Laptop open, sun warming behind as you prepare to work. It’s not too hot, but a reprieve from the cool breeze threatening goosebumps down your arms. The zoo brings in animals, close enough to touch, but too far away for them to notice you at all.
Even with headphones on, there’s no dampening of sound from the screeches and roars. The lions call out for the other animals above the chatter. They circle around, ensuring everyone is in their place. They clean up the messes as their duty, heads down and focused. They move like they’ve rehearsed this dance a thousand times before. But if you look closely, they dare a glance at the sun, hoping to reach it before it fades away.
A hoard of birds fly in, swarming the lions, demanding and careless. The lions give them what they want. They’re loud and reckless, taking more space than required. Just as they came, they all leave as one.
It’s distracting, trying to work in this zoo with new animals striding in and out as the hours pass by. They come to the lions with requests, most of them the same, some believe they are special. The seemingly endless stampedes rush the lions and each time, the lions serve with smiles that almost seem real.
Mother bears with their unruly cubs who wander unknowingly into the lion’s den. The lions don’t seem to mind and fulfill the mother bears’ requests, just the same as the rest. As the mother bear soaks in the sun, you lock eyes and know it isn’t nearly enough. Too soon, the mother bears wrangle their cubs and leave the same way they came.
One cannot help but wonder where they all come from and where they are going. Some beasts don’t even approach the lions before basking in the sun. Most leave with more than they came with, offering less than they took.
A pair of wolves, supposedly bound in name but not in gaze, make their way to the lions. Each steals glances at others, longing for something that can never be theirs. As they leave, they’ll never know their wandering eyes were seen.
A cat strolls in, not daring to be seen by the lions and sits lazily in the corner. It doesn’t watch the others, lost in their own world. It shifts, corner to corner until it finds the spot it will keep long after the rest leave.
Hours have passed and it’s impossible to tell where the zoo ends and the coffee shop begins. And when you pack up your tangle of wires, discard the last watered down sips of latte, and walk out the doors, the animals keep coming and the zoo goes on, indifferent, as though you were never there.
