How to Care for a Giraffe
Installment #7 is here. With snow falling and Scott threatening to reveal where Jerry is, Ina, Karl, and Mike take action. They must find out where Jerry came from and then get him back there. What started out as an adventure, with Jerry walking out of the zoo, has now turned into a mystery.
After dialing Linda’s number, Mike set the phone on the card table between the three of them. After the fourth ring, she answered and said hello.
“Hi, Linda, it’s Mike Carrigan again—”
“No, it’s not.”
Mike, Ina, and Karl shot each other surprised looks. Jerry, who had been eating, pushed his way between Karl and Mike, forcing Mike out of his chair. Mike pushed Jerry’s neck away with one hand while grabbing the phone with his other. Karl moved between Mike and Jerry. Ina didn’t move, staring at the phone and the shuffling bodies.
“I know you’re not Mike Carrigan,” Linda said. “I checked the caller ID.”
Mike took a deep breath. “Damn,” he said between gritted teeth. He looked at Ina before turning toward the phone. “Well…the phone isn’t mine, but I’m—”
“Someone else, and what are you doing? What’s all that racket?” Linda said. “I heard it before when you called, too.”
Ina winced and leaned toward to the phone. “Linda?” she said and waited.
Mike climbed on his chair and rubbed Jerry’s neck, as Karl continued to push. Jerry wouldn’t move.
After a few seconds, Linda responded, “Who’s talking?”
Ina grabbed the phone from Mike. “Me. Ina.”
“You sound like a kid.”
“I am a kid.”
“What’s going on? Is this a joke?”
“She’s scared,” Karl whispered over his shoulder.
“Who’s that?” Linda asked.
“It’s Karl,” Ina said, “and this isn’t a joke…believe me.”
“How many of you are there?”
“Just me, Karl, and Mike…not Mike Carrigan, but our friend…Mike.”
“I’m sorry, Linda,” Mike yelled, still trying to push Jerry away from the phone.
“What are you doing?” Linda asked.
“We’re trying to help, Jerry,” Ina said.
Linda’s rhythmic breathing wafted softly from the phone. Jerry relaxed enough for Karl and Mike to turn and stare at the phone.
“Where’s Jerry?” Linda screeched. And with that, Jerry knocked over the table and sent Karl and Mike scrambling to get out of the way. His nose sent the phone flying from Ina’s hand.
Ina and Mike lunged it as Karl whirled around and righted the table, Jerry hovering over them.
“What’s going on there?” Linda asked.
“Nothing.” Ina stepped away from the others, phone in hand. “Do you know why Jerry ran away from Catskills and Lincoln Park?”
Ina looked at the phone to make sure Linda hadn’t hung up.
“Listen.” Linda said after a long pause, her voice sounding distant. “I can get in big trouble. Catskills and Lincoln Park were trying to do what was best. Some of us knew, though, that Jerry needed to go home, but they wouldn’t listen. I’m just a kid, too.”
“A kid?” Karl mouthed.
“Tried to tell them what?” Ina shouted, her voiced straining, with Jerry in pursuit.
“That Jerry came from Africa,” Linda said, sounding annoyed. “I thought you knew that.”
“Yes,” Ina screamed, sending Jerry into a frenzy of half circles that knocked Mike off his chair. Karl jumped across the table and stood between Jerry and Ina, as Mike scampered up. Jerry, free from everyone, stopped and stared at them.
“Yes, Linda, we know that, and that’s what we want to do. We want to get him back to Africa.” Ina danced around the room. Jerry’s neck bending and twisting, following her movement.
“Do you know where he is?” Linda said.
Karl grabbed Ina’s arm and pulled the phone toward him. “How do you know he’s from Africa?”
“I’ve been studying African animals since I was in grade school,” Linda said. “And I work at Catskills. I’m going to be a zoologist.”
“Wow, that’s what I going to be, too,” Ina bellowed, drawing a surprised look from Karl.
