"What are they doing, Momma?"
"They're touching faces, son."
"Why?"
"You know how Rosie and Pete touch noses sometimes?"
"Yeah, like Uncle Bruce and Stevie?"
"Um, well sort of. We'll talk about your uncle when you're older. But remember after all the nose touching, Rosie had your cub-cousin Rolly?"
"Yes."
"The dumbthings face-touching is like that."
"Are they going to have a cub-cousin? Can I watch?"
"Yes. No. I mean, you can't watch, and they already have one. See that rolling thing with the screaming pink thing in it?"
"Yes, Momma."
"That's the cub."
"THAT? It looks stupid."
"Yes it does. It wouldn't last a day on the ice."
"Tell me about the ice again, Momma."
"It's cold and it feels good. Not like here. And there are good things to find and eat."
"Things to eat like the pink cub?"
"No, things that are quiet and smell good. That taste like fat and blood."
"I'm hungry, Momma."
"I know. So am I. Let's go leave our markings, and hope they bring a walrus."
"What's a 'walrus'?"
"Never mind, son."
Saturday, April 1
Caged Curiosity
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3 comments:
A cute little life story to go along with that pic. Nice job. Took me a second to figure out that they weren't talking about an animal in the next enclosure. Pink thing rolling? Must be a baby hamster on a exercise wheel, right? Or maybe a baby seal learning some new tricks on a ball?
Nope. Stroller with a baby in it.
Tried to think like a bored zoo animal, especially a carnivore.
They'd eat us before we knew they were there.
Once when I was very small our Mother took my sister Sharle and me to the San Francisco Zoo. Along the way she couldn't find my small sister. Looking back we spotted her squatted down next to a very large cage containing a sleeping polar bear (probably drugged and awaiting transfer somewhere). She had her hand between the bars petting the soft white fur saying "Pretty bear!" Lest you think it is another strange manifestation of your mother's mind...your aunt remembers it also.
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