The Lonely Tiger
my first short story
Why does this story need a lonely tiger?
You don’t know, do you?
I do, but they don’t. You see, there are these establishments that put living creatures on display for children and parents to gawk at. These are called zoos. They are similar to museums, however museums only display dead creatures. I’m okay with museums. The creatures are allowed to be stared at but never gotten close to, that’s what every creature wants, to be close to other creatures. One particular lonely tiger needed my help, I failed that poor creature.
And so I sit in the back of this car, anticipating the poor, tired look I will see on mother’s face when these tiger-oppressors take me home. That same look has resided upon her face for the entire duration of my 17 years of conscious existence.
Many people do not remember being a baby, but I do. People ask me all the time what it was like and that is just rude. I don’t pry into their former infant lives and they shouldn’t pry into mine.
We are in my driveway now. Poor mother. I’m sure she’ll get over it, though. She always does.
***
Clarence and Sheila Key were not members of a complicated couple. They just happened to have a complicated son. Many nights the complications caused by their son would leave them lying in bed staring at the ceiling. This was one of those nights.
“I can’t believe it,” Clarence said.
“Honey, I’m scared,” Sheila said.
“Me too.”
Silence enveloped the room. The couple laid in bed holding hands and staring at the ceiling as they do on many nights.
“He could have got himself killed,” Sheila said.
“He’s a danger to himself,” Clarence said.
“We can’t have him trying to break into every zoo in town to free the tigers. We have to do something.”
“We do.”
“I think it’s time.”
***
I think mother’s face broke. I guess it just couldn’t get anymore poor or tired. Now I have a new home. And it’s clean. Nice, white, clean.
I will have plenty of adventures in this room. I can already tell.
***
Two doctors inhabited the space outside of a two-way mirror. Both were soaking wet from the rain. The younger of the two, Dr. Hawkins, was holding a clipboard.
“He tried to what?” asked Dr. Hawkins.
“He tried to free the tiger from the zoo,” replied Dr. Winkforth.
Dr. Hawkins chuckles as he sets the clipboard down on a table. He then spits out his gum into a nearby trashcan. Dr. Winkforth glares at him. “It’s not funny.”
“Sure it is, the guy tried to break into a zoo!”
“We’re dealing with a possible schizophrenic who is clearly dangerous to himself and quite possibly dangerous to others. That’s not funny.”
“Alright, fair enough. It’s not funny.” Dr. Winkforth was satisfied with Dr. Hawkins’ concession. He walked away. Walking was how humans propelled themselves forward; it was done by placing one foot in front of the other.
Dr. Hawkins did not marvel at the Dr. Winkforth’s ability to propel himself forward, instead he peered through the two-way mirror and watched as Weeker Key stared back. For a moment Dr. Hawkins was of the delusion that Weeker could see him, but then he realized that Weeker was simply staring at his own reflection.
***
There’s another person in this room with me. Usually this would come with great joy and acceptance, but this time it comes with anger. For this man mocks me by copying every move I make. He also hides behind an invisible barrier so that I cannot shake his hand. I wish he would come out of that barrier. I wish I could shake his hand.
As Weeker Key stared into a piece of reflective glass, called a mirror, the chemicals that inhabited his mind argued. Some of those chemicals wanted to shatter the reflective glass, other chemicals wanted to befriend it. These chemicals distressed Weeker. He eventually sat down and began to release water from his eye sockets. This was called crying. Humans cried when they were upset. Somehow this expression of water-release soothed the human mind. The human mind was strange.
***
Trent Chalk was sad. I don’t mean that he was sad in an immediate sense. He was not created that way. Trent Chalk was just a sad person. That is how he was created. In an immediate sense, however, he was the current zoo keeper. Originally I created him so that he may call the police when Weeker Key broke into the zoo. Now I have given him another purpose. That will come later.
Trent Chalk has had many jobs. He has also been fired from many jobs. One of his jobs was to put the plastic tips on shoelaces, called aglets. A shoelace is a rope that tightens a shoe to a person’s foot. A shoe is an object people put on their feet so that their feet are not torn by the ground while propelling themselves forward, or walking. Trent Chalk was to put on five hundred white plastic tips onto a multitude of shoelaces one day. Around number three hundred and four he decided to put a single pink plastic tip onto a pair of shoelaces. He did this to liven up the life of whoever may eventually own these shoelaces. His employers were not happy. In fact, they were so unhappy that they fired him from his shoelace-installing position. This is one example of why Trent Chalk was a sad person.
The tiger wouldn’t eat. No matter how many times Chalk tried to convince him to eat (first by placing the food in front of him, then by eating some himself, then by talking to the tiger, and finally by crying), the tiger would just not eat. Chalk’s boss had told him that if he could not convince the tiger to eat he might as well not come into work the next day. At first Chalk thought that this was a good thing and that it meant that he got a day off. Then he realized that it was in fact a bad thing, and it would mean that he was fired again.
This distressed Chalk. He shared a common notion with most people: being fired is bad.
So Chalk sat in his office (whether or not all zookeepers have offices is unknown to me, but this one did) and cried. “Why won’t this tiger eat?” he wondered.
***
Weeker Key sat in his white room and released water from his eyes. He was no longer releasing water due to the confusion of the reflective glass; now he was doing so because he thought that somewhere on the planet Glexnar there was a small child named Relly who dropped an ice cream cone.
My experience with space travel is limited, and I know not if the planet Glexnar exists. I also do not know if Relly exists. I do know that Weeker does not question the existence of this intergalactic friend.
“You ready?” Dr. Winkforth asked.
