Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction

At the Zoo- The New Guy

When Larry saw the end of the box open, he made a break for it. The humans either didn't see him or they didn't care, it was the chance he'd been looking for and he was going to make the best of it. He quickly found a heard of grazers and joined them for lunch. As he dined, a zebra wandered over to him,
"Say, you the new guy right? I thought so, I'm Clarence, what are you some kind of gazelle or somethin?"
"Hi, the names Larry and I'm not just any gazelle I'm a Cuvier's Gazelle, we're very rare and quite valuable."

Larry really didn't like to brag, but he was proud of his heritage and he wanted the zebra to know he wasn't just some common heard animal.
"I must say Clarence, it is Clarence isn't it, this is some tasty fescue, you guys come here often?
Clarence broke out in that obnoxious zebra laugh of theirs,
"Look buddy, we either eat here or under those trees with the lions, so what do you think?'
"Lions, where I didn't see any lions..."
"Relax pal don't panic their pretty much harmless, the humans truck in enough meat for them, so they're too lazy to chase us. Still I wouldn't walk right up to them or anything like that."
Clarence went on to tell Larry about his new home, it seems he hadn't escaped but been allowed to go. Technically, he was still in a zoo or animal park as it was called but instead of the animals being in cages the humans were the ones caged in boxes with wheels and then pulled around the park for the animals to view. As if on cue, Larry looked up to see a cage full of humans coming down the path. When they stopped in front of the herd some of the animals went over to look at them.
"Come on Larry you gotta come see this, I tell you humans are the goofiest animals you'll ever see."
Larry followed the zebra but ever wary, he stayed a few steps back, ready to bolt if they tried anything.
"Get ready for this, see George over there, he gonna start butting their cage. Wait til you see their faces, it's a hoot."
George was a water buffalo who looked as if he weighed almost as much as the human's cage. Clarence told him that George wasn't going to hurt them, he just liked to scare them, and by the look on their faces, he was doing a good job.

On the other side a small human was holding an ice cream cone out for most beautiful creature on earth to eat. She was a gorgeous gazelle, and Larry was almost positive she too was a Cuvier's. Larry thought, if this place isn't heaven, at the least, it must be what heaven is like. Unlimited grazing, lions too full to hunt and a beautiful Cuvier female to mate with, yes, life was good.

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