Danielle and the Lions

By Heather Knight

"Always look both ways," my mother taught me. She taught us all, but I’m the one who listened. That’s why I’m alive and Donnie isn’t.

Donnie was supposed to be looking out for us, but when uncle Rex came, Donnie was looking the wrong way and didn’t see him. I did and I ran away really fast.

My big sister, Dollie, says I’m the one that should have got killed, but I know she doesn’t mean it. She’s nice to me after she says hurting things, so I guess she’s sorry. I think she’s just angry ‘cause she misses him. I think she’s sorry she wasn’t there to help him. Maybe he’d still be alive if she was. But, she followed the adults instead and she wasn’t there when it happened.

Donnie and Dollie were born together. I miss him too. Aunt Simone says we’ll always remember Donnie for the good things. I miss him most after we eat. He was really good at helping us wash. He always could get the worst itches best.

Now that Deena and Diane and David are dead, I’m the only cub left. Except Dollie, but she’s too old to be a cub anymore. She never wants milk anymore. Only meat. Not me. I want milk a lot. Aunt Sarah hissed at me yesterday when I tried to nurse.

"You are old enough for meat," she said and tried to cuff me, but I was too quick and she missed.

"You smell of wanting," aunt Simone told her and it was not nice. "Accept this one or get another."

"You take her," aunt Sarah growled and walked away.

"Come to me, Danielle," Simone said. "I still have milk for you."

All of my aunts used to let me nurse with their own since my mom was killed by the singing thunder. Dad was killed too. Then uncle Rex came. I don’t like him. I’m scared he might try to kill me again. I don’t know why he killed Donnie and the others.

I think aunt Simone will go with Uncle Rex to get a baby soon. I think Dollie wants to go with uncle Rex too. She watched aunt Sarah go yesterday and looked for them to come back all day. But they didn’t come back.

"Will you go with uncle Rex too, aunt Sim? I mean, since Deena’s gone."

"Not until you’re grown up, Dani. Go to sleep now." I wasn’t really tired, but aunt Sim did not want to play. She just flopped her tail and napped in the sun. My other aunts, Sally and Sabrina, were napping under a tree. Dollie was with them. I put my back to aunt Sim’s belly and tried to sleep.

It was nice to nap away the day’s heat with all my aunts and my sister. I liked the smell of dry earth and the stronger smell of my family close to me. I dreamed of Donnie and mom and all my lost cub cousins. We played tail catch and pounce and Donnie practiced his roar. His mane was almost grown and he looked good. Not like uncle Rex at all.

"Meat," aunt Sally called to the adults, which woke me up. It was dark and the bugs were all talking to each other. All that loud used to scare me, but I learned how to listen over it. Aunt Sarah and uncle Rex were back from wherever they went. Uncle Rex looked at me and yawned really big. I knew he wanted to kill me. Just like he killed Donnie and the other cubs. I followed aunt Simone, but Dollie kept shoving me back.

"Not you," she said. "You’re too young to hunt."

"Let her come or stay with her yourself," aunt Sim told her. Dollie stopped bothering me after that. Pretty soon we could hear and smell the herd. All the adults walked very soft and their heads were low. I tried to stay quiet, but aunt Simone walks longer than me and I kept making noise.

"Stay here, Dani," she told me really quiet. "Dollie is going to hunt with us tonight, so stay here." She left me beside a tree with a big rock underneath. Pretty soon, I couldn’t see any of my family because the grass was so tall. I listened really hard past the bugs’ songs and the grass going whish and crack, but all I could hear was the herd far away. They stomped when they walked and grunted at each other and swashed their tails and made all kinds of noises. I could smell them really good too, but I wanted to see. So, I climbed up the tree.

It was not easy to get up to the high branch. Dollie could have done it in a jump, but her claws are bigger and her legs are longer too. I got up to the second branch. That was high enough to see over the grass.

