Leeah couldn’t sit still. She bounced in her chair, she jumped on her chair, she picked it up and spun it around. She skipped, hopped and twirled in the middle of her bedroom. She rearranged her dollies, she put them to sleep and immediately woke them up. She tried sometimes to stay put, but it never lasted long. There really was just too much to do, but no one to share it with.

She tried to play with her sister Sierra, but that never seemed to work out right.
“Leeah stop hitting me, I don’t want to play,” Sierra would say.

“Why not?” Leeah asked. What could be more important than playing, she would wonder, cocking her head to the side and staring serenely into space for one of her few moments of rest. When Sierra proved unresponsive she would try and play with her little brother Phil. He’s one, what else could he have to do? He was the perfect playmate, she concluded. Unfortunately that always turned out wrong too, what with the bruises and crying.

So she played alone.

Well, sort of.

***

“Why can’t you just sit still, Leeah. Please, five minutes, just long enough for me to eat… and think,” Leeah’s mom pleaded. “I have a headache.”

“Mommy, lions can’t sit still, they have to stay on the hunt,” Leeah exclaimed in an exasperated tone. Didn’t grown-ups know that?

“You’re not a lion Leeah,” her mom offered weakly, with her head in her hands.
“Oh no, of course not,” she said and bent her head conspiratorily to whisper to Sierra. “At least… not all of the time. Sometimes I’m a tiger.”

“A tiger?” Sierra asked unbelievingly, rolling her eyes.

“Yea, a tiger,” Leeah said.

“What do you do when you’re a tiger?”

“You know… um… tiger things!”

“Uh oh,” Phil exclaimed as his plate crashed to the floor, distracting Sierra and Mom.

“Not again,” Mom exclaimed. “Why can’t any of you just eat dinner? Aren’t you hungry?”
“I ate my dinner Mommy,” Sierra beamed, hoping for dessert, preferably the strawberry ice cream she’d spied earlier.

“Tigers don’t like ice cream Sierra, but lions do… Sierra. Sierra did you hear me?,” Leeah shrieked. But it was over, she’d lost her the minute Mom opened the freezer door. Not in the mood for ice cream, Leeah retreated to her room. And once the door was closed she spun around excitedly, pondering just where that tail came from.

***

“Rawr… Rawr… I’m the King of the Jungle… you do what I say.”

To the untrained eye, Leeah was crawling back and forth on her tiny pink bed, growling at a row of stuffed animals. But to those in the know she was Barry, chief of the lions, king of the jungle, dictating to his minions.

“Rawr… Now line up all of you and pay me my tribute,” she boomed in the loudest, most intimidating voice a four year old could muster.

Leeah… er Barry, crouched gracefully on the edge of the bed/cliff and waited as her subjects presented themselves to her.

Today was a good day to be king Barry concluded about halfway through the presentations. A pack of (stuffed) elephants presented her with a bushel of grapes, a family of bears offered a nice selection of meats and a pack of horses laid a fresh bunch of carrots at her disposal. Barry’s long tongue swiped his jaw and his fluffy tail cut the air in anticipation of the nice feast he woud enjoy.

“Oh, what is this. A human!? And what have you brought for me today,” Barry boomed.
“Leeah, mommy said you gotta brush your teeth for bed,” said Sierra.

“What human? Speak up when you address your king.”

“Leeah, I’m not playing. Come on!,” Sierra said in an exaperated tone. It was always like this. Everytime Mommy told her to get Leeah ready for bed it took forever. Leeah never listened, she always wanted to pretend to play in the jungle. Sierra was six, a big girl. She wasn’t a baby anymore and she didn’t want to play pretend! Leeah just didn’t get it.

“Sierra, let’s play. I’m a lion and you’re a people. You have to give me a present or else I’ll eat you. RAWR!”

“No Leeah, we’re gonna get in trouble. Let’s go,” Sierra said finally, turning on her heel and walking across the hall to the bathroom.

“But Sierra,” Leeah whined following her, “I don’t wanna brush my teeth. I’m a lion. I don’t have a bedtime cause I’m king of the jungle!.” But it was no use. Sierra handed Leeah her toothbrush, put toothpaste on it, retrieved her own and stared at her until Leeah reluctantly placed the brush in her mouth.

“Sierra,” Leeah mumbled around a mouth full of toothpaste. “Do you wanna play lions after we brush our teeth?”

“No, I don’t wanna be a lion. You wanna play models?” Sierra offered.

“What’s models?”

***

“Hi Daddy, I’m a tiger,” Leeah beamed  as she jumped into the car after school.

