“I was only a teen, so it has been over twenty years,” James replied.  He glanced to Sylvia, and then to the window beyond her.  The first rays of morning sunshine were filtering in through it.  “You know, if you are tired, we can do this at some other time....”

“Oh no!” Sylvia quickly responded.  “You are not going to get out of it that easy.  We have to do this now!”

“I suppose you are correct.”  James sighed, glancing down into the chest, then back up to Sylvia.  “We may be here a while.  Before we begin, you should probably call your children and let them know, so that they don’t worry too much.”

“Well, I probably should.  But right after that, we will get started, O.K.?”

“All right.  I will bring over a couple of chairs and get us something to drink while you’re on the phone.”

“Good,” Sylvia said as she dialed the main desk.

A rather groggy Beth answered the call.  “Front Desk” came the answer over the phone.

“Hi honey, its just Mom.”

“Mother, where have you been?”

“I am with Mr. VanAnkat - didn’t your sister tell you?”

“I have not seen her in a while.  Is everything all right?”

“Yes, everything is just fine.  Mr. VanAnkat has not been feeling well, and I have been “watching over” him until he feels better.  I just wanted to let you know that I will be here for a while yet, as we have a little “project” to take care of.”  Sylvia glanced over to James as she said this and caught a glimmer of a smile on his face.  “I don’t know how long it will take, so you and Janet take care of things until I get back.  By the way, how is your foot feeling?”

“Oh, it’s just fine.  I will let everyone know at breakfast.  Good luck with your “Project” mom.”

“Thanks, dear.  We will need it!”  With that Sylvia hung up the phone.

At breakfast that morning all the children sat around the table as Bethany set down the food and they started to dig in to it.  “Where is mother by the way?” asked her twin Lucas as he shoveled a rather large portion of eggs into his mouth.

“Oh, yes, that reminds me,” Bethany said, “Mother called and said she was going to be busy with Mr. VanAnkat all day, and Janet and I should take care of things.”

“What is she doing with that “asshole” all day?” Lucas asked.

“Oh, oh - Luke said a bad word!!” his younger brother Rale exclaimed.

“Would you watch yourself around your “baby” brother Lucas!” Janet responded.

“I am not a BABY!” screamed Rale.

“Yes you are!” teased Lucas.

“Am not!” came the reply from Rale’s face as he began to pout.

“Anyway,” Janet continued, “They are probably just doing what they were doing all day yesterday.”

“She has been over there since YESTERDAY?” Lucas asked with concern.

“Oh yes, I talked with her at around dinner yesterday,” answered Janet.  “She said the man is not feeling well, but I still think something else is going on.”

“Yes, but not what YOU think is going on,” Hardrock said.  “I was going by and heard some strange sounds coming from the cabin and ran in, only to find the man crying like a real “baby” in Sylvia’s arms.  I have never seen anything like it!”  The other children just stared in awe at Hardrock as he told his story of the events that he had witnessed.

“What do you think is going on?”  asked Bethany of her siblings.

“Well, I don’t know, but that just doesn’t fit into the pattern of events that have taken place up to this point.  What I mean is, it seems we have all had some kind of “negative” interaction with the man.  He has been actively avoiding me, he threatened to kill Beth, and Rock and Rale, well let’s just say he left them his “calling card”.”

“What about Lucas?” asked Rale.

“Yes, I was just wondering that myself,” Janet responded.  “What did he do to you?”

“NOTHING!” came the response from the border collie, as fast as he could say it.

“Oh, you said that way to fast and with way too much feeling,” continued Janet. She walked over to the teen and grabbed him roughly by the scruff of his neck.  “Come on - spill your guts!   What did he do to you?”

“I told you it was NOTHING!” Lucas screamed at his sister, his face showing the rage that was welling up in him.

“LIAR!!” Janet screamed directly back into his face.  She bared her teeth and started to dig her claws into his scruff a bit for added emphasis.  “Now tell us what happened with you and him!”

“I can’t!” he yelled back at her, his eyes starting to fill with moisture.  “He told me never to tell anyone!”

Rock and Bethany were both starting to get concerned.  They were worried about what had happened between VanAnkat and Lucas, but they were more concerned with how Janet was treating their brother.  Rock broke in “Janet, maybe you should take it a little easy on the kid...”

Janet spun and snarled in Rock’s direction “NO!!  We have to find out what’s going on!”  She twisted her head around and brought Lucas’s face next to her own and said in a low growling voice to him “Now spill your guts!  What happened?”  She stared into her brother’s eyes and could tell she had broken him.  A toothy grin came over her as he began to speak.

