The Last Tiger
By Vibhu Iyer - 5

Hi, My name is Vibhu. I have black hair, black eyes, and brown skin. This is the story of how Suhas and I saved the last white tiger in the world.

Chapter One: The Field Trip

It was yet another Friday, so Suhas and I were bored out of our minds, literally sleeping in the middle of Social Studies.

Suhas and I have been friends since fifth grade, almost four years ago. We were in ninth now,. Suhas has glasses, buck teeth, black hair, and the occasional stammer.

Meanwhile, ma’am was telling us about Siberia, a part of Russia, and We started to pay attention. I found it a miracle that we were not snoring at the moment, but actually listening! Slowly, ma’am moved on to the animals of Siberia, and then to the world-known Siberian Tigers. She said, “ In fact, the last white tiger is in our local zoo, but best of all, it is a Siberian! I will take all of you to see it on one condition: each and every one of you must file a report on the adaptations of the tiger in the tundra and why these are helpful. The report must be at least eleven pages long to be turned in one week after we visit the zoo.”
Nobody really cared that we had to file the essay. They were too busy talking about the fild trip, which would happen on the next Friday, as we were later informed. Then the bell rang, and It was time for lunch.

Chapter Two: The Zoo

The next Friday found us at the zoo. Upon entering, all of us were given a map. So, we started on the path. First we saw the baboons.They were not doing anything, so we moved on to the giraffes.
The giraffes had very tall, humongous necks. The board said that the smallest giraffe was twelve feet tall. We were allowed to feed them, but I guess that they were already full with lunch, because they were lounging in the sun.
Next, we went to the gorillla. The gorilla, who had just eaten a lunch of dates, started to fling the pits at us! Every shot was point-blank. Suhas muttered,” With that pinpoint accuracy, that gorilla could make the IPL Cricket!” Ma’am decided that it was timeto move onto the elephants.
By the time we reached the elephants, our feet were literally dragging on the floor. Chris fainted on the spot.

Chapter Three: Buck

After reviving Chris, We went to the tiger exhibit via the shortcut. The tiger itself was more like a fuzzball with teeth and claws. We noticed that- unlike for the other animals- this feeder was wearing leather gloves. We were about to find out why. As the feeder went inside of the cage with meat in his hands, the tiger tried to bite him! ‘ So that’s what the leather is for,’ I thought. At the side of the cage, there was a board that said:
Here is the last white tiger in captivation. It is a Siberian tiger. His name is Buck. Buck was born in the zoo, and is currently three months old. Buck is unusually attracted to the smell of balsa, the lightest wood in the world. White tigers have no pigment, but instead their other senses are better developed.
-WCC

We went to school, ate lunch, and then went home.

Chapter Four: Back to the Zoo

After school, Suhas cam over and asked, “Did you get enough information for the essay? I didn’t. How about we go back tomorrow and check out the tiger again?” I agreed. We decided to meet each other at my house the next morning and leave for the zoo at nine.
The next day, Suhas came at 8:30 am. We played with my pet mongoose, Rattler, for half an hour before we left.

Chapter Five: Fire!

When we reached the zoo, we bought a book called Predators and Prey: The Ultimate Encylclopediaof Animals from the gift shop. Just as we saw the white tiger, a big, well built man shouted, “Fire! Fire!”

Chapter Six: Escape

Everybody stampeded to the main gate, but we reached the one near the tiger exhibit. A person that did not know tht we were there said, “Good. Everything is going according to the plan. Soon, the tiger will be ours!” Another, much graver tone said, “Iskanzar, there are two people listening to us!” Iskanzar replied, “Release the animals to stop them from telling anybody.” After digesting what we just heard, we scampered to the main gate so we could get out before tha animals came. While panting like dogs and catching our breath outside, we came to a silent agreement: we had to save the tiger. So, we made THE PLAN.

Chapter Seven: The Plan in Action

While Suhas stripped some wood off his balsa tree, I got Rattler. We met back at the zoo in five minutes.
Then, phase two began. We went to the zoo and swung on to a horse. We outran every animal, and the snakes were attacked by Rattler. Suhas’s buck teeth made the rabbits leave us alone. At last, we reached Buck. He was biting iskanzar, but let go as soon as he smelt the balsa in Suhas’s hand. Iskanzar was shocked and ran away.

Chapter Eight: Home at Last

We whistled for Rattler and raced home on our horses. We took the tiger inside and called the police to inform them about what happened. We had saved the last white tiger!