Man-Tigers of the Green Valley

I find myself at the boundary of a gated community protected by steel gates ten feet high. I am at lost to what I am doing here. I feel as though I don't belong; I feel that outside of these gates was where I came from. Yet, this valley is not much different then what I am used to. Decent looking brick houses decorate the tops of these small lush grass covered hills.

This lady companion of mine, who she is I haven't a clue, wandering about the green valleys, appreciating its beauty - probably, as it is what most ladies I know like to do - smell flowers, and etc. I am waiting for her to be done with it at the boundary atop this hill, holding a long stick like a staff, just standing, looking over her from afar. I don't recall coming to this place with her or maybe I did; I don't know. Did I climb over the gates into this place? I doubt it. Anyway, I don't care now. All I know is that we will be leaving soon.

She returned to me, bringing with her a child. This child kissed me like it's a customary ritual - it felt like kissing a lover. This kiss felt really good but sickeningly strange because she's just a kid. I looked back at my lady companion for any signs of jealousy from her. She showed none and what surprised me more was to see the child's face on hers. Maybe that's how she looked like in the first place anyway. I do realize how beautiful this lady companion of mine is now because her face is exactly like the little girl's. Oh, enough of this. I just want to get out of here.

I look at the high gate; it's not impossible to climb over it, but instead of doing what I prefer to do, I just slid open the latch and pushed the smaller gate open - the small gate that is for people and not cars. We got out of the gated community. The three of us were happy to go on this journey by foot. It will be fairly familiar one for me. I have done this once or twice before in the past.

Behold, a tiger basks in the open lawn at the edge of the garden. Now this is new to me. There were no tigers in this area during my previous trips. A sense of danger holds me; a tingling sensation flows throughout my body. Perhaps my instinct is warning me of the danger to come - like death itself is hovering around me. "There could be more tigers in this garden," a thought echoes in my mind.

This young girl and this lady do not look at all worried as though they are confident to be well protected by my presence. Well, otherwise they're just plain naive. My fears were strengthened when another big tiger appeared not far from us. It had silky, orange and black stripped fur, and was pouncing about around us - probably playing with its potential food. I don't like this feeling at all. This must be how a mouse feels like being played by a cat. The tiger teases us, every time pouncing just short of us, giving us a false sense of safety. This worked too as its actions become more of an annoyance rather than posing any real danger to us. How foolish it was for me to ever think that this is a tamed tiger and worse off, thinking that any tiger can ever be really tamed.

Now, just as I started feeling safe, the tiger decides to get serious. It jumped behind us to the little girl - looking for an easy kill. The tiger lunged towards the little girl from behind. To my surprise, the little girl made no attempt to jump out of the way - she was so scared that her feet were nailed to the ground! Thankfully, the tiger landed just short of her and snagged the bottom of her long cream colored laced dress, tearing a part of it off her small, frail body. "I must protect her," I thought to myself, "Nothing must happen to her!" Immediately, I pulled the little girl away and confronted the threatening tiger.

I am willing to risk my life to protect these two ladies. I am faced with a tiger twice my size hence death for me is an absolute possibility. I can even feel this fear in my bones; it makes my muscles weak, but I have to fight this feeling and try to survive this dangerous face-off. Suddenly, the tiger morphs into a man - a Russian soccer star in full white team jersey. Yes, now this man I can fight for he is just a man. A strong, super-fit athlete and bigger than me he is, but still, only a man. My confidence grows and I feel my muscles contract with energy. An assuring thought came into mind, "Maybe I won't die today." Then I grinned confidently at the man-tiger. At most, I hope to give him a good fight, just so that he would find an easier meal elsewhere.

I unsheathed and held my two crescent knives in each hand, the sharp curved edges faced to the ground and the sharp tips pointed towards this man-tiger. He had his own set of crescent knives too, but they were bigger. "Whatever," my mind acknowledges confidently, "Knife sizes don't matter with my kind of fighting skills." I was ready for battle. I am as strong as this man-tiger, leveraged by my fighting skills - a fact that only soon I am to realize after my knives are sticking painfully into the palms of his hands - amidst our duel.