“Hmm?” Dad asked as he strapped her into her carseat. “I thought you were a lion?”

“Not today. Today I’m a tiger.”

“Do tigers have names?,” her dad asked as he pulled the car out of the school parking lot.
“Ummmmm, yea, tigers have names. My name is… ummmm… Meena. Yea that’s it. Meena the tiger.”

“Were you a tiger all day at school?,” her dad asked, looking for an opening to switch lanes and get on the freeway.

“Yep, all day! At first no one wanted to play with me ‘cause of the stripes and big teeth, but I didn’t care. I just stalked around the playground. Watching my prey,” Leeah exclaimed darkly.

“Prey, huh? Who was the prey?”

“Jeremiah,” Leeah offered, with a sly grin on her face.

“I thought Jeremiah was your friend, why would you stalk him? Leeah can you check your brother’s cup. Does he have any more juice?”

Leeah halfheartedly gripped Phil’s sippy cup and noted his eyes drooping as he drifted off to sleep. “Uh huh, he’s fine. So Jeremiah was my friend but he didn’t want to play with me ‘cause I’m a tiger… Um, and ‘cause I told him that tiger’s like to eat people, especially boys.”

“Uh, huh,” Dad responded absentmindedly.

“Uh huh,” Leeah said as she stared out of the window, watching the cars on the motorway.

And then suddenly she saw it.

“Daddy, Daddy!” Leeah screamed at the top of her lungs, startling him and waking up her dozing brother. Phil dropped his cup and started crying at the sudden interruption.

“What? What’s the matter?,” Dad asked in a panicky voice.

“It’s a tiger! I saw a tiger out there. I think it was one of my tiger friends,” Leeah beamed.

“Leeah” her father barked, as he attempted to grab Phil’s cup from the floor in the backseat. “What is wrong with you? There aren’t any tigers out there and you woke your brother up. Be quiet. No talking until we get home,” he said. Leeah knew by the tone of Dad’s voice not to test him. She hadn’t meant to wake her brother up, but there was a tiger! She wanted to tell Dad that there was one, two, no three tigers following their car home, but instead she just stared sadly out of the window as it started to rain.

***

Leeah was in trouble. This wasn’t necessarily a new situation. Somehow she always found herself standing in the corner or alone in her room. Really, she was pretty used to it, but this time was different. It wasn’t her fault! Phil dropped the juice, not her. She drank all of her juice… Well most of it anyway. She was just going to put it on the counter but it was too high. And then Phil ran into her and the juice spilled all over the kitchen floor, and her, and Phil. But she was the only one that got in trouble!

“Rawr… Rawr…” Barry roared as he paced on a large cliff overlooking a leafy green canopy. He was watching, surveying the land. That was part of the job, you know, being king and all. Normally it made Leeah… er Barry happy, but not today. Today Barry was lonely. Barry wanted a friend, someone to play with.

But wait… What was that? A flash of movement, a light brown streak sprinting around a tree. A deer. Someone to play with! No… Dinner! Barry took off immediately, running down the cliff as fast as he could. Barry loved running, loved feeling the wind in his mane, his tail flapping with each stride of his legs, the soft thud of his paws on the hard earth. This was the best thing about being a lion.

But the deer was moving too fast. Barry would never catch it. He was going as fast as he could but still the deer was getting just a little farther and farther away. Barry would never reach it in time. But Meena would.

Barry jumped into the air. When he was just high enough his big, fluffy mane began to fall away. His smooth light brown fur became brighter, almost orange. Suddenly there were deep dark streaks through it. From head to tail, back to paw, Meena’s tiger stripes were beautiful. Her long tail shed the small tuft of fur at the end and became shorter, fatter, heavier.

She landed effortlessly on her padded feet and immediately resumed following her prey.

She could feel the difference. Barry was fast, but Meena was faster, sleeker. She missed the feeling of the wind in her mane, but loved the sensation of it pressing against her body as she slowly overtook the deer.

It was so close she could feel it. She could hear it’s heart beating as it tried, in vain, to escape. It zigged to the right, so did Meena. But when it zagged to the left Meena pounced, catching the meaty part of its throat securely between her jaws. They tumbled together to the earth, Meena landed her paw to its back with a hard thud. They rolled over one another again and again. Meena was slightly dizzy, but she held onto her snack, waiting for its body to slow.

***

On her bedroom floor Leeah lay on her back, a stuffed deer gripped tightly in her teeth and hands, her feet in the air. “grrrrrrrr,” rumbled her stomach. She spat out the deer, dropped her feet and gripped her stomach. Somehow Meena’s food didn’t quite satisfy Leeah’s hunger.

