Android Tiger’s tail and legs screeched and growled
a raucous creak. His painted stripes peeled right off;
he needed oil to cure his squeak.

His perched and pointed orange ears lost their feline shape. He tried to prop them up using glue and twine
and tape.

“Nothing works”, he sighed with a great big tiger breath. “If I don’t fix this fast, it will surely be my death.”

In the dark, sneaking through the house,
quit as a sleeping mouse.

Down the stairs, through the hall,
moving slowly at a crawl.

Android Tiger’s tired knees
popped and snapped like an electric breeze.

Out the door.
Down the street.
The sidewalk cracks hurt his feet.

A group of people stopped to stare,
“Is that an Android Tiger there?”

They weren’t scared, they didn’t run,
they followed him one by one.

He was trailing bits and losing stripes,
a path of gears and metal pipes.

Android Tiger’s shiny claws fell off and scurried down the street. A fearless boy picked them up and reattached them to his feet.

“Thank you” Android Tiger sighed,
sounding broke and low on pride.

“You are very kind to help me out,
courageous beyond any doubt.”

Would you like a ride?”, he asked the boy
“I am, after all, a life size toy”.

Tiger smiled a white metal grin.
Hydraulic fluid leaked down his chin.

He bent down low to the ground,
gears turning with growling sound.

The boy screamed, “Yea!”, climbing onto Tigers back.
Tiger stood with a grinding crack.

Down the street, off they crawled.
They got 5 blocks then Tiger stalled.

With a halting jerk, his body froze.
Ears and legs, stripes and toes.

Statuesque. Nothing moved. Not a sound.
No growling gears spinning ’round.

“Tiger?”, the boy whispered in his ears.
His eyes filling up with glassy tears.

“Are you alright?
Do you think you have 10 more feet of Tiger fight?”

He softly stroked Tiger’s fur
and listened for a humming whir.

Tigers metal heart began to pound,
His followers slowly gathered round.

The boys whisper traveled through Tiger’s ears,
Sparking wires and starting gears.

It flowed through circuits and membrane skin,
it jolted joints made of tin.

His orange fur stood up with static shock,
The boys voice had sparked tiger’s android clock.

With human warmth and love at large,
Tiger’s chips found an electric charge.

A robotic thump, a metallic beat,
he picked his body up off the street.

Tiger jumped in the air,
the boy grasping clumps of feline hair.

His metal ears popped up and found their android shape.
Tiger roared shaking off the glue and twine and tape.

His long tail sprang up, joint after joint,
Orange and straight and too the point.

Tigers stripes unfurled and found their rightful place,
Unfolding down his back and covering his face.

His knees no longer popped,
his screeching legs had finally stopped.

He felt brand new without this strife,
a wind up toy full of life.

They moved swiftly through the streets and trees,
getting home in a breeze.

In the dark, they snuck through the house,
quiet as a sleeping mouse.

Moving slowly, at a crawl,
up the stairs and through the hall.

Into his bedroom; home at last,
“Same time tomorrow?”, Tiger asked.

The boy nodded, placing Tiger in a plastic box,
He closed the lid and looked for Fox.