“It was so obvious,” Linda continued, “when they brought him in that he was not domesticated. He was born in the wild. Everyone knew it, but no one wanted to try to explain how a giraffe from Africa ended up abused on a farm in upstate New York.”
“What happened?” Ina asked. “Tell me everything—"
“Uh, Linda, this is Mike.” Mike leaned toward the phone. Ina held it toward him. “Ina’s right. We need to know everything. We kinda knew the part about Africa, but none of this other stuff. We know Lincoln Park got Jerry from Catskills. We’re working backwards from there.”
“That makes sense,” Linda said. “She was quiet for a moment. “First, you need to tell me how you know Jerry, and where he is.”
“He’s here,” Ina said, pulling the phone toward her and turning away from the others, “and he’s trying to take the phone so he can speak with you.”
Linda giggled. Mike grimaced, as Karl smiled and shook his head.
“I know you won’t tell anyone,” Ina added defensively, looking at them. “We want to help Jerry get back to Africa.”
“Where’s there?” asked Linda.
“Chicago. In my garage.”
“Seriously?” Linda said.
“Seriously.”
“Holy guacamole!” Linda yelled. “I need to see him. Put me on FaceTime now.”
“Hi, Jerry, sweetie,” Linda said, her voice rising in pitch.
Ina stood on the ladder, holding the phone so Linda could see him.
“Oh baby, you look so good,” Linda said.
Jerry tried to rub his nose again the phone. He hummed loudly and bobbed his head.
“He’s definitely happy to see you.” Ina pulled the phone away, blocking Jerry’s onslaught with an arm. Linda looked to be about sixteen. “Baggy-beige-button-down bodacious shirt,” Ina whispered to herself. The Catskills Animal Park logo covered the left breast pocket. Below the logo was the word volunteer.
Ina turned the phone back toward Jerry but studied Linda as she talked. She had long wavy brown hair that spread across her shoulders and fell nearly to the logo. She was petite, with an almond shaped head and large eyes. Partially obscured by her glasses, her eye color was indecipherable, but Ina could see a few happy tears along the crevices.
“I like your glasses,” Ina said.
“Thanks.” Linda pushed the forest green frames up her nose. “He looks so good.”
“I know.” Ina smiled broadly. “He’s about to knock me off the ladder. He’s so excited. He remembers you.”
“We were best buds,” she said matter-of-factly.
Ina climbed down the ladder. “What happened?” she asked, as Jerry’s head swooped down by hers.
“Come on now, Jerry.” Mike pulled Jerry’s head away, and Jerry stepped back and turned to him.
“Who’s that…Mike?”
“Yep,” Ina held the phone up to show him. “And this is Karl.” She turned the phone toward Karl.
“Hi Mike and Karl,” Linda said loudly.
“Hi,” they said in unison.
“Are you the only three who know Jerry?”
“Yes, well, yes and no,” Ina said. “Another kid knows but not where he came from.”
“Is Mike your dad, or something?”
“No, he’s a friend.”
“Do you have parents?”
“Yes, they’re inside the house.”
Linda’s eyes narrowed. “Seriously, your parents don’t know you have a giraffe in your garage?”
Ina smiled. “No, and they can’t or…you know. So, what happened?” she asked again. How did Jerry get here…. from Africa?”
Linda told how Jerry ended up at Catskills Animal Park eighteen months earlier. She had started her summer job two weeks before. She mainly cleaned habitats but also fed animals. Although she was scheduled to work days, she sometimes volunteered in the evening.
The night Jerry arrived was cool and rainy. Linda overheard Mr. Devoy, the head zookeeper, tell Nancy and Jim, two of the animal specialists, that a wild giraffe was on its way. Linda said zoo workers never refer to an animal as wild unless it has been taken from its natural habitat, and usually only if it still belonged there, meaning it wasn’t taken to protect or save it from an injury.
