A Girl and Her Tiger

by Zoey Gong

  “Right,” the British customs official said. “What’s in this box here?” He moved over to a stack of crates by one wall.

  “Only the finest of British exports, sir,” the captain said.

  “I’ll need to take a sample of that back for…further examination,” the customs officer said.

  “Of course, sir,” the captain said.

  “Hey!” Priya called out. “Hey! Please, let me out! I’ve been kidnapped! He’s going to sell me as a slave. Help me!”

  But all three of them continued to ignore her! Even the Indian officer looked away, though he did pull at his collar as though it was choking him.

  Priya couldn’t believe it. How could they just ignore what was happening to her?

  “These silks are the finest in all of India. Handwoven,” the captain said. “I’m sure your wife would appreciate the vibrancy of the dye.”

  The customs official nodded. “I’ll need five bolts of that as well. And, let’s not beat around the bush, captain. I’ll need at least five hundred pounds in order to issue the clearance papers.”

  By the gods! Priya realized what was happening. The customs official was extracting a bribe in order to look away! He didn’t care what the captain was smuggling as long as he got his cut.

  “You can’t do this!” Priya yelled. “I need help! I need to get home!”

  “Sir,” the Indian official finally whispered to his commander. “Perhaps…there is something…”

  “What?” the British official asked loudly. “Do you dare to say something to me? I told you when you were assigned to me that you were to shut your mouth and do what you’re told. Did I not make myself clear?”

  “O…of course, sir,” the man said. “I just…I just thought…”

  “You thought nothing,” the British man sneered. “You are not here to think. You’re here to work. Take these goods back to the boat and cover them with a tarp, now!”

  “Yes, sir,” the Indian man said, properly cowed. He rushed over and grabbed the items that were to be paid for the bribe and started taking them upstairs. But as he did so, he gave Priya a pitiful look of apology.

  Priya gave him a nod of understanding. There was nothing he could do. He reminded Priya of her parents. If he valued his position, he would say nothing, even at the cost of his fellow Indians. Self-preservation seemed to be the name of the game.

  “My parents are Vivaan and Charvi,” Priya called out to him. “They work for Sahib Parker in Bombay. Please tell them I am alive!”

  “Shut your damn mouth,” the captain said as he stomped over toward her. But Nabhitha jumped up on the bars of her cage and growled, causing him to stumble back.

  “Why are you dawdling?” the British customs official snapped at the Indian man. “Get moving!”

  “Tell them!” Priya yelled as the Indian man stumbled up the stairs. “Tell them I will come back! I will find a way to come back!”

  As soon as the customs officials were out of sight, the captain reached through the bars of Priya’s cage and grabbed her sari, pulling her close to him.

  “I bet you thought that was real smart, didn’t you?” the captain growled into her face so close she could feel the heat of his breath on her cheek.

  Nabhitha, in her own cage, crouched down and bared her teeth as if she was about to strike. But they all knew she couldn’t attack anyone, which only seemed to frustrate her further as her tail swished from side to side.

  “When are you going to learn, girl,” the captain continued, “that I own you! You are never going to get out of here unless it is in chains at the auction house.”

  At that, the captain released his grip on her sari and she stepped away. As the captain left, Nabhitha once again jumped up on the bars of her cage, growling and swiping her paws at him.

  The captain only laughed at her as he reached the stairs. “You girls can spit and strike all you want. It won’t change anything.”

  After the captain was gone, Priya ran back to her porthole window and watched for the customs officials’ boat. A few minutes later, she saw it. The British officer was facing the dock and the Indian official was facing the ship. The British official seemed to be still berating the young man.

  Priya stuck her arm through the porthole and waved. This time, the Indian official looked up at her. He pressed his lips together grimly, but then she was sure she saw him give a small nod. She sighed in relief. She knew he would contact her parents. It was a small victory. Too small. But it was at least more than she had before.

