Maggie and the Kits, Part IV

It is so much fun sharing this story with you all! This excerpt is a little intense, but Spoiler Alert! Maggie is a survivor.

Would you like to see it as a children's book, complete with illustrations?

They were making a lot of noise. They weren’t like the other humans, who trod softly. These were loud, and their scent was aggressive. They were predators at their worst. Two men came out of the woods, following the dog’s tracks. When they saw the dogs and the tree, they grinned fierce grins. They looked up the tree and saw Maggie on her branch. Their grins grew fiercer. They were carrying what looked like big sticks, but they had them pointed downward.

One man pointed his stick at Maggie. “I’ll just make sure he doesn’t get away while we wait for Dobson to get here. You want to call him and see where he is?”

Maggie snorted to herself. “That guy called me a HE.” Doesn’t he have eyes? Can’t he tell I’m a SHE?”

The other man got on what looked like a big black block. It made a screechy noise, and then a human voice came through it. “Yeah?”

“Dobson, where are you? We’ve got one treed for you. Follow the dog’s trail and get your butt up here. We told you we would find you one.”

“Okay, I’m on the trail, and should be there soon,” the disembodied voice replied. “Is it big? I want a big one.”

The two guides looked at one another. “It’s big enough, and hissing and growling up a storm. You’ll like him.”

The big black device went silent. The two humans waited. And waited. Meanwhile, the dogs were still barking and howling, and finally, one of the men told them to be quiet. The dogs subsided.

The sudden silence made Maggie even more nervous. The dogs weren’t moving off. If she tried to come down, they’d be on her. She held her ground, and kept her ears back. Her heart felt like it was coming out of her chest. She was very afraid, and she thought of her kits, back in the den. “Please let me see them again,” she prayed.

Off in the distance came the sound of another human. These people were certainly noisy. Then, there he was, coming up behind the two guides.

“Where is it?” He was waving his stick around.

One of the guides pointed toward the tree. “Right there.”

The one called Dobson looked. “I thought you said it was big.” He sighed. “Well, I guess it will have to do. I paid good money for this.” He raised his stick so it was pointing at Maggie.

Maggie looked wildly around, trying to find a way out of this mess. That stick could not mean anything good.

Suddenly, the dogs became more alert, and started looking around, not at her. They all faced away from her. What was going on?

A loud Mountain Lion call came from a short distance off, and into the area stepped a huge male Lion. He growled and roared.

“Gerald,” Maggie breathed. “Oh, NO.” Her older son had followed her, and now was going to lead the dogs and men away from her. Part of her was so proud of her son, and another part was bereft. She knew he wouldn’t survive.

The men spun around. They all backed up a step to see such a huge Mountain Lion standing so close to them.

The dogs sprang into action. “Get him!” The dogs called, and started running toward the big male. Gerald spun around and disappeared into the underbrush, the dogs close behind him.

“Now THAT’S more like it!” Yelled Dobson. “Let’s go after THAT one too!”

The guides moved quickly in front of Dobson to lead the way out of the clearing, following the dogs, who were baying and howling, after the big lion.

“Dobson, come on! If this is the one you want, we’ve got to go after it. Leave that one. You only have a permit for one!” One of the guides yelled.

Maggie wasn’t waiting around to see what happened, although she was concerned about her son. However, she knew why he showed up, and she wanted to honor his gift of escape. She leapt down from the tree just as Dobson pulled the trigger on his rifle.

Maggie felt a burning in her leg, but it didn’t stop her. She disappeared into the brush and ran.

“Dobson, come ON,” shouted the guide. “Leave it! We’ve got to go after the dogs.”

Dobson reluctantly turned away and drifted along behind the guides, out of the clearing.

“I think I winged that one,” he thought, with a satisfied grin on his face, and not caring whether the animal lived or died. He had gotten off a shot, and it had hit its mark. “Now for the other one! Two in one day. Awesome!”

Maggie ran until she could run no more. Stopping for a rest, she listened closely. She heard no dogs, no humans, no rattling through the brush.

She lay quietly, taking stock. Her left hind leg was not working well. It ached fiercely. She wondered if it was safe to go back to her den. She hated not having food to bring back to the kittens.

“I’ll keep an eye out on the way back. Maybe I’ll find a deer or something.” She got slowly to her feet. She felt a little dizzy. It was hard to put weight on her back leg, it hurt so much. It seemed to be slowly bleeding. But she had kittens to care for, and the thought of them drove her onward.

More next week. Will Fiona and Jack see their mother again? Who is going to help them? Would you like to know more about Gerald? (That story is in the works).

THIS is what it's like to be a mountain lion in the Rocky Mountains. Not so great.