“Please, please, please! I beg you!” pleaded Eric. “You can’t put Gertrude down! She’s my best friend in the world!”

The boy burst into tears.

“I wun this zoo, not you! It is the only solution for that beast!” thundered Frown.

He checked the time on his gold pocket watch that nestled in his waistcoat.

“Boy! You should be in school soon! Now huwwy home. I need to have words with your gweat-uncle!”

Sid gulped.

“GULP!”

He knew what was coming.

“What’s going to happen to him?” asked the boy, wiping away his tears with his soggy sleeve.

“That is none of your business. Now please leave the pwemises at once. And this time don’t come back. I never, ever, EVER want to see you in my zoo again! You have been warned, you wascal!”

“I can’t let you hurt Gertrude! I won’t!”

At that moment, a tall, broad lady in a crumpled white coat marched into the room. Batter, who was pacing behind, looked positively tiny next to her. She wore a monocle over one of her eyes, both as dark as night. Her greying hair was arranged like a bird’s nest. When she grinned ghoulishly, she revealed the blackest teeth you ever did see. In her hand she held a syringe with a strange purple liquid inside.

“Ah, good morning, Miss Gnarl!” chirped Frown.

Miss Gnarl merely growled in reply. “GRRR!”

The startling sound made Eric tremble.

“It is with some sadness that I command you to put down the gowilla!” announced Frown.

“GRRR! GR! GRRRR!” she replied.

“What did she say?” asked Frown, frowning.

“Let me translate for you, sir!” offered Batter. “I have learned to speak Gnarl. She said, ‘It would be a great pleasure, Sir Frederick!’”

“Jolly good!” replied Frown, although from his face it looked as if he wasn’t convinced this was what she’d really said. “Thank you!”

The vet held her syringe aloft, her dark eyes widening with delight. She turned on the heel of her boot to make her way to the door.

“NOT YET!” ordered Frown. “It will have to be done tonight as soon as the zoo closes. We wouldn’t want the public to see. Might upset the childwen.”

Miss Gnarl didn’t look convinced as she shook her head and growled again. “GRRR! GR! GGGR!”

“What did she say?” asked Frown.

“Miss Gnarl says, ‘But I like upsetting the children, sir,’” translated Batter.

“I am well aware of that, Miss Gnarl, but that is my order! As soon as the zoo closes tonight, you may put down the gowilla!”

“NO!” cried Eric. “I beg you! NO!” He sank to his knees in desperation, his eyes stinging with tears. “Please don’t do this! You can’t kill Gertrude! She’s the kindest, gentlest animal in this zoo! If she could speak human, I know she’d promise never to escape from her cage ever again!”

“I can’t listen to any more of this nonsense!” declared Frown. “Boy! I want you out of my zoo fowever!”

“BUT – BUT – BUT—!”

“NOW!” he barked.

Sid nodded for Eric to go. The boy hung his head. He couldn’t bear to look at Frown, Batter or the terrifying Gnarl. He traipsed out of the room, utterly defeated, and closed the door behind him. To his surprise, the corridor was empty. So he lingered there, placing his ear up against the keyhole.

“Sidney Pwatt!” announced Frown grandly. “You are fired fwom this zoo!”

“But, sir…” pleaded the man, “I have given my whole life to this zoo!”

“No ‘buts’!”

“No one can take care of the animals like I do!”

“If your idea of taking care of these cweatures is letting them escape from their cages while a child is on the pwemises, then you should never be let near a zoo again!”

“SIR?”

“Batter! Escort this man off the pwemises at once!”

“With pleasure, sir!” snarled Batter.

“Miss Gnarl, I will see you the moment the zoo closes!”

“GRRR! GRRRR! GRR! GRRRRRR! GGGRRRR! GR! GGGGGR! GRRRRRRRRR! GR! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!”

“What did she say?” asked Frown.

“‘Yes!’” translated Batter.

The boy heard the sound of Sid’s tin legs clanking towards the door.

CLINK! CLANK! CLUNK!

Eric darted down the corridor and hid round a corner. From there, he watched in sorrow as Sid was marched out of the building by Batter.

Left to his own devices, Eric tiptoed off to see his friend. Was this to be his final glimpse of her? It was still early, and the zoo hadn’t opened to visitors yet. As the mist cleared, he found her cage.

The gorilla was stirring.

“Gertrude!” hissed the boy. “GERTRUDE!”

On hearing her friend’s voice, the gorilla sat straight up. She looked funny, all covered in straw. Spotting the boy, she smiled, oblivious to the terrible fate that awaited her.

“HEE!” exclaimed the gorilla.

“Shush!” shushed the boy, putting his finger to his lips. He didn’t want Batter to find him here.

The gorilla put her sausage finger to her lips too. The boy couldn’t help but smile.

“I love you, Gertrude. I really do,” said the boy.

The gorilla tilted her head, as if she were trying to understand.

Eric tried again. This time he mimed. He touched his heart, and then put his hand up to the cage.

To his surprise, the gorilla did the same. She put her hand on her heart, and then met his hand on the other side of the metal.

As their palms touched, tears beaded in the boy’s eyes.

“This isn’t goodbye. It can’t be. I will find a way, Gertrude. Trust me. I’ll find a way.”

Fumbling in his trouser pocket, he found one last raisin. He pushed it through the bars.

The gorilla took it, shook her head and passed it back to him. The boy opened his mouth and she pushed the raisin in.

The boy chewed it and smiled. She smiled too.

Then a look of worry crossed the gorilla’s face, and at that moment Eric felt a firm hand on his shoulder.

“YOU! OUT!”

The boy turned round. It was Batter.

Without another word, he marched the boy away from the cage in the direction of the exit. Eric turned back towards Gertrude, with his hand on his heart again. Gertrude being Gertrude did the same.

It couldn’t be the last time Eric ever saw her.

It just couldn’t.