Zookeeper's Son

• Lachlan Harnell, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2008

Mark leaned forward unconsciously. He had spotted the beast. It was standing on top of a lone grey rock in the midst of the multitude of crystal snow. The sun’s rays reflected off the white substance forcing Mark to squint as he watched the beast carefully. The beast was attempting to stay warm in the unforgiving wasteland of ice. Mark slowly raised his tranquiliser gun, aimed and fired. The beast was hit! It roared out in pain and scanned the area for the attacker. Mark clambered out from the bristly bush. With care he strode up to the beast. It glared at him in fury as it faded out of consciousness. Mark picked up the figure, bound it’s limbs and dragged it into his aged truck. The truck was corroding in masses, the air conditioning was a failure, the wheels were fragile and the gas tank often leaked. Even with all her faults – Mark loved the truck. When working in the zoo, sometimes he would daydream about the hum of the engine, the whine of the wheels and the steady bounce of the truck. Mark jumped into the driver’s seat and revved it into action. He sighed as the putt-putt sound of the engine rhythmically hummed along as he drove towards the zoo.

The creature awoke on the trip to the zoo. It moaned out in an unintelligible garble. Mark glanced at it through the mirror. It looked at him with a hopeless look in its sad eyes. Mark tore his eyes away. No point in getting attached to another exhibit, Mark told himself huffily.

Meanwhile, at the zoo, Patrick was watching the horizon, waiting for his dad’s truck. As the zookeeper’s son, he made it his top priority to make sure he knew all the creatures in the zoo before anyone else did.
“Is your dad here yet, Pat?”
Patrick turned around. Dan, the animal trainer, was standing next to him with a grin on his face.
“Not yet Dan, but I’ll tell you as soon as I get a look at the creature.”
Dan laughed and strolled off. Patrick sometimes wondered if his brain was stable. Sometime Dan got a glint in his eyes after working with the animals. In Patrick’s opinion, Dan spent too much time with animals. He seemed like one of them! As Patrick turned back to the horizon, he saw a cloud of dust behind a weathered old truck! Resisting the urge to cry out in joy, Patrick made sure was out of range, he let out a cry and ran towards the oncoming truck.

Patrick, for once was made to wait for his dad to set up the section in the zoo for the new creature,
“It’ll be a surprise. You should remember this creature from your biology textbooks when I show it to you.”
Eventually he was allowed to look upon the enclosure. He scratched his antennae as he gazed on his dad’s latest catch. The sign read: Human.