Saturday at the Zoo

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SATURDAY AT THE ZOO
by Salvatore Amico M. Buttaci

Only a tall iron fence separated the two families. "That girl is wearing a red dress just like mine!" said Missy, who then made a move to get closer to the fence. "Behave," said Mrs. Jackson. "Keep your distance from the cage or we'll go home this minute." She took her daughter's hand and held it tightly. "Go ahead and read the sign, Missy. What does it say?" Mr. Jackson looked at her sternly. Missy had no trouble reading the official zoo plaque with its overdone list of synonyms, "Do not annoy, badger, bother, disturb, harass, harry, heckle, irk, provoke, peeve, pester, tease, tantalize, or feed zoo creatures. Strict penalty for violators."

The caged little girl with Missy's dress stared back at them. She too had a mother and father who held her hands and seemed to be warning her to stay clear of the fence. "Oh, the smell!" said Mrs. Jackson, pulling Missy back. "Why can't the zoo attendants give them a shower now and then. They're filthy, Quentin. I think we've seen enough." Though Quentin nodded his head, he seemed in no hurry to leave yet. He watched his daughter staring big-eyed at the other family.

"Aren't they amazing?" he asked her. Missy heard him but was busy now playing a game with the other girl. Missy would put her hand on her head and the other girl would do the same. Then Missy would stick her tongue out and wait for the caged girl to follow suit. "They are so smart!" said Missy. Her mother scowled but her father smiled. Other zoo visitors were gathered in front of the lion's den, the elephant swamp, the monkey's tree, and the cawing, chirping, whistling birds behind the very tall aviary fence. Only the Jacksons watched the caged family in front of them.

Quentin Jackson didn't allow the smell inside the cage to upset him. He inhaled the air and knew it was good to be alive and free. "They look like us, don't they, Mommy?" said Missy. "That little girl with the blond hair has a mommy and daddy like me. They need new clothes but they look a lot like us. I wish my hair was blond instead of this old black!" Then Quentin Jackson began explaining about the family in the cage in that deep voice of his he usually saved for his students at the university. "A long time ago, believe it or not, we were the families in the cage. Oh, maybe not a cage in the zoo but in a cage nonetheless. The little blond and her parents belonged to the free families who kept the zoos, the churches, and the governments. Civil war came many years ago."

"How long ago, Daddy?", asked Missy. "Even before my own Granddaddy was born. Civil war raged between the True-pers holding up their red-white-blue and the Usur-pers demanding their rights by virtue of fairness and the injustice of slavery", he answered. "Who won, Daddy?" "Let's go, Quentin. They're closing the zoo," said Mrs. Jackson, but her husband waved away the interruption, and answered his daughter. "We won, Missy, we won."

All at once Missy pulled her hands free of her parents and raced to the fence. She slipped her hand between the narrow bars until it touched the little blond girl's hand. "Would you like to play with me?" asked Missy. But the other girl grunted, her blue eyes shifting everywhere, and she drew herself back into the arms of comforting parents. She was crying now.

Missy had never seen rain fall from someone's eyes. "How could you!" reprimanded Missy's mother. "You know you are not to put your hands inside those cages. We have to go now." "I only wanted to play with her. She looked lonely in there. Mommy, why couldn't the zoo people let her come out and play?" Exasperated, Mrs. Jackson shook her head. "They are humans, Missy. They can get very nasty when you least expect it. It's true, once they were the masters and they made us what we are, but now, as you can see, they belong in cages so we can all go to bed at night and feel safe."

Missy forgot about the human family inside the cage as the three of them walked towards the zoo's exit. She was onto something else now: her new teacher, her classmates, and their new pet dog. "I wouldn't want to be a human," she said. "They can never take a shower or ride their bicycles up and down the street. You know what?" she asked her parents. They waited for more wisdom. "I'm so happy we're not human beings!" Quentin thought to himself: My sweet daughter Missy, may you never know what "happy" means or "sad" or any of those human weaknesses. Together the three robo-cybers crossed the road in perfect step.

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