  Chapter Ten

  After the customs officials left, Priya expected the ship to depart, but it did not. Instead, she watched as the longboats shuttled sailors from the ship to the city at least half a dozen times as evening approached. She figured the sailors must be going into Goa to enjoy one last night of debauchery before heading out to sea for the next several weeks. Even if she had managed to get out of her cage and to the upper deck, she never would have been able to avoid so many men. Even now, after so many had been taken to shore, she could hear the heavy footsteps of the men left behind to guard the ship and its valuable cargo.

  She sat on her bed, unsure of what she should be doing or feeling. Of course, there was nothing she could actually do, but she felt restless. Useless. As though she should be doing something. She had never been so idle.

  She wavered between feeling despondent and angry. Sad seemed to be the logical feeling at the moment. She was trapped on a smuggler’s ship with no chance of escape. She was going to be sold as a slave thousands of miles from home. She would never see her parents or her homeland again. She should feel like giving up.

  But anger burned in the bottom of her belly. How could humans treat each other like this? Like chattel. The British and the Americans had been treating Africans and Indians this way for centuries. Indian slavery was outlawed now, but it had only been illegal for a few years. And the way many Indians were treated today was similar to being slaves. The British sometimes even enslaved their own people—only they called it “indentured servitude.” The British were experts at giving polite names to impolite situations. What was it the ladies often said when they needed to use the chamber pot? “I think I’ll take a walk in the garden,” was what Memsahib Parker usually said.

  Thinking of Memsahib Parker reminded her of the Evans family, and how they turned their backs on her at the port in Bombay. Such dreadful, cruel people! For as long as she lived, she would never forget that. If only there were some way, any way she could get revenge for that. But since she doubted she would ever return to India, she didn’t imagine she would ever see the Evans family again. But maybe she would. She was on her way to the New World to be sold as a slave. Who knew where she would end up. She might be sold to a British family who would one day take her to England. All British families in India eventually went back home. If she ended up in England, one day the Evans family would be there too. She had to have faith that one day, she and the Evans family would face each other again. It gave her something to look forward to.

  “I don’t know what is going to happen to either of us when we get to Jamaica, Nabhitha,” Priya said as she picked up a chunk of meat and handed it to Nabhitha through the shared bars of their cages. “But I’ll never abandon you or forget you, or your babies. I don’t know what happened to all of your cubs, but I know which family took one of them. If I ever get back to India, or just end up in England, wherever I am when I see the Evans family again, I promise to avenge all of us.”

  Nabhitha took the meat and then made a sort of rolling, breathy noise, a chuffing that sounded almost like a purr. Priya took that as a sign of approval. Nabhitha then put her nose and mouth through the bars of her cage and looked at Priya. Priya did not see any anger or aggression in Nabhitha’s face. She slowly reached up and placed her shaking hand on Nabhitha’s nose. Nabhitha pulled her head back and licked the palm of Priya’s hand. Priya exhaled and rubbed the side of Nabhitha’s face, her fingers getting lost in the thick
fur.

  Priya gave thanks to the gods that Nabhitha had honored her with her friendship. She had been too hasty before. She could not make friends with a tiger—the tiger had to decide that Priya was worthy of her friendship.

  “You and me, Nabhitha,” Priya whispered. “You and me until the end.”

  The next morning, the ship raised anchor early in the morning. Priya listened as the sailors rushed about, whistles blew, and the captain barked orders. As the sun rose, the ship pulled away from Goa and out into the open sea. Priya watched with a heavy heart as the Indian coastline grew smaller and smaller until she could not see it at all. Then she felt nauseous as the ship tossed about on the rolling sea. But finally, the sea calmed, as did the ship and Priya’s stomach. She had no idea how fast the ship was sailing, but even in her cell below deck, she thought she could feel the wind blowing through her hair.

  The next morning though, the sun did not rise and the sea was once again roiling like a pot of water over a fire. Priya looked out her porthole window and saw that the grey sky was churning, the dark clouds shifting back and forth as though they did not know which way to blow. The waves of the sea grew and lashed against the side of the ship. Priya could hear the sailors above deck as they rushed back and forth, and everyone, not just the captain, was yelling.