Linda stuck around that night to see what was happening. At 11:30, a semi-trailer escorted by state troopers came through the park’s back entrance. It drove to the intake building. Linda fell in with the other night shift workers to go see the giraffe.
She stopped talking and wiped her eyes with the tips of her fingers, pushing her glasses up by her forehead.
“Are you okay?” Ina asked.
“Just seeing him that first time,” she said.
Ina felt her eyes tear up.
“Don’t you cry, too,” Linda said.
Ina shook her head. “I’m okay. What happened?”
“He looked terrible. He looked like he was going to die.” Linda’s voice cracked. “Mr. Devoy said something like, ‘Oh my God. What are we going to do with him?’” Linda sniffed. “He had sores all over his body, pus was running out of some of them. His eyes were nearly swollen shut, and when they shined a light on them, they were all crusty around the edges. He had a big bump on the side of his head like someone had hit him with a two-by-four—”
Ina shrieked. Karl grabbed her from the side, as Mike took the phone that had fallen on her lap. Jerry turned in circles, bobbing his head at Ina.
“Oh God, I’m so sorry,” Linda said.
“It’s okay,” Mike said, holding the phone up so Linda could see him.
“It’s okay,” Ina said between sobs. “It’s okay. I’m okay, everyone.” Ina pulled away from Karl and reached for the phone.
“I’m so sorry,” Linda said. “I shouldn’t have told you all that.”
Ina looked at Linda and shook her head. “No…we need to know everything.”
Linda nodded.
Mike grimaced and took a deep breath, as Karl rubbed Ina’s back.
“Okay.” Ina breathed in and out a few times and then sat down. “I’m okay. What happened next?”
“They put Jerry in quarantine for about a week. That means only the zoo doctors saw him. I’d go past the building every day and ask how he was doing but no one would say anything other than ‘he’s all right.’ ‘He’s getting better.’ You know, blah, blah, blah. Then about eight days in they told me to help get Station Three ready, that Jerry was moving there. That was great news. It meant he was coming out of quarantine and would be in a habitat with outside space. He would still be isolated, but it meant that he was well enough to transition, with the next step being introduced to other African animals and then, if that went well, to the public. I helped set up Station Three, and they brought Jerry over a couple days later. He looked so much better.” Linda smiled and nodded. “You wouldn’t have believed the difference. I literally begged to be assigned to the station to help take care of him. He was still skittish, you know, scared to death of people. The slightest movement sent him scampering around like crazy. I kept thinking he was going to hurt himself. But we stuck with it, and he started getting used to Me and Kayla. She was…is…an animal specialist, and she was assigned to Jerry. I was her helper until she quit.
“What happened to Kayla?” Mike asked.
“I don’t know,” Linda said. “She left soon after, a disagreement over something. Rumor is that it was about Jerry, but who knows? She was just gone one day.”
Mike, Karl, and Ina looked at one another. Ina took a deep breath.
“Do you know what had happened to Jerry before he came to Catskills?” Karl interjected.
The smile left Linda’s face. “I only know what Kayla told me and what I saw in his chart, and that’s not much.” Linda sniffed. “What time is it there?”
“Nearly nine,” Mike said. “We’re an hour behind.”
“Oh, I was wondering how long you can talk,” Linda said.
“Yeah, I need to get home,” Karl said.
“Do you all live there?” Linda asked.
“No,” Ina said. “Well, Mike stays with Jerry. Karl lives a few blocks away.”
“Well, here’s the short version because I have to get ready for bed, too.”
“Okay,” Ina said, “but can we talk more tomorrow?”
“You know we will,” Linda said, smiling.
“Good,” Ina said. “Just tell us how you know Jerry is from Africa, and we’ll call it a night.”
