The Moment of Truth

In 2000, Jeremy Gills, was on a vacation in Africa right after he finished his Doctor’s degree. He had saved up for this trip for the last few years.

He was trekking through the woodlands when he realized that there was a deep grunting coming close by. Upon exploring a little, he saw that there was a young male lion, staring at him. The lion might have been young; however he was powerful enough to rip a human apart or at least do some heavy damage with ease. With no weapon except his pocket knife, Jeremy was nervous as hell. After a minute he realized the lion was in pain and equally nervous. Slowly he approached the lion and the lion lifted his paw to show Jeremy something. As Jeremy got down on one knee he saw that there was a huge and sharp nail embedded in its paw. Working quickly and as gently as possible, Jeremy removed the nail from the paw with the help of a small pocket knife, wiped the wound clean and wrapped it with a clean cloth. Slowly the lion moved away from Jeremy but he was gazing at Jeremy for many anxious minutes. Jeremy didn’t know what to do, to bolt or to stay put and wait for the lion to move away. Eventually the lion walked away and disappeared into the bushes. Breathing a sigh of relief and happy with satisfaction, Jeremy walked away but never forgot the lion or the connection they had shared for a few minutes that day.

Ten years later Jeremy was now a married man with a one year old daughter and son. He had come with his family to the Saint Louis Zoo where he lived and practiced medicine. He was the Chief Doctor of a respected clinic in Saint Louis. He saw a pride of lions that were sitting and basking in the sun. A huge and powerful lion, obviously the leader of the pack, suddenly approached Jeremy and walked over to where he was standing. His huge mane gently blowing in the breeze and his deep panting was all Jeremy could focus on, they were both oblivious to the rest of the world. The large male lion stared at him and licked its paw, lifting it up and putting it down several times as if to show Jeremy something.

As the lion and Jeremy stared at each other, Jeremy remembered the encounter five years ago. He summoned his courage and climbed over the fence to the other side. He could vaguely hear his wife and the other visitors in the zoo screaming at him and asking him to stop. For a minute there was an intense awareness between the lion and Jeremy. Then the lion came running towards him as the crowd stood in awe, and went for the jugular, ripping his neck apart in one powerful move, killing Jeremy in an instant.

I think this was a different lion.