Lily to the Rescue: Lost Little Leopard Read online

  “Oh, little one, it’s all right,” Mom said very softly. “Here, look. I bet you want this. Don’t you?” Still sitting on the lawn, she reached out both her hands, the one holding the bottle and the one that wasn’t. There was a tiny drop of milk clinging to the tip of the bottle.

  I started to wag, thinking that bottle would make a perfect reward for a dog doing Brewster’s trick.

  Mom and my girl weren’t moving at all. The kitten sniffed the air, approaching slowly. Soon she was there, pressing her face against my side. Mom lowered the bottle, and the kitten touched it with her nose.

  I didn’t want this kitten getting any ideas about my bottle. I stretched my neck out to sniff it too. I was getting my tongue ready to lick off that little droplet of milk when Mom pushed my face away.

  “No, Lily,” she said.

  I really wished humans would just forget the word “no.” It never makes anyone feel good.

  The kitten was still pressing against my side when she put out her scratchy tongue and closed her mouth around the tip of the bottle. I watched, utterly dismayed, as the kitten made small sucking noises. “That’s right, baby,” Mom whispered. “You’re hungry, huh? I know you’re hungry.”

  Mom gently pulled the bottle back toward her body. The kitten allowed herself to be led, leaving my side. The next thing I knew, the kitten was being cuddled on Mom’s lap and sucking eagerly out of the bottle, while I lay there in the dirt with no milk and no treat at all!

  Apparently I was the only one upset about this unfortunate turn of events, because Mom and Maggie Rose were both smiling.

  “Great job, you two,” Dad said from the other side of the yard.

  “And Lily,” my girl reminded him.

  “And Lily,” he agreed.

  Since they were all saying my name, I decided to get back on my feet. I shook myself off, casting an unhappy glance at the kitten, who was still sucking away on my bottle.

  Dad was making his way very slowly and carefully toward us. Suddenly he jerked in alarm. “Oh no,” he gasped.

  4

  “What’s wrong, Dad?” Maggie Rose asked.

  “This is the first I’ve gotten a good look at her,” Dad said. “That’s not just a baby leopard. That’s an Amur leopard.”

  Mom’s mouth dropped open. “Are you sure?”

  Dad nodded.

  “What’s Amur mean?” my girl asked.

  “It’s the rarest of the big cats. There are fewer than a hundred left in the wild. That makes this little kitten very, very important,” Dad replied. He turned and went out the gate and was back a moment later with a big plastic crate. He set it on the ground and opened the door, backing away.

  “I know!” Maggie Rose said brightly. “Let’s put Lily in there first. That way the leopard won’t be as afraid.”

  “Excellent idea,” Mom said.

  Dad grinned. “That’s my game warden girl.”

  “Lily, come!” My girl put me in the crate, handing me a chicken treat as a reward. Yes!

  “Stay!” Maggie Rose commanded.

  I’ve never been very fond of Stay, but I sat in the crate.

  “Down!”

  It seemed to me I was being asked to do a lot of things for a single chicken treat, but I went ahead and dropped to my stomach. Mom put the kitten in the crate. I sniffed her milk breath. She immediately curled up next to me, just like before.

  Mom shut the gate. “All babies need to cuddle,” she observed. “It’s an instinct as strong as the need to eat.”

  I was not bothered when Dad picked up the crate, but the large kitten clearly didn’t like it. She stared at me with wide eyes as if expecting me to do something about it. Dogs know people are completely in charge of the world, but most cats don’t believe this.

  When the crate stopped moving it was in the back of Mom’s car. The kitten cowered when Mom opened the crate door.

  “Come, Lily!” Maggie Rose called.

  I jumped out but the kitten remained behind.

  “Where are you taking the leopard?” Maggie Rose asked as Mom climbed into the front seat.

  “To the zoo. There’s a special place set aside for animals that need to be kept by themselves for medical treatment.” Mom waved and then the car drove away.

  Dad turned to smile at my girl. “Good thing I thought to ask you to bring Lily.” He came over and scratched my back. I wiggled happily and panted up at him. Then I licked something very tasty off his left shoe.

