Operation: Tiger continues to storm across the countryside

with a first class prose piece from Nicole Hefner...and it's in aubergine!


It’s not that I was afraid of the tiger. As a girl, I followed my father from one dusty carnival to another and earned my keep by clipping the thick nails of the striped beasts. Those tigers were silent, sad even, as if I were taking something that was not mine. This tiger spoke: You do not belong here, he said, you are too close to the edge; turn west; go back to the home you left. Shut up, I told the tiger, but only because I was lonely. The sky turned deep eggplant; the wind wound itself around the gnarled roots of the sea. Since you have stayed, the tiger said, you must love me, and if you love me, you will walk on this water. I, who have always been deeply ashamed of my large feet, my boats, my two blue boats, finally understood the reason for my misfortune.