  The animals below deck shuffled, squawked, and screeched anxiously. They tugged at their chains and shook the bars of their cages. Nabhitha paced in her cage, emitting a low growl. The animals made Priya more nervous than the coming storm itself. Animals had a special sense about this sort of thing, she knew. The fact that the animals were scared told her she needed to be scared as well. She watched out her porthole window as rain suddenly came pouring down and she saw lightning strike the sea.

  The ship was tossed about, sending Priya and Nabhitha to the floor of their cells. Water then began pouring down the stairs from the upper deck. The animals shrieked as they too lost their balance or their cages slid across the floor. The ship was knocked hard to one side, and a stack of crates crashed to the ground, smashing open and scattering hundreds of gold coins across the floor. Priya instinctively gathered up the gold coins that rolled into her cage and placed them inside a small bag belted to the inside of her sari. Maybe once they got to Jamaica, she could purchase her own freedom. Maybe she could even buy passage on a ship back to India!

  She hardly had time to celebrate her good luck before the ship was shoved the other direction and she was knocked to the floor again, banging her head against the bars of her cage. She wrapped her arms around her head to try and protect herself.

  She then heard a loud snap! She looked up and saw a crack in the ship’s hull, and water was pouring in.

  “Help!” she screamed. “Help! We’re taking on water!”

  Several men rushed down below, including the captain. The men went to work to patch the hull, some holding up planks of wood while others nailed them in place. Still, the water poured in.

  “What’s going on?” Priya yelled.

  “Cyclone!” the captain replied. “Came up suddenly. If we don’t get this hull patched—”

  The ship was tossed aside again, and Priya felt dizzy and nauseous. It was as though the ship was spinning. All of the men were thrown about and struggled to keep their feet.

  The crack in the ship’s hull grew larger. The men all ran back toward it, using their hands to hold it together.

  “The ship’s going to rip apart!” one sailor yelled.

  “Keep it together, men!” the captain yelled, but it was too late.

  A sound like an explosion ripped through the air. Priya ducked, putting her hands over her head and closing her eyes. There were screams, and then silence, as though everyone, man and beast, was holding their breath, praying they would be spared.

  When Priya opened her eyes again, it took her a moment to realize what she was looking at. The mast of the ship seemed to have crashed through the upper deck and was now in the hull. Some men were standing around dumbfounded by what they were seeing. At least one man was dead, impaled by a large wooden shard from the mast. Other men were scattered around on the floor, dazed and disoriented. And there, pinned to the floor of the ship by his leg under the broken mast, was the captain.

  “Abandon ship!” she heard someone from up above yell.

  That seemed to awaken everyone from their shocked stupor. The men began to move quickly, helping their comrades to their feet and up the stairs out of the hull. No one tried to help the captain.

  “What are you doing, you cowards?” the captain yelled. “Help me, you mangy dogs!”

  Some of the men paused, but then they ran up the stairs, leaving their captain cursing their names behind them.

  “I’ll make sure you pay for this!” the captain yelled. “All of you!”

  Priya looked up through the hole in the deck and her eyes went wide. The rain poured down and lightning cracked across the sky. The wind howled as the clouds continued to churn. She felt water splash against her legs and looked down. The water was already up to her calves! The ship was sinking! And she was still trapped in her cage.

  “Help me!” she screamed as the last of the men who were able climbed up the stairs and out of the hull. A couple of the men looked back at her pitiably, but they knew they couldn’t help her if they didn’t have the key to her cell.

  The key! That was her only way out. She ran over to the captain, who was pinned to the ground close enough that she could reach out and touch his shoulder. His head had lolled to the side and his eyes were closed. The fight he had in him from a moment ago seemed to have gone out of him. She looked at his leg and saw red blood staining the water. He wasn’t going to live. He was probably going into shock.

