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Jealous

8:00 a.m. Oahu Zoo

"Ooooohhh, Mama see!" Angie's eyes were bright with excitement as she pointed at the fluttering flamingos that greeted the zoo visitors with flashes of bright pink wings.

Catherine kneeled and pointed. "I see, aren't they pretty? Those are flamingos."

"Ahh ee oo," the toddler repeated, not taking her gaze off the birds. "Pittie."

"That's right, they're very pretty." She beamed at her daughter's use of a new word. "Should we go see the other animals and say hello?" Catherine stood and pushed the stroller forward.

"Yay!" Angie threw her arms up.

"Yay!" Catherine echoed as they approached the tiger area, one of Angie's favorites. "Look, baby girl, there's the tiger."

Angie bounced in the stroller and clapped. "Ahhh ee ger bahh, Mama!" She waved at the large cats that were lounging together in a group. "Mee-ow!"

"Those are pretty big kitty cats, hmm?" Catherine grinned at her daughter making the connection to a house cat's meow sound and kissed her cheek. After watching the tigers for a bit, they moved on to the primate area where she parked the stroller and lifted Angie out.

Angie immediately ran at full speed towards the glass wall that faced visitors on one side of the gorillas' home. While the enclosure was a football field in size and boasted landscaping natural to their habitat, there was also an indoor play and rest area where the group could view the humans who were viewing them through a huge safety glass, have some privacy, or interact individually the vets and vet techs who regularly checked on them and kept them healthy.

"Hi, hi, hi!" Angie said with a bright smile at the female closest to the glass before pressing her hands and nose against it.

"Easy, baby girl, don't bang on that, we don't want to scare Nzuri." Catherine crouched and pulled Angie onto her knee. "Look, she's eating her lunch."

The gorilla, whose name Catherine knew from the posted family tree she'd read with Jacob on several visits, stopped chewing on what looked like a plantain and moseyed over to check out the humans.

"Her name means beautiful," a voice said from beside Catherine as one of the young zoo keepers approached with a smile. "Hi."

She smiled brightly and stood, placing her daughter on her feet while keeping one little hand in her own. "Hi. Say hi, Angie."

The zoo keeper was in her early twenties and knelt next to the little girl who gave a floppy wave and immediately turned back to the animals. "Hey, cutie. Your name is Angie, huh? Do your see that little one there?" She pointed to one of several young gorillas a few yards off who was sitting in the lap of her mother while some adolescent males tussled and jumped on and off a huge tire. "Her name's Malaikat. It means angel in Sudanese." She looked Catherine and back at the toddler. "Angie and Angel, they have similar names. Malaikat is almost two."

Catherine lifted Angie and pointed. "Aww, she's a baby like you. See how she's sitting with her mommy?"

"Mama, ahhh hee ba. What dat?" She asked about the tire the young gorillas were rolling.

"That's a tire. They're playing with it," She explained as the zookeeper bid them goodbye. The weather was muggy and the zoo was quiet that day so there were only a few people milling about so early. They were the only ones in the indoor viewing area at the moment. "Do you want to go see more animals?" Catherine tapped Angie's shoulder gently and asked.

She shook her head. "No."

"You don't want to see the zebras and the lions?" She mentioned two favorites.

"No. Me ah baa. See!" She moved back against the glass but spun around seconds late with a little squeal.

"There's daddy's girl!" The familiar voice had both heads turning. Noting once again their similar smiles, Steve's face lit with one of his own. "The case broke," he said by way of explanation and kissed Catherine before lifting Angie to kiss her cheek. "I cleaned up at HQ and came straight here."

"Dada, down!" Angie squirmed and pointed. "See!"

"Okay, okay, go see the gorillas," he said with a grin while stepping behind her and wrapping an arm around Catherine's waist.

"She's loving them today. We've been in here twenty minutes."

Just then, one of the female gorillas moved next to the glass, sat down and held her baby close. The baby was tiny, and the sign near the entrance of the viewing area read:

We welcomed our newest addition, Nguvu (Strong in Swahili) in August.

