Daydream Believer

xi. lions and tigers

xi. lions and tigers

It was a hot summer morning. The sun was just peeking its rays over the horizon when Daddy woke me up. "Wake up McKenna," he said. "We're going to the zoo today."

"The zoo?" I asked. I was still really tired.

"Yep!" Daddy said. "It's just you and me."

I smiled and got out of bed. This was going to be fun. I wanted to see all of the animals, and now I was going to. I grabbed Bronto and walked out the door.

I got in Daddy's car. I knew the drive to the zoo was really long, so I took a few books. Daddy got into the car too and we started driving away. He put on my favorite CD and I started singing along.

I want to turn the whole thing upside down
I'll find the things they say just can't be found
I'll share this love I find with everyone
We'll sing and dance to Mother Nature's songs
I don't want this feeling to go away

I got bored though. "Are we there yet?" I asked Daddy.

"Almost!" Daddy said.

We pulled into the parking lot. "Are we going to see any dinosaurs?" I asked.

"No," Daddy said. "All of the dinosaurs died a long time ago."

That wasn't true. Bronto was right here. There was also Strawberry and the dinosaur at school. I decided the dinosaur at school was Bronto's long lost twin. Maybe dinosaurs were just too cool to have at a zoo.

"We'll see lots of other animals though," Daddy said.

"Like what?" I asked.

"Let's go and see!" Daddy said as he got out of the car. I followed him into the zoo. Daddy got us a map and handed it to me. I didn't know some of the words, but there were pictures. There were tigers and zebras and dolphins and penguins and bears, but no dinosaurs. I still wanted to see the animals though.

"Where do you want to go first?" Daddy asked. I pointed at the monkeys. "Those are all the way across the zoo. We'll get to them later. Maybe we can see the bears first?"

I nodded and followed Daddy to go see the bears. A few minutes later, we saw a big white bear.

"That's a polar bear," Daddy said.

The polar bear splashed around in the water. Then it got up and walked around, sort of like how I walked around my room sometimes. The polar bear then jumped back in the water and started playing with a ball. People started crowding around the polar bear. I stayed close to Daddy.

"It's okay sweetheart," Daddy said. "Let's go see the monkeys."

Daddy and I walked to the monkey exhibit. There were lots of monkeys swinging through the trees. One came close to the glass.

"Hi Monkey," I said. The monkey didn't respond. I waited, but the monkey went away. Still, I couldn't help but stare at the cute little monkeys.

Daddy put his hand on my shoulder. "Are you having a good time?" he asked.

"Yes," I told Daddy. "I'm having a great time."