Chapter 1, Sarah and Jay
In southern city of Richmond Virginia, the summer season came to another colourful and chilling ending. The once hot and barren wind of summer began becoming colder; the green leaves that hung from the branches of trees began forming yellow, red and brown. Slowly they weaken and fall from the tree, floating down to the ground.
It was an early morning in the city. The sun was rising from the west. The parking lot of the Richmond zoo was mostly empty. Only two cars were parked in front of the zoo's main entrance. Coming down the road outside, a red Cherokee pulled into the parking lot. The vehicle turned into the first row of parking lots and pulled inside the fifth parking space. The Engine ceased just before the diver door opened. Stepping out from the Cherokee was a young woman.
She looked to be at the age of early thirties and late twenties. Her hair colour was a light brunette. She was dressed in a uniform of a zoo keeper, a brown, buttoned short sleeved shirt and shorts. As the women closed her Cherokee door, she turned and began walking the zoo gates. The women then slid her hand into her right pocket. She pulled out a red hair band and tied her long brunette hair back.
Coming up to the gates front desk, she was greeted by an African man in the same uniform. He looked up and forward to see the young women walking towards him.
"Sarah!" He said.
The women stopped and turned to man.
"Morning Ama." She said back to him.
"You're back on another shift?" Ama asked curiously.
"You've been working so much these passed through months."
"Well, you know how the lions are without me." said Sarah.
The man nodded his head, chuckling.
"Oh, yes I know." He said.
"The lions are so apart without their Alfa."
The women chuckled, feeling so amused by Ama. Sarah was the zoo's best animal trainer and a single mother. She had trained big cats, like the spotted leopard and the stripped tiger, but she would spend most of her time with the lions. To her, they were like family. But it wasn't just her, but her seven-year old son, Jay. She had him around the lions since he was seven months old.
The other keepers often refer to her as the Alfa. The lions always had the best amount of trust in her then any of the keepers.
Sarah then passed through the gates and into the zoo.
Along through the mostly deserted zoo, Sarah stopped by the kitchen house, where they prepared the animals meals. Sarah opened the door and walked into a kitchen-like room. There she was met by a few zoo interns. One of them was a middle eastern women with black hair tied behind her back, wearing a white cooking apron over top of her clothes.
She was standing in front of the countertop, over top of the cutting board she was using was a large chunk of red raw meat. She slammed down a meat cleaver and chopped the meat into small pieces.
"Hey, Maria." said Sarah.
The women turned to look at her.
"Oh, good morning, Sarah." she said back.
"I'm just preparing a batch of meat for today. I trust you came to get your lions some breakfast?"
Sarah nodded her head yes.
"I should have it done soon."
Maria turning back to the cutting board and chomping another piece of meat.
"I don't know how you do it." she said.
"Do what?" Sarah asked curiously.
"Train wild cats up close and without even being behind the fence. I mean, being that close to a lion,I don't think I could do that. At least not one that's conscious."
While is was an opportunity to train animals like a lion or tiger, it was also such a shocking attempt to do the way Sarah does it. Stepping in front of a lion up close, not a single kind of fence in between them. The male lions may be relaxed at some points in time, but their moods can change in a sporadic times. One minute, they would be relaxful and seem safe, but the next they would be so aggressive.
But Sarah knew much about training big cats. She learned how to by her parents, Mary and Locus. who were themselves trainers of the zoo. They taught her much of what she knew about training animals, mainly lions. It was behind a chain cage with her father, when he showed her how to feed a big cat. With a stick and one piece of meat stuck on the end of it. She was only eight years old at the time. She held it up above her head, sticking it through the cage hole in between the metal wire.
There was a massive lion that came up to the girl. it was the male her father called Arma. He lifted his head up and began chewing the meat. It was of that time and further visits to the zoo with her parents, she wanted to be an animal trainer herself. She wanted to follow in the same footsteps as her parents, to be
"It takes time to earn their trust." Sarah said.
"I've already bonded with them enough for them to accept me."
Maria turned to look at her.
"What about Jay?" she asked curiously.
Maria saw Jay around the lions before. The boy was always so eager to see them, as well as the many other animals in the zoo. For the most part, the lions don't seem to try and harm him, but still, he was so young to be acquainted with these animals if not bonded with them.
"Jay has a good relationship with them." Sarah explained.
"He's been around them enough times."
"He's such a wild child." said Mari turning back to her work.
"He must get that from you."
Sarah smirked, agreeing with Maria on that.
After Maria had finished with the meat, Sarah carried a full white pale of red pieces of flesh. She came to a wired fence that surrounded a group of seven lions. There were three males, two of them at a young age, one with yellow fur and brown mane. The other was a tanned fur with and a the other laying over the flat ground of green grass was an elderly lion. He was a white tanned fur and had a light mane.
The other five were lionesses. They laid amongst the elder as one of the young males circled around the fences. Upon the sight of Sarah, the lion stopped and gazed to the young women. Sarah came up to the door way. She placed down her pale of meat and unlocked the gate door.
She opened the gate and picked up the pail of meat. Sarah walked into the pen, pulling the gate shut.
