Terror at the Zoo (7 page)

Ellen swung her hands back and forth like the conductor of a symphony orchestra, waving the flashlight in loops and circles. Her parents had taken her and Corey to see a laser light show at the Pacific Science Center once; she wondered if the wallaroos thought this was some kind of laser show.

She continued down the path, pausing now and then to shine her light on each side of the path. When she
reached the end, she saw that there was a metal gate blocking this entrance, too. She turned and started back.

The only other animal she saw was a snow leopard, which seemed just as fascinated by her light as the wallaroos had been. After watching Ellen for a moment, the leopard went into its den and then, just as Ellen was going to move on, it came back with a baby leopard.

Clearly, the mother leopard wanted to show her baby the amazing light. Maybe the leopards thought a flying saucer had landed in the zoo and she was an alien being. She realized that was exactly the sort of thing Corey would say, so she beamed the light back at the path and continued on.

Even with the almost-full moon, it was difficult to see where she was. The tall trees with their thick dark branches loomed over her. The flashlight made a small circle of light on the path immediately ahead of her but on both sides and behind her the darkness hung close and heavy. The air seemed thick.

Where was Corey? Where were her parents? She felt isolated from the rest of the world, as alone as if she were walking through the jungles of Africa, where the wild beasts roamed free, instead of here in the zoo where they were contained behind fences.

Although the light helped her see where she was walking, it also made her feel more vulnerable. Anyone or anything in the shadows could see her quickly because of her flashlight, while she could see only what she pointed the flashlight directly at.

She switched off the flashlight and went on without it.
She walked more slowly, putting her feet down carefully, feeling with her toes to be certain she was still on the path.

She heard something move behind her. Holding her breath, she stopped and listened. When she didn’t hear it again, she turned on her light and aimed it behind her. She saw only a clump of bushes.

Her mouth felt dry. All around her, the leaves whispered secrets and in the distance, a lone wolf howled at the moon. The mournful sound sent a prickle of fear up the back of Ellen’s neck.

She took a deep breath and told herself to relax, but she still had an uneasy feeling, as if some unknown danger lurked just around the corner.

EEIIIYYAHHHH!!!

The scream came with no warning, from the area behind her where she had heard rustling, the place where she had just beamed her light.

Ellen jumped, drawing her breath in sharply. She swung around, instinctively putting one hand across her face for protection. With the other hand she waved the flashlight back and forth, shining it from side to side.

“Who’s there?” she croaked. It was a wonder she could speak at all; her throat felt like sandpaper.

There was no answer but she heard that same rustling sound again. It was closer this time. She didn’t know whether to turn off the light and run, or try to see who (or what) had screamed.

In the split second that she tried to make up her mind, a peacock stepped into the circle of light. His blue and
green feathers fanned high above his tail as he strutted.

“Eeiiiaayahh!”
he screamed again.

Ellen stared, her heart thudding in her chest. She had always thought that peacocks—or peafowls as she knew they were properly called—were the most beautiful of birds but she had never heard one cry before. It was harsh and shrill, like a cat in pain. How could such a lovely bird make such an ugly sound?

She took a deep breath, turned, and continued down the path away from the peacock. The light jiggled because her hand was shaking. Anyone’s hand would shake after that experience, she thought. Any sensible person would fear for her life if a peacock screamed at her in the dark.

She wondered if Corey had heard the peacock’s cry. If so, he was probably running for the tent as fast as he could go right now, convinced that some terrible demon was loose in the zoo.

Well, it would serve him right. He knew better than to go off alone this way. When Mom and Dad heard about it, he would catch heck for sure. If Mom and Dad ever heard about it.
Where were they?

She came to a fork in the path. She stopped, unsure which way to go. Even though she was familiar with the zoo from previous visits, everything seemed different in the dark. She couldn’t look off in the distance for landmarks and she was afraid she might have missed some of the signs along the sides of the path.

I should have stayed in the tent, she thought. Eventually, Corey would return. Maybe he already had and, when he found she wasn’t there, had gone out looking
for her. It could go on that way all night—missing each other, searching in the dark—unless one of them stayed at the camp.

She took the path to her right. If she was guessing correctly, it would wind past the Nocturnal House and back to the North Meadow. She wondered what the Nocturnal House looked like at night. Was it lighted, so the animals would think it was daytime? After she found Corey, maybe she would go to the Nocturnal House and find out. It was close to the North Meadow; she wouldn’t get lost. And it would be fun to see her favorite exhibit under different conditions.

The minute she thought of it as her favorite exhibit, she knew where she would find Corey. The monkey house. Of course. It was always his favorite part of the zoo. He had even told Grandma and Grandpa that he wanted to sleep in the monkey house tonight. Why hadn’t she thought of that right away?

She walked faster, shining the light back and forth across the path as she went. She hoped she was on the short cut across the middle of the zoo but even if she was on the outside path, she would end up near the monkeys.

And once I find Monkey Corey, she thought, I won’t let him out of my sight again.

I
N HIS MIND
, Corey was already telling his pals about his zoo night adventure. I went exploring on my own, he would say. I tried to find the thief and spy on him some more. It was pitch black out but I turned off my flashlight and sneaked along, hiding behind bushes, to be sure he didn’t see me first.

This time, Corey had his camera. If the man stole something else, Corey planned to shoot a picture and catch him in the act. The police would have proof of a crime.

Corey imagined himself showing the picture to the police and being interviewed by TV and newspaper reporters. He saw himself getting a medal for bravery. Most of all, he thought how exciting it would be to open the newspaper and see his own picture.

