Camel Lot

The author led a conventional life in Indianapolis until she obtained a pilot's license and moved with her husband to a nearby farm with an airstrip. At the suggestion of a circus-performer friend, the couple began to raise exotic animals in the empty barns, beginning with camels and zebras. Other beasts came later--tiger cubs, llamas, miniature goats, monkeys, a pig. The author acted as obstetrician to an ostrich chick named Watts (the egg had been incubated under a 100-watt light bulb) and found a Leghorn hen to act as its foster mother. The menagerie survived, but the marriage did not. Schaffer now runs Camel Lot as a bed-and-breakfast. Animal lovers especially will enjoy this account. First serial to Cosmopolitan. (Apr.)