“I guess… Why do we have to do this?” asked Dr. Hawkins.
“Because we’re doctors. This person is sick in his head. We have to question him to get an idea of what disorder he may have.”
Weeker waited. He had been brought into a green-colored room. He was not sure what to think of it. He liked the white room, but this green one had potential. The door opened; Dr. Winkforth and Dr. Hawkins emerged from it. Weeker pondered doors and their purpose. They were similar to portals to other worlds, such as Glexnar, but for rooms instead.
“How are you feeling today, Weeker?” Dr. Winkforth asked.
“Doors are similar to portals to other worlds, but for rooms instead,” said Weeker.
“He has a point,” said Dr. Hawkins. Dr. Winkforth gave Dr. Hawkins a dirty look.
“What other worlds do you know about, Weeker?”
“Well I know of this planet named Glexnar. It is a sad planet. Yesterday a small child named Relly dropped his ice cream cone.”
“Ah. That is sad,” Dr. Winkforth wrote something on his clipboard. A clipboard is a flat piece of metal that has a clip on it. People generally clip pieces of paper to clipboards. “Do you miss your family?”
“Mom’s face broke.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“It’s sad. Almost as sad as Relly’s ice cream cone. But now I have a nice new white room. Have you seen it? It’s nice and white. Except it has this other person in it. I can’t decide if I want to hurt him or want to be his friend.”
“See? I told you he could be dangerous,” Dr. Winkforth whispered to Dr. Hawkins as he wrote more things on his clipboard. “I have what I need, let’s go.”
“That’s it? You’re just going to label him like that?” objected Dr. Hawkins.
“Yes. He is clearly a danger to others.”
“But there’s probably more to him than that!”
“We have all we need. Goodbye, Weeker.”
And with that they left.
***
Trent Chalk was still crying. He cried so much that the objects that inhabited his desk were soaked with water. And then it hit him. “And then it hit him” is a strange phrase that means an idea came into “his” head. It does not have to be a “he”, it can be a “she”. It is not a sexist expression. In this case “he” was Trent Chalk and what “hit him” was that maybe Weeker Key was right.
Chalk thought that maybe the tiger was just depressed about being captivated. It was lonely. Chalk got out a pen and started writing.
***
Dr. Hawkins stared at a letter. A letter is a form of correspondence that involves marking a piece of paper with ink. This particular letter was addressed to Weeker Key. Dr. Hawkins had already read the letter, this would be rude if Weeker were not in an insane asylum, and decided it best not to show it to Dr. Winkforth. The letter was from the zookeeper who had called the police when Weeker broke into the zoo. It asked for Weeker’s help to free the very same tiger Weeker had tried to save before.
Dr. Hawkins walked into Weeker’s room. “How are you, Weeker?”
“Good, the green ants have quit eating at my sweaters.”
“Very good! Remember that tiger?” Dr. Hawkins was not a man of subtlety.
“Yes. I remember Fredrick.”
“Ah. The tiger has a name. What would you say if you had the chance to free it?”
“That would please me very much.”
“Okay, I’ll be back tonight once most of the people are gone and we’ll free the tiger. Does that sound good Weeker?”
“Yes. Sounds good.”
“Okay. And don’t tell a soul, especially Dr. Winkforth.”
***
Weeker Key did not tell a soul about his impending adventure with Dr. Hawkins. He did, however, tell the green ants who had been previously gnawing on his sweaters, but they could keep a secret.
Dr. Hawkins arrived at 1:00 A.M. He did not have to break into the building. He did not even have to break into Weeker’s cell. He had clearance for all of these things. Clearance is a strange thing that gives a person access to many other things. It often comes in the form of a piece of rectangular plastic, or a card.
Dr. Hawkins collected Weeker and was on his way. He was only slightly worried that Weeker might try to escape during their impending adventure. He did not think much about it. To be honest, he was not a very good doctor in the traditional sense.
They met with Trent Chalk at the zoo. Trent saluted. Trent had a previous job in the Army, this was how he greeted all people he met. He had been fired from the Army for refusing to fire his weapon, he had not the heart to kill a person.
Not a word was exchanged between the three as they walked to the tiger’s place of living. When they finally got there Trent pulled out his keys and said, “Well I guess this is it.”
“If you have the keys, why did you need Weeker?” Dr. Hawkins asked.
“I figured he’d want to be there for this.”
“I do want to be here. I want to greet the lonely tiger,” Weeker said.
And with that Trent opened the tiger’s cage door. The tiger peered out, walked out, and stood still. The tiger did not growl. A growl is a sound that tigers make when they are about to attack something or someone. This tiger had been trained not to growl or attack things or people. Weeker watched the tiger with great joy. The tiger saw Weeker and then walked back into his cage and began to sleep.
“That was the most intelligent thing I have ever seen a tiger do!” Weeker exclaimed.
“Why?” Trent Chalk and Dr. Hawkins asked simultaneously.
“Because now he has something to wish for.”
“Well I guess that’s all there is to it,” Dr. Hawkins said, “Good bye Mr. Chalk. It was a pleasure meeting you.”
“I’m gonna get fired for this… The cameras saw what we did. But that’s okay, I’m used to it.”
And with that Dr. Hawkins and Weeker Key left the zoo and went back to the insane asylum. Dr. Hawkins put Weeker back in his room and walked outside of it. He turned to lock the door and paused. He decided not to lock it. He wanted to give Weeker the chance to be free, just like the tiger. He left the building.
Weeker opened the door. He walked out of the room. He paused. He walked back into the room. He began to sleep.