"God," he thought to himself, "have I really been asleep for that long?"  He slowly sat up in bed and yawned.  He actually still felt a little tired.  "Too much sleep." he thought.  He stood up, flexing and stretching his extremities to their respective limits, letting out a stifled "growl" as he did so.

He walked into the bathroom, and, after relieving himself, looked at himself in the mirror.  His fur was a mess from sleeping on it for so long.  Some of it stood one way, some the other, and very little of it was as it should have been.  He tried pushing it into some semblance of order with his paws, but that did not help matters much.  As he stood there, looking at his own reflection, he heard the sound of his stomach growling and gurgling.  He realized that he had not had anything to eat since dinner on the plane the previous day.  He was famished!

 He padded over the phone at the desk and called the resort kitchen.  "This is Mr. VanAnkat.  I want a very large breakfast delivered to my cabin.  Two of everything and lots of meat.  Just set it on the chair outside the door of the cabin.  I will be indisposed and will get it when I can."  He hung the phone up before the person on the end of the line could even ask any questions.

Walking back to the bathroom, he turned the shower on full blast and set the temperature to the cooler side.  He let out a sigh of relief as he stepped into the shower.  James loved the feel of water pounding through his fur.  He could stay in there all day.  Looking over to the corner of the shower, he saw a bottle of shampoo.  He aimed the shower nozzle to the corner of the stall as he reached for the bottle.  Opening it, he slowly began to work the shampoo into his fur, starting at his head, and working down over his large body, until a great amount of suds were being produced.  It was invigorating, and he felt energy coming back into his tired muscles.

In the resort kitchen, the cook had finished preparing the large breakfast tray for the cabin, and asked Beth, who was working as a waitress that morning, to deliver it.  "Sure." she replied, and grabbing the tray, asked who it went to.

"Mr. VanAnkat" came the reply.

She stopped dead in her tracks.  "What did he say when he ordered this?"

"Just that he wanted a large breakfast and, oh, set it outside the door on the chair, he’ll get it when he can."

Beth was relieved at this.  After last nights "discussion", she wanted to avoid the "good" tiger as much as possible.  He had not left her with a very good first impression at the dock the previous day.  She hurried over to the cabin, and set the tray on the chair as directed.  She stopped for a moment, and listened carefully.  She thought she heard water running.  Perhaps he was in the shower she mused.  Beth looked into the corner of the window, but as the curtains and blinds were still drawn, could see nothing.  She knocked on the door, and after getting no reply, left to go back to the kitchen.

James twisted his ears and cocked his head as the knock at the door interrupted his lathering.  He felt that it must be the food being delivered, and redirected the flow of water to rinse off the lather.  He was still in no hurry though, and took his time, enjoying the shower more than most would.

After drying himself off and grooming himself, he walked out to the door of the cabin.  He carefully peered around the curtains at the window, and paused to listen, making sure that no one was nearby.  Slowly, he opened the door, and picked up the tray of food.  He paused a moment and looked around.  The warmth of the day assaulted him.  He still had his winter coat of fur.  Certain individuals from the northern climates sometimes developed denser fur in the winter, thinning as spring arrived.  "I will probably start shedding shortly" he thought to himself, somewhat amused.

Not seeing anyone, he inhaled deeply with his eyes closed.  "Beth brought this tray over" he thought, congratulating himself for being able to pick up her scent over the rather powerful aromas coming from the tray of food.  He took the tray inside and set it down on the dining table, making sure to bolt the door after him.

Removing the lid from the tray of food, he was mildly surprised at the amount of it and how fantastic it smelled.  Right now though, he felt hungry enough to kill and eat a horse raw!  Sitting down, he tore into the food like a starving man, barely even using the utensils that were on the side of the tray.  After devouring the large meal, James placed the empty tray back out onto the chair, once again making sure that there was no one around to see him.  He then spent the rest of the morning unpacking, putting his clothes and other items into closets and dressers.  He set up his portable computer and printer, attaching it to the outlet provided on the phone.

