“Of course we think of you darling,” Mom said softly, “when we heard what was happening here we just…we knew we needed to help and we thought that you might be willing to help as well. We both know that deep down you’ve wanted to be a part of something like this.”
“With all due respect, you don’t know me at all. You haven’t been around for a long time, and even when you were you didn’t pay that much attention to my own ambitions,” I said, holding out my hands.
“That’s unfair,” Dad said.
“Is it? What on Earth made you think that I would want to come here and have babies with someone I barely know, to help save their society? I have sympathy for them, but it’s not exactly something I want to jump into. God, I can barely make enough right choices to keep myself safe, let alone take care of a child. What were you thinking when you told them to come and find me?”
Mom and Dad glanced at each other. “We were thinking that we wanted to see you again,” Dad said, his tone faltering. I didn’t want to get into an argument with them, but there was something about them that touched a nerve and I hated myself for it. I softened and tried to see things from their point of view, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that they had taken liberties with my life once again.
“And I’m not sure you know the full extent of what’s happening here,” Dad said. “What did Rick and Dalton tell you?”
I gave them a summary of everything I had been told and Dad rocked back, exchanging a meaningful look with Mom.
“They’re in danger of dying out Ellie. This place is historic, and it’s prime hunting ground, so the other prides will take it whenever any sign of weakness is shown. At the moment they need fresh blood. They’ve been complacent for too long and they haven’t been able to raise the next generation yet. Other prides are already getting wind of this and if they come to challenge this pride they might well win, and drive the current pride away. If this pride can’t prove their strength and that they have the ability to maintain these hunting grounds they’ll lose it and be driven away, driven all the way to the shadows.”
I didn’t know exactly what he meant by the shadows, but it didn’t sound good and I had no idea things were so dire.
“And they haven’t been able to find anyone to provide them with new blood?” I asked.
“Not yet,” Mom shook her head and sighed. “It’s so sad, as well, because they’re such a lovely people and they’ve been so kind to us. They’ve shown us nothing but good hospitality and they’ve been here for so long. It’s their home, and it’s not fair that they could be driven out.”
“But why? Why would other prides come to take this from them?” I asked.
“It’s fortunate you’re asking us this question and not them. They take their privacy very seriously and it takes them a long time to trust anyone enough to open up to them. Lions are very territorial and like any alpha predator species they prey on the weak, even when it comes to their own kind. If weakness is sensed, a stronger pride will try to take over, and we’re starting to get to that point now. That’s why it’s imperative that you at least consider this proposal. They need someone like you Ellie, and I know we haven’t been around much the past few years, but I think you might need this too.”
I looked away, hating them for thinking that they could speak as if they knew me intimately, when they hadn’t been a part of my life for so long, but I hated them more because I suspected they were right. I wasn’t about to let them know that though.
“You don’t know what I need,” I said. “You haven’t been around. You don’t know what I’ve been through.”
“We know you’ve been hurting,” Mom placed a hand on my forearm. I looked away, biting my lower lip.
“How? How do you know?” I asked harshly.
“Because we’re your parents and we know these things about you,” Dad said. “I know we haven’t always been perfect, and there have probably been plenty of times when you’ve wished that we were better at this whole parenting lark. But what you have to realize, Ellie, is that some things are just built into us. We’re your parents. There’s no changing that, and we can sense things from you, like the fact that you’re in great pain, and I’m truly sorry that we weren’t there to help you. Do you want to talk about what happened?”
“No. It wouldn’t do any good. It was just…just a bad relationship. There’s no point in rehashing the past,” I said, not wanting to talk about Andy at all. Mom and Dad looked at each other again, communicating secrets with each other without saying anything at all. I suppose, in a big way, I was jealous of them for having that kind of connection. For all the mistakes they had made in life, and for all the things I wish they had done differently when it came to parenting me, one thing I couldn’t deny them was the fact that they loved each other and they would have moved the earth for each other if it was necessary. They were a team in every sense of the word, a true partnership, and nothing could break the bond between them. It was something I admired about them, something that I aspired to myself, and I couldn’t quite figure out how they had done it.
