Zoo Break

“Get him…GET HIM! Catch that hairy BEAST!”
It started out just like any other day at the Bridgeford Zoo. The macaws were screeching and the lions were purring in the cool early morning mist as the zookeepers stood their signs up and cleaned up all of the gorilla poop before visitors would come to experience the magic that the zoo had to offer. No one could have predicted the events that would take place that day, at what seemed like the innocent safe location of the Bridgeford Zoo.
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The baboon didn’t know what he was doing or where he was going, he just acted on an impulse. He saw Pedro, the head zookeeper, standing directly in front of him with a net in his hands and an evil smile on his face. The baboon skidded to a stop and turned back around, only to find Susanna, the assistant zookeeper, ready to snatch him up.
Get him…GET HIM! Catch that hairy BEAST!”
To his right there were people, and to his left there was the wall to the rhinoceros cage. Zamboni, the name of the baboon, analyzed the situation to the best of a primate’s ability, and concluded that the only way to go was up. In one quick motion he bounced on the drinking fountain, off Pedro’s shoulder, onto the roof of the gift shop and came back down inside the rhino’s cage, right on top of the rhino’s back.
This rhino has a reputation throughout the entire zoo of being the outcast or the loner. He is antisocial and never talks, sort of the equivalent to the modern day emo kid, minus the heavy eyeliner. But Zamboni saw the mob of zookeepers and animal enthusiasts coming over the horizon, and he knew that this was his only shot at freedom. Pedro and Susanna saw Zamboni bend over to whisper something in the rhino’s ear, and for one moment, time stood still at the Bridgeford Zoo. The mob of people stared blankly in the direction of the two animals, partly in awe and partly in disbelief. Zamboni landed a cool stare back at the crowd and the crowd stared back. Zamboni blinked his eyes and a smirk slowly crept across his face. He stood on top of the rhino, on top of the world for all he knew, with his mane of coarse dark hair blowing in the wind. He enjoyed the control, he enjoyed the power. The zoo staff could only stand in shock and disbelief at the scene that was playing out before them. Zamboni raised his right hand into a fist, cupped his left hand over his mouth and let out a passionate cry of, “FREEDOM!!!,” a cry of destiny.
At that moment, the rhino took off and blasted through that cement wall. Zamboni and the rhino galloped into the desert night and they finally understood what it meant to be free from the stronghold of the zookeepers.
They traveled for hours, not stopping for anything, at the risk for getting caught by the zoo employees who were right on their tale. As the sun started to go down and the sky was a palette of various arrays of oranges, pinks, and purples, Zamboni and the rhino decided rest. They took a break to relax by the fire.
“Hey man, that was pretty cool of you back there. Thanks for getting me out of that hell-hole. But since you’re, well, you know, a rhino, and I’m, you know, a baboon, obviously the more advanced species, intelligence speaking, I think I better continue on without you.” The rhino didn’t respond. He sat there like a crab, shielding himself from the outside world.
“Oh, come on, like I don’t already feel guilty! I’m saying this only once more: I’m gone!” Zamboni started to walk away, but once he realized that the rhino was not saying anything, he couldn’t force himself to do it.
“Alright, alright, I’m sorry. Say something. What’s your name? You got a family? Let’s chat a bit.”
“My name’s Francis.” There was a long pause, and then Zamboni witnessed something he thought would never happen… Francis started to cry. And he wasn’t just crying; he was bawling. His eyes were like faucets, and not leaky faucets, I mean fully turned on, waterfalls pouring out of his eyes
“Oh buddy, calm down, what’s wrong? Oh, not on me, I just licked myself clean yesterday, Jesus!”
“T-t-they took m-m-my wife…”
“Ya…
“T-they t-t-took my k-kids…”
“Ya…”
“And they cut the one thin thread keeping my life worth living for.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold the phone. Who did all this? What happened?”
“Pedro and Susanna. They transferred my whole family to the Wellington Zoo out west and left me here to rot, all alone. But you have been a friend, and you’ve showed me what life can be like. But I want to see them. I want to hold them in my arms and feel their arms around me. I…I…” Francis started to cry once more.
“ I w-want to see Francis Jr. and s-s-say to h-him, ‘W-wow, you’ve g-g-gotten so b-b-b-b-b-b-ig. Oh, I want to see them again, more than anything in the world.”
A light bulb went on in Zamboni’s head. He always had a taste for adventure and he always wanted to see the world. He also realized that this big crybaby, who may not be the swingiest vine in the forest, could be useful. Besides, he actually felt a bit, only a bit, sorry for the guy.
“Francis,” he said, “We’re going on a quest. A quest to the Wellington Zoo.”

To Be Continued




This was I think the first piece I wrote freshman year. Freshman year was actually a pretty fun year for me concerning my writing and I have to say that other than senior year it was probably my favorite year in terms of the material that came out of it. This story obviously has a playful tone, but I have to say that I'm pleased with the description of the setting and the description of the action in this story. I actually feel like this story could have potential to be pretty decent if I just spent the time to develop the characters further and develop some sort of a meaningful plot (again with the lack of patience that usually accompanies my partly finished stories. I tended to use the To Be Continued cop-out a lot). Overall though I remember having fun with this story, which is really the most improtant thing, before I started pulling my hair out trying to write something that I thought everyone would think was "good". By the way, here's another random video.