I could see the herd. They were big, dark shapes moving on eaten down grass. I didn’t see my family, but I knew they were there. Then, I heard aunt Sarah make a little roar. Mom used to say it sounded too much like a hyena, but I think she was just making fun. Sarah had a really scary roar and it moved the herd away from her. A few dark shapes didn’t move so fast and those were the ones aunt Sim said were easiest to catch.

I watched and saw smaller shapes moving very fast at the slow big ones. I heard them and knew their voices: Sarah, Sally, Simone, Sabrina and Dollie. They had one of the herd off by itself and were making it run around, but wouldn’t let it go back to its herd. I saw two of my family jump at the herd animal and it fell down. The rest of my family pounced on the animal’s head and I think that was when it died.

But, I didn’t see uncle Rex. He was bigger and his mane made him easy to tell from other lions, but he wasn’t there. I looked around for him, but couldn’t see him. I looked and listened everywhere, and sniffed too, but I still didn’t find him. I knew I was in danger. I was sure Uncle Rex was there in the grass where my eyes and ears and nose couldn’t find him. He was going to kill me like he killed the other cubs.

I couldn’t call for aunt Simone, she was too far away. They were all busy eating meat anyway. I could still see the pile of lions over the grass. I was afraid to jump down from the tree. What if I landed right on top of Uncle Rex? What if I jumped right into his jaws?

"Danielle," Dollie called for me then. I turned quick to look for her. She was way over from the tree and far from where aunt Sim had left me. "Come on, Dani! We’re missing the meat!" She was getting angry, probably ‘cause she was hungry. I didn’t make a sound though. I’d seen uncle Rex moving in the grass. He was sniffing it and crouched very low. I knew he was trying to catch my smell and then catch me. If I called back to Dollie, he would know where I was. He would find me pretty soon since the wind took my smell right to him. Then I’d be dead just like Donnie and the other cubs.

There wasn’t anyplace to go. Everywhere I looked was all dry, rustling grass and hard earth. He would hear me no matter how much I tried to jump soft. All I could do was climb higher so he couldn’t reach me. I made it to the next branch and then the next, but the tree moved too much and wouldn’t let me go any higher. My claws were in the wood deep so I wouldn’t fall. Uncle Rex heard my scratching climb. I could see him coming right for me!

"Aunt Simone," I yowled. "Aunt Simone!" I couldn’t help it. His great big eyes were staring right at me and all my courage was gone. "Aunt Simone!"

"Too far away, cub," Rex said to me from the bottom of the tree. "And too busy with meat for you."

"Aunt Simone!"

"Leave her alone!" That was Dollie, but she was much too small to stand up to uncle Rex. She knew it, so stayed out of his reach. She was very quick, but he was very strong. They played pounce, only it wasn’t play. Then, uncle Rex caught Dollie and knocked her down. She got out from under his claws before he killed her and ran away into the grass. Rex didn’t follow her.

"Now for you," he said and stood up against the tree. I yowled and shook and tried to keep my grip on the tree as it swayed from his weight. He bunched up his legs and leaped all the way to my branch. I jumped to escape him, but he didn’t get a good grip in the little branch and he fell back down. Since I had let go of the wood, I was falling too, but the branch came up and smacked me hard. It carried me back up and then threw me high out of the tree.

I fell a long way. I came down on my feet, but couldn’t catch my wind. I knew I had to run, but my legs were all wobbly and my tail was lashing all on its own. I turned to look for uncle Rex, but didn’t see him. I was in the tall grass and couldn’t see anything but the top of the tree. It was still moving from my jump. Then my ears woke up.

Dollie must have come back to fight uncle Rex. But, no! That was aunt Simone’s voice, and Sarah’s too! And Sally and Sabrina. They were very angry and they made sure uncle Rex knew it. The air was full of their fighting. I didn’t know what to do, so I sat down until my body stopped shaking. By then, it was over. I heard uncle Rex run away.

"Where are you, Dani," aunt Sim called for me.

"Here, aunt Sim," I answered. She came through the grass and found me. She licked my face and back and I nuzzled my head under hers. She smelled of blood and I wasn’t sure if it was uncle Rex’s or not.

"Come eat the meat, or Dollie will finish it all," Sim said, so we did.