Chapter Eight

Savage Sanctuary Island, Simon

S imon had a radio in the hut that stayed on a weather station year-round. Florida was known for its rapidly changing weather. For animal safety, Simon needed time to prepare. This tropical storm had turned into a hurricane, and parts of the Florida coast were on evacuation notice. It wasn’t just that the hurricanes were deadly; they brought tornadoes that destroyed everything in their path. The weather could be bad for days with power outages and lack of clean water. There was also a chance that the boat marina would be damaged and getting help to the island could take days. Handling storms had become second nature to Simon. It created a lot of work but there were also benefits and that’s what he enjoyed.

Simon filled the water tanks that could last for a month if things got really bad. They also received a delivery of meat which filled two of three empty freezers. The food would sustain the cats through the storm and a few days beyond. Jerry made deals with people in the area for goats, pigs, and other livestock that became ill or were too old for anything but slaughter. The animals were delivered whole, and Simon chopped them into appropriate sizes. It wasn’t his favorite work, but he hadn’t known the animals that died, and his cats had to eat. It took him two hours after the morning feeding to get the contents in the freezers and then he had to double-check the cages.

Jerry was throwing a never-ending fit over the hurricane, which was something he did with every large storm since Simon began working on the island. Escaped animals gave Jerry nightmares.

Indra paced his cage when Simon walked by. Storms excited the tiger. He could feel the change in the air just like Simon.

“Don’t worry, boy,” he told him. “During the storm, you get to hang out with me in the hut while the other cats play.” He scratched his head through the bars.

“Simon, could you give me a hand?” Roberto called over the radio. “I’m at the panther enclosure.”

If he’d said pens, Simon would have run over because that could mean an emergency, but since none of the panthers were in the enclosure, he walked his normal slow gait the few hundred yards it took to get to Roberto.

“Hey amigo,” Roberto called when he saw him. “I’m having trouble getting to the camera in the corner.” He pointed to the ladder he’d brought with him. “I should have grabbed the longer one.” Roberto was a short wiry man who could adjust an engine and the next moment figure out why the computer in the front office wasn’t working.

“I can do that,” Simon said with a large grin. He liked it when his height gave him an advantage others didn’t have because that meant he could help them solve a tall problem. Simon propped up the ladder. It groaned beneath his weight as he climbed to the top, reached for the camera, gave it a slight twist to release it from its mount, and carried it back down.

“You’re a lifesaver,” Roberto said with an equally large grin. “Yolanda told me to ask you to dinner tonight at our place. What do you think? I’ll give you a lift there and a ride home when you’re ready to leave.”

Simon checked the sky. He hated missing one of Yolanda’s home-cooked meals. She used better ingredients than Jerry paid for at the sanctuary and her food was extra delicious.

“Yes, thank you, Mr. Roberto, I would like that. ”

Yolanda was the person who introduced Simon to the library for the first time and to Mrs. Miller. Yolanda was being tutored in English by her. Simon didn’t know much about it, but Roberto had told him once that he and Yolanda didn’t have their papers. When he asked what that meant, Roberto explained they were in the country illegally.

Simon didn’t understand papers and why you couldn’t go where you wanted to. His world consisted of living exclusively on the island, and much of normal life confused him. He also didn’t know why Mrs. Yolanda had to learn English. Her language was beautiful to his ears, and they communicated just fine before she began studying. It was probably like him learning to read. The more you knew, the smarter you were. The only thing Simon saw wrong with this was Yolanda’s cooking made her smart because she knew so much about making food taste good.

Roberto fiddled with the camera then handed it back to Simon to mount again. When that was done, Simon headed to the tiger enclosure to clean it before the weekend. He figured the storm would hit by then, and it wouldn’t be needed, but he liked keeping them tidy.

He put on gloves and picked up the piles of poo before he washed the inside down with a power hose. Simon loved his job, even the cleaning. It was all part of taking care of the cats and they deserved whatever he could do for them .

He doubled back to the panther enclosure after he finished. It didn’t need much work. There were currently only two panthers, and they had been raised together since they were cubs. They had had a third one, but, to the delight of the crowd who watched, the other two ganged up and killed it. Jerry was currently on the lookout for another one.

Simon stopped by the bobcat exhibit to check on them. They were the only cats that didn’t get moved. They were a mated pair, and George, the male, was doing his best to produce more cubs. Jerry would be very happy if it happened because he didn’t record the births, and they were sold at a private auction. When Jerry had originally brought him to the sanctuary, it had broken his heart the first time cubs were taken away from their mother, but now he tried not to grow too attached to them.

Jerry’s words always came back to haunt Simon: “Keep your head down and your mouth shut if you want to stay here. It’s the best life someone like you could hope for. The world is not made for idiots.”