  I noticed some people, who I had learned to think of as friends of Dad, loading the big birds, one cage at a time, into two large trucks. It was a day for taking all sorts of animals for car rides.

  “Let’s head back, Maggie Rose. I’ve got a lot to take care of if I’m going to get those macaws back where they belong.”

  We climbed into Dad’s truck. I sat with my head in Maggie Rose’s lap and we started to move.

  “Dad, will you take the baby leopard back to the rainforest, too?”

  Dad shook his head. “No. Amur leopards are from cold areas—Russia and China. They’re almost extinct. We can’t risk losing a single one. She’ll live in a zoo somewhere.”

  “That’s a little sad,” Maggie Rose said. She stroked my back. “Poor lost little leopard, living in a cage.”

  Dad nodded. “But not really a cage—it will be a large enclosure. When she grows up, she’ll be able to have cubs of her own. We’re trying to build up their numbers to the point where we can save the species.”

  “What will happen to the man who took the baby away from her mother?”

  “That man,” Dad replied grimly, “is going to spend time in a much, much smaller cage.”

  “She was so cute,” Maggie Rose said. “And Lily liked her.”

  Dad chuckled. “Lily likes everybody. Thank goodness.”

  * * *

  The next day, Maggie Rose and I took another car ride with Mom. Brewster decided to stay at Home, and Casey must have been busy doing crow things, because he was not around.

  “Can I name her, Mom?”

  “Who? The Rottweiler puppy we’re going to rescue, or the leopard from yesterday?”

  “Both!”

  “The puppy already has a name: Jax. He’s fourteen weeks old. Thankfully, he’s had his shots, so we won’t have to keep him separated from Lily.”

  “Okay. But I think the leopard’s name should be Nala.”

  I glanced at Maggie Rose. What was a Nala?

  “Perfect,” Mom agreed.

  “What happened to Jax’s person?”

  Mom sighed. “It’s a sad story, actually. Jax was being fostered by a man named Owen, who is an army soldier. Owen fell in love with the puppy and asked if he could keep Jax forever.”

  “Foster failure,” my girl noted.

  “Exactly. But then Owen received orders to go to Korea for at least a year. He decided it made no sense to take a Rottweiler puppy, and he couldn’t ask Jax to wait for him that long, so he dropped Jax off at his sister’s house.”

  “That’s horrible! Why would he go and leave his dog?” Maggie Rose demanded.

  “Well, Owen has a duty to serve his country. Sometimes, that means sacrifice. But we all do things for the common good that aren’t easy. Take your dad—he’s going to Veracruz for almost two weeks. I’m sure he would rather stay home with us, but he needs to return those macaws to their natural environment.”

  “I’ll miss Dad, but saving animals is the most important thing,” my girl agreed.

  “And sometimes saving animals is fun. Owen’s sister is your friend Charlotte’s mom. You can play a little when we get there.”

  We soon stopped at a house I had never smelled before. Maggie Rose and I jumped out of the car together. In the front of the house there was a tire hanging from a tree, and a girl hanging from the tire. She was leaning back so far that her dark hair brushed the grass. Then she sat up and waved.

  “Hi, Charlotte!” Maggie Rose greeted her.

  “Hi!” th
e girl answered. “My mom said you’d bring your dog. What’s her name?”

  “Lily,” said Maggie Rose.

  I wagged to hear my name, and the girl with the long dark hair flopped out of the tire and onto the grass. “Lily! You’re so cute!” she said, and I ran over to lick at her face and sniff her hair.

  Then I saw something over the girl’s shoulder.

  A cat! The cat was crouched under a bush near the house. She was staring at me with very wide eyes.

  I hadn’t really gotten to play with the large kitten the day before, so I was tremendously excited to meet this cat! I wiggled out of New Girl’s lap and bounded toward my new friend.

  “Oh, Mia!” New Girl said. She sounded worried.

  “Lily just wants to play,” Maggie Rose told her.

  “Mia doesn’t really play. She’s pretty mean. Like, really mean.”

  5

  When I reached my new playmate, her ears went back on her head, her eyes squeezed into slits, and she hissed, her mouth opening on wicked fangs. I halted in shock. She lunged forward with one paw up over her head, and I scrambled back from her razor-sharp claws as they raked the air, and nearly my face.

