Free Zoo by Tara Elizabeth Page B

time. I’m not sure how I feel about that.
“Doesn’t matter. You know what? You can have it. My hut. I can’t
sleep here with that going on.” I point to Janice’s hut while
pushing myself up off the ground.
    “ I can’t take it, it’s
yours,” he says.
    “ Not anymore. Really, take
it.” I snatch my blanket off the ground and push my way through the
thick ferns, searching for a new place to call home. I decide
against the waterfall area before I set off, because I figure if I
had to listen to it all night, I’d probably have to get up and pee
every two seconds. So, off I go in the middle of the night, toward
the front of the enclosure.
    I burst out of the jungle into the open
space and realize that I don’t really want to sleep next to the
glass either. I also don’t want to sleep next to the latrines or
the cow. Where am I going to go?
    I finally settle for curling up at the base
of the apple tree. It’s the only place that will block me from a
direct line of sight to the public, though not well. The ground
here is knotty from the roots. There’s a shallow dip between two of
them, and I seem to fit comfortably in the hollow.
    As I lie there, I can hear laughter—joyful
laughter of men and women. It’s coming from somewhere beyond our
enclosure. I hadn’t heard it when I was in my hut. Odd. I peek
around the trunk of the tree and look into the night for its
source. Through the window of James’ home, I see four shadowed
people sitting around a table, their images flicker by
candlelight.
    Four people. Not three.

JAMES HAS RETURNED!
     
    He’s finally back! It feels like it’s been
an eternity. I can’t imagine what could have kept him away for so
long. I’m excited and jealous at the same time. I’m envious of the
girls that he will now be sharing his enclosure with. I don’t want
him laughing with them or getting to know them in a way he can’t
get to know me. It’s ridiculous to be jealous over someone I’ve
never met, but I’ve enjoyed our conversations. I don’t want it to
end.
    I watch them through the building’s dimly
lit window, even though I can’t see much. I watch until someone
blows the candles out for the night. No one leaves the building to
go to the other wooden structure. They are all sleeping under the
same roof tonight. I don’t want to think about who will be sleeping
where.
    Suddenly, the hollow between the tree roots
isn’t so comfortable, and I feel agitated just like I did before I
came to lie in it. James was the one good thing about this place,
and now I feel like I’ve lost him. Although, he was never really
mine to begin with.
    The night seems to take forever to pass.
I’ve barely slept as I have been anxiously waiting for the sun to
rise so I can meet James at the glass wall to talk. He probably
won’t even meet me, since he’s got a gorgeous brunette waiting to
be impregnated by him.
    I uncurl myself and climb out of the hole
that I sought refuge in for the night. My body is sore and rigid,
so I stretch before going to the waterfall to fill my pouch. First
I reach my arms up high, and then I twist side-to-side. I notice
that the sky is clear today like most days, and I admire it for the
briefest moment. When I’m done stretching, I sneak past the bamboo
huts. Everyone is still asleep, and it seems like Kale took my
former sleep space after all, because he is no longer lying outside
its door.
    The sound of splashing
water is audible now as I approach the waterfall. I’m about to push
through the foliage when I see Kale bathing. So , he’s not sleeping after all. His
skin is bare down to his waist where the water graciously covers
the rest of his unclothed body. My cheeks burn from embarrassment.
I go to turn away, but stop.
    Now I can see the black tattoos on his back
that his shirt hid before. The patterns cover most of his back and
make a sleeve down his left arm. He turns, and I can see that they
even creep over a small portion of his muscular chest. I