Ch. 161; Vol. 10
The Bear dropped us off at the Zoo a little before 9:30.
It was going to be our first all-dayer with Ivy and her 14 year-old nephew, Peter. This meant wrinkly elephants eating hay and fat cinnamon-roll coiled millipedes, docile guinea pigs in the petting zoo, brushing backs of bristly goat, an applaudable bird show…
Somehow that took up two hours.
“I’m HUNGRY!” Puck declared.
So crispy chicken tenders and fries on the pavilion by the pond. Puck greedily pounced on hot dog, grapes, goldfish crackers, and half a soft pretzel.
Ivy handed us tickets to the sea lion show. Members do have advantages, I agree. Puck had a question for us…
“When do we go to the lion sea?”
Now that, would be something to see, actually.
Squeak, squeak, squeak.
We couldn’t figure out where it was coming from until a little girl in a ponytail and zebra squeaky shoes walked over to sit by Puck.
“I heard your daughter’s squeaky shoes,” Puck began a cordial conversation with the mother.
“Yes,” she replied. “She loves those squeaky shoes. She cries sometimes when she can’t wear them. And I cry when she does wear them.”
Then they offered him a bomb-pop-shaded Popsicle while the sea lions paraded into the cool pool to music and applause.
“I’m HUNGRY!” Puck announced.
Two granola bars over two snack breaks. Ivy offered little tomatoes to both boys also, but they weren’t much interested.
Puck had never been on the little train that’s been chugging around the animal park for the last fifty years. Candy striped tops. So we got our four tickets’ worth. Rolling through dark tunnels, bamboo woods.
Puck begged a second round at the penguin house…
“I’m HUNGRY!” he declared.
“Let’s get something to snack on in the shade,” Ivy suggested.
A small bowl of rainbow Dip ‘n Dots for my son and waffle cones stuffed with sweet and creamy vanilla [for me] and chocolate for Ivy and Peter.
“I’m HUNGRY!” Puck announced.
I let him finish off my cone.
After the sea lion feeding involving further tricks and flying silver fish, they allowed a brief Q&A…
“Can you make them talk?” Peter shouted out.
“Actually, we don’t make the animals do anything. We ask them to. And it doesn’t look like he’s feeling up to it right now…”
Then Puck yelled out before I could stop him…
“What are those starfish for on the fence?”
“Those are just for decoration.”
She was probably a little annoyed, considering these were the only two questions asked out of the hot crowd behind her.
“Oooh! Could I have one of these?” Puck asked for probably the 23rd time, unraveling a plush red snake from a passing store barrel.
“He sounds like me,” Peter grinned.
“Yeah, if Puck wasn’t asking for it already, Peter would be,” Ivy laughed.
“As long as someone’s doing it,” I reasoned.
We crashed at Rose’s place for a couple of hours after that. Caught up on school readings, which lead to further conversations and ideas. Puck, as usual, saw the world through a little Minecraft…
“So God just had to spawned two people, and then all the people of the earth would be spawn-ded?”
Because the week was just going to get busy and The Bear wouldn’t be around on his birthday anyway, we celebrated early. This meant The Bear making illusions with French fries at Penn Station for Puck. Wide eyes, bright eyes…
“Do it AGAIN, DAD!”