Coco At The Zoo

Coco’s blue bandana fluttered in the warm morning breeze as he stood beneath the tall zoo gate. Above him, bright letters curved across a golden sign. Birds chirped in the trees, children laughed nearby, and somewhere deep inside the zoo, an animal gave a soft, rumbling call.

Coco lifted his little white nose. He smelled fresh grass, sweet fruit, and something warm and grassy that he did not know. His paws tingled with excitement.

“Where should I start?” he wondered.

The gate stood open. Beyond it, paths curled in many directions. One path went past a pond. Another slipped under shady trees. A third led toward a row of tall fences. Each path had a sign, and each sign had words and pictures.

Coco trotted closer to the biggest signboard. It was almost as tall as a house. A colorful map covered the front.

Coco tilted his head to the left.

Then he tilted it to the right.

A blue line twisted around a green patch. A red line crossed a yellow line. Tiny pictures showed birds, monkeys, lions, elephants, and other animals. There were arrows, stars, numbers, and little circles.

Coco placed one paw against the bottom of the sign.

“Maybe the star means the best place,” he said.

He followed the dotted line with his eyes. It curled around the map, disappeared behind a picture of a tree, and came out beside a picture of a snack shop.

“That cannot be right,” Coco murmured. “I am not looking for a snack shop first.”

His tummy gave a small growl.

Coco looked at the snack shop again.

“Maybe later,” he said.

A bright yellow arrow pointed toward the left. Coco walked left and found another sign. This one had a picture of a bird and a word he could not read. He turned around and followed the arrow to the right instead.

That brought him back to the big map.

Coco blinked.

The map seemed to have moved, though he knew it had not.

He walked around the signboard. On the back were two wooden posts and a small spiderweb shining with dew. No path. No animals. No answer.

Coco sat down beneath the sign. The ground felt cool under his paws. The zoo sounded busy all around him. Water splashed. Wings flapped. A monkey called from far away. The many sounds mixed together until Coco could not tell which way they came from.

He pressed his blue bandana with one paw.

“I want to choose the best place,” he whispered. “But I do not know which way is which.”

A soft bell rang near the gate. Coco looked up. A zoo keeper walked past, carrying a small bucket. The keeper smiled at Coco, but kept going toward a side path.

Coco stood. Perhaps that was the way to start.

He followed the keeper for a few steps, then stopped. The path turned near a quiet garden. A little sign showed a leaf, but Coco could not tell what the leaf meant. Was it a garden? A rest place? A path to animals?

He went back to the map.

This time, he tried using his nose. The left path smelled like water and wet stones. The middle path smelled like flowers and straw. The right path carried the strongest animal smell of all.

Coco sniffed again.

The sound came too. A deep, gentle rumble rolled through the air.

His ears perked.

“Maybe that is a good place to begin,” he said.

He looked at the map one more time. The animal pictures were still confusing, but the rumbling sound was real. It came from somewhere beyond the paths. Coco could follow his ears and his nose instead of the winding lines.

He took one step toward the right-hand path.

Then a loud trumpet burst across the zoo.

Coco froze.

The sound was not angry, but it was huge. It shook the air and made the metal gate ring. Coco’s fur puffed around his ears. He tucked his paws close and glanced back at the safe, familiar entrance.

For a moment, he wanted to sit beneath the sign again.

A second sound followed, softer this time. It was a low rumble, like a big animal humming to itself.

Coco breathed in.

The zoo gate was still behind him. The path was still in front of him. He did not have to hurry. He could take one small step, then another.

A little breeze brushed his face. His blue bandana lifted and settled against his neck.

“I can listen carefully,” Coco told himself. “And I can turn back if I need to.”

He walked to the edge of the right-hand path. Small stones pressed gently beneath his paws. Sunlight made bright spots on the ground. The path curved between green bushes, and the animal sounds grew clearer.

Coco paused beside a wooden post. A sign hung from it, but the picture was partly hidden by a leafy branch. He reached up and nudged the branch with his nose. It sprang back, tickling his whiskers.

Coco sneezed.

“Ach-oo!”

A pair of sparrows fluttered from the bush. They flew across the path and landed on a low fence. Coco watched them hop from rail to rail.

“Are you going that way?” he asked.

The sparrows chirped and flew toward the deep rumbling sound.

Coco smiled. That was answer enough.

He followed the path, staying close to the fence. Soon he saw another sign....