The Huntsman Read Free Page A

gloved hand
held a bottle for Ben to feed.
    But plastic, aluminum, cloth, and paint stood no chance against
sixty million years of sensory evolution. Ben studiously ignored his foster
mother until Miranda crawled inside. If she came within fifty yards, Ben began
bellowing and paralleled her movements from within the enclosure. In her
absence, he remained motionless in the pool. Only his eyes and nostrils jutting
from the surface revealed his location. If the other calves tried to frolic,
he’d just move away.
    Summer’s end brought her before the Director and managing staff to
avert another crisis. “You know as well as I, hippo calves wean for up to
eighteen months. Ben has defeated all your attempts to prevent what has
happened. He won’t feed from anyone else. To leave him after just two months
would be cruel beyond description. Are your rules so precious you’ll accept an
emotionally and psychologically damaged animal rather than violate them? Rules
are not laws. They serve as guidelines until prudence and good judgment dictate
the need to break them.”
    Against all procedures, precedents, and training the Director
relented. After a phone call from him, the Mars Hill Dean of Academics agreed
to arrange for Miranda to continue her studies remotely and the zoo’s managing
staff volunteered to mentor her through the challenging coursework. When she
returned for her senior year, Ben had outgrown his cousins and if not exactly
an extrovert, tolerated their bonding attempts when he joined them for a swim.
Six years passed before she returned with a PhD in hand and a firm employment
offer as Deputy Director for Animal Care.
    She shook her head. All that schooling meant nothing. In a few
more feet, Organismal
Biology, Chordate Anatomy, or Vertebrate Taxonomy would be useless against a
two-ton animal that could crush her with a swipe of its head, trample her
underfoot, or slice her in half with its foot-long incisors.
    Miranda continued singing the lullaby Ben had always heard as a
calf drifting off to dreamland. At his stall, the open gate to the pool area
stood as mute testimony to a procedure horribly violated. Ashley lay on the
ground covered in straw only feet from a rock-still Ben whose ears had flipped
backward to track Miranda’s approach. She gave his rump a strong pat and
stroked her hand along his flanks as she moved closer to his massive head.
“Easy, Ben. Easy, Ben. Easy, Ben.” He blasted a snort and shifted his weight
but otherwise remained calm. Miranda scratched his ear and continued her slow
approach to the prone Ashley.
    She squatted next to the terrified intern who moved to speak but Miranda
hushed her with an index finger to the lips. Her neck hairs stood on end. How
would Ben react when she tried to move Ashley out the pen? “Are you having
trouble breathing?” Ashley nodded. “You probably have a few broken ribs and I’m
sure your arm is broken. I know you’re in a lot of pain, but you’re going to
have to be brave for me, Ashley. Can you do that?” Ashley squeezed the tears
from her eyes and nodded again.
    Behind them Ben snorted and shuffled his feet. Miranda turned,
horrified eyes widened. Three policemen with rifles raised and cocked entered
the pen area. Miranda strained not to scream. “Easy, Ben. Easy, Ben. Easy,
Ben.” She rose slowly to move between the police and the hippo. She spread her
arms and legs wide in a protective stance. “Easy, Ben.” She maintained the same
low sing-song but changed the lyrics. “Get out of here. Get out of here. Get
out of here. You’re endangering my intern. Get out of here. Get out of here.”
Her calm, soothing voice belied the determined fierceness blazing from her
eyes. With Miranda between them and the target, the officers recognized their
impasse and backed away. Miranda felt her knees go weak. She returned to her
intern.
    “You have to stand up, Ashley. I will help you but it’s going to
hurt like hell. You have to be strong and not make