Thomas Build The Tiger Short Story

Thomas Turk lives alone in a small apartment on the top floor of the building. His apartment complex is located in the outskirts of Manhattan. He doesn’t make that much money, but it’s enough for a fifty year old man with no one to look after. He doesn’t live a very busy part of town, but many people come to see him. Thomas usually doesn’t give people the time, however, someone showed up at his door that he was rather fascinated with. Not for any particular reason, Thomas just decided that he would like to have a conversation with this person. The person was a young male writer looking for a story to write. He had heard about Thomas’ incredible life and wanted to pay him a visit. Thomas invited the writer in and sat down to begin his story. Thomas begins by saying ‘I was ten years old, and I lived in Hong Kong with my mother and father.’At
this time Thomas’ family was ready to go back the United States. Thomas can’t remember why they were China, but he can remember that they were leaving. They went to the airport and waited for their flight. Once on the plane, they had to sit separately because the plane was too crowded. This was Thomas’ first flight so he was extremely frightened. He sat on the seat closest to the aisle because the window seat was already taken. About thirty minutes into the flight Thomas fell asleep. A couple hours passed while he was asleep, but he woke up to many people panicking because the plane’s engine had died. His parents where at the other side of the plane so he could not see them or talk to them. Thomas put on his seat belt and is oxygen mask held on tight. The plane was falling extremely quick and would crash in a couple of minutes. Thomas’ head began to get light and then he blacked out. When he woke up the plane was nowhere in sight and nobody was there with him. Thomas had fallen in the middle of the jungle with no supplies and no one to help him. Thomas was very young and had no idea what to do. Thomas decided he would try to find something relatively like a shelter. He looked for hours, but Thomas found nothing. Exhausted, Thomas just sat down on the ground. Thomas knew that if he didn’t find a place to sleep over night he would not survive. He got up and searched some more. About thirty minutes later, Thomas saw something moving through the leaves ahead of him. He was paralyzed from the immense fear that struck him. The leaves began to rustle some more, and then a large tiger emerged from the background. The tiger was four feet tall with orange fur and black stripes. Thomas didn’t move at all. He thought he was going to die, but there was something odd about the tiger. The tiger seemed interested in Thomas. He walked closer to Thomas then laid at his feet and went to sleep. Thomas took an immediate liking to this tiger. Thomas decided to call him Timmy. The night was surprisingly calm, and Thomas and Timmy slept well Thomas and Timmy woke up the next morning very hungry. Timmy stood up and started to walk away. Thomas followed Timmy because he thought of Timmy as protection. They eventually came across a river. Timmy leapt into the river and begun to catch some fish. Timmy wasn’t that great at it, but he was able to catch a few fish. They both ate their fill and went to the bank for a nap. Days went by as they grew closer to each other. They traveled for miles each day eating and sleeping where they could. Thomas never questioned why Timmy wanted to be with him or why Timmy was helping him out. After many weeks with each other they began to love each other. Timmy would hunt for food and Thomas would build a shelter for them. Thomas usually wouldn’t think about his life outside of the jungle, but he would dream about it some nights. One day a major storm came over the jungle. Thomas and Timmy were desperately looking for somewhere to take shelter, however they found another tiger. This one was much bigger than Timmy and this one was very hungry. Thomas knew that this tiger would not treat him the same way Timmy did, so he started to run way as fast as he could. The tiger started to run after Thomas but Timmy tackled it. The tiger was bigger than Timmy so it got away fairly easy; however, Timmy was much faster. Timmy knew that the tiger wouldn’t stop persuing Thomas and that he would have to stop him.
Timmy caught up to the other tiger and tackled him again.
This time the tiger stopped chasing Thomas and attacked Timmy. Timmy scratched the other tiger very badly; however, the tiger bit Timmy tossed him to the ground. Timmy got up and scratched the tiger one more time, but the tiger threw Timmy to the ground with all its strength. Both of the tigers were very tired and injured badly. They could not fight anymore. The tiger died shortly after, and Thomas turned back to see if Timmy was alright. Timmy had many broken bones and was loosing blood very quickly. Timmy knew he was going to die, but he was glad he got to see Thomas one last time. Thomas cried and said his goodbyes and started to walk off. Not long after walking, Thomas came across a small village. The people gave him some food and water and took him to the nearest hospital. He spent some time in the hospital recovering and then went to an orphanage in china. He went through high school, but never got adopted. After high school he moved back to the United States and decided he’d live the rest of his life there. The writer asked Thomas “Are you still sad about
Timmy.” “I’m not necessarily sad about Timmy anymore, but I still think about him and miss him very much.”