin, but what was a lion doing on the Carter ranch?

The lion stood less than four feet away from Andi, licking his lips and staring up at her. His mane was a tan blackish color and his eyes were yellow. His body was colored just like a mountain lion but he was built much thicker.

Andi didn’t know what to do. Should she run? Should she yell for help? Oh dear God, she closed her eyes and prayed, please help me. I’m scared and I don’t know what to do, I feel like I’m Daniel in the lion’s den and this lion may want to eat me. Send your angels to protect me and keep me safe.

Somehow, even though she didn’t know what to do about this cat who might attack her at any given second, Andi felt better. She opened her eyes and squealed, falling backwards and landing on the ground with a thud.

The lion stood right over her, his face almost inquisitive as he bent down to sniff her.

Andi didn’t move, she held her breath and let the lion nose her. He is so big! She couldn’t get over how huge he was, he had to have been at least three or four feet tall!

She clenched her fists shut and hoped he didn’t sense her fear as he sniffed her face. Oh please don’t bite me! Her heart pounded against her chest as she remained still.

What happened next was the last thing she expected.

He licked her.

“Oh my goodness!” she exclaimed in a whisper as he lay on her lap, his weight making it impossible for her to get up. “Oh my goodness! What are you doing, lion?”

The huge cat rubbed his head against her and rolled onto his back, still pinning her to the ground.

Andi wasn’t sure if she should laugh or cry as the truth dawned on her. “Why you’re tame, aren’t you?” she asked. She reached out with a trembling hand and stroked the lion’s mane, and he head butted her hand in an affectionate manner. “My goodness, I can’t believe this!”

Thoughts raced through her mind. “So the cougar tracks Chad found weren’t cougar tracks at all, they were your tracks, boy! Where did you come from anyways?”

The lion continued to rub her and then stood up, shaking his mane. Andi took the opportunity to slip out from underneath him and stand.

She was much more confident now and ran her fingers through the lion’s mane. She was no longer scared but excited. How often did a twelve-year-old girl in California get the chance to pet a lion?

Suddenly Andi stopped petting the lion as a new thought was introduced in her mind. “Wait a second, that means you killed those cows!” she cried. “How could you!”

As if to prove he wasn’t capable of such violence the lion licked Andi’s hand.

“Well, I guess you didn’t have anything else to eat.” She sighed. “But you better not do that again or Chad will shoot you.”

The name Chad reminded Andi that the whole ranch was probably out looking for her now. “Well Mr. Lion, I should go now. I’ll have to tell my brothers about you so we can catch you and find whoever tamed you.  A circus just went through town, maybe you came from there? Anyways I gotta go.”

Andi breathed a prayer of thanks to God that he’d kept her safe and gave the giant cat one last pat. She turned around to leave and got no farther than the woods before she realized the lion was following her.

“No no, you need to stay here.” She told him.

The lion yawned and rubbed his head on Andi again, nearly toppling her over.

Andi petted him again and started walking away once more, only to find the lion did not intend to leave her. “What’s the matter boy? I need to go home so I can tell the boys about yo…”

Andi’s voice trailed off as an idea popped into her head. Why not show the boys the lion instead! After all he seemed pretty tame and he wouldn’t stop following her, might as well get some fun out of this!

“This is going to be the biggest surprise I’ve ever pulled off!” Andi told the lion. “Just wait until they see you!”

 

Part 3

 

Andi's surprise didn’t work out exactly as she’d expected it to.

No sooner had Andi walked into the ranch yard when her new pet decided the chickens looked really interesting and began to stalk the birds.

“No wait, stop!” Andi cried, but it was too late. The lion raced towards the chicken coop and batted a very terrified Henry the Eighth, who took off running and screeching. The lion chased after it like an overgrown house cat playing with a mouse.

The commotion brought all of Andi’s brothers out of the barn, not to mention a couple of ranch hands.

“The cougar!” Chad shouted, whipping out his pistol and aiming it at the lion.

“No Chad, no!” Andi screamed.

The lion chased Henry the rooster behind the barn just as Chad fired. Bang! The bullet bounced off the barn, missing the lion by a couple of inches.

“Chad, stop!” Andi demanded, running in front of her brother. “That’s no cougar, that’s a lion!”

“A cougar and a mountain lion are the same thing, Andi. Now get out of my way!”

