The eye of the tiger

The other day, I told you about my first summer holiday in an amusement park. That was a real hard summer job. But I didn't stay unnoticed. I spent quite some after work time with the animals and the zoo keeper noticed me around. He asked if I liked animals and I couldn't do much else but agree. Animals fascinate me. They always have. I told him I was looking for another job in the park. I wanted to work with the animals. He liked me. He said he wanted to give it a shot. But he warned me that mopping the floor was not harder than taking care of the animals.

So I started my second summer job and I became a tiger tamer. My boss showed me how to bottle feed the baby tiger cubs. They were only a couple of days old and they were the cutest! I was so thrilled to get this job. I promised my boss I would do the best I could and I would love and cherish those cubs. Like a baby, the cubs had to be fed every three hours. I had a lot of work feeding all those open mouths. They got to know me pretty soon and I gave them names. I asked my superior if I could buy them pacifiers and he thought that was kind of silly, but he let me. So while I was feeding 2 cubs, the others were comforted sucking their pacifiers.

I taught them to lay down, sit up and follow me around. The public loved it! They came to see the cubs and I was very proud of my crew. After 6 months, the cubs were sold. I shed many tears, but I knew in advance this was going to happen. For 4 years in a row, I was a tiger tamer. It was the most exciting and loving job I have ever done.