Simon hated that word, but he hated most of the words Jerry called him. He only kept his head down because it helped the cats.

Finally, his day was done, and he went looking for Roberto. He found him with Jerry, who was yelling, “Someone needs to be here for the storm.”

“He’s only coming for a few hours, and I will bring him back later tonight,” Roberto said. “I’ve been tracking it, and the storm won’t hit for a few days.”

“You’re out of a job if that imbecile isn’t here to handle the animals during the storm.” Jerry stomped off, giving Simon a mean look until he tripped over a branch on the ground. He swore and didn’t look back after he righted himself.

“That went better than expected,” Roberto said when he noticed Simon. “Are you ready?”

Simon looked around for Yolanda.

“She hopped on the boat with the guys who delivered the meat. She wanted to make something special tonight. She’ll be waiting for us with a hot meal and a cold drink,” he said in his lightly accented English. He learned to speak English as a child because his parents worked at a resort on the coast. Yolanda worked in the kitchens, and that was where they met. He told funny stories about teaching Yolanda English and how they ended up fighting. So now she went to Mrs. Miller for instruction, and they were able to keep their happy marriage intact.

Simon liked hearing about their life away from the sanctuary. It wasn’t that he wanted to leave because he absolutely did not, but he liked the idea of family, even though he knew it would never come true for him personally. Indra and the other cats were his family.

Simon stepped onto the boat and his stomach tightened like it always did. He had never learned to swim so boats weren’t his favorite. His size was also a problem. The boat sank deeper into the water with Simon’s weight. He sat on the wooden bench facing the front. The slightly choppy water would get worse by the next day. The trip took twenty minutes because Roberto only went as fast as needed for a smooth ride. If he went too slow, the waves would slam the boat around.

As promised, the food was delicious. Yolanda’s carnitas were as good as Simon knew they would be. The black bean and rice side dishes were equally as tasty and Simon was glad he came. Yolanda pushed seconds and then thirds on him. He worried he might need to loosen his belt. The three of them laughed and talked about a car Roberto was rebuilding for a friend. The light conversation changed to something more serious after dinner while Yolanda cleared the table. She refused Simon’s help.

“You talk to Roberto and I work,” she insisted in her heavy accent that Simon loved. She often got words wrong but neither of the men would dare tell her.

“I heard about the two new cats going to hunters,” Roberto said. They had never spoken about the hunters before. It was the unspoken secret that they all knew.

“The storm delayed it,” Simon replied carefully .

“Does it bother you?” Yolanda asked in her halting English as she gathered plates.

“Jerry needs money to take care of the cats. I don’t like it, but he has the brains, and I listen to him.”

“Jerry has more money than he knows what to do with,” Roberto argued.

“If he doesn’t take the hunt money, more cats will die. They have medical expenses too,” Simon argued.

Roberto looked him straight in the eyes. “You seriously don’t know, do you?”

“Know what?” Simon asked.

Roberto stood and thanked his wife for the dinner. “You and I need to take a ride,” he told Simon.

Simon followed him to his beaten-up old car and got in. Roberto pulled out and started driving.

“Jerry has everyone involved with the sanctuary under his thumb, and he lies about everything. He doesn’t need the money. He inherited millions when his father died and his wife brought him more money when they married. You’ll see in a few minutes.”

They drove to a nice area with oceanfront homes, and Roberto kept driving. A few minutes later, he pulled into a driveway that was blocked by a large wrought-iron fence. The home behind the fence was one of the biggest Simon had ever seen. It had three stories and looked like something a king would live in.

“This is Jerry’s house. He lives two lives. He’s the rich entrepreneur, and he’s the brains behind the illegal success of the Sanctuary. He’s been involved in the wild animal trade for decades and so was his father before him. Don’t fool yourself into believing he cares about the island or any of us. If he’s caught, we’ll take the fall, and he will walk away clean.”

Simon hadn’t taken his eyes off the mansion. He liked his room in the hut, but he knew most people would see it as a hovel. The bugs, mostly roaches, along with the occasional snake, didn’t bother him. But this? Jerry’s home would have room for them all. Simon thought Jerry was poor, or maybe not rich. He knew Jerry didn’t like the cats, but Simon thought it was fear. Now he was rethinking everything about his boss. Simon didn’t handle these types of things well because they messed up his orderly routine.

“I need to go home,” he told Roberto, desperate to return to the hut and allow his mind to settle. If he ran into Jerry right now, it wouldn’t be good. So many cats suffered because of the bad things Jerry did. Simon had always looked at the good of the many as being more important than the good of a few. He thought this way because he didn’t have a choice. Now he’d learned it had all been a lie.

“I’m sorry about this, Simon,” Roberto said. “ You deserve better.”

Did he? Simon wasn’t sure.