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“Let him be; he’s surely had a tiring day, even for somebody like him.” Old man Jacob said from behind her.
Yuri stopped in her tracks, not quite sure why she was out of breath, nor why she was out of breath. What she was sure of however was that her heart was throbbing, straining out of her chest for this stranger. She was not sure anybody else could make it beat quite the same way again.
She tossed, and turned through the night, her unsettled mind restraining her body from ever really going to rest. The overcast sky that greeted the small town the next morning reflected her mood. She felt absolutely puerile, as she mulled over the possibility of calling in sick and not going to school that day. She forced herself through the motions, and was ready for school in time to make a brisk walk to the campus. She thought a walk would do a lot to eradicate any lingering cobwebs from her brain. The cold lingered that morning, and she traced words with her breath to amuse herself on her way to school. She appreciated the icy feel of the wind upon her face, and tried to put away any thoughts of Mr. Lucius Sloane from her mind.
Chapter 4
At the end of the school day, the kids from the north of the city, those who lived by or in the woods themselves lingered. Since the mauling, parents from that part of the town had decided on taking the precaution of escorting their kids from school back home. This was going to continue till the whole debacle of the wild animal was over. The front area of the school was alive with new faces, most of them somber, ready to take their children home. Those whose parents could not make it had arranged for their kids to hook up with other groups. Patrick Dillon fell into this category, and was huddled with another group that numbered seven. Most of these people had hardly ever been seen at the school premises, and looked uncomfortable standing there in the middle of the yard. The whole debacle seemed a bit too much, and caused giggles among the other kids who did not live up north, to the obvious embarrassment of the older kids from that area. It was clear that the parents and escorts took the activity serious, however, and were stoic in the performance of their duties. Without further ado, they split up into the different groups, and headed out to their various modes of transport.
The route from the school passed through the busy town square, which contained all the necessary accessories that made a town, before swerving out from the fracas to go down to the south. The route became lonely after that, the pavement cutting through the forest, so that tall trees rose up like giant cohorts on guard as the vehicles containing the children rode past.
Lucius stood hidden up in the trees, and he watched the procession go past. He was about fifty feet high, standing on one of the sturdy branches of one of these trees. In the dark gloom that pervaded the lower branches of the forest canopy that overcast day, his eyes shone bright-the glass eyes of the cat, staring ahead and not missing anything.
He was aware the precautions being taken by the largely bear community had a lot to do with him. Rather, it had everything to do with him. He could understand why they would go to such lengths. One could never be sure. However he did not attack that man in the forest that day. How could he? It had occurred a day before he showed up. That meant the question remained: who did? Was there another tiger in the community-his community? If so, how had he slipped past the bears for so long? The last thing Lucius wanted was a full blown war erupting in the town square, and he had long made up his mind to get to the bottom of the mystery.
When the procession of cars had gone past, he got down on all fours, still on the branch, and bounded to the next. In the semi-darkness up among the trees, he barely made a sound as he bounded from branch to branch, and from tree to tree in the direction of the town square. It was late in the afternoon now, and a good time to check on his old friends still living in the area. Most of them were in the seventies, and eighties-there were a few nonagenarians too. Most still lived at their old houses, a few had moved to the old people’s home. He had hoped that apart from catching up with decades past since he had last been here, they could help him trace exactly who was new in town or at least behaving strangely. It did not help that most of them were well in to the stages of senility. Seeing his old friends had been refreshing, especially Jacob Jansen, whom Lucius had been particularly fond of. Thoughts of Old Man Jansen invariably brought up thoughts of his granddaughter. Lucius purred softly as her light-skinned face, voluptuous curves filled his thoughts. He stopped just a few trees short of the clearing that lay after the forest in that direction. Jacob had called her Yuri.
