Free The Zoo at the Edge of the World by Eric Kahn Gale

late!” Leedo Flute burst into the staff room in a huff. “It’s a very busy day—sometimes I get behind!”
    He took the worksheet out of my hand and laid it on the table, then pushed past me and grabbed the capybara. “I don’t need a little boy doing my job for me all the time.” He tucked the capy under his arm. “You trying to get me in trouble with your father?”
    The capybara squealed, “Help!”
    I tried to grab it out of Leedo’s hands, but he swatted me away.
    â€œWhat’s the point talking to you anyway?” He pushed past me into the main room of the Snake House. “Leedo does his job—don’t let anybody say different.”
    â€œSS—s—ST—ST-aaa-aaa—” I stuttered.
    The whole day, I’d been completely fluent, but now I was a stutterer again, and my voice was useless. I had to catch him. But he was moving so fast that by the time I managed to get a hand on his belt, he was already at the feeding chute of Dead Eyes’s display.
    He turned around and looked at me.
    â€œYeah, Marlin? What is it?”
    He opened the hatch and dropped the capybara down the chute. It closed with a metallic clang, and the creature slid down into the anaconda’s chamber.
    I pushed Leedo out of the way, opened the chute, and shot my hand down, trying to pull the little creature out. An earthquake of movement rose up against my hand and forced it out of the chute. The hatch slammed shut and Dead Eyes was still.
    It was over.
    Â 
    I chose to neglect work for the rest of the day. At the dinner table that evening, I found myself unhappily presented with a plate of sliced duck.
    I didn’t touch it.
    I couldn’t even look.

Second Night
    We know this resort comes highly recommended. If you hadn’t read the thrilling accounts and seen the etchings in the newspapers, you wouldn’t have sailed all the way to the Edge of the World.
    We know you had high expectations when you arrived.
    But did you imagine that the jungle would be this beautiful? The picture books and travelogues pale in comparison to its wonder. Dark mysteries and unspeakable secrets are being revealed to you one by one.
    Tonight, we invite you to gaze up at the stars and let your imagination soar through a guided tour of the night sky: the home of the Jungle Gods.
    The native people of this land have long seen their guardians in the constellations. Join Heppa, our resident artist and storyteller, as she regales you with tales of the Old Times and the Gods That Dance in the Sky.
    You may snicker to hear it, but many natives still believe these stories are true. And while we can’t vouch for the tales’ authenticity, be assured they are wonderful legends that may leave you thinking of them long after the telling is done.

13.
    â€œB efore the people of your world came to this place, the Gods of the Night danced through the sky.”
    Heppa stood before an assembled crowd of guests and raised her arms. “When I was a small child, I saw them dance. I can still remember this.”
    I didn’t attend Heppa’s starlight routine much anymore. I’d heard all the stories a hundred times, but Father had tasked Tim and me, and a few workers, with moving animals in preparation for the circus the next day. We were to do it at midnight, so I had a few hours to kill.
    I suppose I also may have been feeling reflective.
    We were on the Great Lawn, with blankets and woven mats spread across the grass by the dozens. The guests were huddled in groups of families and friends. They had been given small telescopes to view the night sky, and servants were making their way from blanket to blanket handing out chilled milk with cocoa beans.
    â€œThey aren’t dancing now!” a man with a long black mustache called out. The lady guest in the red hat from Heppa’s painting class turned and scowled at him from where she sat, up front with the rest of the