What's Left Behind

The Zoo

The park adventure had been a much needed outing for both of the Banners.

Isabelle had more bottled up energy than Bruce had ever thought possible, and she had dragged him all over, starting at Belvedere Castle, where she made it to the top of the tower less than half the time that it took him. He was thankful for his Starkphone, and the stranger who was more than happy to take a picture of the visiting father and daughter duo, though the young man did seem to give Bruce a second glance as they thanked him and went on there way, like he was trying to place where he had seen the doctor before.

As they walked, Bruce told Isabelle of Seneca Village, the home place of a large community of free Black Americans in the 1800s, which was further off from where they were, but Bruce felt it was an important bit of history he could not ignore the opportunity to educate her on.

It took them close to half an hour to navigate their way from the castle to the Central Park Zoo, Isabelle's other 'must do' for their first trip to the park, though Bruce had promised to make it a habit to bring her more, and Belle even made him pinky-swear.

Bruce had never been able to take her to a zoo before, between working and trying to care for her needs alone, or being on the run, and Isabelle had wanted to visit one for a very long time. He made her hold tight to his hand, both for her safety around so many strangers and to keep her from zipping off faster than he could catch her. She was bouncing as she walked, telling her father facts about lemurs as she hopped along beside him. She had recently decided they were her new favorite animal after a trip to the library ended with a book about lemurs

"Did you know that even though the small island of Madagascar is the only place they are found, there are over a hundred kinds of lemurs?" Belle ask excitedly as Bruce stopped to look at the map, so he could plan their route to the lemurs the quickest. A path of stops on their way well planned, they set off on their tour.

"Which one is your favorite?" Bruce ask, encouraging her to continue to tell him more.

"Eulemur flavifrons, often known coequally as the 'Blue eyed Black Lemurs'." Belle answered quickly. "They are the only primate other than humans to have naturally occurring blue irises. Also their name doesn't make the most sense, which I think is kind of delightful."

At this, Bruce could not help but snort and then burst into a fit of laughter. It was enough to make Belle stop walking and cross her arms.

"What?" She ask, looking up at her father, annoyed.

"Nothing, that was just... You're precious, kid." Bruce said, pinching her nose. "Tell me why Blue eyed black lemurs name doesn't make any sense."

"Because they aren't all black." Belle said after a moment of serious consideration. "They come in solid black, orange with black faces, or solid orange fur. So it really isn't a fitting term. Though true to much of animal science, the name comes from the male of the species, as the males are the ones who are black furred. They are a sexually dichromatic species. Of course there was no thought to the girls when the name was given." Belle explained with a roll of her eyes.

Bruce could not help himself as he started to laugh again.

"What?!" Belle whined, getting more annoyed.

"You..." Bruce tried to talk between laughs as he attempted to stop laughing, and he cleared his throat. "Sorry, its just... You probably know more about these creatures than their keepers, you know that? And you just decided you liked them like... a week ago? You're an adorable little genius." Bruce shook his head. "I bet there isn't another kid in this zoo that could tell me what 'sexually dichromatic' even means."