Night At The Zoo

• Sam Burkitt, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2014

Night at the Zoo by Sam Burkitt

It is Robert's first night shift in his new job as a zookeeper. He's excited but worried because three days ago a zookeeper had disappeared while working a night shift - he was last seen around the rare striped rhino enclosure. When Robert heard about this incident, he swooped in and got that poor fellow's job but it was also freaking him out.

8:37pm
As Robert parks his car to start his long shift, he sees the other zookeepers heading home. He has done some voluntary work at this zoo before and knows it quite well, but, in the night, it is a different place - spooky.

8:59pm
At the start of Robert's shift he is told he will be looking after the rhino, penguins, lions and monkeys. For the lions he has to feed them in half an hour; for the penguins he has to sneak in and put fish in their habitat at 11pm; the monkeys have already been fed; and importantly Robert has to watch over the rhino throughout his shift and feed him at exactly 1am, otherwise, he is informed, Misty the world's only striped rhino gets very cranky.

9:25pm
As Robert walks into the safety zone in the lions' cage with some meat in a bucket, he thinks, Wait, where are the lions? A sound rings in his ear - thump thump thump. He turns his head and to his relief he sees the lions sleeping soundly under some trees. But what is that noise? Robert isn't sure why the lions aren't hungry - he's been told that they are always ravenous.

10:24pm
Robert starts to hear that strange noise again - thump thump thump - as he walks to the cage next door to check up on Misty. He stops and looks around - is it an animal in a tree? But all looks fine with the rhino, and he picks up a pamphlet on how to feed him as he leaves their cage.

11:17pm
Later that night, after feeding the penguins their fish, he heads back to the keepers' lounge and starts to read the pamphlet: Feeding a rhino is a difficult job, first you must . . .

1:47am
Suddenly, Robert wakes up confused. What's that loud snorting and banging. He looks at his watch. Oh no! He's fallen asleep and forgotten to feed the rhino! He jumps up and sprints towards the disturbance - it's getting louder and louder.

Robert pushes open the door to the rhino enclosure and charges in towards that annoying thumping, which is louder than ever now. The rhino is banging on the wall and is angry about being forgotten; but that's not the thumping Robert is hearing - the sound is a more manmade noise like someone is in distress. Suddenly Robert gasps and sees where the thumping is coming from - it's the zookeeper who was missing. He is stranded at the back of the rhino's separate sleeping quarters and is thumping with his foot on the bars of the cage - thump thump thump. Robert quickly feeds the cranky rhino and heads towards the zookeeper, who he realises is bound and gagged. He releases him and the zookeeper explains how a animal smuggler had attacked him and tried to steal Misty from the zoo. In the process, though, he had overbalanced into the lion's cage next door and then had never returned . . . No wonder those lions were't hungry!