Free Them

Chapter One

One day in Brazil there were fifteen screaming zoo animals. One of them was a 60 to 70 pound snake named Noodlebuckets. But let's backtrack.

Noodlebuckets was captivated by the life of Abraham Lincoln. He often read biographies of the historical figure, and yearned to one day dress up like him for Halloween. Abraham Lincoln's stance against slavery inspired Noodlebuckets to take up the cause of freeing the zoo animals like Lincoln freed the slaves. As a zoo animal himself, Noodlebuckets often felt the emptiness of living in cage. So, a few weeks before his birthday, he assembled a bunch of other animals to plan an escape.

Javier, an anteater, had a crush on Noodlebuckets. They often observed his graceful form from across the zoo, noting the intense expression on his face as he read Abraham Lincoln biographies and studied maps of the zoo. Javier's sister, a pigeon who often stole food from guests, met Noodlebuckets as she flew into the snake enclosure and asked him just what he was doing with that map.

"What are you doing, snake?"

Noodlebuckets looked up from his work and narrowed his eyes at her. "Can I trusssssssst you?" he asked.

"Of course. I am extremely trustworthy." said Javier's sister, "But could you kindly resist hissing like that? It's quite irritating."

"Oh, yes, I'm sorry." Noodlebuckets blushed a bit. It was such a bad habit, he always felt ashamed of it. He prided himself on being Not Your Stereotypical Snake. He never listened to pop music or drank coffee or watched television. He read books. And drank tea. And the music he listened to, well, you've never heard it.  Feeling compelled to hiss like that was so basic.

"So what's with the map? And the Lincoln book?"

"Abraham Lincoln," Noodlebuckets began dramatically, "is the most inspiring human I have ever read about. My heart stirs just thinking about it. He declared that all slaves in America were free! Freedom! How beautiful is that?!?"

Javier's sister was free herself, a fact which she took for granted. "Sure," she said.

"I have spent so much time locked away here, and I've spent that time thinking. If Abraham Lincoln was still alive, wouldn't he want me to be free? If he cared about slaves, surely he would care about me and my fellow zoo animals. But he's dead now. I was sad about that for a long time, but I've been thinking, and I realize now that instead of wishing he would free me, I can free myself. I can become my own Abraham Lincoln! That's what these maps are for." Noodlebuckets smiled, his eyes gleaming, and lowered his voice to a sibilant whisper. "I am planning an essscape."