Tom is happy. How fortunate today is such a beautiful day for taking a walk. A chill wind is blowing, but Tom isn’t bothered. He closes his eyes for a moment, enjoying the sparse warmth of the brave little sun on his head. His eye is caught by a couple of sparrows frolicking in the air. Amusedly he follows their playful flight until they disappear behind the canopy.
This park is right near where he lives, but he has never managed to visit it. He absorbs the landscape with curious eyes. A young woman is jogging further down the path. Her breath leaves tiny clouds, her ponytail swinging like a pendulum as she runs. “Ah,” Tom thinks excitedly, “A lovely day can be made even lovelier by meeting new people.” Cheerfully he walks towards her. The moment the jogger notices him, he greets her warmly. However the woman does not reciprocate. She makes a shocked face, turns around hastily and goes off into the opposite direction. “Weird… Maybe she doesn’t like meeting people?”, Tom ponders. He continues his exploration.
A playground lies hidden behind the trees. A few children are chasing each other around on a large jungle gym shouting excitedly. At the edge there is a sandbox where a small girl, wrapped tight in thick, orange jacket, is playing by herself. With quiet focus she shapes a row of figures with her mittens in the humid sand. From the treeline Tom watches her with fascination. The child looks up and studies him with questioning eyes. She smiles —one tooth missing— and waves to him. Tom sets himself next to her and listens with genuine interest as she proudly shows him the fruits of her craft.
A cutting shriek sharply interrupts them. With a panic on her face older woman is speeding towards them. “Natasha! Get out of there! Come here now!”, she screams at the child. Tears well up in the eyes of the little girl, who does not understands what she did wrong. Tom reacts irked. Why can’t she just be calm? But the mother now also starts yelling at Tom: “Go away! Go!” “How rude”, is Tom’s opinion. Meanwhile the woman has picked up her daughter and is running off with her. Tom and the little kid look at each other disheartenedly as the distance between them grows. Tom tries to shake of the stress. He looks around, deliberating on what to do now. At that moment Tom realizes the entire yard is now abandoned. Everyone must have left while that unfriendly woman was shouting. Let’s leave too, Tom decides.
He keeps following a path expecting it to lead him out. Arriving at a large clearing he sees a handful of men at the border of the park. They are all dressed identically. Tom moves towards them. They don’t run away. On the contrary, it seems as if they are waiting for him. When they are about twenty meters apart, one of them nervously utters a command. Tom pauses in hesitation. There is the sound of dull click. A sharp pain suddenly pierces his shoulder. His face contorts from the pain. A strange, red tassel is sticking out of this body. Unsure, Tom slowly backs up. More shouts. More pain. Tom turns and tries to flee into the bushes, but a sudden overpowering tiredness pulls him indomitably against the ground. The last thing he perceives are his assailants closing in cautiously, until fear is replaced by a black, dreamless sleep.
Carefully the men lift the unconscious tiger on a stretcher, so they can return him to his zoo.