“Simple,” Linda said, “and in three-part harmony. First part, there’s no record of his birth…anywhere. Any animal born in a zoo or sanctuary anywhere in the U.S. or Canada or even Mexico, I think, has a birth and vaccination record. Not Jerry, at least not a birth record. He has a vaccination record now. We created it. Second part, the people who had him—on the farm up north—were poachers. They smuggled animal parts into the U.S. to sell, and when they could, they trafficked in live animals. Live animals they kept until they sold to a circus or some low-life, fly-by-night animal park. Third part, I spent time with Jerry, as did others, and anyone who did, knew he—”
“Me too,” Ina screeched. “It’s obvious, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Linda said. “There’s too much life in Jerry for him to have been born anywhere but in the wild.”
“I know,” Ina said.
“Animals born in captivity don’t know to run around like crazy. They generally just pace. They don’t know freedom, just boredom. I could tell Jerry was wild to the core.”
“He’s so proud and alive and rambunctious.”
“Exactly,” Linda said.
“So why didn’t others know?” Karl interjected.
“Oh, they knew,” Linda said sternly. “Everyone knew, but they thought it best to try to domesticate him.” She shook her head, lips tightly closed. “He wasn’t going to have any of that. Nope.”
Ina took a deep breath. She looked from Karl to Mike to Linda. “You’re a godsend,” she said to Linda.
“Hey, just trying, that’s all,” Linda said.
“Tomorrow?”
“You know it,” Linda said.
“At first, he wanted nothing to do with people,” Linda said.
They had only met twenty-four hours ago, but Ina felt like she had known Linda forever. “What did you do?” Ina asked. She held the phone so that Mike and Karl could see her, and Linda could see all three of them.
“It wasn’t what I did. It was what everyone here did,” Linda said emphatically. “We just kinda stood back and stared him in the eyes and talked nicely, you know, soft and gentle. When he’d settle, we’d try to brush him. That would set him off again, so we’d start over. Slowly things got better.”
“That’s amazing,” said Karl. “He’s so friendly now. He’s always right next to us.”
“Now that’s amazing. We never got that far,” Linda said. “I got the farthest, and that was being able to brush him and walk around him. He was really skittish with others around.” Her smile faded, and she looked wishful for a moment. “How did you do it?”
“Ina did it,” Karl said. “She’s always talking to him, reading to him, petting him—”
“It’s amazing,” interjected Mike.
“Yes, but no,” Linda said. “It’s amazing but not in the sense that you should be surprised. Ina must have made Jerry feel safe and loved, like he was a part of something, like some type of tall. I tried to do that but didn’t have the time. I could only be around him a few hours a day. They don’t want animals to become too attached to any one person. They want them to be comfortable around everyone, even strangers. It’s weird. They know a lot about animals but don’t really know them beyond that. You know what I mean?
Ina nodded.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Linda continued. We take good care of our animals, but it would be like our parents only seeing us as humans and treating us that way when we are more than humans, or at least should be, to them. You get what I mean?
“Yep,” Karl said.
Ina nodded. “I think so.”
Mike rubbed the scruff on his chin, his mouth turned up in thought.
“So anyway, long story longer,” Linda said. “As soon as they tried to put Jerry in one of the African habitats, he went berserk. He took off. Maybe he thought he had been set free, who knows. He wanted nothing to do with the other giraffes. He ran across a huge field, trying to get away from everyone. One day he ran through the fence, I mean, literally…through…the…fence.”
“Whoa,” Mike said.
“What happened?” Ina asked.
“They took him off exhibit. Put him in isolation again. I watched him every day. And then they said one day they had sold him to Lincoln Park. ‘Let them deal with him,’ they said.”
Ina sighed and leaned back.
“Do you think Lincoln Park knows all of this?” Karl asked.
“No way,” Linda said, holding back a laugh. “I think they knew Jerry was rambunctious and couldn’t be with other giraffes, but nothing about poachers, abuse, and all that. By the time you got him, he was used to zookeepers and basically would just stand in the middle of his exhibit, looking around. He’d run a bit but knew better than to charge fences again.”
