Written by Marc-Dennis Horn

Inspired by “Tabitha – The Story” by Chris Yost an  James Bruner

Tabitha and Sabrina are © by Eric W. Schwartz

Susan Feline and Chris Foxx are © by Chris Yost

Tigon Panthera is © by Marc-Dennis Horn

 

 

 

 

 

to be put at chapter 1, line 96

 

 

 

“Hello Tabitha”, a voice behind her sounded up. Tabitha glanced over her shoulder and saw a striped lion who slowly approached her, supporting his walk with a wooden walkstick.

 

Tabitha rose up an walked towards him. “Hello Tigon”, she said as she hugged him.

 

“Huwow! Be careful with this old tigon. His body isn’t what it once was anymore”, he replied

 

Tabitha released him from her gentle hug with a smile. “What are you doing here?”

 

Tigon looked at the grave. “I think the same thing that you are doing here”, he quietly answered.

 

She stepped beside and let him approach to the grave slowly. As he reached it he looked over it again, then closed his eyes and seemed to flow away in memories. Tabitha waited a minute to let him have his own thoughts send to where ever Sabrina was until she waked to his side. One more minute later he realized her standing there opened his eyes again and said “It’s very nice from you to do that. Carnations and roses had always been her favorite.”

 

Then he kneeled down on the left knee very slowly, heavily supporting his body with the stick. From the expression on his face Tabitha could see how big the pain in his knee was. She wanted to say something, but kept herself quiet, as she knew that he wouldn’t listen to her. Since this traffic accident 9 years ago that broke his legs several times and smashed his right knee he always had an awful pain when he moves it. The doctors had done their best to rebuild it, but there where to much destroyed. Only an artificial knee would have given him some movement without pain, but he refused that. He couldn’t even stand the thought of heaving a piece of metal forced into his body.

 

As he finally was down Tabitha took his stick, so that he could open the box he held in his left hand. Out from it he took an gorgeous orchid. Tabitha was amazed by the shape and the color of the exotic flower. She had never been good in botany, but she knew that this one was an particular valuable orchid. Tigon took a deep breath and Tabitha realized the she could smell the flowers scent even from her standing position. After smelling from it he laid the orchid down on the grave in front of the name. She knew that he gave Sabrina an orchid of the same kind when he was trying to get her attention.

 

Tigon reaches out for his stick. Instead of giving it to him she took his arm and helped him up. When he was back on his feet, Tabitha saw a few tears dripping out of his eyes.

 

“You really loved her, didn’t you?” she asked.

 

“Oh yes. And a small part of me still does. I fall in love with her at the first time I saw her at the studio. Her bright eyes, her shiny fur and her big smile that showed nothing but friendliness.” He closed his eyes again. “I tried everything to make her love me. I offered her a good home, a save and carefree life and everything else that I could give. I also would have retired from acting for her, but no matter how hard I tried, I never had a chance against Chris. And as I realized that I decided that the best thing I could to was to wish them both luck an be there whenever they needed me.” Tigon slowly shaked his head.

 

“It must have been hard”, Tabitha said and laid her arm around his shoulders. He reopened his eyes and looked in Tabitha’s face.

 

“Oh yes, very hard. But I had been rewarded for my decision. You know, it was Sabrina who introduced me to my dear Susan.” He looked in the clear sky and closed his eyes one more time. “Oh, Sue. My beloved wife”, he whispered. Tabitha could saw his eyes starting to tear again.

 

Damn! She looked down to her feet and gave herself an imaginary slap in the face. I should have known that his thoughts will lead to Susan when I mention his love for Sabrina, she thought. The lioness had been Sabrina’s best friend since highschool, and they stayed together their whole life. Tigon married Susan one year after Sabrina and Chris had. Sue had been together with Sabrina on that faithful day and she also died in the storm. Tabitha remembered that Tigon hasn’t been able to write for a whole year.

