The Animal Experience was a strange place. Housed in the wooded and barren areas surrounding an abandoned gravel pit it aimed to be a premier visitor attraction. Clearly this aim hadn't been achieved.
It wasn't a zoo, and it certainly wasn't a safari park. There were no living animals in the Animal Experience; that was far too much to ask. Instead visitors had plastic and concrete versions of the animals to look at, and then they were set out in strange ways.
Charlotte Johnson put down the plan she had been writing for developing the attraction, just in time to watch a giant plastic monkey being rolled past her office window after being repaired. She decided that she was going to do a review of the exhibits one evening with the head of maintenance and see which exhibits could be changed.
Being new at the Animal Experience she relished the chance to turn the place from being a laughing stock of plastic animals into a serious attraction. Many thoughts had gone round her mind on how she was going to achieve this, but she was certainly going to make it better.
George, the head of maintenance, appeared at about 5pm; just as Charlotte had given up hope and was getting ready to go home. He was about six feet tall, rather bulky and looked stressed, 'sorry' he murmured in his thick Birmingham accent, 'I got delayed'
'I guessed' Charlotte replied as she pulled her black hair into a ponytail, 'Have you got time now? I don't want to delay you going home'
Quickly he responded, 'Its getting dark but I'd rather get this out the way'
They walked along the gravel path's that led around the site discussing the removal and disposal of some of the giant animals that stood in the woodlands casting strange shapes across the paths in the setting sun.
At the bottom of an embankment George stopped, 'I've always thought we should get rid of this bit' he said slowly, 'it gives me the creeps'
Charlotte knew what he meant as she looked at the wooden steps cut into the hillside. A wicker arch at the bottom had a sign attached that proclaimed it to be, 'the future of animals'. This swayed gently in the light breeze, 'I suppose we've got to say what we're going to do with it' she eventually said making her way towards the steps.
The pair walked up the steps slowly; it already felt cold and foreboding when they reached a right-angled corner. Opposite them stood what appeared to be a figure of a human in a purple and white costume, the paint peeling in many places and the figure itself looked slumped. A frightening grin was present on its excited face.
'Its supposed to be articulated' George told her, 'but was repeatedly vandalised, had it dumped here years ago. Just somewhere to put it'
'We're getting rid of it. It scares me. Never mind what kids think'
They continued up the steps until the came to a large plateau with the gravel path on one side divided from the exhibits by a small wooden fence. This display had always disturbed Charlotte and she was determined that it was going.
On the other side of the fence was a long wooden table, the sort that you'd imagine in medieval banquet halls, with equally sized benches on each side.
Sat on the benches was a selection of animals. All were painted so they appeared to be in human clothing and all sat eating, drinking and looking rather merry. The sizes of some of these animals and their blanks stares just made it an ultimately bizarre spectacle, like something from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland that had been frozen at one moment for all eternity. It sent a shiver down Charlotte's back, 'how difficult will it be to get rid of this?' she asked George
'Depends what you want to do with the figures' he replied climbing over the fence and gently pushing against a giraffe wearing a business suit.
'Scrap. I couldn't care if I never saw them again for as long as I live'
George's face lit up, 'was hoping you'd say that. It'll take us a few hours, if that.'
'Come on lets get out of here and go home' she smiled, 'I've had enough of crap plastic animals for one day'
As they walked away she was sure she could feel something watching her. Quickly turning round she was sure that the Elephant sat at the head of the table had moved, though quickly consigned this to her imagination.