  What sort of game was this?

  This was not a nice cat. This was a bad cat! I backpedaled as Bad Cat came at me, slashing the air, hissing and spitting.

  “Lily!” my girl called.

  Bad Cat licked her paw and stared at me. I went to Maggie Rose, who had to be as outraged as I was at such behavior.

  “Sorry,” New Girl said. “Mia doesn’t like dogs very much.”

  I followed my girl and New Girl into the house. Mom sat at a table and talked with another grown-up lady whose name also seemed to be Mom—at least that’s what New Girl called her.

  “We’re going to go play with Jax!” New Girl announced.

  “Okay, just don’t let Jax inside the house,” Other Mom Woman agreed. She looked at Mom. “Jax is a bit wild.”

  We crossed to a big sliding window. I wagged because I could see a young dog sniffing along a fence in the backyard.

  “Ready? One, two, three.… Go!” New Girl said.

  The door slid open, we all jumped out, and the door thumped shut. The puppy raised its black face and stared at me.

  “Jax! You have a new friend!” New Girl called.

  This dog was named Jax, and I could smell he was a young male—much younger than I had thought, because he was so big. He came running across the yard in the half-tripping way puppies have, and I wagged, ready for him to stop so we could sniff each other’s butts.

  Jax did not stop.

  He crashed into me, almost knocking me over. He was heavy. As he jumped up on me, his legs pressed down and I squirmed away. I tried to push him over and he pushed back.

  “That’s a big puppy!” my girl exclaimed.

  I tried to run away and Jax was right there, bumping into me, nearly plowing me over. He was clearly too young to know I should be in charge—I should be the one crashing into him, if I chose.

  I finally managed to wrestle Jax onto his back, but he was hard to pin down. He was very strong.

  After a time, Mom slid the door open and came out with a leash for the puppy. I was relieved—playing with Jax had left me exhausted.

  “Bye, Charlotte!” Maggie Rose called.

  We left the yard through a gate. As we approached the car, I saw Bad Cat glaring at me from the base of a tree. Jax saw him too and lunged to the end of his leash, yanking on Mom’s arm. “Whoa! Jax, calm down.”

  Bad Cat acted as if the sight of two dogs didn’t scare her.

  We went to Work. Along the way, Mom said, “I’m going to need to spend a little time training Jax before we find a home for him. Usually Rottweilers are very even-tempered—they were originally used to herd animals and pull carts like horses. That’s why they are so strong. But Jax doesn’t seem to have gotten the message that Rotties are supposed to be calm and obedient.”

  “Lily’s obedient,” Maggie Rose observed.

  “Yes, she is.”

  My girl slipped me a chicken treat and I crunched it gratefully.

  At Work, Jax was led, twisting and pulling at the end of his leash, back into the area where the kennels were. My girl and I played Book, where she sits with a dry, tasteless thing in her lap and tickles it. I do not understand why anyone would want to play with such a boring object when there are squeaky toys in the world.

  I was soon snoozing, but lifted my head when Mom walked up.

  “Maggie Rose,” she said. “There’s a big problem with the leopard.”

  “With Nala?” My girl set her book toy aside.

  My girl was worried. I got to my feet, ready to help.

  Mom reached down and smoothed back the fur on my head. I licked her fingers. They smelled like Jax. “Nala isn’t eating. She’s been hiding behind some rocks since I dropped her off. What do you think, should we see if Lily can help?”

  On the car ride I could sense that my girl was worried, so instead of sticking my nose out the window or watching for squirrels, I cuddled with her.

  Maggie Rose asked, “Is Nala sick?”

  Mom shrugged. “I examined her pretty carefully, but yes, she could be sick. Or maybe she’s just upset at everything that’s going on. We don’t know where she came from, or how she got here.”

  “Or maybe she’s lonely,” Maggie Rose suggested. “She’s all alone.”

  “Or she’s lonely,” Mom agreed.

  When we stopped and my girl opened the door, I was astounded at the mix of odors that drifted across the parking lot toward me. The very strong smell of many animals was on the air—mostly animals I had never sniffed before.