“And there you have it,” Karl said. He looked up at Jerry. “Why didn’t you tell us any of this?”
Ina stared at the phone. Everything Linda told them confirmed what she knew all along, but she was neither excited nor happy about it. It was worse than she could have ever imagined.
Jerry hummed lightly and lowered his head to Ina’s.
“Man, he loves you guys. I got to see this. I’m coming to Chicago.”
“You better hurry,” Ina said, her voiced drained of emotion. “Jerry’s going back to Africa.”
Linda laughed softly then caught herself when she saw Ina was serious. “That would be great,” she said, meeting Ina’s stare with her own seriousness, “but how are you going to do that?”
Ina looked from Karl to Mike, and then back at Linda. “We don’t know yet, but you’ve told us what we’ve known all along, and it’s worse than we thought. We have no other option now. Jerry’s going home.”
Linda took a huge chest-heaving breath. “Well, I have no choice than to help,” she said before smiling.
Ina met her smile with her own.
“Really?” asked Karl.
“There’s more,” Linda said, holding a hand up to shush them. “I can’t say, but if I can do it, it might break this open, prove you were right all along.”
“You mean you have more information?” Karl said.
“I have evidence, I think,” Linda said, ‘but you guys need to sit tight for a little longer. Let me do some work on my side. Then let’s make plans to meet….in Chicago, that toddlin’ town.” She smiled broadly. “What exactly does that mean anyway?”
A big smile crossed Ina’s face. “Young at heart, that’s us.”
“Oh, I like that,” Linda said.
Ina couldn’t sleep. She stared at the ceiling, wanting to open the window, wanting Jerry to be there. The wind blasted against the glass. The whooshing sound, usually soothing, was anything but tonight. Jerry was probably awake, too, listening to it rattle the garage windows.
Her mind ran through the events of the past few days. They were fortunate that Linda answered the phone when they called Catskills. It was like she was waiting for them to call. She already knew what Ina knew. “Serendipity,” Ina whispered. “Luck? Not really. Coincidence? No. A miracle? Probably not. Just serendipitous. Solace! Comfort, peace, support when it’s needed most. Like a just-in-time-and-knowing hug.”
When Linda hung up after the first FaceTime, Karl had said: “She looks like an older version of you, Ina.”
Mike chimed in: “You know, it’s hard to tell on that little screen, but she does sorta look like you. The hair, the shape of the face, even the eyes are similar and her mannerisms.” He shrugged. “Maybe she’s a bit louder.”
“Oh no, Ina can be loud!” Karl had said. “Just give her a reason.”
Ina had noticed the similarities, too, and did a double take when Linda’s face popped up on the screen.
“Coincidence,” she said to herself in bed. She conjured up Linda’s face. Linda had been there for Jerry. She talked to him and cared for him. Then Ina showed up and did the same—every day, only from further away. His habitat trench kept her from getting closer. But Ina looked like Linda—and acted like her too—at least enough to convince Jerry.
“Oh my gosh.” Ina sat up in bed. “Jerry chose me because I look like Linda to him. He sees us as a way home. When he walked out of zoo, he was carrying out his plan to get to back to Africa!”
“Ina, are you alright?”
Ina’s eyes jerked toward the door. “Yes, I’m fine,” she said after a moment. “Just a dream.”
“Why’s the door locked?” Dad jiggled the knob.
“Sorry.” She jumped out of bed and opened the door. “I must have forgotten.”
“Don’t lock it at night, Sweetie. Now get some sleep.” Dad started to turn but stopped. “What about Africa?”
“Huh?”
“You said something about Africa.”
“Oh, I was dreaming about going to Africa.”
Dad nodded, his head tilted a bit, questioningly.
“I really want to go there.”
“I know, Sweetie.” He touched the top of her head gently. “You will, but right now, you need to sleep.”
