Those Years I Opened A Zoo Novels & Stories

Due to his involvement in moving illegal assets, my lawyer told me he was looking at a minimum of three years. I was waiting for Daniel outside his piano classroom when I heard about all this. The afternoon sun was warm on my skin. "Mommy!" Daniel ran out with his backpack and threw himself into my arms. "Why hasn't Daddy come to pick me up in so long?" I crouched down, smoothed his clothes, and answered gently, "Daddy went somewhere far away to learn how to be an honest person." Daniel asked, "When will he come back then?" "When he's learned," I replied.

“How long exactly have you two been sneaking around behind our backs?” Nice try. I snort. Yes, Damion took gullible teenage me out twice while we were at school. Twice. Both times ended with me confused, angry, and emotionally wrecked. But now … I finally understand what my younger brain couldn’t. “The zoo,” I say, laughing. “We must go to the zoo. We snuck in that night.” I let the memories sink in. The good ones. “We almost got caught by this fat security guard, so we jumped into the turtle enclosure,” I continue. “Which is when we discovered they were snapping turtles.”

Adam playfully rolled his eyes, making Quin and me laugh. "What's one of your favourite memories, Quin?" I asked as I took the mixed batter from Quin and started pouring it into the baking trays. "Hmmm... I have a lot. But this one time, my mommy took me to the zoo! We saw so many animals." Quin smiled at the memory. "And a monkey even took peanuts out of my hand! You should have seen the baby monkeys. They were so cute." Her mom sounded wonderful. I wished I had the honour of meeting her.

Instead, Gage took deep breaths and controlled his needs, thinking boring accounting stuff until he was no longer hard. It took them less than an hour to get to the city zoo, Gage hadn't been there since his elementary years and he had to admit that the place was way better than he remembered. The enclosures were tidy and looked natural, the animals were amazing, some cute, others were big and far from cuddly, rather making him think of the great wild majestic animals.

I took a moment to think about it, trying to remember all the things I used to do all the things I used to love and what I would probably want to be doing now if all this chaotic marriage I didn't come into my life. "Let's go to the zoo!" I uttered, unsure but definitely loud enough for him to hear. "The zoo?.." he scanned me from head to toe and burst into laughter. I felt so embarrassed and moved my head to to the window. I think he realised that he was irritating me and stopped laughing. "Hey, we will go to the zoo pumpkin, sorry, it's just, I have never been to the zoo and that actually disturbs me because I can't predict how to protect you there. But there's no problem. Rick, to the zoo

When he told me that they were hiring, I filled out an application, interviewed well, and managed to land a position. If nothing else, I had all my dad’s lectures, and all that Discovery Channel and Animal Planet documentary knowledge, to go on when it came to dealing with animals. Not to mention, I’d survived a mountain lion attack and a run-in with a huge pack of human-harassing wolves. My first day of work at the zoo was also the day Jesse returned after his injuries, though he’d told everyone that he had a ‘family emergency, to deal with, and nobody was the wiser.

~ Helen’s POV ~ The zoo was… well, exactly as I expected. Loud, crowded, and honestly not my thing. I didn’t really enjoy it much, but Lisa and Zara? They had the time of their lives. Their eyes sparkled at the sight of every animal, from the tall, graceful giraffes to the cheeky monkeys swinging from branch to branch. They giggled and took endless pictures, even convincing me to pose beside a sleepy lion—which, let me tell you, was not on my list of things to do today.

“No, I’ve only seen them on TV or at the zoo, but we very rarely went to the zoo, either. All the adults at home were too busy to take us there. “If we wanted to go to the zoo when we were young, we’d have to wait up to a year until the New Year holidays, when the adults at home took turns going on leave. Only then would they take us to the zoo for a day. Once we got a little older, we had to focus on our studies and had even less time to go out and play.” Sheila recalled her childhood. It felt like, other than studies, she had been occupied by just studies. It was not forced upon them by her family but of their own initiative because they had a goal to shoot for since they were young.

Trence grabbed my hand and whispered, "Let's make today a good day for her." We walked through the zoo, I pointed out Maxine's favorite animals, and we all enjoyed a fun-filled day together. The laughter and joy shared between us made me realize how lucky I was to have them in my life. Trence excuses himself, saying that he will just go to the bathroom. Maxine and I continue roaming around the zoo, taking in all the sights and sounds of the different animals. As we approached the lion exhibit, Maxine's eyes widened in amazement, and I couldn't help but smile at her pure joy. It was moments like these that made me cherish our time together even more.

We landed on the new name Circus of Wolves—nothing too flashy or oddball for the average folk we catered our show to, straight to the point. The best thing that happened to me occurred three years ago, though. That was the day when the world just clicked into place for me. A liquid fire engulfed us on Birdie's eighteenth birthday as our eyes met across the big top. The whole damn show stopped for us at that moment. Everyone disappeared; the crowd, the performers, and every soul evaporated. Even the Cicadas song was gone. It was just her and I. The world came back to focus only when one of the clowns so kindly smacked into me for a laugh.