Chapter 23

It was almost eleven o'clock and Bobbie Conroy was in agony. Now she realized that she had made a disastrous mistake at dinner that night when with great glee she had told Tom the story told about Connie and Chip Cartwright and his efforts to ensure that her body was well warmed up before entering her. Tom had just nodded at the story and grinned. Only now he had been doing it to her! Her body was writhing on the bed in unfulfilled passion and all Tom did was grin.

"Darling, what an incredibly wonderful idea this was!" he exclaimed, feigning seriousness but with his eyes gleaming with suppressed laughter. "I have been taking you for granted for so many months. Now I better appreciate the feminine perfection sharing my bed. Darling, you're exquisite!"

Bobbie suddenly screamed as Tom's rough fingers contacted her tit that was now so unbelievably sensitive to his touch. Continuing to look thoughtful he said, "Gosh, you're really getting closer, Honey. Your nipples are almost firm enough already."

Again Bobbie screamed uncontrollably. In fact, her nipples were as hard as little pebbles and were distended from her tits to a degree she had never experienced in her life before.

When she suddenly jumped from the bed and headed for the door, Tom looked astonished. "Where are you going?"

Stopping, she turned on her heel and put her fists on her hips. Tom thought he had never seen her look more beautiful than she did at that instant. Her body was golden perfection as she stood, as usual, with her shoulders back and her glorious breasts so proudly upthrust. "I'm going to get the knife I had on our honeymoon," she replied in a flat tone of voice.

"What for?" Tom asked, puzzled.

"To cut off your cock so I can ram it in myself!" she exclaimed. Then she looked pensive and asked, "Tom, do I need to cut off your balls, too? I mean ... Won't I need them for the glorious spend to flood my insides at the end... ?" Smiling brightly she said, "Yeah, I guess I'll have to cut them both off." Turning on her heel again, she started to open the door.

"But honey!" Tom protested, "what will you do tomorrow? I mean..."

"Damn it, Thomas Gardiner Conroy, I don't give a damn about tomorrow!" she screamed. "If I don't do it, I won't live till tomorrow!"

While they were having their exchange the phone had begun to ring. Normally, when they began their nightly lovemaking they ignored the phone and let the machine answer it. On the occasions when they forgot to activate it — as they had that night — they just let it ring until the caller gave up.

Tonight it just continued to ring so Bobbie answered it. After saying hello she heard, "Bobbie, it's Connie. I don't give a damn what you and Tom are doing but, for God's sake, turn on the tube and watch the Eleven O'clock News on Channel 4!" Before Bobbie could say a word she heard a click as the line went dead. She just looked at the receiver, shook her head and put it back on the hook.

"What was that?" Tom asked. "Some crank call?" He had noticed that the only word Bobbie had spoken was her initial hello.

"It was Connie Cartwright," she replied thoughtfully as she retrieved the TV remote. "She said to watch the news tonight on Channel 4, regardless." Activating the set, she climbed back on the bed. Tom had gathered up all the pillows and put them on the bottom of the bed so they could lie on their stomachs and watch.

When she lay down beside him, he put his arms around her and kissed her warmly saying, "Bobbie Conroy, you are my life, my darling. Can I apologize now?"

Before she could reply they both heard the headline news announcement that preceded the eleven o'clock commercial break and the news show itself. The anchorman, Jack Johnson, on camera, said, "Tonight's news focuses on some incredible happenings today involving two small children and ten tigers, as well as some remarkable events at the courthouse. Stay tuned!"

With the cut to commercial, Bobbie's eyes widened and she exclaimed, "Oh my God! Tom, Ali and Bill were going to take Andy and Ken to the circus tonight! You don't think... ?" She began to weep but through her tears stammered, "If anything happened to those two angels... !"

Tom held her close and whispered that he was sure everything was all right. He pointed out that Connie would have told her if anything bad had happened.

She was reassured somewhat when the news show came on and she saw that the anchorman seemed to be happy as he said, "In our top story the people attending the circus at the Forum tonight saw things never before seen by man in history. Two small children — first-graders, only six years old — performed with ten mature Bengal tigers. This footage is so incredible, I'll just let it speak for itself."

"It's Andy!" Bobbie screamed as the first shot showed Andy coming out into the spotlight followed by Ken. She watched, thrilled, as the children bounded across the circus floor. Then they saw Andy introduce the giant Bengal tigers by name. Following were some quick scenes: Prince leaping fifty feet across the rolling tigers, then the end of the living pyramid, with Andy standing proudly on top of the tiger's back. Bobbie gasped when Andy leaped and then watched as Kenny did his incredible backward somersault into the tub of water.

"Can you believe that?" the anchor said with the incredulity obvious in his voice. "Those children are only six years old!" Then he said, "Fear? What for? Just watch this and see a terribly frightened little girl..."

The scene that followed was the point at which the tigers were running five abreast. The announcer continued, "Those tigers are bounding around the ring at nearly thirty miles an hour! And they are in a perfectly synchronized stride so their backs make an almost unbroken platform. Now watch..."

Tom and Bobbie laughed as they saw Andy take two steps and then flop across the tigers' backs. The last shot in the scene was a tight close-up of Andy's face. Her chin was on her hands and she had the most adorable grin as the tigers beneath her flew around the ring.

