Part 21 (1/2)

She's right it's like Gisele pulling on a catsuit meant for Kylie.

'With the Bengals, the stripes remain close.'

'It's Stephanie about the cubs,' Ty cuts in, appearing out of nowhere to hand Carrie a cellphone. She excuses herself, leaving Ty to glare at us.

I wait for him to speak, perhaps pick up the tour, but he says nothing.

'So what kind of things will Sasha be doing while she's here?' I ask, as he whips out a pair of pliers and sets to bending some spiky p.r.o.ngs of fencing round to a safer position.

'Oh we're going to have her manicuring claws, getting the panther coats to s.h.i.+ne like a Pantene ad,' he deadpans. 'Maybe improve their catwalk skills ...'

That would be a good pun if it wasn't delivered with such spite.

'I guess we really should begin by finding one that matches her outfit,' he continues. 'How about you, Carlito?'

A fuzzy-furred snow leopard rears up and throws himself against mes.h.i.+ng. Sasha stumbles back, terrified.

'No? Well, maybe she'd do better with the ladies.' Ty lets himself into a cage of seven or eight slinky-hipped tigers. 'Hey girls,' he greets them as they swish around his legs like house cats. 'I guess they just look like walking handbags to you, huh?' he stares pointedly at Sasha through the fencing.

Sasha looks as if she's been slapped. I'm too stunned by his aggression to speak. Could this just be his strange sense of humor?

'So you're a model?' He comes out and says what is obviously gnawing at his guts.

'Ex,' Sasha clarifies.

'D'you know Sonia Connor?'

'I worked with her once but I wouldn't say we were friends.'

'She's no friend of ours either.' Ty rumples the fur on one of the adoring tigers at his side. 'She claims she cares about animal welfare then goes out in a vintage coat with a fur collar and when someone asks her if it's real she's all, ”I dunno!”' he snorts. 'If she cared, she'd know.'

'Not all models are that fickle,' I begin.

'What about Naomi Campbell?' he challenges.

I knew she was coming next. 'You mean the hypocrite who claimed she'd rather go naked than wear fur, then paraded down a catwalk in dead animal skins?' I rally, hoping to beat him at his own game. Before he can speak I add, 'Look, there are plenty of beautiful women in this world who genuinely care about animal rights.'

'Yeah, but funny how they always choose the beautiful animals to protect, isn't it? Ones they consider worthy of their looks. Go save a hippo or an alligator, that'll impress me. All we need is another d.a.m.n supermodel who thinks this is some kind of photo opportunity!'

'This wasn't my choice!' Sasha protests, finally speaking up. 'I was placed here.'

'What is this community service?'

Sasha looks despairing. This is going to be a tough week.

'Sorry about that,' Carrie returns. Not a moment too soon. 'We've got cubs arriving tomorrow, I just needed to arrange an early pick-up.'

'Cubs?' I brighten, falling straight into Ty's 'aren't they cute?' trap.

'We don't breed here, that's not what we're about,' Carrie explains, 'but that'll be the second batch of cubs we've had this year. These ones over here are about five months old.'

Carrie leads us forward to a trailer with two inquisitive, roly-poly, chewy-tustly cubs frolicking inside.

'Ca.s.sidy and Kid.'

'As in Butch and Sundance?' Sasha enquires.

'No, David Ca.s.sidy and Kid Rock,' Ty sneers before skulking back over to the yard.

'He's teasing, take no notice,' Carrie breezes.

I can see Sasha getting even more paranoid it's not just animals that don't like her but animal people.

'The cubs help promote us. We take them out on the road to local fairs to get people interested in visiting us here and hopefully adopting a cat or making a donation.'

The two cats get into a lively sc.r.a.p, squealing as they chomp on each other.

'They're getting to the age where they're trouble!' She smiles. 'They're even more rambunctious in the cooler weather.'

'Can you still handle them?' I ask.

'Well, they're starting to want to bite they think it's fun to use your leg like a chew-toy!'

Ouch!

Out of the corner of my eye I see Ty letting himself into the padlocked area, presumably to do some more counseling with Oliver.

'Did Ty grow up around big cats?' I'm curious.

'Not really, he didn't start as an animal trainer until he was twenty-eight. Before that he was an actor.'

'Ty was an actor?' My eyes widen in disbelief. I can't imagine him being too obedient on set.

'But he doesn't really like to talk about that time in his life.'

Well, that's good to know. I load the ammunition, getting ready in case he decides to attack Sasha again.

We spend the afternoon clearing stray debris and weeds from the wasteland and testing each other on the cat names.

'I wonder how big Ca.s.sidy and Kid will be by the time Paradise Park is built?' Sasha ponders, straightening her back. 'Wouldn't it be great if we could just magic it up by the end of the week!'

'That would be one in the eye for Ty.'

'Wouldn't it?' Sasha gets a rarely seen glint of determination in her eyes. 'There must be something we can do.'

'I don't know what. We don't know anyone here. Maybe we should find out how far along they are over dinner?'