Andi knew that tone only too well, unless one of her other brothers said something, Chad would not be stopped.Without hesitation she whirled towards Justin. “Justin, tell him to stop! It’s not a mountain lion or a cougar or a puma, it’s a lion lion! A real lion!”

By this time Chad had reloaded his gun and raced around the barn, ready to blow the intruder to smithereens. If Justin didn’t do something fast Andi’s new animal friend would be a goner!

“What are you talking about Andi? There are no real lions around here!” Justin exclaimed.

The next instant found Justin and Mitch on the ground and Andi with her back against the barn wall as Henry the Eighth ran right underneath Justin’s legs . . . followed by a very hungry lion.

“Lion, stop!” Andi cried, leaping into action and running after the feline. “Come back!”

The large animal slid to a halt and turned towards Andi, hesitating.

“That’s it.” Andi encouraged. “Leave Henry alone.”

“Andi! Get away from that thing!”

Andi glanced behind her to see Chad fifteen feet away with his gun loaded and ready to fire. “It’s alright Chad! He’s tame!” To prove her point she walked right up to the cat and patted him on the head. “See?”

Chad stared at Andi, then at the lion. Slowly he lowered his gun and then glared at Andi. “You have a lot of explaining to do.”

Andi grinned sheepishly. She was in trouble.

*****

It didn’t take Justin long at all to find out who the lion belonged to. Like Andi had suspected Mr. lion belonged to the circus. Apparently when the circus train had stopped in Fresno so the animals could be checked on someone had forgotten to lock the door to the lion’s car and he had promptly made an exit.

The circus had wired Justin and asked him to hold onto the lion until they could get there. When Andi’s mother heard this she’d thrown her hands up in the air and exclaimed, “Where on earth are we going to put a lion for heaven’s sake? This isn’t a zoo.”

“Seeing how Andi was the one who brought him to the ranch in the first place I vote that should be her responsibility.” Chad muttered.

“Hey, it wasn’t my fault. He followed me home,” Andi argued. “Besides, he was already on the ranch. I just brought him to show you.”

“And disobeyed what I told you. You should thank God you’re safe Andi. Any normal cat would have killed you,” Justin admonished.

Her punishment fit the crime. She wasn’t allowed to ride Taffy for two weeks. “That ought to teach you not to disobey like that again,” Chad had grunted. “When Taffy came running home without you and we realized you’d left you can bet we were ready to scour the whole countryside. Maybe next time you’ll think twice before taking off like that.”

Now the only loose end to tie up was the loose end itself---the lion. What were they to do with it?

Mitch voted it could live in the chicken coop, to which Mother promptly disagreed. Chad wanted to chain it up to a tree and Justin just wanted to get rid of it.

“Good thing Melinda’s in San Francisco with Aunt Rebecca. Otherwise she’d be squealing and protesting for days,” Andi had whispered into Mitch’s ear, to which he’d cracked a grin.

In the end Chad and Mitch made a large cage for the feline and set some steak on the floor to get him to go in. Mr. Lion was not happy about the arrangement but didn’t put up much of a fuss as long as he was fed twice a day.

Two days after the incident found the circus ringmaster and his daughter in Fresno to collect their lion.

Andi was mucking the stalls when she’d heard the carriage wheels squeaking into the barnyard, causing her to drop the pitchfork and race towards the house.

“Is this the Carter ranch?” the tall, dark-haired man asked as he got out of the carriage and caught sight of Andi.

“Yes it is, sir.” Andi replied. “Are you here to pick up the lion?”

“You mean Magi is still here?” A girl about Andi’s age hopped out of the carriage, her red hair bouncing and her freckled face bursting into a wide grin. “Oh good! I was so afraid he’d escape before we got here.”

“I am Harold Spencer and this is my daughter, Amelia,” Mr. Spencer told her, gesturing to himself and then his daughter. “We were afraid we’d lost Magi forever and were so grateful when Justin Carter telegramed us he was here. He’s been in our circus for fourteen years and is very tame.”

“I hope he wasn’t too much trouble, he’s so sweet and adorable but can be really naughty sometimes!” Amelia exclaimed, turning to Andi and flashing her a smile.

“I’m Andrea Carter, but you can call me Andi.” Andi said, smiling back. “And it was a pleasure to have Magi stay at the ranch with us for a while, he’s been the most unusual guest we’ve ever had!”

  They all laughed at that.

The End