jungle
The zoo. The animals and the fresh air and the sound of children's laughter that rings within it. She drags Daddy by the hand to each and every one of the enclosures, Mummy trailing behind; carrying her coat, their lunches. A smile is on her lips. She takes photographs on her phone, the same phone that is taken from her in the car on the way back. She doesn't scold, doesn't berate.
In fact, she doesn't stop smiling.
"Did you have a good day?" Daddy asks.
Mummy is driving.
"Yes," she replies, although she is tired now. The game that she is playing is having the opposite effect on her than what she had intended. Her eyes are dropping.
"Sorry we couldn't take you to the real jungle, baby," Daddy says.
She'd begged and begged and begged to go. One glimpse on TV and she'd been sold. How green it looked; the life that buzzed about the place. Those jeeps you can go exploring in. All of it.
She replies through the thick cloud of sleep she can feel encasing her, "It's okay. We can go to a real one next year."
Mummy laughs at that and shoots Daddy a look.
"We best get saving then, hadn't we?"