Tangled Threads by Pegi Deitz Shea

Author:Pegi Deitz Shea [Shea, Pegi Deitz]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins

Chapter 10

The most feared and respected animal in the land of the Hmong is the tiger. The tiger is always hungry. The tiger steals children, wives, chickens, and pigs. The tiger is clever and can disguise itself and trick us. Of course, I had never seen a real tiger, though I had made them real on my storycloths. On cloth they could not hurt me, could not claw or bite me. Tigers stayed away from refugee camps because the soldiers shot them. I also think that tigers stayed away because we Hmong had shrunk to skin and bones in the camps. The jungle offered juicier meals.

A week after I started school, Miss Susan took the L.E.P. class on a field trip to the Roger Williams Zoo. (Again this Roger Williams!) We rode in a small bus—bigger than a van but smaller than the buses in Thailand or the school buses here. Miss Susan pointed to things and had us repeat their names. "Fire hydrant ... sidewalk ... curb ... traffic light ... red ... green ... truck..."

The bus stopped inside a maze of roads, and we got off. Miss Susan called, "This way!" And the naming game went on. "Black bear ... orangutan—what a funny word—peacock ... tiger."

"Tiger!" I said in English, so loud that my classmates stared at me.

My heart pounded in fear, and I jumped back from the cage. A real tiger walked back and forth, back and forth, its head low, as if ready to pounce. Its eyes stared right through me. Tsov tom! How many times had I heard that warning: Tiger bite! But it had never made me turn to stone as I did in front of that cage. After a time I realized that Miss Susan was shaking me gently.

"It's okay," she kept saying. "We're safe with the tiger behind the bars."

She hustled me along to my classmates standing at the next exhibit. I allowed myself to be led the rest of the day. My mind remained with the tiger pacing, pacing, pacing in its cage.

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