At first we felt only a quiver, hardly noticeable at first. The crowd, which had been murmuring excitedly, fell silent. We felt it again, stronger, and then again, stronger still. A few excited whispers began to flit about. My heart was pounding so hard in my ears that I could barely hear them. The ground shook harder and harder, like a mighty drumbeat, slow and measured, drawing steadily nearer.

Like distant artillery a dull boom began to echo around us. We felt another tremor and a pair of rounded ears appeared over the treetops in the distance. Still another tremor, and into our view appeared the spotted head of a cheetah, swaying slowly to and fro as it rose higher above the trees, its eyes cast downward. A pair of narrow shoulders shrouded in blue appeared beneath that feline head, and the crowd realized all at the same time that the newcomer was wearing a university T-shirt. The applause drowned out even the thunder of the approaching footsteps.

The great cat's lips drew back in what looked to me like a shy smile although his eyes never glanced up from the ground. Taller and taller he loomed, and then a huge leg swung over the treetops, an enormous foot, or more like a paw, crashing to the earth and raising a cloud of dust around it. There the giant paused, finally raising his eyes toward the clamoring crowd ahead. For a moment I imagined that he was looking straight at me, his gaze lingering just a second before it dropped once more. He lifted his other foot over the treeline and set it down. Boom...