 Once he got himself settled, he sat in the chair at the desk and logged on to the internet.  He checked his mail, then spent the rest of the afternoon watching the market and checking out new businesses.  Even though he was officially "retired", he wanted to stay current in his profession.  He also had to monitor his own rather vast portfolio of holdings.

After finishing with business for the day, he walked back into the bedroom.  The one window in it looked out towards the lagoon.  Although it was some distance from his cabin, he did have a good view of it.  There were a few people walking along the shore, or sitting in beach chairs beside the water.  "Fools!" he thought to himself.  He observed the float plane, still tied to the dock.  "The good Captain must not be too busy," he thought, "must not be a very profitable venture.  I wonder why she continues to service this area.  Must be more to it than appears on the surface."  Little did he know how true that assumption was.

It was quickly approaching the dinner hour.  Not wanting to put up with the number of people that would surely be at the resorts dining area, he called for another delivery of food.  "I could get used to this being waited on" he thought to himself as he lounged on the couch watching the television, awaiting the arrival of the food.  In a moment, there was a knock at the door. "Leave it on the chair!" he bellowed in that direction.

Outside Rale nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of the tiger’s deep and powerful voice.  As they were short staffed that evening in the dining room, he had been pressed into service when the call came for a delivery.  He had thought nothing of it until hearing the booming voice.  He left the tray on the chair and ran back to the dining room as fast as his small legs would carry him.  Once there, he ran into right into Lucas, who was on his way back to the kitchen with a load of dishes to be washed.  He had been pressed into service as well.  In fact, all the Slipsunder children had been trained over the years to fill in to nearly any job that needed doing, and did so as if it were second nature.  They knew that it was a team effort, and to make things run smoothly they all had to help out.  He had not seen Rale coming though, and dropped his tray of dishes to the ground as they both fell amongst them.

"Hey, what’s the deal!" screamed Lucas at his youngest sibling.

"Crud, I’m sorry Luke!  Let me help you clean this mess up" Rale offered.

"Why were you running?" asked the border collie.

"Well, I just dropped off a tray of food at Mr. VanAnkat’s cabin, and, well...." his voice trailed off, as he didn’t want to admit to his brother how startled he had become at the voice of the tiger.

"Oh, I see" replied Lucas, observing how his little brother was still breathing a little fast, and had that panicked look about him.  "What did he do?" he asked somewhat concerned.

"Nothing!" came the reply rather quickly.  Too quick mused Lucas.  "I was just...surprised when he yelled from in the cabin at me."

"Is that all?" inquired James.

"Yes, now lets get this cleaned up before mother sees us.  Thank goodness nothing broke!"  Rale quickly worked at cleaning the floor of the accumulated mess.  Lucas started to join in after looking his brother over carefully for a moment.  Within two minutes there was no clue as to what had occurred.

James opened the door carefully, quickly bringing the tray of food in.  "Smells great" he thought.  Setting it down on the table, he went to the kitchen area and took a bottle of wine out of the refrigerator.  He opened it, and looked for a glass.  The bathroom he thought, and went there and got one from those that were provided by the resort for guests.  "Not crystal, but it will have to do for now."  He poured himself a generous amount, and set himself and the bottle down.  He was quite surprised by how well the meal tasted.  "They must have a very good chef here" he mused.  "I can see I better start getting some exercise, or I will start to bulk up."  He thought about that for a moment, wondering what he could do.

Getting up, he went over to the desk and opened up the drawer, removing the notebook from it.  He sat back down, taking a drink of the wine, enjoying the sweet flavor as it swirled around his mouth and eventually down his throat.  It was a bottle of his favorite Old Country vintage.  He had brought a few bottles along with him.  Opening the notebook which contained resort information, he leafed through it.  He saw that there was an exercise room in a small pagoda near the main lodge.  "Too many people probably" he thought.  He then looked to the maps.  There was one of the resort, and another that had the island itself, and another yet showing the entire group of islands.  He looked over the maps intently, studying each of them in turn.

