The Crocodile Caper

by A. B. Greenfield

  Despite the heat and the smell, I was hungry. Ducking into a tiny patch of shade beside an ibis cage, I licked my lips and surveyed the zoo again. There had to be something here that I could eat.

  “My babies!” the white-feathered ibis shrieked.

  I took a close look at her three tiny hatchlings. Was she offering her young for my hour of need…?

  The ibis’s curved black beak sliced through the gap between the bars of the cage. “You’ve eaten my babies!” she screamed.

  I drew myself up in my most dignified pose. “My dear lady, I didn’t touch your babies.” Though I wouldn’t mind a little roast ibis in pepper sauce…

  She turned a hysterical eye on me. “Not you. It’s those greedy lion cubs. Though now that you mention it, I don’t like the look of you, either.” She spread her black-tipped wings over her hatchlings. “Stay away from my babies! Stay away!”

  “Oh, give it a rest, why don’t you?” the lioness growled from her cage across the way. “I’m tired of listening to your lies.” She nuzzled her four cubs. “My darlings couldn’t care less about your gawky little hatchlings. Who wants a mouthful of feathers and beak?”

  “They ate my babies!” the ibis shrieked again. “I had five, and now I only have three.”

  “Maybe you miscounted,” the lioness sniffed. “You silly thing.”

  “There were FIVE,” the ibis insisted. “Five before we were captured, and five after. One, two, three, four, five. Until your nasty cubs slipped out of their cage and came looking for a meal—”

  “Nasty?” the lioness growled. “You take that back, you flimsy bag of feathers! My sweet cubs never touched your wretched hatchlings. If you want to know who was to blame, it was probably that baby crocodile. He could gobble up your lot in one bite.”

  “The baby crocodile?” I darted over to the lioness’s cage. “You saw him get out?”

  Miu joined me, Khepri riding on her back. “Did he escape last night?” she asked the lioness.

  “Did you see where he went?” Khepri wanted to know.

  “We’re looking for a boy, too,” I added. “Not Ahmose. Another boy, even taller, with skinny legs.”

  The lioness ignored us. “I’ve had enough of these stupid accusations,” she growled at the ibis. “Between you and that moaning gazelle over there, my darlings can hardly get a wink of sleep.”

  “My babies!” The ibis was screaming again. “You ate my babies!”

  “If you could just answer our questions,” I said to the lioness.

  “Please,” Miu told her. “It’s terribly important—”

  “Shut up, all of you!” the lioness roared.

  The air shivered with the ferocious sound. We all took a big step back.

  “Uh-oh.” Khepri gave a nervous click from Miu’s back. “I think the Keeper noticed that. He’s coming over. We’d better move fast, or he’ll throw us out!”

  CHAPTER 16

  Taweret

  The Keeper wasn’t too quick on his feet. By the time he reached the lioness, Miu and Khepri had found a hiding spot behind some buckets, and I was pressed close beside them.

  “What is it, my lovely?” the Keeper crooned to the lioness. “What’s upsetting you?”

  “That loudmouthed ibis,” she growled. “And there are a couple of cats and a beetle who should get lost, too.”

  Luckily, the Keeper didn’t understand any of that. And neither did Ahmose or Turo.

  “Maybe she’s hungry?” Ahmose suggested.

  “Could be,” the Keeper said. “I’ve got some meat for her.” A pail scraped. “Let’s throw it in.”

  There had been meat right there, and I’d missed it? Antelope stew, maybe, or a scrap of glazed duck? I edged out from behind the buckets, just in time to see the food go flying into the lioness’s cage.

  “Uggh!” I pulled back fast. “That meat is raw.”

  Miu looked amused. “That’s how lions like it, Ra.”

  “Well, they’re welcome to it.” I thought longingly of that glazed duck I’d imagined. Now that was a meal.

  Yet even though I didn’t think much of the lioness’s palate, I had to admire her single-minded focus on her food. Peeking out again, I saw how quickly she tore into the meat. Her cubs were pouncing on it, too—all except one of them.

  “Hey.” Khepri jumped down from Miu’s back. “Isn’t that the cub who wanted to play with you, Ra?”

