Bassetts Wild Animal Farm was a roadside attraction on Cape Cod. I used to go there when I was kid. I liked getting the flatbottomed icecream cone filled with animal feed. I also liked the bubblegum machines filled with cracked corn. You could get a fistful for a nickel. There were pony rides, and a covered wagon ride through the woods that passed by western (?) tableaus. There was a crow that talked. It said "buy me a coke." There were goats and geese roaming and crapping all over the place.

Not too long ago, I went back and applied for a job. The interview took place at the owners kitchen table. Somehow we got off the topic of the job and next thing you know she's showing me a photo album that contained snapshots of her totaled gold cadillac. Before and after photos.There were injuries involved. I think that's what brought out the photo album. She sustained injuries and couldn't work the way she used to.

I was facing the living room and there was a taxidermied tiger in there. The whole thing, not just a head or a skin with a head, the whole tiger lounging and stuffed. I kept looking at it. There was a crocheted afghan on the back of the couch. There was a giant macaw muttering in his cage. I wanted the job. I was looking for a position that would include housing and off season work. Maybe be the caretaker for the place. That's what we talked about after we went through the photo album of the wrecked caddy. She said that she hired mostly kids 13 and 14 year olds. She had her sons girlfriend working for her, kind of in charge of the kids, she was 20.

She had advertised for a possible year round caretaking position. We discussed the cottage on her property. Her son was living in it but she wanted him out. He was bad news she said. She needed it for a caretaker. She was warming up to the idea of me being the caretaker. I knew horses. I had also worked on a goat farm and a sheep farm. I didn't have experience with lions and tigers though. I tried to picture feeding a tiger in the snow. shoveling snow out of its chain link enclosure, breaking ice in its water bucket. I looked at the stuffed tiger. I took the job. GO to Part 3 Petting Zoo

© 2000-2001 by Bud Scrape