The images of glory faded when Corey realized he had been walking a long time and not paying attention to where he was. He should have come to the monkey house by now.

He turned on his light and saw water. A huge hippopotamus lifted his head and opened his mouth. His white teeth shone in the beam of light like a toothpaste ad.

Corey promptly forgot he was The Great Detective. He wondered if the hippo was hungry. Last fall, on the TV news, he had seen the hippos eating whole pumpkins left over from Halloween.

He took an apple out of his pocket. It would be like shooting baskets, only easier, to feed the hippo an apple. Of course, an apple wouldn’t seem like much to the hippo. It would be like a person eating one sunflower seed.

Then he remembered that Grandpa had said he shouldn’t feed any of the animals because they are on special diets, so he ate the apple himself and walked on. Although he listened carefully and looked in all directions, there was no sign of the thief.

He’s probably breaking into the other food stands, Corey thought. Maybe he steals money from them every night. The police and the zoo authorities were certainly going to be glad to learn about this. He and Ellen would be heroes. Maybe they really would get their pictures in the paper. Or maybe just
he
would get his picture in the paper, since he was the one who was going to spy on the man some more and collect additional evidence.

Maybe he should forget about visiting the monkey house. Maybe he should keep hunting for the thief.

No. The zoo covered many acres and the man could be anywhere. He’d look for him again after he found out what monkeys do at night.

It took him longer than he thought it would to find the monkey house. After he left the hippos, he didn’t see
anything else he recognized. He hadn’t thought it was possible for him to get lost in the zoo but he was. He kept on until his flashlight caught a sign with animal pictures on it. One picture was a monkey; an arrow pointed which way to go.

The sign said “Primates.” Corey had noticed that the zoo signs and maps always said primates and he didn’t understand why. Everyone he knew, even Grandpa and Grandma, called it the monkey house.

He pushed eagerly on the monkey house doors and then sagged against them in disappointment. The doors were locked.

Pressing his face against the glass, he looked inside. Dimly, he saw the benches in the center of the house and the trees in the enclosures nearest the door. He squinted his eyes into narrow slits, trying to spot one of the monkeys.

Something moved in the cage nearest the door. Corey looked that way. It was, he knew, the cage where the tamarin monkeys lived. Grandma and Grandpa had brought him to see the baby monkey after it was born and Corey had entered the zoo’s contest to choose a name for the baby. He had suggested Poppy but the zoo committee chose Shadow.

Shadow’s mother, Sunshine, was leaping back and forth, running wildly from one side of the cage to the other. Corey stared. He had assumed the monkeys slept at night, but apparently this was their exercise time.

The lights came on inside the monkey house. Corey tried to see who had turned them on but he saw no one. The lights must be on an automatic timer. In the other
cages, the monkeys seemed startled by the sudden light. They stretched and looked around.

Sunshine continued her frenzied activity. Several times, she ran to her baby, who was perched partway up one of the trees, and then ran off again.

A banana flew through the air and landed near Sunshine; she did not pick it up.

Was it feeding time now? In the middle of the night? If so, it meant that one of the monkeys’ keepers was on duty. That’s who turned on the lights. Corey craned his neck, trying to see who had thrown the banana. From his place outside the front doors, he could not see the far corner of the golden tamarins’ cage; he could not see who had thrown the banana.

Corey knew Ellen would want him to speak to the keeper. He should explain that he and Ellen were here alone and ask to use a telephone. But if he did, the keeper might make Corey and Ellen go home.

Another banana sailed toward Sunshine. She ignored this one, too. Corey had never seen a monkey act so agitated. Did they always get this excited about being fed?

And then he saw the reason for the mother monkey’s distress. Someone had entered the cage from the back side, and was moving slowly, with one hand upraised, toward the tree where the baby monkey sat. The entrance was partway up the back of the cage and the man was on a narrow platform in the tree branches. Corey instantly recognized the tall man in the overalls.

Corey swallowed. It was the same man who broke into
the food stand and took the money. What was he doing now? There wouldn’t be any money to steal in a monkey cage.

Corey put his hands on the sides of his face, trying to see the man better. He had wanted to spy on the thief. Well, here was his chance. He would hide here and when the man left the monkey house, Corey would follow him. He would watch to see if the man broke into any other food stands and stole any more money.

Was the man one of the keepers? Was it his job to check on the monkeys at night, to be sure they were OK?

The man crouched and sat motionless on the platform for several seconds. The mother monkey continued to race back and forth. Because of the thick glass partitions, Corey could not hear anything but he was quite sure Sunshine was chattering.

The man reached in his pocket, removed a square package, and tossed it to the ground. A sandwich? Is that what the monkeys eat at night? Corey wondered. Shouldn’t the man have unwrapped it? The package had barely hit the ground when the man lunged, reached one arm down into the tree, and plucked the baby monkey from the branch.

The man tried to stuff the baby monkey inside his jacket while the monkey struggled to get away. The mother monkey leaped toward the man; he kicked at her and she retreated.

Holding the little monkey firmly with both hands, the man turned quickly and disappeared through the opening at the back of the cage, closing the door behind him.

The mother monkey went wild. She careened up and down, back and forth, so fast that it looked like she was doing trampoline tricks.

Corey’s scalp tingled as he realized what he had witnessed. He felt like a bolt of lightning had just zigzagged from his ears to his toes, leaving all of his nerves crackling with electricity.