  Priya reached through the bars and grabbed the captain’s shoulder, shaking him. “The key!” she yelled. “Give me the key! Help me!”

  The captain looked up at her as though in a daze. His eyes were unfocused and he moaned. “What?” he asked.

  “The key to my cage!” she said, reaching through and patting his cheek, hoping to wake him up. “Help me! Set me free so I can get out of here!”

  The captain took a few deep breaths and then shook his head. “Right,” he said. “I’ll save you, and then you can help me.” He reached into a pocket and produced a keyring, which he handed to her with a shaky hand. Priya did not agree or disagree with his terms as she took the keys from him. He seemed to take it for granted that she would use the precious few moments she had before the ship was completely torn asunder to help him instead of escaping with her life.

  She fumbled for a moment as she tried to find the key. She finally found the right key and pulled the door to her cage open. The animals seemed to erupt in cheers as she did so. With no regard for whether the animals might try to scratch or bite her, Priya ran over to the cages and chains and one by one started freeing the animals. None of them tried to hurt her, as if they knew she was their only chance at escape. She had no idea how any of them would survive after the ship sank, but at least they would have a fighting chance.

  “What are you doing, you stupid girl?” the captain yelled. “Forget the animals! Save me!”

  Priya gave him a hard look. “No,” she said. He might not have realized the gravity of the situation, but his leg had been crushed. Without a surgeon to remove the leg and staunch the bleeding immediately he would die. More than that, Priya couldn’t even begin to move the mast from off of him. All of the ship’s men together could not move a ship’s mast. But Priya didn’t waste time explaining all this. She knew she couldn’t save him, but she wanted him to know that she wouldn’t save him even if she could.

  She then ran over and unlocked Nabhitha’s cage. She pulled the door open and stood behind it, keeping a safe barrier between her and the ferocious tiger. She expected Nabhitha to do like the other animals and quickly escape to the upper deck to try and get off the ship. But she didn’t.

  Nabhitha stalked over toward the captain, deftly c
limbing over the mast toward her prey. She growled as she bared her fangs at him.

  Priya turned away and started to run up the stairs. She had done the right thing in freeing the tiger, but she couldn’t free the captain. It was no concern of hers what the tiger chose to do with her chance to escape. In fact, killing the captain might be a mercy. Otherwise he was only going to drown when the ship sank anyway.

  But as she started to climb the stairs, something tugged at her. She remembered the horror of seeing the man who tried to rape her ripped apart by Nabhitha’s claws and teeth. She knew that no matter how evil the captain was, no one deserved to die in such a manner. She turned back as Nabhitha’s growled in the captain’s face.

  “No!” he cried, nearly weeping.

  “Nabhitha!” Priya yelled. “Stop! Let’s go!” She had no reason to think the tiger would listen to her. It was a tiger! Nabhitha would do as she pleased. But to her surprise, Nabhitha stopped, turned around, and then fled up the stairs to the upper deck.

  Priya felt her chest flutter with fear for a moment as Nabhitha charged past her. Even though Nabhitha had started to act friendly toward her when they were in their cages, she knew better than to ever underestimate Nabhitha’s ferocity again. She breathed a sigh of relief as Nabhitha passed her by, nearly flying up the stairs. But she almost laughed to herself when she heard several screams from up above as the sailors saw the tiger emerge.

  “You’ll never make it,” the captain said, his voice despondent. “The ship, the storm, the sea itself. You’ll be ripped apart and never make it to shore. You’re as dead as me, girl.”

  “If I live longer than you,” Priya said, “I’ll have lived long enough.” She then turned and climbed up the stairs, out of the ship’s hull.

  Chapter Eleven

  The deck was in chaos. The wind and rain whipped around Priya and she struggled to see or even stand upright. A man ran by, knocking her to the deck, but he didn’t seem to even take notice of her. On her hands and knees, she crawled over to the ship’s railing and hung on for dear life.