James was surprised by the number of trails that were marked and went through the forested areas surrounding the resort.  He noticed that the area behind the resort, which was the area behind his cabin, was totally forested, and actually had the fewest number of trails going through it.  Probably due to the large hill and number of smaller ones making the terrain a little too rough.  "Only too rough for other wimps" he thought to himself.  "A great challenge, and an even greater one in the dark!"  He formed an idea that became a plan of sorts.  He would wander the forest in the night and day, familiarizing him with the place.  The forest would become his and his alone, as others slept, he would have it all to himself.  It would be as if he were a child again, roaming the forest behind his home.  Only this time, there would be no one there to stop him or tell him to keep his clothes on.

After he was done with dinner, he began to gather what he would need.  He had a small waist pouch on a belt that he could wear to hold what he would require.  He would wander the woods naked of course.  He put a small pair of black nylon running shorts in the pouch though, in case he ran into anyone and needed to get dressed.  He put in some money, a small first aid kit, the maps, a combination jack-knife, a furbrush (he just knew he was going to start shedding!) and a container for water.  He added some high energy snack bars and a small flashlight.  He really didn’t think he would need any of the items except the water and food bars, but wanted to be prepared.

He put out the empty food tray and noticed that the sun was setting.  He called the Main lodge and told them to send the maid in one hour - no sooner.  As soon as darkness fell, he opened the door of the cabin.  Assured that there was no one nearby, he put the key to the lodge in his pouch, and shut the door.  He was still naked, as he had not put on any clothing since he first awoke that day.  Inhaling deeply, he closed his eyes and took in the scents of the area.  He opened his eyes and looked to the sky.  A full moon was rising into the night.  "Plenty of light" he thought to himself as he started off through the woods into the dark forest.

"He hung up before I could explain that there are no maids here at this time of the night" explained the desk clerk to Sylvia.  He had called her as soon as he got off the phone with James.

"That’s quite all right," she responded.  "I will take care of it myself."  Hanging up the phone, she retrieved a maid’s cart from the service building.  She looked at the clock.  It had been half an hour since the call, and he said to be there in one hour.  "Maybe one of the kids will give me a hand, and we can get out of there quicker" she thought.  It took her nearly 15 minutes before she even came across one of them.  "Beth, could you give me a hand with something?" she asked her daughter.

"Sure Mom!" came the reply.  "What is it?"

"We need to do a quick "maid service" at one of the cabins" Sylvia responded.

"Don’t tell me, let me guess.  Mr. VanAnkat’s place?"

"However did you know?" said Sylvia sarcastically.

"Doesn’t he know what time it is?"

"Actually, he was very specific about that.  He told me when he arrived that he only wanted maid service when he called for it.  I assume it to mean only when he is out of the cabin, so he must be gone."

"I certainly hope so" came the reply.  Beth did not like the idea of being in the cabin, let alone being in there with James.

"If we hurry it will only take us a few minutes." Sylvia said, trying to be as reassuring as possible.  "Lets go."

Knocking gently on the door of the cabin, Sylvia announced "Maid service."  Hearing no response, she took her keys out and opened the door.  Beth put the empty food tray on the cart as they entered into the cabin.

"Well, it looks like he is all settled in" said Beth taking note of the clutter on the desk and the clothes strewn about the bed.  "You want to start with the bed?" she asked her mother.

"Sure" came the response.  They removed the bedding, and replaced it quickly folding the blankets with a speed that came from years of experience.  Beth took the clothes that were laying on the bed, and folding them neatly, set them on the dresser.  As she did this, she saw the small picture of two tigers in an ornate guilt frame that sat there.

 "Mom, look at this.  Who do you suppose these people are?"