Sitting up, Leeah stared at the door and wondered if it was snack time. Would Mommy remember that she was in her room? Would Sierra eat her snack or would Phil throw it away, before she could get to it?

She waited for a while. She cleaned up her stuffed animals, tried to fold her clothes, and then sat on the edge of her bed. Just as she was losing all hope that there was a snack in her immediate future the door slowly creaked open.

“Hey,” Sierra said, with her hands behind her back.

“Hey,” Leeah offered in a small, dejected voice.

“Whatcha doin?”

“Nothing.”

“Are you a lion now?”

“No,” Leeah said, dropping her head to her hands.

“A tiger?”

“No,” Leeah whispered.

“Hungry?”

“Yea,” she said, turning her head slightly to the right and raising her eyes expectantly.

Sierra grinned slowly and brought one hand from behind her back.

“Mommy gave me a pear for snack,” she boasted.

‘Oh,” Leeah said, letting her head fall back as she felt her eyes begin to water.

“She cut it in half,” Sierra said nonchalantly, bringing her other hand forward. “This one’s for you.”

Leeah quickly sat up straight, “For me?”

“Uh huh. Here.”

Leeah jumped from her bed and bounced over to her sister. Grabbing the pear half she smiled so hard her big cheeks virtually closed her small eyes. Sierra’s subtle grin spread into a wide smile, showcasing her new front teeth. “Mommy said we can eat outside on the porch.”

“Really?” Leeah shrieked.

“Really,” Sierra answered, turning to walk out of their room. Leeah happily skipped behind her sister down the hallway, through the kitchen, towards the living room. As they turned the corner and spotted Mommy sitting on the couch and Phil in his playpen, Leeah stopped in her tracks. Dropping her head she inched slightly behind Sierra hoping that Mommy wouldn’t see her and change her mind about them eating their snack on the porch.

“Mommy we’re going outside,” Sierra said happily.

“Ok, but stay on the porch. Don’t move or you’ll have to come back inside.”

“Ok,” Sierra said as she began opening the door. Thinking she was home free, Leeah quickly followed her sister when suddenly,

“Where are you going?” Mommy said and Leeah knew she was talking to her. She turned around slowly, gripping her pear tightly in her left hand.

“Ou-Outside with S-Sierra,’ she stuttered, looking somewhere over Mommy’s shoulder as her eyes began to water again.

“Can I have a hug before you go?” Mommy asked playfully. Leeah’s eyes locked on Mom’s and saw her soft smile and ran into her arms.

“Ok,” she said, when she was already in Mom’s embrace.

“Ok,” Mommy said.

“Come on Leeah,” Sierra yelled as she opened the screen door. Leeah pulled back from Mommy’s chest and looked into her eyes questioningly.

“Alright go. Go on before I change my mind.” Leeah didn’t need anymore encouragement and quickly ran out of the front door.

***

“So what do you do when you’re a lion,?” Sierra asked, taking another bite of her pear.

“mmmm, lots of things,” Leeah mumbled, stuffing the fruit into her mouth.

“Like what?” Sierra watched Leeah devour her snack and smiled to herself.
“Like run, I like running. And sometimes I get food.” At this Sierra sat up stiffly and eyed her sister.

“How… how do you get food?”

“mmmm, do you really wanna know?” Leeah offered ominously.

“Is it gross?” Sierra gulped.

“No! Of course not,” Leeah said, waving her hand dismissively. Sierra’s body relaxed and she exhaled loudly. “Well… atleast it’s not gross for lions,” Leeah said. She took another small bite of her pear, watching her sister out of the corner of her eyes, fighting back a small grin. Sierra swallowed hard and stared out into the yard.

“But we don’t have to talk about it,” Leeah exclaimed.

“Ok,” Sierra said gratefully.

Across the street, Mrs. Washington yelled as a rock crashed through her front window. Leeah and Sierra giggled into their hands as the perpetrators scrambled every which way, hoping to avoid her wrath. Knowing that this situation would only end badly, but be entertaining nonetheless, the sisters hopped down to the last step of the porch, angling for a better view. Standing side by side, pears in hand, Leeah slowly reached her right hand over to grasp her sister’s left. Sierra took Leeah’s tiny hand into her small one and they giggled as Mrs. Washington came barreling out of the house with a broom and her curlers still in her hair.

Sierra burst out laughing and Leeah stared at her sister’s face, a lot like her own, but different. It was great being Barry the lion, King of the Jungle. And she never felt more free than when she was Meena the tiger. But sometimes, every now and then, it was wonderful to just be Leeah, Sierra’s sister.