Tiger Tuesday

 

          Do you ever wonder what Snow Leopards do during the day?  Well, they are often called ‘ghost cats’ and they relish the sense of mystery their environment has given them.  They are not only beautiful but strong, clever and brave.  They go after what they want and they’re often successful.  However, one big question remains:

          What do they do during the holidays?

          Wait a second!  Snow Leopards celebrate holidays?  Do they celebrate Christmas?  Of course, they do and they’re always looking for fun.  Believe it or not, they enjoy Christmas trees, games and of course, the holiday meal.  Now, what about Santa Claus?  Do Snow Leopards believe in Santa Claus?

          You’re damned right they do!  As a meow of fact, one named Sammy was actually really excited to see Santa.  He also thought it would be cool to actually see the North Pole.  Now, Sammy lived in Russia and wasn’t paw-ticulary close to the North Pole, but he figured that would be coooool to try to get to the North Pole.  He wasn’t sure that if he could do it but what the hell-

          He had nothing to lose, and it would be really cool to see that man in the red suit!  Besides that, how cool would it be to finally see the North Pole?  So, let the pawing begin.  Sammy was heading north for Christmas!

          So, he headed out along with two cubs named orphaned cubs named Timmy and Terry.  They weren’t Sammy’s cubs- he just happened to know that they had been alone for along time and they needed some help.  Besides, the plan was once they got to the North Pole they were hoping to stay.  There was no way that they were going to make this long journey again.  So, they were off, ready, willing and looking for adventure.

          What in the growl was going to happen next?

          It was hard to tell really, considering you never knew what you were going to run into.  The ironic thing was that about 100 miles into their journey they ran into a Pallas’s Cat, who was unbelievably shocked to see them.

          “Where the fur are you Snow Leopards going?”  the Pallas’s Cat asked screwing up his face in that funny way that made them so irresistible to goofy humans. 

          “We’re going to see Santa!”  Terry piped up with that cute, little grunt sound.  “We want to live at the North Pole!”

          Now, Sammy wasn’t too happy about the kid revealing plans to a Pallas’s Cat, who had a reputation in the cat world of not being trustworthy but much to Sammy’s surprise, he looked impressed.

          “That’s pawsome!”  he announced.  “Can I come with you cats?  I’d love to get out of here.  I think the humans want to mine the mountain.”

          “Damn,” Sammy answered while the cubs got all big-eyed. All wild cats in Asia knew that mining had to be one of their main threats.  “Yeah, pal you can come.”

         

It turns out that the Pallas’s Cat’s name was Mike and for supposedly a ‘grumpy cat’ he actually seemed to be on the friendly side.  He told tales of humans poaching and how he managed to get a couple of his pals out of some traps.  He actually wished that they could run into a couple of them because they would love to head to the North Pole too.

Sammy was starting to feel really contented at this point.  Snow was falling and the cubs were keeping him, and Mike amused.  After awhile, they paws-ed for their respective snacks and then they resumed traveling.  Finally, Mike asked Sammy, “Do you know where we’re at?”

At this point the cubs were hanging close and Mike seemed like he was closer too, out of caution.  “I can hear a lot of water,” Sammy said.

“We don’t have to go in it, do we?”  asked Terry.

He didn’t get a chance to answer because a huge roar cut him off!

 

You can take a guess what the huge roar did.  It caused the small snow leopards and Mike to jump on Sammy’s back.  Needless to say that was no picnic for Sammy who winced in pain bepaws Mike had claws from hell.  “Get off me!”  he yowled.

          As he regrouped, little did he know that a tiger was within a hundred feet of them.  When Sammy noticed that he was so stunned that he fell back on his butt.  “Where in the hell did you come from?”  he asked.

          The tiger pawed up to them glaring at them.  He was nose-to-nose with Sammy.  “Little out of range aren’t you, dude?”

          Sammy, who in his own right was ferocious and never usually afraid of anyone or anything, felt himself kind of shaking.  “I have every right to be here.” 

 

          The tiger just glared at them but after a minute he opened his mouth and let out such another roar that it sent Mike and the cubs off Sammy’s back into the fresh snow.  In the meantime, Sammy was so surprised that he fell back down on his butt.

          Mike was the one that said it first, “Holy FURRBALLS man!”  he yelled at the tiger.  “I never knew you dude’s could roar that loud.”

          Now, who knows what was up with this dude but he was seething- foaming at the mouth almost.  This tiger was just flat-out pissed.  The snow leopard cubs, for some reason, got a spine and went up to him carefully.  “What’s the matter with you?”  asked Timmy.  “Do you have a thorn in your paws?”

          The tiger stopped and looked down at the cubs in shock.  “What did you just say?”  he asked.

          “Do you have a thorn in your paw?”  asked Timmy.  “You’re so crabby.”

          Suddenly, the tiger started laughing and guess what?

          He couldn’t stop.