Caged

Eight - Nieve

I don't pay too much attention to the man in the ticket booth as I try and keep Peter from wandering off. He starts complaining, but I shush him. There's some kind of problem, and another man takes over.

Once he gives us our tickets, mum says, "I don't know why you want to come back here again, Nieve. Still, if it's what you want... You know what to do. I have a conference in ten minutes. Will you be alright on your own? I should be about two hours. Have you got your phone?" I nod, sighing. Mum always has conferences, so I've learnt to look after Peter on my own.

"Alright then, here's some money for lunch. Remember, not too much chocolate or coke, and try and eat something decent! That cafe we ate at yesterday was nice..."

"I know, mum! I've done this before!" I cut through her rant, rolling my eyes. She'll go on for hours if I don't stop her. "Go! We'll be fine, and you're late."

"Oh. Well, okay." She says, checking her watch and panicking slightly. "Peter, sweetie, do what your sister says, alright? Be good now. I'll see you soon."

"Love you mama." Peter says, hugging her.

"Love you too. Now, I've really got to go! Are you sure you don't mind?"

"Mum! Go!" I laugh.

"Thanks, sweetheart. What would I do without you?"

"You couldn't cope!" I grin, waving her away. "Seriously, mum, go!"

Laughing, she hurries away.

"Come on, Peter." I say, and it's all the encouragement he needs. He drags me along, hurrying to get inside, and I let him pull me.

It's Saturday, so the zoo is filled with huge crowds. Dodging between all the other families, I make sure to keep hold of my brothers hand. If I let go, I'll never find him again.

Fortunately, Peter's nervous of all the people. He's only small, and can't see where we're going, so he keeps close to me. I wince as he grips my hand tightly but don't complain.

I have to shout to make myself heard over the clamour of other people's conversation, but I tell him, "If you get lost, ask a member of staff to take you to customer services, okay? The staff are in green with white labels saying zoo staff and a name on them."

Peter nods.

Muttering apologies to the people I push - though I doubt they can hear me - I make a path through the crowd. I head onto one of the smaller paths to escape the crush. Most of the people along it know where they're going, so it's quieter here.

"Where do you want to go?" I ask Peter, and he grins at me.

"To see the elephants!" He demands.

"Elephants are along here - how did I know?" I ask him in mock surprise. "And let me guess, rhinos after that?"

"Yeah!" He squeals, and I laugh at him.

"Come on then."

I let Peter have as much time as he likes to look at the elephants and rhinos. Mum always tries to pull him away after a few minutes, but he has a short attention span anyway. I love seeing all the animals up close, but I hate zoos. It's cruel to keep all the animals locked up away from their natural habitats.

When he gets bored, he'll just come up to me and say another animal, and off we'll go again.

"Rhinos!" He demands after watching the elephants for two minutes.

"Can we go see the lions?" He asks after five minutes with the rhinos. Then I get, "Bats? Tigers? Bears? Zebras?"

After the zebras, Peter wanted to see the one thing I was here for. "Werewolves!" He says, excitedly.