 

As she looked back up she saw him with closed eyes, lost in memories. Looking at him she realized that he looked pretty good for his age. He still was trim and his fur was well groomed. Due to his age his red mane had became gray and his stripes were starting to bleach. There was also some white fur, where his skin was scarred from the accident, especially at his legs. And even as he lost this aurora of lifelust he had, you could still see that he wasn’t going to spend the rest of his life sitting in a armchair solving crossword puzzles. But there was also another thing at him. He always tried his best to hide it, but someone how knows him could see the incredible sadness inside of him.

 

“Why don’t you ask it?” Tigon asked.

 

Tabitha realized that she was staring at him. “What do you mean?” she replied.

 

“The question that’s going through your mind. I can see it in your eyes.”

 

“What question?” Tabitha wanted to know.

 

“How can this strange tigon think of his wife, and talk about his love to Sabrina in the same breathe.”

 

She blushed. It was right that she always wondered which ways his love had made between Susan and Sabrina, but that was a question that’s not ought to be asked.

 

“I don’t know myself. I met Sue at Sabrina’s and Chris’ wedding and as Sabrina introduced us to each other I felt that I was falling in love again, this time with an breathtaking lioness. But there had always been this small part of me that never stopped loving Sabrina, even if my soul belonged to Sue.”

 

“I’m sorry, Tigon,” Tabitha said.

 

“I know,” he replied and hugged her. “Thank you.”

 

After he released her, Tabitha cleared her throat and asked. “Would you like to visit me at my apartment?”

 

“I thought you’d never ask,” Tigon smiled at her. “Do you really thought I’d come the whole way down here and miss a visit at my favorite little girl?”

 

“I know you would. I’ll be home in one and a half hours. Two tops,” Tabitha told him.

 

“Fits great,” he replied happy “I have a book reading in this college ... ahm ... ahmmm ... I forgot the name, but I could be at your apartment at 4:30.”

 

They slowly started to walk away from Sabrina’s gravesite. “That’s great. I’m really happy that you’ll visit me. Perhaps you could tell some old family stories?” Tabitha asked with a grin.

 

Tigon made a face. “Do I have to?”

 

“Oh, please,” she said in the most begging voice she could manage without giggling. “You’re so good in telling stories.”

 

He looked down with a sign of resignation on his face.

 

“Oh sorry, Tigon,” Tabitha apologized as she saw his expression. “I didn’t mean to bother you.”

 

“What?” Tigon looked back at her and realized what she must have thought. “Oh, no Tabitha. It’s not because of you. See, I know I have this strange story telling talent. That’s why I became an author. I thought, when I write my stories down I don’t have to tell them any more,” he explained. “But it became even worse. Now I have to tell the people what’s behind the stories.” He shook his head. “Just what I have to do today.”

 

He suddenly stopped and turned around. Without saying a word he looked back at the gravesite and one more tear dripped out of his right eye. Like before didn’t wipe it away, letting it run down his cheek until it stopped under his chin.

 

After a minute he turned back and they walked to their cars silently.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

to be put at the end of chapter 6

 

 

 

On the other side of the town Tigon’s eyes closed a last time before he finally fall asleep. He set on the passengers seat, wile a ghost seemed to drive the car. Aware that he wouldn’t be able to drive himself anymore, the first thing he did after his accident was letting install an automatic pilot in his car. In the last nine years he became more and more used to be driven around. He never liked cars, but for some reason he enjoyed sleeping in a driving one.

 

When he slowly glided in the sweet darkness of sleep the dream came again. He knew it would come. It always came when he visited Sabrina’s grave. It began, like every time, with himself, sitting in his office at ZZ Studios ...

 

                                                  ###

 

A sudden yawn overcame Tigon. He took a look at the clock. 5:49. “Huw,” he thought. “A little late. Good that I had called Sue before.”

 

He usually left for home at 4:15, but this was one of these days when the inspiration rushed over him, so he called Susan at home and told her that it could get late. Sue knew the he had to follow his muse when it calls, and since Sabrina was with her every thing would be alright.

