Fifty-two-year-old Sanjit Hasan and his young assistant Luke had been opening up the City Zoo for ten years now.
They did other jobs at the zoo – fixing signs and cages, handing out maps, cleaning up39 – but their first task every day was to open the gates.
Sanjit looked forward to it. He often said to Luke that opening the gates was like taking a deep healthy breath of morning air, and today was no exception. It was a lovely morning. The sun was rising above the Aviary and, checking his watch, bang on 9.30am he put the key in the lock. He turned it with a satisfying click, then, as ever, he took the right-hand gate, and Luke took the left-hand one, and together they opened them. As the gates began to move, Sanjit always looked out to check the pavement was clear of litter, or anything else that might disturb prospective customers to the zoo on their way in to see the animals.
Sanjit looked out. The pavement was clear of litter. However, what it wasn’t clear of, was animals.
He stopped moving the gate, and blinked a couple of times, wondering if maybe today he hadn’t woken up properly, and was still dreaming. But even after he had stopped blinking, they were all still there, just sitting, as if waiting. He opened his mouth to speak, but then Luke said, blankly:
“A horse, a piglet, two bigger pigs, three sheep, a cat and a dog.”
“Yes,” said Sanjit. “I can see that. Hold the gate a minute.”
Luke stopped opening his half of the gate. Sanjit looked at his assistant, who he knew not to be the sharpest claw in the lion cage.
Luke looked back at him, and then at the animals again. “Have they got out?”
“Eh?” said Sanjit.
“From the zoo. Do you think they escaped?”
Sanjit frowned. “Er … do we have a horse, a piglet, two bigger pigs, three sheep, a cat and a dog on show at the zoo? I mean: none of them are, y’know, endangered species.”
Luke thought about this for some time. “Yeah, but what about the little zoo? The one for kids?”
“The petting zoo, you mean?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Sanjit considered this. He couldn’t remember exactly which animals were in the petting zoo. There was a cockerel, he knew that, because its infernal shouting always disturbed his morning tea. But he thought it was possible that the list also included horses, pigs, sheep, cats and dogs.
And he didn’t want to appear less on the case – as regards the possibility of escaped animals – than Luke. And turning to look at the line of cute faces, he did think that they looked quite sad and lost. So he said:
“OK, let’s get them in and check.”
“OK,” said Luke, and carried on opening his half of the gate. Sanjit did the same. And when the gate was completely open, all the animals trooped inside.