“Well, its just that its so, so embarrassing!  The other day I went after you up the mountain, following yours and VanAnkat’s tracks.  I wanted to sneak up on you and see what you were up to.  It got hot and I stopped for a swim at the pond with the waterfall.  As I was drying off, VanAnkat surprised me.  He had been following me, and he waited to pounce on me.  He caught me in the middle of , ah, you know...”

Janet looked at the teen and threw her head back in laughter.  “So THAT was the big deal?!?  The man caught you playing with yourself???”

Holding his head down in shame, Lucas shyly responded “Well, yes...”

 Janet, still gripping her brother by his neck, turned to her assembled siblings and said “I want a show of hands - who here has caught Lucas ‘Whacking his Weenie’?”  From around the table, all hands were raised into the air, even Rale’s.  She turned back to her brother and said “Well I just don’t see what the big deal is.  You should be quite used to getting caught in the act by now!”

“Well then he grabbed me by the neck and lifted me up off the ground.  He snarled at me and brought his hand back like he was going to kill me.  After what Rale had told us about him eating little critters, I was afraid he was going to kill me and eat me!”

Now Janet was concerned.  She released her grip on her brother, noting the streams of tears that had started to roll down his face.  “Did he hit you?” she asked quietly.

“No, he just told me to never do it again and never to tell anyone about it.  I don’t know what he will do to me if he finds out I told you about it!”  Lucas was glad to have finally told someone, but he made sure to exclude the part about having to “clean” up his mess from the tiger’s fur.  That was just too embarrassing to relate.

Janet lifted her brother out of his chair and wrapped her arms around him and hugged him close to her.  “You don’t need to worry about anything.  No one here is going to mention a thing about this, am I right?”  As she said these last words, she looked harshly at the others.  They all quickly nodded in assent.

“Well, at least he didn’t pee all over you in the middle of the night!” exclaimed Rale.

As Janet and Rock shook their heads, Lucas and Bethany just shouted “WHAT?!?”

Rock quickly said “Rale!  You weren’t supposed to tell anyone that!”

Lucas, his demeanor much changed, said “So what happened?”

Janet then explained to the twins how she had been trailing the man, and how he had been “marking” all the trees and such.  She explained how she had paddled over to the island in the early morning only to find Rock and Rale, and the rest of the island covered in what they took to be the man’s urine.

“Ewww!!  That is just so disgusting!” screamed Bethany.

“What was disgusting was having to wake these two idiots up and tell them about it!” said Janet.  “Some Fauves you two turned out to be!”

Lucas responded with a small chuckle, “I guess I would rather be caught than peed on”

Rock then added “You know, it seems to me that this man is nothing but a big bully!  He never really physically hurts anyone, but likes to intimidate them as much as he can.  I have met others like him.  But with all that has happened, it makes what is going on in his cabin now all that more bizarre!  Why would this big “bad-ass” bully be crying like a hurt puppy in your mother’s arms??”

“That,” Janet said “is the big question.  And I think we are going to have to wait until mother arrives to get it answered.  She can’t stay holed up in there with him forever.  But until then, we have some work to do.  I know the boys have some work to do on some of the cabins.  Beth and I will get breakfast cleared off and get the washing done.  Let’s meet back at supper - maybe by then we can get some answers from mother...”

Sylvia sat nervously in her chair and sipped at the wine that the man had poured for her.  He stood over the trunk, looking down into its contents.  He looked at her and said, you have already seen the photos and frames on the dresser, correct?”  Sylvia nodded.  The man continued “Well, they are of my family.  My mother and I, my grandfather, and my parent’s wedding.”

“I take it the photo with all the medals on it is of your father?” Sylvia asked.

“Yes, that hung on the wall in my father’s study.  Many were the time that I would walk in and he would be staring at it, sometimes with tears running down his face.  Whenever I asked him about it he would just answer by saying that someday, when he was dead and buried, I would have all the answers to my questions.  This was his usual reply whenever I asked him anything about the war.  About the only thing he would talk about was the planes or flying.  He loved to fly!”

“Kari had mentioned that he was a flying ace during the War...”

“Yes, he was quite the hero.  But he never told me anything about it.  I only learned about his exploits in school, and from my tutor.  Whenever I would ask him anything, he would just give me that usual reply of his.  Oh, look at this!”  James reached into the trunk and pulled out a large piece of dark clothing.  Pulling it out, he looked at it and thought a moment.  He stood in front of Sylvia, and draped the cloth in front of his body.  “Look!  My father’s old uniform!”

