• Gianna Tannella lie on the soft grass behind her huge Victorian house. Her sun-bleached hair spread out behind her head. She wore blue denim cut-off shorts and a sleeveless pink tank top.
    There was a rustling noise beside her. She sat up straight and looked at the bush beside her garage. The bush moved violently, and a little black panther cub somersaulted to a stop three feet away from Gianna's feet. It wasn't very old, maybe a few weeks, so it still needed her mother's milk.
    Gianna got up carefully, trying not to spook it, and grabbed her towel. The little panther stared at Gianna with curious eyes as she wrapped her towel around him.
    "MOM!" Gianna called franticly as she sprinted into her house, carefully handling the little cub. She ran to her waiting mother and said, "Look. It's a panther cub. Can we keep it? Please?"
    "No, absolutely not!" her mother exclaimed.
    "But it's so young! We can't just abandon him! Mikki needs us mom!" Gianna pointed out.
    "Wait wait wait, you named it?!?!?!" her mother shrieked. Mikki crawled deeper into the towel to get away from the yelling. He mewed loud enough for Gianna to hear.
    "See, mom? He needs me," Gianna whispered. She rubbed the little cub's head soothingly.
    "Out," her mother said simply.
    "But......"
    "Now," said Gianna's mother. Gianna reluctantly obeyed.
    When she was outside, she ran into their garage and placed Mikki into a cage that could fit an average sized dog.
    "You stay here for now, okay?" she cooed. Since the cub could see and smell, she poked her finger through the bars and let the cub get used to her smell. Mikki sniffed her finger a few times, then rubbed his head against her palm affectionately.
    Gianna stayed a few more minutes before returning to her house.