Burning Bright

Chapter 27

‘Is that the guy from your office we met at the falls?’

‘Yes. Mr Patel.’

Having no idea what to do with the information, I did nothing. Eoin had arranged to return to the tiger sanctuary and I accompanied him, happy to see Banjul and, of course, getting up close to the tigers. They were huge. Much larger than I remembered from the zoo, and magnificent.

‘They’re beautiful,’ I whispered as we lay side by side in the undergrowth observing a mother and her cub sleeping in the morning sun. Eoin had gone for the shirt/T-shirt combo and long trousers to hide the bruises which were now turning lovely shades of purple, but beginning to fade. Banjul was away to the side of us with both the rifle and tranquiliser gun to hand, mercifully out of Eoin’s reach, and on strict instructions not to use the rifle even though he informed us he had to carry it.

‘Aren’t they just. And there are so few of them left. I just can’t sit back and do nothing.’

I had the sudden realisation that was Eoin was doing was important. Really important. The money that had been raised in his name, and this documentary, they could really help these creatures. I was overwhelmed with emotion for this man and the wonderful work he was doing, And I knew what that emotion was and my heart started thudding with panic.

‘Eoin . . .?’

‘Mmm?’

I had no idea how to say what I wanted to, but I just edged a little closer to him and he slid his hand affectionately over my shoulder. The mother woke up, yawned and then stretched stiffly into a standing position. She looked old and weary, but had quite a distinctive face with dark markings below her ears. Eoin checked that the camera was still recording as the tiger began to approach us. To move would have drawn attention to us, but the tiger plodded steadily forward on her massive paws until she was about six feet away. And then she came to a halt and lowered herself to the ground, her eyes firmly fixed on us. And breathed out heavily.

‘Is she purring?’ I whispered.

‘It’s called chuffing,’ Eoin replied.

‘Seriously? Or have you just made that up?’

‘Seriously! It’s like a purr but they only do it when they’re breathing out. She must like us. Animal attraction.’

She was obviously aware of our presence but seemed to accept us. Eoin was angling the camera’s screen towards him so he could frame the filming, and then the cub awoke and started to head towards us. I froze, wondering what the mother’s reaction would be. She raised her head but then lowered it again, seemingly unconcerned. Eoin and I carefully sat up as the cub got closer and he took off his baseball cap and shades. Its nose was twitching as it sniffed the air. He handed the camera to me, still filming, and I backed away as the cub continued forward. I had no idea what I was doing with the camera, but I just tried to keep both Eoin and the cub in shot and the camera roughly level. When I reached a position where I had them both in frame, I glanced behind me to see a tree root where I could sit, balancing the camera on my knee to try and keep it steady.

Over Eoin’s head, I could see Banjul watching carefully, but he didn’t move as the tiger cub came within about a metre of Eoin. Eoin was making soothing but encouraging noises and I was pretty sure I wouldn’t have been able to resist if he’d done that to me.

The tiger mother’s head was still resting on her paws, but her eyes were following the cub’s every move. The cub circled Eoin slightly so he was between me and Eoin, sniffing the air all the time. And then he approached Eoin directly. The mother raised her head but made no effort to move as the cub, unbelievably, started to head butt Eoin’s arm, wanting to play.