Sylvia stared at the tiger as he modeled the uniform.  Her mind went back to her high school texts, and remembered seeing pictures of the man’s father.  She gently reached a hand over and ran some of the cloth through her hand.  “My Gods,” she thought to herself, “I am holding an actual piece of history in my hands!  The uniform of the great “Mad Baron” himself!”  She glanced up to the tiger and said “I can see your resemblance to him.”  She thought that the man’s nose actually became a slight bit pinker than usual.  She thought that she must have embarrassed him somewhat.

“No one has said that to me in YEARS!” he responded.  “And with my white fur, it was rarely said to me growing up.  I often felt that my parents, especially my father, were VERY disappointed in me, as I was white.  In the entire history of the family, there was never a white tiger.  And although he never said it, I could tell by the looks in his face, especially in public, when others would just stare at me.”

“Where there no others like yourself?” Sylvia asked.

“Well, it is very rare.  I am not an albino, but just a white color variant.  According to census records I have researched, there are only 350 in all the Freelands, and only 30-some in all of the Old Country.  Not common my any stretch of the imagination!  Anyway,” James said as he folded the uniform up neatly and laid it on the floor, “lets see what else we have in here.  Oh, my goodness!  Is this what I think it is?”

“What, what?!?” exclaimed Sylvia.

James pulled out a large amount of white lace material and holding it by one end, let it cascade to the floor.  “My mother’s wedding gown!”

Sylvia “oohed” and “ahhed” over the exquisite gown.  The lace work was phenomenal, and there were actual pearls sewn into the material.  “This is the most beautiful dress I have ever seen!”

James looked at the dress, and then over to Sylvia.  “Would you..., would you like to try it on?  It appears to be about your size” he added as he held the gown next to her.

“Oh my, I just couldn’t!”  She said.

“I insist!  You are being so helpful, it is the least I can do.”

“Are you sure about this?” She asked meekly.

“Of course I am.  Just pop into the bedroom and switch dresses.  I really would like to see it modeled by a person.”

“All right then.”  Sylvia nearly ran into the bedroom with the gown, feeling 20 years younger with all the excitement.  She quickly undid the tie holding her loosely wrapped dress in place and let it fall to the floor in a puddle about her ankles.  She carefully stepped into the gown and pulled it up into place, closing it by tying it in place behind her neck.  She turned and looked at herself in the bedroom mirror and nearly fainted away with shock.  It was more spectacular than she could have imagined.

She was broken from her thoughts by the sound of a wedding march being played from the front room.  She slowly turned and walked into the room and saw that the sound was coming from the man’s computer on the desk.  Not only that, but the tiger had a digital video camera in his hands as was taping her as she made her entrance into the room.  She froze in embarrassment.

“By all that is holy!” exclaimed the tiger as he slowly brought his head from behind the viewfinder, “I have never seen such a beautiful gown!”  The tears began to flow down his cheeks once again, but they were tears of joy this time.

“Either have I” Sylvia said.  A tear began it’s own journey down her cheek.  “I have NEVER worn anything so lovely!”

“It looks as though it was made for you” James added.

Now it was Sylvia’s turn to blush.  “Thank you for letting me wear it!”  With that she walked nearer to the tiger and reached up onto her tiptoes and planted a small kiss on the man’s cheek.  She could tell that it was his turn to be embarrassed.

“Well, uh, er..., I suppose we should continue on, shouldn’t we,” James said nervously.

“Yes, I suppose we should,” replied Sylvia with a sigh.  “Just let me get changed back...”  Reluctantly, she shed the gown and put her own dress back on.  “Maybe, someday....” she thought to herself, “I will get to wear one of these for real.”

James already had his head in the chest, looking for the next object.  He brought forth a pile of large photos in frames, and sat in the chair next to Sylvia, and explained the significance of each to her as they went through them, looking over each one carefully.  Most were pictures of his parents, but there were also many historical family photographs, some hundreds of years old. Sylvia actually, much to her surprise, found herself getting quite interested in all the stories of ancestors past that James was relating to her.

There were photo albums as well as the larger framed photos that they went through.  After taking a short break for some lunch, they continued on through all the albums and scrapbooks.  Most of them James had not gone through since he had done so with his mother as a child.  He would occasional stop and relate to Sylvia, through tear filled eyes, tales of his growing up on the family estate, as he ran across pictures of himself at that young age.

