The Tiger Rising Chapter 1

The Tiger rising chapter one. That morning, after he discovered the Tiger, rob went and stood under the Kentucky star motel sign and waited for the school bus just like it was any other day. The Kentucky star sign was composed of a yellow neon star that rose and fell over a piece of blue neon in the shape of the state of Kentucky. Rob liked the sign, he harbored a dim, but abiding notion that it would bring him good luck. Finding the Tiger had been locked, he knew that. He had been out in the Woods behind the Kentucky star motel way out in the Woods, not really looking for anything. Just wandering, hoping that maybe he would get lost or get eaten by a bear and not have to go to school ever again. That's when he saw the old bow champ gas station building, all boarded up and tumbling down. Next to it, there was a cage. And in the inside the cage, unbelievably, there was a Tiger. A real life, very large Tiger, pacing back and forth. He was orange and gold, and so bright, it was like staring at the sun itself, angry, and trapped in a cage. It was early morning, and it looked like it might be rain. It had been raining every day for almost two weeks. The sky was gray and the air was thick and still, fog was hugging the ground to rob. It seemed as if the Tiger was some magic trick rising out of the mist. He was so astounded at his discovery, so amazed that he stood and stared, but only for a minute. He was afraid to look at the Tiger for too long, afraid the Tiger would disappear. He stared and then he turned and ran back into the Woods toward the Kentucky star sign. And the whole way home, while his brain doubted what he had seen, his heart beat out the truth to him, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger. That was what rob thought about as he stood beneath the Kentucky star sign and waited for the bus. The Tiger. He did not think about the rash on his legs. The itchy red blisters that snakes their way into his shoes. His father said that it would be less likely to itch if he didn't think about it. And he did not think about his mother. He hadn't thought about her since the morning of the funeral. The morning he couldn't stop crying, the great heaving sobs that made his chest and stomach hurt. His father, watching him, standing beside him, had started to cry too. They were both dressed up in suits that day, his father's suit was too small. And when he slapped robbed to make him stop crying, he worked a whole underneath the arm of his jacket. There ain't no point in crying. His father had said afterward crying ain't gonna bring her back. It had been 6 months since that day. 6 months since he and his father had moved from Jacksonville to western, and rob had not cried since not once. The final thing he did not think about that morning was getting onto the bus. He specifically did not think about Norton and Billy three monger waiting for him like chained and starving and starved guard dogs eager to attack. Ron had a way of not thinking about things. He imagined himself as a suitcase that was too full, like the one impact when they had left Jacksonville after the funeral. He made all his feelings, go inside the suitcase. He stuffed them in tight, and then sat on the suitcase and locked it shut. That was the way he not thought about things. Sometimes it was hard to keep the suitcase shot. But now he had something to put on top of it. The Tiger. So as he waited for the bus under Kentucky star sign, and as the first drops of rain fell from the swollen sky, rob imagined the Tiger on top of the suitcase, blinking his golden eyes, sitting proud and strong, unaffected by all the not bots inside. Straining to come out.