Tiger in the Trees

TIGER IN THE TREES

by

Evie McKenzie

(age 15)

“Myra! Come inside! It’s going to rain, and you’ll catch a cold if you stay out!”

Myra sighed. She didn’t mind being outside in the rain. It was exciting, but her mom, Dr. Liz Wikem, was a stickler about health. Myra and her parents were on a mission trip in Indonesia.

Myra started toward the mission house where her family was staying. It was a nice house, made of bamboo, with a steeply sloped roof.

She went into the kitchen to wash her hands; her mother hated it when her hands were dirty. Mom was standing over the woodstove stirring something in a pot; she glanced over at Myra and then turned around and looked at her feet.

“Myra, where are your shoes?”

She slowly looked down at her feet and found that she did not have any shoes on. “I was wading in the brook, and I forgot to grab them when you called me in.”

Mom looked out the window. “Go get them quickly; it’s not raining yet.”

Myra shot out the door, and ran over to the brook where she had left her shoes. Sure enough, they were right where she had left them, but as she reached down to grab them, she heard rustling in the jungle just beyond the brook.

Myra looked up and saw something she had only hoped to see in a zoo or on television. There was tiger just inside the trees, watching her every move and getting dangerously close.

Myra’s feet couldn’t move as she watched the tiger getting closer and closer. She also knew it would be a bad idea to move suddenly, because a tiger was way faster than she was. It would be able to overtake her in a matter of seconds.

She slowly started moving away from the tiger toward the house. She heard a shout.

“Myra! Don’t move! I’m coming.”

She stopped moving and waited. She then heard the sound of a tranquilizer gun going off, and the tiger fell to the ground in a deep sleep.

Her dad came up behind her, “Myra, are you alright, Sweetie?”

Myra slowly nodded her head.

“Go inside and find your mother. I’m going to wait here for the Indonesian Animal Control people.”

She started running back to the house, when she heard her father call her back.“Myra!” She saw him holding her sandals. “Do you want these?”

“I’m coming, Dad!” She ran to him, snatched her sandals out of his hand and grabbed him in a hug. “Thank you, Daddy.”

“Your welcome, Myra. Go inside now and see your mother. She was pretty hysterical when she saw the tiger creeping towards you.”

“Yes, Dad.”

With that, Myra took off towards the house, and ran into her mother’s waiting arms, which for a couple of minutes, she thought she would never do again. And they cried for joy that Myra was safe and unharmed.

The End

(Assignment for Lesson #12 - Climax)

If you are between the ages of 13-18,

(or know someone who likes to write stories)

I would like to post your story here.

Send me an email. I'd love to read your story!