His mother, Ajia is 22 years old and a first time mom who is doing a great job

Did you know?

Gorillas are polygamous animals. There is one dominant male silverback in our group/troop, several females and their offspring.

Fun fact:

Malaikat and Nguvu are half siblings and cousins. Their mothers are sisters, making Nguvu and Malaikat cousins, but since our silverback, Nuru, is dad to both they are also half siblings.

Angie babbled a conversation, not unlike those she'd have with Cammie, as Ajia gently stood her baby and stayed close as he walked a few feet on somewhat shaky knuckles and legs before plopping down to pick up and study a palm frond.

"Mama, Dada, see!" Angie bounced while holding one hand against the glass and both parents crouched at her sides and shared a smile.

Just then, Nzuri joined her sister at the front of the observation area and placed her palm against it level with Steve's face. Her gesturing and patting the glass had Angie in peals of laughter and clapping with joy.

"Dada Dada Dada Eee-la!"

"That's right, gorilla!" Steve looked like his team scored a winning touchdown. "Did you hear that, Cath?" He bent to kiss Angie's cheek. "She said Gorilla!"

Catherine raised her brows teasingly. "Steve…"

"It was clear as day. She absolutely said gorilla." His face shone with such pride that Catherine simply smiled indulgently.

'Ooo oooh ahh ahh ahh' Nzuri vocalized and placed both hands against the glass.

"She wants you to touch the glass, too," a different zookeeper, whose tag read Elise, pointed. Unlike the first girl, Elise was a retiree who volunteered with the great apes and looked to be in her sixties.

"Seriously?"

At her affirmative nod Steve put one hand on the 24 inch thick, reinforced wall.

The gorilla bounced in place and vocalized again, patting with the other hand as she matched her left one against Steve's right.

Angie squealed ecstatically.

And Steve, who would do anything to make his daughter happy, shrugged and placed the other palm next to the first.

Whan Nzuri did the same, Catherine, who'd pulled out her camera at the beginning of the encounter, snapped photos and switched to video.

Elise grinned at the handsome man who would clearly not be playing patty-cake with a great ape for anything other than his little girl's enjoyment. "She likes you." She pointed to Nuru who was slowly making his was to see what the fuss was about. "You know, Nzuri's a flirt when she likes a visitor. Sometimes I think she knows exactly what she's doing and does it to bust him."

When the large silverback approached, Ajia took Nguvuand moved off to nurse him as the patriarch eyed the humans, pulled to his full height and postured.

Nzuri patted the glass even after Steve had removed his hands, then she calmly moved a few feet away.

The large male gorilla took a seat between his mate and the male human in the viewing area and stared at Steve. As Angie bubbled with joyful laughter, Catherine panned the scene before pocketing her phone.

Elise spoke to the silverback and teased, "Don't worry, Nuru, I don't think he's after your girl, he's got a very pretty one of his own." Looking at Catherine she smiled. "And there's a story for this little beauty. You can tell her how Nzuri thought her daddy was handsome enough to make her husband jealous." Chuckling, she bid the family good morning and moved on to check the orangutan area.

Steve had lifted Angie who was still talking a blue streak, even though only she understood her whole spiel.

Giggling softly, Catherine kissed Steve's cheek after he tickled their daughter and shook his head, saying, "Only for you, baby girl."

As they moved to walk to the next animal habitat, Catherine pulled out her phone and took a family selfie. Before grabbing the stroller from where it was parked she said, "That may be the best one yet."

Steve hid his smile by kissing Angie's soft cheek, but he knew Catherine wasn't fooled a bit. "Don't even …"

"Sorry, can't help it." Her eyes danced with mirth and she slid her hand into his free one while he carried Angie and she pushed the empty stroller. "You made a gorilla jealous." Whispering under her breath, she gave his fingers a squeeze and muttered, "McGarrettitis…"

# End. Thanks for reading!

Reference: Gorillas-world {dot} com Accessed 1/11/19

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