  “You’re right.” I recognized the tuft of fur. The cub’s mischievous glint was gone, though, and he was slumped on the cage floor. “Is he sick?”

  “He sure looks like it,” Khepri said. “I hope it’s not because he ate Sobek Junior last night.”

  Yikes! I hoped not, too.

  “What’s the matter with that cub?” Ahmose asked the Keeper.

  “The little fellow in the corner, you mean? Now that you mention it, he does look a bit down in the mouth.” The Keeper stooped to have a closer look. “We’d better put him where we can keep a closer eye on him. Let me get a basket so we can carry him without getting clawed.”

  He went into the storeroom and came out with a large lidded basket in hand.

  “We’ll have to do the next bit fast.” Opening the basket, the Keeper handed it to Turo. “Ahmose, stand back.”

  While the lioness was occupied with her meat, the Keeper cracked open the cage door, grabbed the cub, and slammed the door shut. Plopping the cub into the basket, he shoved the lid down and took the basket back from Turo.

  The lioness snarled. “My baby! Bring him back, you kidnappers!”

  “Serves you right!” the ibis screamed. “Now you’ll know how it feels!”

  “My baby!” The lioness threw herself at the barred door. “My sweet baby!”

  “We’ll put him in a separate cage,” the Keeper said to Ahmose. “Right next to the one where your crocodile was. Come and see.”

  “He’s headed to the scene of the crime!” Excited, Khepri scrambled up my back and bounced to the top of my head. “If we follow him, maybe we’ll see some clues that everyone’s overlooked. And then maybe we can find Sobek Junior.”

  “Maybe,” I agreed. “Anyway, it beats trying to talk to a screaming ibis.”

  We crept after the Keeper, staying close to the ground so no one would notice us. No human, that is. There wasn’t much we could do about the animals.

  “Cats?” said a tired gazelle as we passed.

  “Cats!” squawked the ibis.

  “Two cats and a beetle!” shouted the monkeys.

  Ignoring them, the Keeper stopped by a small pool with high walls. Next to it was a cluster of empty cages. “Here we are. In you go, little one.” He tipped the cub into one of the cages and locked him inside.

  “Mama,” the cub whined. “I want my mama.”

  “We’ll look after you, don’t you worry.” The Keeper soothed him. “And we’ll get you something to eat and drink.”

  “I can get the water,” Ahmose offered enthusiastically.

  “And then we have to go,” Turo told him. “We need to get some lessons done.”

  Ahmose groaned, but Turo refused to back down. After the cub was fed and watered, they left. The Keeper stayed till the cub fell asleep, then wandered off as well, mumbling something about the dung pit.

  Finally, the Great Detectives were in charge of the scene.

  * * *

  “So which one was Sobek Junior’s cage?” Khepri asked.

  I nosed around. There were three empty cages right near the one with the lion cub, but only one of them smelled even the faintest bit like crocodile. “I think this is it,” I said, putting my head through the bars.

  “I agree,” said Miu. “But they must have washed it down since this morning. There’s not much scent here. Nothing that gives us any clues, anyway.”

  I sniffed
again. Miu was right.

  Just as I was starting to feel discouraged, a deep voice vibrated like a gong at our backs. “Hey, you cool cats. What’s going down?”

  Turning, I saw an enormous creature rising from the muddy walled-in pool behind us. Water poured off her great gray back and down her vast snout, flowing like a waterfall over her giant flared nostrils.

  “It’s a hippo,” Khepri whispered in awe.

  I was pretty awed, too. I’d seen hippos now and then on the Nile, but I’d never come across one in a zoo before. And it’s only when you see one out of the water that you realize how big they are.

  I reminded myself that, in his own way, Pharaoh’s Cat is awfully big, too—in presence, poise, and personality, if not in pounds.

  “I’m Ra the Mighty, Pharaoh’s Cat, Lord of the Powerful Paw,” I said. “And these are my friends Khepri and Miu. We’re Great Detectives.”

  The hippo plodded over to us, one wrinkled mountain of a foot at a time.