  Maggie Rose loves all animals. Surely if we met some new ones, she would no longer be so worried. I pulled Maggie Rose right across the parking lot, heading straight for these smells.

  We passed through some gates and soon were in the most amazing place I had ever been. Wide cement paths wound through the grass and trees, and lining these paths were huge kennels, all of which were filled with the intense smell of different animals. I zigzagged back and forth on my leash, towing Maggie Rose behind me, sniffing madly.

  Mom turned away from us. “Let me just take this call.” She put her phone to her face.

  Maggie Rose pulled me over near a fence. “Giraffes! See the giraffes, Lily?”

  On the other side of the fence, very large non-dogs were eating leaves from tall trees. Extremely large non-dogs. They were so big I did not want to look at them. Dogs prefer small creatures to play Chase-Me and other games with, like cats and squirrels. These animals were too tall to be of use to any dog. I knew their feelings would be hurt if I ignored them but it was their fault for being so big.

  “Maggie Rose!” Mom called, “We have to go!”

  6

  Mom came striding briskly up to us, shaking her head. “I’m sorry, honey, this is all my fault,” she apologized. “The animals here shouldn’t be exposed to dogs. Dogs are usually prohibited from even being here. Lily’s allowed because she’s got a job to do, but we can’t let her approach anything but the leopard. Stay on the path. You could look at the fish ponds, I suppose—I doubt the fish would be upset to see a dog. But everything else is off-limits.”

  “Okay, Mom.”

  “Did you know the zoo already has Amur leopards?” Mom asked as we walked along.

  “They do?”

  “They are a mating pair: Dazma, the female, and Hari Kari. They’re old for leopards, now—thirteen. They have the most amazing blue-green eyes.”

  “So Nala doesn’t have to be lonely after all?”

  Mom smiled. “Well, it’s not so simple. Dazma and Hari Kari would not welcome a cub who was not theirs. And there are so few Amur leopards in the world that Nala, when she’s old enough, will join a breeding program at some other sanctuary.”

  I found a patch of melted ice cream that I licked up off the ground. What a great place!

  “This
way,” Mom said. We climbed some steps—I found a French fry!—and entered through some doors and into a building that smelled like people and unknown animals.

  We stopped outside a gate that was made entirely of bars set close together. Through the bars, I could see a small sort of yard with a high fence all around it.

  A man with dusty pants was waiting for us there. “Hello, Doctor Quinton,” Mom said.

  “So good of you to come on such short notice, Chelsea,” the man with dusty pants replied. “And this must be Maggie Rose and Lily. Which is which?”

  Mom laughed.

  “My dog is Lily. I’m Maggie Rose,” my girl said seriously.

  “Well, I do appreciate you bringing your dog, Maggie Rose. I hope Lily can coax our new little leopard to come out.”

  “I named her Nala,” Maggie Rose informed Dusty Pants.

  “Nala! What a nice name. We’ll call her that for now,” he agreed.

  Mom swung the pack from her back and dug inside it. A moment later she pulled out a bottle that smelled like milk. I stared at it. What a delightful idea!

  “Come, Lily.” Mom took my leash from Maggie Rose and led me through that door. My girl and Dusty Pants stayed on the other side, but I could see her through the bars.

  There was sand under my feet, and a pile of boulders in a corner, and a small pool. I ignored the pool because I don’t like to swim and I especially don’t like baths. I glanced at the bottle of milk, wondering when we were going to put it to good use.

  All the animal smells floating past my nose were so overpowering it was hard to sort out one from another. But I suddenly realized I had previously smelled one scent in particular.

  It was a cat. It was young. It was frightened.

  It was the large kitten I had met the day before. Instantly, I had a very bad feeling that I knew who the milk bottle was for.

  “Nala!” Mom called softly. “Nala, baby, come and see who’s here!”

  Nothing happened.

  “Nala!”

  I scratched at my ear so that the tags on my collar jingled. Then I glanced back at Maggie Rose, who was standing with Dusty Pants at the gate, her hands clutching the bars. “Do you want to let Lily see if she can find Nala?”