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you even think about picking me up, you big lug!” Mr. McCurdy warned. “I want my spine to stay in one piece! You understand?”
    Vladimir nodded. Walking over, he gave Mr. McCurdy a kiss on one cheek and tried to plant one on the other side before Mr. McCurdy pulled away.
    “Now, you just go stopping that as well!” Mr. McCurdy yelled as he wiped his cheek with the back of an old, wrinkled hand.
    “But Vladimir always kisses cheeks of friends. Are you not my friend?” he asked, sounding hurt.
    “Of course I’m your friend! It’s just that men don’t go around kissing each other!”
    “In Russia, men kiss friends.”
    “This ain’t Russia. Here we just shake hands or give a little slap on the back — but then again, with those paws of yours it might be better if you don’t go around slapping people, in case they go flying across the room. Understand?”
    “Da, Vladimir understands.”
    “Good, because we don’t have time for me to be teaching you about manners. Not when we’ve got all these animals to unload.”
    The animals! In all the excitement of the trucks arriving, I’d forgotten what was in them.
    “Let’s see how they all did on the trip,” Mr. McCurdy said.
    Vladimir and Mr. McCurdy circled around to the back of the first truck. Nick and I followed so closely that we almost tripped on their heels. Vladimir reached up and flipped a big bolt, slid it to the side, and the big door swung open.
    “Let’s go in and have a look,” Mr. McCurdy said. He put a foot on the bumper and started to climb into the trailer. He was partway up when he seemed to waver. I gasped. Was he going to fall? I started to run over to catch him when I was bumped out of the way by Vladimir. He’d moved as fast as a cat to get beneath Mr. McCurdy, his hands ready to catch him. Mr. McCurdy grabbed the handle and regained his balance, pulling himself up. Vladimir quickly put down his hands. I knew, and I guessed Vladimir did as well, that Mr. McCurdy wouldn’t have been happy with us trying to “save” him.
    “Want help up?” Vladimir asked.
    “Not me,” Nick answered. He scrambled into the back of the trailer.
    “Big girl Sarah?” he asked.
    It looked pretty high. A little help wouldn’t hurt anybody. “Sure … thanks.”
    Vladimir took my hand, and as I went to put a foot on the bumper, I felt myself being lifted and placed in the back of the trailer. I’d expected a hand, not an elevator ride! Vladimir climbed in beside me.
    “This is amazing!” Nick yelled.
    I turned. For once he wasn’t exaggerating. The entire truck was filled with animals. There was an aisle down the middle, and both sides were lined with cages. Each one housed an animal. The first cage held the big male lion, Simba. He was lying on his side, eyes closed. Beside him were his mate and two little cubs. The mother was also lying down, and the cubs were nursing. On the other side of the aisle, in the same pen, were the two leopards. They were curled together in a little ball in the back corner. They looked content to be there, as if to say, “As long as we’re together, we’re happy.”
    Boo Boo the black bear was beside them. As Mr. McCurdy and Vladimir walked by, she made a sound like a bawling baby and put both paws against the bars.
    “How is my baby bear?” Vladimir asked as he bent and pressed his face close. Boo Boo pushed her face against the cage. Her tongue snaked between the bars and licked Vladimir’s face. I shuddered. Boo Boo has just about the worst breath in the entire world.
    I walked past Vladimir and stopped in front of the pens holding the two jaguars. They were glaring at me, and the tips of both of their tails were waving back and forth. They weren’t happy — about the truck ride, or being in the small cage, or me being here. I knew enough about jaguars to know they were probably the most unpredictable, dangerous and least trainable of all the cats. I knew all of that without any real experience. I was