Linda is another piece of the puzzle, Ina thought, as she dressed the next morning. She not only is giving us puzzle pieces, she is a puzzle piece. “That’s what sentience does. It makes you feel something you didn’t even know existed before. Jerry is waiting for us to get him back to Africa.” Ina smiled as she pulled on her socks.
“We need help,” she said to herself, as she stuffed homework into her backpack. She stopped and stared out the window. Another two or three inches of snow had fallen. It was Thursday—a Scott day. Whatever elation she felt, dissipated. “We need help, and fast,” she said.
“We need….,” she thought, as she headed downstairs, finally saying it aloud: “….my parents’ help.” What Dad had said about Africa in the middle of the night came back to her.
“Sentience?” she wondered aloud. “Solace?”
Ina burrowed her head in her coat. Her nose was barely visible above the zipper and her hood was pulled down nearly over her eyes. Karl, as usual, was bare headed, coat zipped only halfway.
They were walking through the zoo, Scott somewhere behind them. No animals were out, not even the polar bears or penguins.
“I wonder how Jerry feels about this weather?” Ina said contemplatively.
Karl looked at her. “Is Mike still taking him outside every day?”
“Yep, to stretch his legs, twice a day for ten minutes or so.”
They slowed as they walked past Jerry’s former habitat. “You know looking at that, it looks large, doesn’t it?” Karl said.
Ina nodded inside her hood; the swishing of hair encased in nylon the only indication she had heard.
“Compared with now, I guess it is, but really its minute compared with where he comes from,” Karl continued. “It just makes no sense to think an animal would be happy cooped up like that.”
Ina cringed and a lump formed in her throat. She knew what Karl meant, but the image of Jerry stuck in the garage hit her.
Coming out of the park Karl went in one direction and Ina another. Scott quickly caught up, staying a few feet behind her. Once inside the garage, he went straight to Jerry and began petting him. Ina sat near the door. After circling Jerry three times, Scott stopped but continued to pet him.
“I read that giraffes need a lot of food,” he said.
Ina looked up, surprised. “I know. It’s amazing how much he eats.”
“So how do you feed him? Especially now that you can’t get food in the park?”
Ina grunted lightly. So, he had seen them in the park, collecting food. She wondered how long he had known about Jerry. “Well,” she said, “my parents buy vegetables and fruit, and we get stuff from other places.”
Scott nodded, appearing satisfied with that. “I hope you guys are feeding him enough,” he said after a few moments.
Ina didn’t respond at first, then asked: “So you have been reading about giraffes?”
Scott shot back, “Surprised, huh? You probably thought I couldn’t read.”
“No, not surprised,” she responded. “I know you can read. You just never said anything before— “
“Well, I can, and I do. I’ve been reading, mainly to make sure you know what you’re doing.”
Ina smiled. “So how are we doing?”
Scott, walking around Jerry again, stopped and turned to her. “Look, I don’t believe for a minute that you’re allowed keep a giraffe. It’s illegal. I had a friend who had a baby alligator he kept in his bathtub. He found it in Florida. It got too big for the tub, so they tossed it in the lake. He said if he tried to give it away or sell it, they’d get in trouble.”
“They let it go in the lake?”
Scott nodded. “You can’t have a giraffe either, so you and your parents…and sissy boy are in big trouble.”
Ines sighed. “Do you think the alligator survived?”
Scott’s eyes narrowed, and he shrugged. “Sure… No. Probably, … I don’t know…. Who cares? That’s not my point.”
Ina stood up next to her chair. “Yeah, but they had to know when they let it go that it might die.”
“So,” Scott said.
Ina thought for a moment, as Scott circled Jerry again. “What would you have done?”
Scott stopped and looked around Jerry at her. “Well, I wouldn’t get in trouble because of a stupid animal.”
Ina scrunched her face up. Scott’s words didn’t jibe with how he was with Jerry. “What about Jerry?” she asked. “What would you do if he were yours?”