As he was setting down the last of the photo albums, Sylvia looked into the bottom of the chest.  “There doesn’t seem to be anything else in here but some books” she remarked.

Glancing back up from the pile of albums on the floor surrounding them, James looked in and said “Well, I guess we are nearly finished, then.  Let’s see what we have here...”  He reached deep down to the bottom of the chest and pulled out the remaining contents, a pile of books, many that were very old.  He sat back down next to Sylvia, and beginning with the top of the pile, would announce the title and author of each book, and then leaf through it a bit, and hand it to Sylvia to check over.  Sometimes he added a comment if he remembered reading the volume.

He was nearly at the bottom of the pile, when he suddenly froze in place.  Sylvia was still leafing through the previous two books he had handed her and did not notice the man’s change in demeanor.  James slowly stood up, the remaining books that were in his lap landing noisily on the floor.  This drew Sylvia’s attention to the tiger.  He was grasping a book in his hands with all his might.  The veins on his neck stood out, and his eyes were very large, and full of fear.

Sylvia became immediately concerned and said “James, what is it?  What is that book your holding?”

James looked at the book and did not respond to her.  He fell to his already abused knees as though his legs had been kicked out from under him.  His expression became distant and glazed, and he brought the book to his chest.  Tears once again streamed from his eyes, and a mournful wail escaped from his lips.

Sylvia immediately went to his side.  She noticed the blood on the floor.  “He must have opened up the scars when he fell to the floor” she thought.  The man was rocking slightly back and forth as he continued to cry, seeming to get louder and louder with each passing moment.  She had to do something, something to snap him out it.  She remembered something from an old movie she had once seen.  She felt that she had nothing to lose.  She stood in front of the man, and with all her might, swung her arm back, and brought it back down, slapping the tiger across the face as hard as she could.

Sylvia pulled her hand back and quickly ran her other hand over it.  It stung as though insects had swarmed over it and bit her.  Her action had its desired effect though, as James stopped his crying and slowly looked up to her.  He brought one hand up to rub the spot on his muzzle where he had been slapped.  He looked up to Sylvia and slowly and quietly said “What the HELL did you do that for?!?”

“You were ‘losing it’, and it was all I could think of to bring you back” she responded.

“Well did you have to hit me so HARD?!?”

“I apologize!  Come on, sit back in the chair, your bleeding all over the place again...”

“Oh shit, sorry about that!  Ouch!  My knees really hurt!”

“They probably need stitches, or they will keep re-opening.  We will have to take the boat over to the mainland and get you to a doctor...”

“There is no real rush, if you could be so kind as to “patch me up” again, I would appreciate it, though.”

Sylvia once again retrieved the first aid kit and dressed the tiger’s wounds.  After cleaning up the floor, she returned to his side.  “So tell me, what is in that book that was so bad as to set you off again?”

“What book?” asked James.

“The one you are clutching to your chest for dear life!”

“Oh, I don’t remember...Lets see...Oh yes, no it is coming back to me...” and with that James slowly brought the book from his chest.  He looked at it carefully, handling it as though it was as fragile as eggshells.  He stood and walked around the room a moment, wincing in pain as the edges of the  freshly opened gashes on his knees opened and closed with each step.  “It is by my father...” was all that he said, and handed the book to her.

She looked at it.  It was old and worn, as though it had been handled every day.  She gasped as she saw the title and read it aloud - “My Struggle - The Life and Times of the ‘Mad Baron’, by Henry Jonathan James VanAnkat, The 22nd Baron VonAnkat”.

“That book, which you hold in your hand,” explained James, “Was something that was always rumored to have existed.  It is my father’s war journals and memoirs!”

“You mean you have never seen this, or even knew of its existence?” Sylvia inquired.

“No, it was sometimes alluded to, but I always thought that it was just a joke, and not anything real.  This must have been what my father meant when he said “All will be explained after I am dead and buried”!  He must have known that I would find this after he passed away!”

“We have to read it!” Sylvia exclaimed.

James just sighed and said “I suppose we do.  But I really don’t have the strength to do it.  Could you please read it aloud?  Can you do me this huge favor?”

Sylvia looked back into the tiger’s huge pleading blue eyes.  She broke the stare, feeling that she could fall into those eyes if she looked into them any longer.  “Yes, I will read it for you.”  She shifted her weight in the chair and looked at the book in her hand.  Slowly she opened the cover, and began to read aloud...