  “I’m Taweret,” she said pleasantly. “And I’m the only hippo in this zoo.” Her eyes fluttered with pride. “Well, until my baby comes. Which won’t be long now.”

  “You have our heartiest congratulations,” Khepri assured her. “We’re looking for a baby ourselves—a baby crocodile.”

  The hippo flapped a tiny ear. “You mean the one that was here? He’s gone.”

  “So we’ve heard,” Miu said. “We tried asking some of the other animals if they’d seen him, but they weren’t much help. But maybe you—”

  “My babies!” the ibis shrieked behind us. “They’ve been eaten!”

  “My cub!” the lioness roared. “He’s been stolen!”

  “They go on like that all day long,” Taweret told us. “What a drag, huh? Honestly, this is the noisiest place I’ve ever lived.”

  “It must be a big change from the Nile,” Miu sympathized.

  “I wouldn’t know,” Taweret said. “I’ve always lived in zoos—but they were peaceful zoos. Given how much they paid for me, I figured this zoo would be pretty mellow, too. Especially when it has such a nice Keeper. But the animals here are so uptight. Someone’s always shouting that their babies are threatened. And then the whole place falls apart.”

  Sure enough, the cries were spreading from cage to cage.

  “Calm down, everyone!” Taweret’s bellow wasn’t the equal of the lioness’s roar, but it was impressive all the same. “Look, I get that it’s a downer when bad stuff happens, but getting worked up about it doesn’t help anyone. Tune in to the rhythm of life, and stop taking everything so personally, okay? Maybe your babies wandered off to get some peace and quiet. Think like an earth mother, and try a soothing mud bath. That always helps me.”

  The other animals ignored her, except for one monkey who shouted, “Just wait till you become a mother. You’ll see.”

  “I’ll be a relaxed mother,” Taweret told him, but the monkey was already swinging to the other side of its cage, shrieking all the way.

  Taweret sighed. “Now what was it you wanted to know?” she asked us.

  “The baby crocodile,” I said.

  “The one who was in the cage next door,” Miu added.

  “Did you talk to him?” Khepri asked.

  “Little Sobek Junior?” Taweret bobbed her huge head. “Oh, yes, I sure did. I’m not normally big on crocodiles, but he was sweet. And can you believe it? He was royalty. A crown prince. Pretty amazing, huh?”

  So we were on the right track!

  “Do you know where he went?” Miu asked.

  Taweret chuckled. “Oh, he found a way out. With a bit of help.”

  “From who?” Khepri chirped.

  “Why, the boy,” Taweret said.

  “You mean Ahmose?” I said.

  “No, I mean the boy who visited before dawn,” Taweret said. “I think he said his name was Dedi.”

  CHAPTER 17

  The Fate of Two Kingdoms

  I jumped onto the clay bricks that encircled Taweret’s enclosure, resting my paws by the cage bars. “He called himself Dedi? Are you sure?”

  “Oh, yes,” Taweret said. “He said hi to Sobek Junior, and I heard him plain as plain. He was taller than the boy who lives here—”

  “You mean Ahmose?” Miu asked. She had her paws up next to mine.

  “Yes, Ahmose,” Taweret confirmed. “This Dedi had a lighter voice, too. And he had great eyesight and balance, at least for a human. There was only the moon to see by, and he didn’t trip once.”

  “That sounds like Dedi,” I said. “He might be a prince, but he has the eyes of a cat.”

  “He was royal?” Taweret said in surprise. “Well, that explains why he wanted to groove with the crocodile prince. He went from cage to cage until he found him.”

  “And he helped the crocodile escape?” Khepri prompted.

  “Oh, yes. That boy squeezed him through the bars and said he was going to take him back to the Nile. I guess he could see that Sobek Junior needed his mom and dad.” She chuckled. “Of course, as soon as he got Sobek Junior out of his cage, things got more complicated.”

  “Complicated how?” Miu asked.

  “Well, Sobek Junior was a little overexcited,” Taweret said. “And when baby crocodiles get overexcited, they start nipping. They don’t mean any harm by it. It’s instinct.”

  I gaped at her, horrified. “Are you saying Sobek Junior ate Dedi?”