He looked at Jerry and smiled, then frowned at Ina. “I like being around him. He’s interesting. The only reason I haven’t told the cops, which I still might do, is because I like seeing him…and getting paid, of course.” He turned to Jerry. “Maybe I’ll need more money,” he added after a moment. He looked at Ina as he circled again. “So, if you’re worried I’ll tell, well…. you should be because I might. I mean, I’m tired of talking to you, so if you keep it up, maybe I’ll walk out of here and go to the cops.”
Ina didn’t doubt he would do exactly that. She fell back into her chair and thought about Africa and how time was running out.
As he was leaving, Scott asked Ina if she had any books on giraffes. She hesitated before saying yes.
“Well, next time, let me see them. Maybe I can take one or two with me to read at home?”
“They’re library books,” she responded.
“So, that’s your problem,” he said. “I want to see them.”
Ina released all the air she had been holding inside her as Scott walked quickly down the driveway.
“Poachers like to ship animal parts and animals to Canada,” Mike said. “Usually, they hide them with other things that are being legally imported.”
“So, it’s like an entire business?” Ina said.
Mike scratched the top of his head and frowned. “Yep, an illegal business hidden behind a legal business, or front business. People pay a lot of money for tusks, furs, and bones. The big one is the pangolin.”
“The what?” asked Karl.
Mike looked at his notes. “The pan-go-lin.” He paused as Karl and Ina exchanged looks. “I didn’t know what it was either, but it looks like an ant eater with scales. The scales are used for medicine.”
“Unbelievable,” Karl said.
“What about live animals?” Ina started dancing with Jerry.
“That happens, too,” Mike said, “Elephants, apes, you name it…giraffes. Everything really.”
As Mike did his research, Karl and Ina did theirs. At school, they convinced Ms. Thornton, their science teacher, to let them do their semester science project on the differences and similarities between zoos and natural habitats.
“That does sound interesting,” she said, as she looked over the top of her glasses at their half-page proposal. “It’s an unusual topic, however.”
“We already have a lot of drawings of zoo habitats,” Karl said. He set an artist’s notebook on the table between them and opened it to his zoo renderings.
“Wow, those are good,” Ina said. “When did you do these?”
“Yes, they are” added Ms. Thornton.
“I’ve been doing them for a while.” Karl turned the pages slowly.
“Cool,” said Ina. “That’s Jerry’s!”
Karl nodded and smiled.
‘Very nice, Karl,” Ms. Thornton said. “I approve, but I don’t want you doing only the artwork, Karl, and Ina all the writing.”
“I show you all of my drawings,” Ina said, as they left the school. “Why haven’t you ever shown me yours?
“Because you’re good at it,” Karl retorted.
“And you’re not? Seriously, Karl.” She shoved him lightly on the arm. “Those are great, and they, more than anything, convinced Ms. Thornton.”
Karl smiled. “I always knew I would show you, eventually. Today seemed like a good time.”
“But why did you draw all those zoo habitats?”
Karl shrugged. “I don’t know. One day I was standing by Jerry’s empty habitat, thinking how amazing it was Jerry walked out of the zoo and followed you home.” He gazed at the ground.
“I think about that, too,” Ina said softly. “I always wonder what would make an animal do that?”
Karl let out a breathy laugh. “You, goofball.” He looked at her. “It was what Jerry felt about you. You were his catalyst.”
“I don’t know about that,” Ina said.
Karl chortled. “It was you, Ina. I know because you were my catalyst, too.” He grabbed her arm, and pulled her in close to him, their faces next to each other’s. “Remember when I told you I’m a boy and you said, ‘okay,’ and really believed me? You called me Karl from that moment on and never even made a mistake or forgot. It has always been Karl.”
“Yeah, I know, Karla,” Ina said, glancing at him and grinning.
Yeah, right,” Karl said, gently pushing her away, “and you’re funny. Jerry followed you home for the jokes.”