 

He looked at the Monitor. 50 pages! Today he had written nearly 50 damn pages! “Oh yeah!” he said to himself aloud. “This is divinely one of the good days in life.”

 

The sentence brought up the idea for the next chapter inside his mind, and he started to write it down as a beeping melody cut through his thoughts. He wondered who would call him at his office at this hour.

 

“Hello?” he said into the mouthpiece of the handset and looked irritated as only the dialing tone answered to him.

 

With a silent curse to himself he laid the handset back on the base and took his cellular phone. He didn’t recognize the caller’s number that was shown on the display, so he pressed the connect button and just said “Yes?”

 

“Mr. Panthera?” a male voice asked.

 

“Yes,” Tigon said again.

 

"Mr. Panthera, this is Trooper Cormorant of the Pennsylvania State Police. I’m sorry, but your wife, Susan, has been in an accident."

 

Tigon’s whole innards tied themselves to one big knot. “What?” was the only thing he could manage to say.

 

“She had a collision with a tractor trailer,” the policeman said. “She is in the Grove City Hospital Emergency.”

 

Tigon didn’t hear what the trooper said next. He jumped up and ran through the dark hallways to the front door. After jumping over the bonnet of his car, the only one that was at the studio’s parking lot at this late hour, he fling opened the it’s door, jumped in, started it. The Chargers hybrid engine howled loud as he pushed in the reverse gear and slammed his foot in the gas pedal. Normally he would have driven slowly in such a terrible weather, but the only thing he could think about was getting to his Susan so he shook away the carefulness and drove as fast as he could.

 

Thanks to his good luck the streets inside the city were relatively free so he got to the hospital in only 25 minutes. With howling tires he drifted the car on the parking lot and jumped out. He didn’t realize that he had forgotten to lock it as he ran up the way to the emergency entrance. He nearly tackled through the glass door and stopped in front of the check-in desk.

 

“Where is my wife?” he yelled at the leopard nurse. “Where is Susan Panthera?”

 

The nurse pointed to the left after keying the words into the computer. “This way, room 3. Sir --- Sir!”

 

But Tigon didn’t heard her. He slammed the door open an ran down the hallway, searching for room 3. He finally found it and wanted to go in when a gray paw landed on his shoulder and hold him back. Tigon turned around.

 

“Mr. Panthera?” the wolf in which face he looked asked.

 

“Is she alright?” promptly came out of Tigon. The sad expression on the wolf’s face said everything.

 

“No!” Tigon said, holding the wolf’s shoulders with his paws. “No! Please say that everything is right with her!”

 

But the wolf only shook his head. “I’m sorry. She passed away a couple of minutes ago.”

 

Tigon released the wolf, turned around, opened the door and burst into the room. All the monitors and the life-supporting machines were turned of and a white sheet was covering a lifeless body.

 

“No,” Tigon said. He almost jumped to the bed and pulled the sheet away.

 

It was her. The lioness he adorable loved. She looked so peacefully. If there weren’t the dried blood that stained her red hair, Tigon would have sworn she was only sleeping. The tears finally broke through his eyes.

 

“NOOOOOO!” he yelled. “No! Please no!”

 

Tigon couldn’t say how long he had yelled and begged to every god he knew to make this unhappen.

 

“I’m sorry,” the wolf said again. “We have done everything we could, but it was already a wonder that she survived the accident.”

 

“Please leave us alone,” Tigon whispered.

 

The wolf nodded, went out of the room and closed the door quietly.

 

A new wave of tears came out of Tigon’s eyes. He continued crying at his wife’s deathbed. Again he couldn’t say how long he had cried, but his tears dried out and he came to rest a little bit. Now he realized something that would be after him for the rest of his life.

 

“What have I done?” he whispered.

 

                                                  ###

 

Slowly Tigon awaked. Disoriented for the moment he to tried find out why these lights were moving so fast. Then he realized where he was. His face was wet of tears, but he made no move to dry it.

 

“It’s my fault,” he whispered into the fast passing night and started to cry again. “It’s all my fault.”

 

 

 

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