At the zoo
It was a sunny Sunday morning when Giovanni decided to bring his entire family at the Toronto's zoo since the trip to Chinatown was out of question.
All his family was with him: Danny, Gabriel, Francesca, Joey, Annalisa with her son Alexander and even Antonella; it was her day off.
The zoo was kinda big.
Gabriel never saw so many animals. Danny just couldn't stop taking pictures of them.
"Let's go there, guys!" Giovanni said pointing a pavilion.
"Area reserved for the maintenance of endangered species."
It was its name.
There was a long queue. Among the queue Gabriel could notice a kid wearing red shoes, red shorts and a red shirt eager to enter in the pavilion.
"Stay calm, James!" his father said.
The pavilion contained the most exotic animals Gabriel has never seen. The keeper was a mid aged woman with long blonde hair gathered in a ponytail.
She had the responsibility to feed those animals and act as a guide to the customers.
"These are koalas from Australia, those are giant pandas which you are not allowed to enter in their zone, don't take pictures, they are sleeping."
After the guide finished her work the red kid was eager to enter in a zone.
"It's his birthday. He's 11 today he always wished to pet those animals!" his father explained
"All right!" the guide allowed.
The guide gave a bowl with dried fruits to the kid.
Gabriel was curious to see what kind of animal the kid was about to pet.
The kid sat on a log and quickly some exotic animals arrived.
They were like raccoons with orange-reddish fur and a very long and fluffy tail. The raccoons were eating from the bowl while the kid was happily petting them.
"Are you enjoying it?"
"Yes mom!"
"Well, happy birthday James!" his father said.
"Who are those?" Giovanni asked to the guide.
"Those are red pandas! They are much more at risk of extinction than giant pandas!"
"Oh, that's sad!" Danny said.
Those animals looked somewhat familiar to Gabriel.
Like a lightning he remembered the bear from the arena.
He realized that bear was identical to a red panda but much bigger.
"Closing time!" the guide announced.
"Come on James! Let's go!" the kid's father said.
The guide took the red pandas away from the kid while they were still eating.
They rebelled by making squeaky noises like rats.
Gabriel also remembered the bear noise from the arena.
Once Gabriel and the others left the pavilion they stopped for an ice cream.
"Are you enjoying zoo?" Giovanni asked.
"Yes uncle!" Danny and Gabriel answered.
"How about you Alexander?" Annalisa asked.
The blonde kid nodded.
"Joey loves this place. He always come here!" Francesca said.
"I'm happy to see you actually liked the zoo!" Joey said.
"It's a beautiful day!" Antonella pointed out.
They started to talk and tell some funny anecdotes, like when Giovanni's father Peppino got lost in Toronto.
"So he phoned me. I asked "Where are you?", he answered "I don't know!" so I asked "Is there a sign near you which tells where you are?" he answered "Yes, there is!" then I asked "What it says?" and he answered "One way!"!"
Everyone laughed out loud.
Giovanni's eyes were looking to Gabriel. He didn't start to eat his ice cream and his gaze seemed lost in space as if something was worrying him.
"Gabriel… are you okay? You look worried! Is everything alright?"
Gabriel came to his senses like he was sleeping.
"Uh… I… I'm okay uncle!"
"Are you sure?"
"Y… yes!"
Giovanni and the others weren't sure about that.
"If you have something to tell… well, tell us!"
"Yes uncle! Well I also have something funny to say!"
Giovanni seemed enthusiastic
"Really?"
Gabriel nodded.
"Please tell us!" Joey said.
Gabriel started to tell.
"Well… when me and Danny got kidnapped by Yang Di he made us fight against a big bear..."
"A big bear?" Giovanni interrupted.
"Yes, he stole a bear!" Antonella pointed out.
Gabriel was surprised to see Antonella was aware of that. He continued his story.
"At some point the bear removed my helmet looked me in the eyes then his look changed!"
"And then?" Francesca asked.
"He looked me in the eyes and he made a funny noise!"
"What noise?" Antonella asked.
"A-wooga!"
A moment of silence then everyone laughed.
Once back home Francesca started to prepare the dinner.
Everyone was ready to eat when Francesca placed a big pot of ravioli.
"Hey Annalisa, where's Antonella? I thought she could stay with us for dinner!" Giovanni asked.
"She had to go!" Annalisa answered.
"She said she had an urgent call at work!" she also explained.
"Too bad. Well, let's eat guys!"
It was late night when they finished.
"That was an excellent dinner!" Giovanni said.
"Couldn't get any better!" Joey added.
"Have you enjoyed the day kids?" Annalisa asked referring to the two boys.
"Yes!" Danny answered.
"We liked the zoo!" Gabriel also answered.
"We think the day can't get any better!" Danny also added.
The phone rang.
Francesca answered.
"Hello?"
She stood quiet for a while then she went to the salon.
"It's for you!" she said referring to Danny and Gabriel.
Gabriel grabbed the phone before Danny could.
"Hello?"
"Gabriel…."
That voice… that familiar voice… Gabriel couldn't get wrong.
After some many days he could hear that voice again.
"Dad!"