Every day, a 70-year-old retiree went to the same butcher shop and ordered forty kilos of beef.
The butcher, intrigued by such a large order, decided one day to investigate what she was actually doing with all that meat, and what he discovered exceeded anything he could have imagined.
The old woman was small and hunched, wrapped in a worn coat, her wrinkled hands gripping the handle of a dented metal cart. “Forty kilos, as usual,” she replied, sliding a stack of bills across the counter.
The young butcher weighed the slices of meat in silence, unable to hide his astonishment. Forty kilos – every day. At first, he thought she was feeding a large family, but the weeks went by, and the routine did not change.
The woman spoke little, never met his gaze, and carried with her a strange metallic smell that reminded him of rust and decay. Soon, whispers began to circulate in the marketplace:
– “She must be feeding a pack of dogs.”
– “No, I heard she runs an illegal restaurant somewhere.”
– “Maybe she has a freezer full of meat for the winter.”
The butcher brushed off the rumors with a wave of his hand, but his curiosity was piqued. Finally, on a freezing evening, he decided to follow her.
He waited until she left, dragging her heavy cart through the snow-covered streets. The woman moved slowly but determinedly, heading toward the outskirts of town. She passed rows of abandoned garages and finally stopped in front of an old, ruined factory that had been closed for more than ten years.
She slipped inside with the meat, disappearing into the shadows. Twenty minutes later, she renewed her quest, empty-handed. The next day, the same thing happened.
On the third night, unable to contain himself, the butcher followed her inside. The air was thick with a disturbing smell: blood, iron, and something wild. Then he heard a low, rumbling growl that gave him goosebumps.
Peering through a crack in the wall, he froze.
U pećinskoj prostoriji nalazila su se četiri ogromna lava, njihova zlatna oka sijala su u slabom svetlu. Kosti i ostaci mesa bili su razbacani po podu. U jednom uglu, na poderanoj fotelji, sedela je stara žena, mazeći jedno od životinja i tiho mumlajući:
„Polako, moji dragi… uskoro ćete imati još jedan borbu… ljudi će biti ovde da vas gledaju…“
Mesar je pao, bez daha. Jedan od lavova zarežao je, tresući celu zgradu. Stara žena je uhvatila glavu.
„Šta radite ovde?!“ promrmljala je glasom više životinjskim nego ljudskim.
Uplašen, mesar je pobegao napolje i pozvao policiju.
Kada su policajci stigli, istina je izašla na videlo. Ova žena je nekada bila zoološka naučnica i sakupila je nekoliko lavova nakon zatvaranja lokalnog zoološkog vrta „da ih spasi od gladi“. Ali s vremenom, očaj i pohlepa iskrivili su njene motivacije.