  “Oh, he was far too small for that. But he kept snapping, and the boy was struggling to keep his mouth closed when they left here. I hope they made it to the Nile without any bad bites.”

  “It doesn’t look like they made it there at all,” I told her.

  “Or if they did, something went wrong,” Khepri said. “The crocodiles haven’t seen Sobek Junior, and Dedi is missing, too.”

  “That’s a real bummer.” Taweret’s small eyes widened. “That sweet boy, and the little crocodile—no one knows where they are?”

  “Not us, anyway,” Khepri said. “We’re stumped.”

  “But I’m sure we’ll figure it out,” I told Taweret. “Nobody stumps the Great Detectives for long.”

  At least, I hoped nobody could. Truthfully, I was starting to get the teensiest bit discouraged. The sun was high in the sky, and we’d been searching for hours with no results.

  “Well, I’ll leave it in your capable paws, then,” Taweret said. Her vast body began to quiver and shake as she retreated from us. “You know, this has been a bit intense. It’s time I settled back into my mud pond.”

  “Our capable paws,” I repeated. “Right.” What would the crocodiles say when they heard that Dedi had kidnapped their crown prince and then disappeared?

  “Though I do wonder,” Taweret mused, “if maybe…No. That’s just silly.”

  “You wonder what?” Khepri chirped.

  Taweret’s legs were vanishing rapidly into the mud, and her belly was following. “No, no, it really is too silly. Besides, I wouldn’t want to make her life more complicated than it already is.”

  I poked my head through the bars of the cage. With a difficult witness, it’s best to maintain eye contact. But that’s a tall order when your witness is a submerging hippo. By now only Taweret’s head and the ridge of her back were showing.

  “What are you talking about?” I demanded. “Tell us right now, or I’ll—”

  Hmmmm…How exactly do you threaten a hippo?

  “I’ll…I’ll…er…”

  “Shhh, Ra,” Khepri whispered in my ear. “Let Miu do the talking.”

  “Please, Taweret.” Miu squeezed her head through the bars. “Whatever happened, we need to know about it, no matter how silly it seems. You have such a big heart—”

  “Of course she does,” I muttered to Khepri. “She’s a hippo. If she had a small heart, it would conk out.”r />
  “Shhh,” Khepri said again.

  “—and you’re so sensible and responsible,” Miu went on to Taweret. “I know you wouldn’t want to do anything that might put two crown princes in danger.”

  Taweret rose slightly in the water. “You think it’s that important?”

  “Yes,” Miu said. “I do. The fate of two kingdoms rests on your back.”

  “Wow.” Taweret swiveled both ears as she considered this. “That’s heavy, you guys.”

  “It’s true,” Miu told her.

  Taweret let out a big hippo sigh. “Then I guess I’d better tell you that someone else was in the zoo that night.”

  “Who?” I demanded. She hesitated. “Yaba.”

  What kind of answer was that? “Yeah but what?” I asked.

  “She didn’t say yeah, but,” Khepri murmured in my ear. “She said Yaba.”

  I twitched my whiskers. “And who’s that?”

  “The other wife,” Miu reminded me. “The one that Pharaoh married to seal an alliance.”

  “She comes here most nights,” Taweret said. “She sits by the gazelle’s cage, and sometimes she talks to her.”

  “She knows the gazelle?” Khepri said.

  “Not personally,” Taweret said. “But she says there are gazelles where she comes from, and she misses them. And she says she and the gazelle are like sisters because they both have to live in cages. Deep stuff like that.” More cautiously, she added, “Not that I’ve seen Yaba’s cage, mind you. She seems to walk around freely.”

  “So how did she get into the zoo?” Khepri asked. “Is it locked up at night?”

  Taweret chuckled at the thought. “Oh, no. The gate has a simple latch, that’s all. You must have seen it when you came in. It’s impossible for us to open, without fingers and thumbs, but it’s easy for humans like Yaba. Ahmose visits sometimes, too, and the tutor comes to fetch him. And other people visit when they can’t sleep. The Keeper tells them they shouldn’t, but he’s a sound sleeper himself, and he’s the only guard around here at night. His bunk is by the storeroom, but he snores through everything.”