"Now," the anchor asked as the camera cut to him, "isn't that a picture of the most terrified little girl you have ever seen? I mean, after all, wouldn't anyone be frightened to be on the backs of 3,000 pounds of Bengal tiger?"

The show cut to commercials and Bobbie said, "My God! What happened, do you suppose? But aren't they cute?" She kissed Tom warmly and said, "Darling, I cannot tell a lie. I love those two little imps nearly as much as I love you. They are darling."

Coming off the break, the anchor was on-camera again. "Was that all?" he asked rhetorically. "Oh, no! Now watch this:" They cut to the scene of the children feeding the tigers and the anchor continued, "Believe it not, these small children are feeding giant tigers, by hand! Good grief, these animals are so big and their teeth are so sharp they could easily bite off a whole arm! But watch!

"You see the tiger on the left of the picture start to move towards the other animal's bowl. Now look! There is that little girl with her hands on her hips bawling out the tiger! Does it work? Watch. What you are seeing has never been seen before: that tiger is covering his head with his forepaws. He's ashamed! Look! The little girl lifts his paw off his head — a paw with claws so long, strong and sharp they could cut her in half, by the way — and kisses him! It appears that she is forgiving the animal! Have you ever?"

The anchor continued: "We never have nor have any of the experts we were able to reach before we went on the air tonight. In fact, we couldn't do as much as we would have liked because it was so hard to get the experts to believe we weren't drunk, insane, or fools.

"The universal reaction from the experts was that this is utterly impossible. They unanimously confirmed what Gunther Gabel-Williams said at the Forum tonight: The Bengal tiger is the most feared animal on the face of the earth. Moreover, the tiger does not like anybody or anything — particularly including other Bengal tigers! In their natural habitat they roam — alone — hunting prey over large stretches of land that is theirs. Yet here we see ten full-grown male tigers, all in their prime, moving together with a level of coordination that is truly unbelievable.

"But there's more. When we go to the circus and watch the wild-animal trainer, what is the impression we get? Why are we there?" On camera the anchorman, Jack Johnson, continued, "Deep down inside we are wondering if the animal is going to perform ... or attack his trainer. The impression this reporter carries in his memory is seeing a big cat glaring balefully at his trainer and then — usually — performing, but with great reluctance. It's being coerced.

"Now watch this! This is near the end of the show." The tape rolled and showed the tigers in their moving pyramid starting to run faster and faster around the ring. The anchor said, "This is an all-time first. What you are seeing, in the opinion of every single expert we consulted, is absolutely impossible! There are ten tigers, with the four on the bottom carrying 3,600 pounds of tiger on their backs running at nearly full speed. That means each tiger is running while carrying a 900-pound load — about 50 percent greater than his own weight!

"Now look at those animals! Do they look baleful? Do they look reluctant? No! They look happy, excited, and proud. Now catch this! Can you believe it?" The shot was at the end with Andy in Ken's arms with their bodies melted together in a passionate embrace. The camera showed Prince turning his huge head to look up at the children on his back and smiling. "Those children are kissing and the tiger they're standing on is smiling! I know tigers can't smile, but that is what this cat is doing."

Then they cut to the end of the show with the tigers in their pyramid. Andy and Ken, arms around each other's waist, were waving their free arms to the crowd. "Have you ever seen such an incredible display?" the anchor asked. "Such incredible self-assurance? Now watch, but please remember that these children are only six years old with no training in gymnastics or acrobatics at all. Incidentally, the tape you're about to see has been reviewed by a couple of gymnastics experts, but more on that in a moment. Watch!"

The tape rolled with their last quick kiss and even showed Ken patting Andy's bottom. Bobbie gasped as she saw Andy's jump to the trampoline, the aerial movements and the perfect landing, then the camera stayed on her so they could see Ken land exactly by her side without her moving an inch from where she had first landed. "Folks," the anchor continued, "those movements were graded as perfect tens if this were an Olympic competition. The moves were utterly perfect!"

The anchor reappeared on camera and said, "This last scene was greeted with derision by the experts to whom we described it." Johnson grinned and interjected, "Boy, are we ever going to have fun when we make them watch the tape and eat their words."

Continuing he said, "We described tigers lying on their backs with their paws in the air. 'Utterly impossible, ' the experts said. 'It is a position of total exposure and submission. No tiger could or would ever be in such a position, least of all voluntarily.' Well, we'll see. This tape was the very end. In fact, the show was over and each of the cats had taken his bow. But they refused to leave the arena floor! Just watch!"

"Oh, Tom!" Bobbie exclaimed, "this is so beautiful! Can you believe it?"

They watched as the children climbed on the belly of a tiger, embraced, and were then wrapped together in the tiger's own embrace. They watched the children kiss the tiger, saw him kiss each child's hand and then happily trot off the floor.

The announcer was silent as the tape rolled. When the segment concluded, he was on-camera again shaking his head. "Can you believe it? What you have seen are two small children, madly and passionately in love with each other, who are loved, in turn, by Bengal tigers! Tigers who so much want to share the love these two have for each other that they want the children to embrace while lying on the animal's chest! Then to seal this love the animal uses his enormous forelegs to embrace the children!"