Mike was looking at Karl and Ina’s science project as they brushed Jerry. “This is great.” He thumbed back and forth between renderings.
When the phone buzzed, Ina jumped from the ladder and looked at the screen. “It’s Linda.” She hit accept.
“Hey, guess what?” Linda waved and smiled, people moving in every direction behind her. Before Ina could respond, she added: “I’m in Chicago and ready to toddle!”
“What?” Karl grabbed Jerry’s side as he pivoted toward the phone.
“I’m here,” Linda said. “At the bus station. How do I get to your house?”
“Oh my gosh,” Ina said.
Mike jumped up. “I’ll go get her.”
“Mike’s coming to get you,” Ina turned the camera toward him. “Look for this guy.”
Linda laughed. “Cool.”
Jerry bobbed his head and hummed.
“And Mike, just look for the person who looks like Ina,” Karl said, holding onto Jerry as he pushed him across the room toward the phone.
Linda dropped her backpack and went to Jerry. “Oh. My. Goodness. It is you.” She climbed the ladder and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Jerry moved his head up and down and hummed. He put his face next to hers, and she kissed him on the nose. Still hugging him, she turned toward the others. “I’m so happy to be here.” She scanned the room before coming down from the ladder and going to Ina. She hugged her tightly.
Ina paused before hugging her back. She looked at Jerry over her shoulders, her eyes welling with tears.
“You’re so cool,” Linda said, stepping back, hand still on her shoulders. She looked her in the eyes. “Wow, like looking in a mirror, sort of. I never realized how beautiful I am.” She let out a quick high-pitched laugh. “We’ll have to talk family trees before I leave.”
She turned and stepped toward Karl and pulled him in for hug. Karl obliged, an amused look on his face. Once in her arms, he wrapped his arms around her. Looking over Linda’s shoulder, Karl winked at Ina.
“You guys are so cool,” Linda said. She stepped back, her eyes still on Karl for another moment, before turning back to Ina and Mike. “And so freakin’ fearless. You’ve turned the zoo world upside down. You know people are still looking for Jerry, and some think it was poacher revenge.”
“What?” Ina thought the zoo had given up a long time ago.
“You don’t see it in the media because the case has grown cold.”
“So, what’s happening?” Karl asked.
“Well, the current explanation is that Jerry was stolen by the poachers out of revenge for all the people who went to jail after the raid on the New York farm.”
“How could that have happened?”
“Exactly, but it’s all they got. So, everyone’s raising the heat on poachers.” Linda laughed. “Crazy, you guys got Jerry, and it’s the poachers who are feeling the heat. That’s justice.”
“Poetic justice,” Karl said.
“Yeah, poetic, huh?” Linda said. “Lincoln Park is feeling heat, too. They would love to find Jerry in your garage.” Linda looked from Ina to Karl to Mike. “Two kids—a transboy at that—and a guy without a home.” “They’d have a field day with that. They’d blame you for climate change.”
Mike, Ina, and Karl stared at one another.
“Wow, I didn’t mean to empty the balloon,” Linda said.
“No,” Ina said, “we know all that already. Mike says the same thing, like who’s going to listen to two kids and a guy living on the streets. We need to get Jerry out of here.”
“Yep,” said Linda. “That’s why I’m here, but I really need to pee first.”
****
Linda tells Ina, Karl, and Mike that Jerry was poached. “Poaching is the illegal trafficking and killing of wildlife.” There are a lot of people and organizations, like zoos, around the world trying to stop poaching, but it’s hard. One reason it’s hard is because there are people who will pay a lot of money for living wild animals and parts of dead animals. Here’s some more information, with some great links to other resources. Even with all the work that’s being done by people all over the world, more help is needed.
Two new characters have become important to the novel—Scott and Linda. If you had to describe one or both to a friend, how would you describe them? What would you say about their personalities and how they act? How would you try to explain their actions to another person?