[ ettie's mouth has fallen open a little in a show of enthrallment, sinking deeper into her inquisitive and almost nosy side. her sentences get shorter and dreamier, her questions endless. ]
[ The young man smiles at her and nods, stepping away a respectable distance. There is not real transformation, no molding of flesh or growing of fur. Where once there was a young man there is now a tiger. ]
That's amazing. There are five of you? Are you all tiger and person - both, I mean - how do you keep balance? [ the questions spill from her with genuine, unashamed excitement. ]
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Yes. I was a missionary for the Franciscan order. We traveled past a great jungle and I lost my way.
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So how did a jungle make you stay eighteen forever?
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It was in need of me. So it made me the Red.
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What's the Red?
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Would you care to see?
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My name is Abraham. I am the Red.
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Christ - that's- you just- wow. You're a tiger.
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I'm neither the Tiger, nor the boy. I am both. My brothers and I maintain order; we help the world retain its balance.
We are five.
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