The young lion approached the brunette. Sarah sat the pale down and kneeled to the lion.
"Hey Areli." he said, as she petted the lion's mane.
The lion purred and sat down in front of the zoo training. Sarah turned and pulled a piece of meat from the pale and held into the Areli. The lion ate the piece of meat from the women's open palm.
Sarah smiled and patted the lion's head.
"That's a good boy." She said.
From the time Areli was a cub, Sarah had practically helped his mother raised both him and the other young male. Of course the same would go to all the lions and animals in the zoo. She gave all the lions respect and care, of which earned her such trust. He was also a sort of friend to her son, Jay. It was a rare occasion that her son would come into the pen with her. Whenever it happened, Jay would pet and sometimes even chase each other through the pen.
It was those same times, Sarah herself had. Her son barred so much to her, bent on following his mother path.
As the day continued, the zoo began to open to the public. Families with young children explore through the zoo, observing all the attractions the zoo had to offer, from the train to the feeding the giraffes.
Back within the lions exhibit, Sarah was training one of the lionesses. She holds up a stick with a blue and white target at the tip, facing a tanned fur lioness.
"Stand up girl." she said.
The lioness stood up on her hind legs as the women command. She poked her nose on the target. After a few seconds, she came back down on her front legs.
"Good girl." she said, handing the lioness a piece of meat.
The lioness ate it from her palm. She petted the large tanned cat on her head.
Suddenly she heard a knock.
"Sarah?"
She turned and saw the zoo manager standing on the other side of the tall wire fencembarrier. He was a tall man in the same zoo uniform as her. He had dark brown hair, a pair of glasses covering his green eyes.
He gave a curled finger and moved it back and forth. Wanting her to come out of the pen and speak with him. Sarah turned and walked toward the door. She came into the inside pen. She walked through the caged, toward the door. She pushed the door open and came out into the hallway outside. She closed the cage door and left toward the door outside.
After a short time, she had come outside the enclosure and approached the man.
"You wanted to see me, Trevor?" she asked, curiously.
"Oh yeah, Sarah." Said the zoo manager turned right to face Sarah.
"I have some exciting to tell you."
"What is it?" asked Sarah.
"Alright, look." Trevor began.
"You've worked a lot in these past few months. So I wanted to thank you by giving you a vacation."
"A vacation?" asked the women.
"Yeah." Trevor explained, since Sarah has done it before.
"I think that you deserve a break, after all you've done for the zoo. I have already arranged a flight to Africa for you and your son."
"Thank you, Trevor." she said.
"That's really nice of you, Trevor. When is the flight?"
"Tomorrow." he said.
Sarah suddenly had second thoughts about this. It was the week days and her son was in school.
"I don't know." Sarah explained, thinking about her son.
"Jay has school tomorrow."
"I'm sure he can miss a few days." Trevor said.
Sarah thought about that. Sometimes, when the zoo were being traded an animal from another zoo somewhere in the States or in another country, she would travel and bring it back with her. She would always have to bring Jay along. He missed some days of school. But he would always be happy to miss school. He never had any friends there. None of the kids ever wanted to be his friend.
He would always be with her and the lions. I guess it wouldn't hurt for him to come on this trip. After all, he always loved to go to Africa.
"Well, maybe it couldn't hurt." she said.
"Great." said Trevor.
"The plane leaves tomorrow morning at seven."
"Got it." said Sarah.
"You guys have a good vacation."
As the man walked away, Sarah thought about the choice she made. Bringing Jay everywhere she went. It wasn't like she didn't want him to, it's just after her husband left her, things became difficult. She couldn't get a babysitter, or at least didn't know anyone who could.
All these trips interfered with her son's education. Yet there wasn't much of a choice.
Later that day, Sarah drove to her son's school. She parked her white car in front of the school and waited for her son. There were many other parents waiting to pick up their children. After a while, the bell of the school rang and kids came out of the building. A young light brown-haired boy with a light blue shirt, orange shots and a red backpack ran up to her car."
"Hey mom." he said, as he open the door and got into the car.
"Hi, honey." she said to him.
The boy settled in the passenger seat. He threw his backpack in the back. Sarah leaned in and kissed his cheek.
"So how was your day?" she asked.
"It was fine." said Jay, thinking about what happened.
"Did you make any friends?" asked Sarah.
"No." answered Jay, frowning a bit.
"Oh, well okay." said Sarah.
"I got some news for you."
"What is it?"
"Well, you're going to miss a few days this week."
Jay looked to his mother with a bit of excitement.
"Really?" Jay asked.
"Yep." said Sarah.
"We're going to Africa and have our own Safari."
The young boy busted in excitement. Africa was one of his favorite vacations. The open Savannah, the dense jungles, he always loved exploring the majestic wilderness.
"Alright!" said jumping in his seat, so excited to go.
"Okay, calm down." His mother said.
"Come on, we got to get home and pack."
The women then turned the key. The engine started up and she pulled up the side lever. Sarah looked back and backed the car up. She then looked forward and pulled down the lever. She turned the wheel and drove into the road. She headed down the street.
(I hope you like this story, please comment and review.)