After examining the photo carefully, she responded "They must be his parents.  Look how well dressed they are.  You know, I seem to remember something from school.  Before the union of the five countries, before the war, the Old Country had a monarchy.  I mean it still kind of has it, but it is just a prestige thing these days with no real power.  But in the old days, they ruled the country.  And they had an aristocracy, a noble class.  And you were not allowed to marry out of your class.  If I remember my history, the tigers were among the nobility."

"Are you saying that this guy is a Prince or something?" said Beth, somewhat shocked.

"I really don’t know, but I kind of doubt it.  He doesn’t really have all the trappings of someone who is in line to the throne, so to speak.  But I would wager, especially after seeing this picture, that his family was nobility of some kind or another.  Of course, after the union, they all lost most of their real power.  But in the Old Country, the nobility is still respected and treated differently."

"That would explain a lot of things" concluded Beth.

"Yes it would. Now lets get going here, we have a lot to do yet." replied Sylvia.  They made quick work of the bedroom, straightening things up, and vacuuming.  The same was done in the living area.  As Sylvia cleaned the kitchen and dining area, Beth went to clean the bathroom.  After cleaning the shower and tub, she went to the toilet.  Opening it, she was accosted by a very strong and pungent odor, although the bowl was empty.

"YUCH!" was all Beth could say.  Here mother came into the room quickly.

"What’s wrong, dear?" she questioned.  She stopped in her tracks as she saw Beth setting on the floor with the toilet brush and her nose all wrinkled up.  She immediately smelled it also, all that stronger in the confined space.  "Ah, that’s what the problem is."

"What IS that smell?!" Beth moaned.

"Well dear," her mother explained, "You remember that photo in the bedroom?"

"Yes"

"I have read that when a group, like the nobility did in the Old Country, only marry true to ethnic species, they retain more of the characteristics of our long dead ancestors.  One of those characteristics is a much stronger scent, especially in the urine.  It would seem that our Mr. VanAnkat has the "smell" of nobility about him."  At this they both started to chuckle.  Sylvia continued, "I have only ever encountered that once before.  When I was in college, I met a young male lion.  He was gorgeous, but he had quite an "aroma" to him.  Being much bolder then, I asked him what the smell was, and he told me that his whole family had it, especially the males.  No matter how much he bathed, he couldn’t get rid of it.  And yet, I have met other lions who had little if any scent, but they were of more mixed heritage."

"Too weird!"  replied Beth.  "Well, I suppose we should finish up here."

"Definitely" Sylvia said.  And with that they hurriedly finished cleaning the bathroom.  After finishing, Sylvia double checked to make sure that everything was as it should be.

As they were leaving the cabin and making their way back to the service building, Beth asked her mother, "Do you really think he is from the nobility?"

"Well, he did come from Old Country, and he is a tiger, so it is defiantly possible."

"Where do you think he is right now?  I don’t remember seeing him anywhere since he first arrived."

"When he first called about the resort, he made it known that the cabin needed to be near a large forested area.  He is probably out wandering in the forest."

"In the dark?!" Beth exclaimed.

"Yes, and unless I miss my bet, he will be able to see just fine.  Another thing I learned from that young lion in college was that he had excellent night vision.  It would not surprise me at all if Mr. VanAnkat had the same."

"That’s the second time you mentioned this lion in college" Beth responded.  "So were you and him an "item" or what?"

"Busted" thought Sylvia.  "Well, let me just say, that we were good friends." she said smiling at the thought of the past lover.

 "I’ll just bet" Beth said smugly.  She wanted to press her mother further on the subject, but thinking back to the previous nights dinner, thought better of trying that.  "Lets get this put away, I am tired and want to get to bed."

"I can handle that dear, you run along, I’ll finish up.  Thanks for all your help."

"Goodnight Mom" Beth said with a quick kiss to Sylvia’s cheek.

"Goodnight Sweetie!" Sylvia responded as her daughter left.  She put away the cart, and took the empty food tray to the kitchen.  She set the dishes in the sink.  Suddenly feeling very tired herself, she decided going to bed was a pretty good idea, and left for her own room in the main lodge.