Posted in Posted by Lemony Snicket
Hello everyone! Snicket here. Jack and Spy have been asking me to post some of my NaNoWriMo story, so that is what I'm here to do. And before you read this I must inform you; This story is not written with teens in mind, it's more of a young children's story. One more thing, I'm not done with it, so R.K. have mercy on me!
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Anya woke up knowing it was going to be a good day. Her parents were at work, as usual, and she had breakfast with Riley and Kayla as she always did, but she had a feeling this day would turn out to be special. As soon as she did her daily chores, she headed over with her brother and sister to the zoo.
The ticket taker let them though with a smile and said, “You three are here earlier than normal.”
They walked though the turn style and entered into the zoo. All of the employees either tipped their hat at them or greeted them with a friendly, “Hello.” They looked at the elephants, tigers, and giraffes before they spotted their parents near the monkeys. Kayla and Anya ran towards them, but Riley skated there.
“You all got here just in time!” Mom exclaimed, “We were just about feed the monkeys. You want to join us?”
“Yes!” they all replied.
Dad unlocked the cage door and they all went in. It was a big mess and Anya was glad she wasn’t the one who needed to clean it. They struggled through the “jungle” and arrived at the feeding platform. It was covered in orange and banana remains and hungry monkeys.
Almost everything having to do with the monkeys was messy. The feeding, the cleaning, it was all icky. Dad was typically the one who did all the cleaning and Mom did the feeding. Anya could never understand how Dad could tolerate cleaning when he could be doing even more fun jobs.
Riley, Anya, and Kayla were aloud to play with the animals while their parents were doing work. The monkeys were the most fun to play with because they were always curious about what things were and how they worked. One of them stole Riley’s skateboard right from under his feet.
Both of the girls wanted to be zoologist when they grew up, but Riley couldn’t decide between that or a professional skateboarder. He always said, “Tricky ramps and thick leaves, crazy skateboarders and wild animals, all the same to me!”
Once the monkeys were fed, Mom and Dad told them to sit down. They all found a rock to sit on and were all ears.
Dad started by saying, “I know you all have been telling us you want summer jobs to earn some money, right?”
They all nodded, and liked where this was going.
Dad began again. “And Mom and I know you all love the zoo. Well, we thought, because we don’t have anyone to work there yet, that you might want to work with the penguins.”
They all looked at each other, confused. Riley finally said, “But, there aren’t any penguins at this zoo.”
“No, not yet. We’re getting them next week.”
Anya and Riley were in shock, and Kayla was the first to respond. She jumped up, started dancing, and exclaimed, “Oh, wow, we’re getting penguins! I love penguins!”
After a few minutes, Anya finally spoke. “Ok, so, what do we need to do to earn our pay?”
“You need to do the feeding and cleaning, and in your spare time, you can find something fun to do with them.”
All three of them were so excited, and they really had nothing more to say.
That week was long and dull. Anya couldn’t enjoy anything until the penguins had arrived. She didn’t care about going to the movies, or eating out, she just wanted them to come immediately.
A week later, Anya, Kayla, and Riley were sitting on the bench at the zoo, just waiting for them. An hour had passed, then two, then three. They felt like they couldn’t enjoy anything until they could finally just see them.
Then, the moment they were waiting for happened. A truck with a trailer attached to it drove into the zoo grounds. The three of them were hopeful of what it was and followed it to the empty penguin exhibit.
They had a hard time keeping up with the truck, but when they arrived at their destination they were not disappointed. The man who was driving opened the back door on the trailer and out walked about 30 small penguins, wearing their suits very nicely. Kayla’s reaction was sheer joy, Anya’s was happiness of actually being able to see them, and Riley’s was wondering if they were smart enough to learn to skateboard.
Mom and Dad were there and Mom cried, “Oh, aren’t they just so sweet? I’m sure the zoo will gain much more popularity with them here. We really need it, this little zoo has been having some struggles, but these little guys will be a big help!”
Dad said nothing, he just smiled and smiled.
Kayla was going crazy, and not even a safe with ten locks could keep her from rushing towards them. Anya thought when Kayla ran to them, they would take off, but they were very calm and just looking at their surroundings.
Kayla exclaimed, “Mom, can we name them and play with them and teach them tricks? Can we?”
“Sure, but I don’t know how you will be able to name them. There are 15 boys and 15 girls, and they all look the same.”
“We can do it! We could put a label around their legs saying their name!”
Everyone was surprised that a seven year old girl could come up with such an idea, and that’s what they decided to do.
Riley named his ten Rusty, Allan, Dylan, Andy, Samuel, Carla, Erica, Missy, Jill, and Penny. Kayla named some Flipper, Swimmer, Jumper, Pecker, Flapper, Princess, Cutie, Queeny, Sweetie, and Hannah. Anya named hers William, John, Henry, George, Phillip, Victoria, Elizabeth, Marie, Katherine, and Isabella.
Kayla thought the penguins were very happy with the names she picked for them. Riley thought they wanted to hide their faces in shame.
All three of them were having one of their best summers ever. In their spare time, they tried to teach the penguins some tricks. Riley taught his group of ten to skateboard, Anya taught them how to “sing”, and Kayla taught them how to “dance”.
These tricks were a hit with the crowd. They would see the skateboard in there and think, “Why on earth would a penguin want to play with a skateboard?” Riley would throw out some fish and a penguin would jump on it and roll towards the fish. They would spontaneously dance around in a circle and whenever Anya some fish over their heads they would start “singing”.
When they weren’t with the penguins, they were out talking to the crowd, asking them how they liked the zoo and which animal was their favorite. Everyone they saw was so friendly.
There was one person in particular though, that was rather strange. A big man, in his mid thirties, with a shaved head and a tattoo here and there, would come everyday and watch the penguins. He did not seem amused by all the tricks they did, he was just always in a focused stare. He was the kind of man a kid would prefer to not look at and walk straight past, and that’s what most all of the kids did.
Anya was the first to notice this mysterious man. It was 5:00, closing time, and he was still there, in a locked gaze. Anya really didn’t want to say anything to him, but Riley, Mom and Dad, and all of the other employees were nowhere to be seen, so she had to deal with him.
“Excuse me sir,” she said in a timid voice, “I don’t mean to bother you, but the zoo is closing for today.”
All he did was grunt and walk off. Anya was glad he didn’t do anything worse.
For the next few days, he would go through the same pattern; Arrive at the exact time when it opened, stayed all day (accept for when he left to get lunch in the zoo cafeteria), and leave at closing.
One day, on Riley’s break, he was headed over to get something to eat, when he heard the odd man talking on his cell phone in a soft tone, as if he was trying to keep a secret, saying, “Yes, I know, I’ll get them, don’t you worry.”
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