A Tear of Happiness

By Nelly Gigele

A Gigele book

Dedicated to my dear cousin Lea and to the whole Selinger and Gigele family

I opened the car door at 7:00, it was so hot I could hardly breathe. “Yay! Woho! Haha!” we called. Louisa’s Lilly’s and my eyes glimmered in the sun, our hair made waves in the wind.

“I’m so excited,” Lilly called.

“I can’t believe it,” Louisa said.

“We are really doing it, we are finally here,” I shouted.

Someone came to us and said, “Now we will get the food for the monks!”

“But why?” I demanded. The man told us that the monks were not allowed to get the food by themselves.

“Oh,” Louisa said. So we gave the monks the food. I thought to myself, after giving the monks the food, I should make a special sign, like this: you fold your hands together as if you were praying and then try to make a bow only with your head.

This sign means this is for you, please take it. The monk will then make another sign back to me that means: thank you.

Later we went into the forest, to go see the tigers at the Tiger Temple.

When we got there someone welcomed us and left us in front of 13 gigantic stairs. We needed 2 steps for 1 stair. Finally we got up to the temple-a room no a castle full of baby mommy and daddy tigers. It was so sweet. “Lilly can you please pinch me, it all seems like a dream,” I said.

“Aaah!” I screamed after Lilly pinched me. “That hurt!”

“But you said…,” Lilly yelled back.

“Ok, ok. I know I said it.”

“Oh dear. Kids now you could do whatever you want to do with the tigers. Have fun,” a woman who worked at the temple said.

“Yahoo,” we all screamed. A baby tiger came up to me and he …he licked me. I couldn’t believe it he did it he did it. The orange furry body came up to me and cuddled with me.

Maybe I could put a leash on you and go for a walk, I thought to myself. I did so.

I walked there where the tigers play.

There were all kinds of different toys.

There was also a big tiger cage. My

body was shivering all over. “Roar,” the tiger moaned. ”Yuk, you have a stinky breath. Have you ever brushed your teeth?” I said.

“Roar,” came back from the tiger.

“Oh that means no. Oh I understand.

I thought that tigers could brush their teeth on their own like in the movies, hmm,” I said out loud.

“Ok kids it is now feeding time,” a lady from the temple. Ok so I took a handful of pork and held it to the

tiger’s mouth. SNAP his mouth went open and he shoved it into his mouth.

And this went on and on till the lady said, “Stop and go wash your hands.”

I washed my hands.

When everyone was done the lady said, “Now it’s time to play with your tigers,” she told us. The lady gave me a long bamboo stick with an old tshirt hanging off it, a plastic bag and an old paper. I threw away the tiger’s leash and started to shake the bamboo stick in the air. And this went on for ½ hour till the lady told us it is time to go back in the house and give the baby tigers milk.

“Oh that will be fun,” I told myself.

So we went to the big Tiger Temple where my 2 friends were. I was happy to tell them what happened.

Afterwards the lady gave me the bottle full of milk for the tiger. I fed the tiger quietly and neatly. He cuddled with me and the lick of his tongue made me cry a tear, it was a tear of happiness.

When I got out of the temple they had a tiger pool show. We stood up in a small cage for human beings. No top. The tigers could eat us all really easily. “Oh, Louisa, I think soon we

will all be written about in a magazine,” I said.

“Well I hope not,” both of my friends remarked.

Oh my gosh I thought. I will not be in the magazine, I will not be in the magazine, I prayed to myself.

“And the tiger show will begin in 5…4…3…2…1 and go,” a man shouted. And it really did start. ”Ahr,” a tiger roared. He snapped at a meatball and made a water bomb

in the grass green water. Everyone clapped.

Afterwards when we went home, I told everyone how fun it was. I was a bit sad to leave the baby tiger, but in my heart there was a smile.