Whenever I’d asked them about how they’d met, it had always been told as a meeting of two star-crossed souls, as though the universe had moved them like chess pieces to come together and love had blossomed. So many things could have been different. They met at a parade. They’d lived in the same city all their lives but they had never crossed paths until that fateful day. If either of them had left their houses just a few moments later, or if they had taken a different route to the parade, or if they had been forced to stand somewhere else, they might never have bumped into each other, and as a result, I would never have been born. Sometimes I was completely in awe of how the universe worked. There was such a delicate rhythm to its balance and it was impossible to tell whether everything was fated or happened completely by chance. I wasn’t sure what I believed, but when I looked at my parents I couldn’t shake the feeling that they were meant to be together.
“Look, I don’t know what you expect me to do here,” I said, clasping my hands together, “but I can’t just give up everything in my life to come out here and give myself to this pride. I’m not like you. I like my life in
the city. I like my job and my friends, and I’ve been working hard to make some progress. I think I could really be somebody and I’m not ready to throw it all away. I don’t even know why you’d think I’m worthy of these lions anyway. I’m nothing special. The only reason I’m here is because you’re my parents.”
“Ellie, you are special. Believe me, we only suggested you. The lions didn’t have to choose you. They found you. They came after you. They deemed you worthy. You’ve always been special, and I hate that you can’t see it. Maybe that’s on your Mom and me for not showing you properly, but you’re intelligent and kind, you’re determined, you’re just…you’re everything. The hardest thing we ever had to do was leave you in the city. We wished you would have come with us, but you made it clear you didn’t want to. But this was our calling, and we’re so happy that you’re here with us, now. We know you might not want to stay, but at least be patient and see what this life has to offer you,” Dad said.
“And you have to admit that there are some quite charming people here,” Mom said, with an insinuating look in her eyes. I rolled my eyes at that, for there was already plenty of history between myself and Dalton, and Rick for that matter. I intended to leave, as soon as possible, now that I had been reunited with my parents. This life wasn’t for me. I wasn’t the type of woman they were looking for. I had my own ambitions and my own dreams in the city. I wanted to be like Jennifer. I wanted to have a career and sort my own shit out before I had a family. I wasn’t ready for anything like this, but before I left I had a few loose ends to tie up and since I was already here, I figured I might as well enjoy the place and get a sense of why my parents liked it so much.
*
When we left the hut, I almost screamed, because I saw a number of lions walking around. For a moment I had forgotten that it was their natural habitat, but eventually my heart stopped racing. The lions were sleek creatures with manes of different colors, and it was easy to tell the women apart from the men. We walked into the middle of the clearing, where meat was sizzling on a fire. Huge carcasses were rotating on spits and the fat was dripping down, making the flames hiss. My stomach rumbled and I was told that the lions hunted all their own food. I waited there, before being given a thick cut of meat, which was delicious. The juice stained my hands and ran down my chin. I looked back towards the lake and saw that some people were bathing inside. Lions and humans mixed together without any kind of awkwardness, and aside from my initial instinctive fear, I felt no threat from the lions at all. They seemed so happy and free, and it gave me some sense of what Rick and Dalton had given up during their stay in the city. As a resident of the modern world, it shamed me that they had to hide themselves out here. The wider world would never be able to understand these people, so they were forced to make a life for themselves out here, and they had managed to find happiness. It was laudable and even enviable that they had been able to cultivate a happy environment while being shunned from the wider world.
Or, perhaps, being so shunned had allowed them the freedom to be happy. Rick had made a good point earlier when he’d said that our lives were so filled with distracting stimuli that we were rarely given enough time for introspection and reflection. Instead, our minds were pulled in different directions, never allowed to settle, and because of this we were always filled with a sense that we paled in comparison with others. There was never the opportunity to simply enjoy life for its own sake.
Rick approached us looking happy and satisfied with the meal he had been given.
“It almost tastes as good as if I’d hunted it myself,” he said. “How are you getting on?”
“Just fine,” I said. My parents smiled widely. I looked around, for there was still one thing that puzzled me. “Where’s Bruce?”