Sally's Day At The Zoo

52 Stories in 52 Weeks: ## 17 Sally’s Day At The Zoo

By: Mr. George D. Patnoe Jr.'s Ambidextrous Brain + Mind.


This Story is Dedicated to Anita Andrews. A special person who taught me something about communication.


As Sally sat in her white plastic yard recliner, with its pattern of wild animals on it, the patterns of lions and tigers and birds, Sally looked up towards the clear blue sky and she noticed a large seagull flying around in a circle, as if it had no where to go, but who did not want to stand still on a nice, warm, sandy beach somewhere. Sally sometimes felt that way too. As she watched the seagull fly around in long, wide circles, she noticed it looking down towards herself and in one long and deep dive, the seagull softly floated and then it softy landed on a yardchair’s white steel frame. Sally hesitantly looked into the seagulls eyes, and then she gently threw some cookies crumbs onto the cement floor. After the seagull finished eating those crumbs, Sally started to toss some bread at it, and of course, the hungry seagull ate it all up. With a flick of her wrist, the radio started playing its soft classical violin music, and the seagull started to listen to the music. It seemed as if Sally had found a bird friend, if only for a moment in time, on the big planet called earth. Sally knew that even though the seagull possessed a memory, the bird would probably soon fly away, never to be seen again. That happens in the realm of friendships on planet earth, especially when applied to the wild animals.

But still, the seagull un-predicatively hung around as the music flowed from the radio’s speakers, because Sally had guessed, the seagull had probably never heard human music before this very special moment in time, and classical music at that. So a moment to create a temporary connection between the somewhat lonely Sally and a seemingly lonely seagull. Sally again, threw out a piece of bread every once in a while, as the seagull started to move a bit different after a while. Sally noticed that the seagull changed its movements from flappy walking to a bit of a dancy prancing, almost as if it wanted to dance. Even a little bob of the head too, if you can imagine that!

Sally searchingly looked into the dark iris of the seagull’s eye and she began to stare into the black spot called the iris, the spot where some Asian cultures believe is ‘The Window to the Soul.’ Sally started to wonder what that quote meant as she watched the seagull stare back at her. ‘Is that seagull trying to make a statement?’ wondered Sally. No sooner had the thought ended, did the seagull flutter its wings and it flew up to the table where the radio was placed. Sally stood very still as her heart beat increased and her mind became so excited at the possibility that the seagull actually felt her thoughts and then somehow understood them, along with the seagull enjoying classical music. Then Sally noticed the red ribbon around the seagull’s leg. ‘How did that red ribbon get tangled up on that seagull’s thin bird leg?’ wondered Sally.

All of a sudden, Sally felt the need to explore the globe, to search out nature’s diversified animals, with their diversified minds, and abilities, and colors, and shapes, and sizes. Sally wondered if that red ribboned seagull was giving her the urge to explore something, at that moment. But Sally did not have the money to travel to Africa; the second largest continent with 11.62 million square miles to visit the animals that she saw in her animal books. Even if Sally had just won the state lottery, she knew that she probably would not hop onto a plane, to fly across the ocean, to visit Africa, - the land of the wild animals. She knew that it would be a very busy adventure, maybe to busy to visit all of the animals in Africa. After all, what would the animals of the world tell Sally if they could talk? And yet, Sally was really tired of just looking at animal pictures in her animal books, and she was even tired of watching animals shows on her huge televison screen. Somehow, Sally knowingly felt as if she was missing something, as if she was divided by sheets of paper, by a camera’s lens, by how someone else wanted her to see and feel the animals, to see only shapely colorful skin and fur, even as they hunted and were being hunted.

If Sally did indeed travel to the lands of wild animals and wild people, what would she see, but animals standing still, walking or running on the ground, hunting other animals, eating leaves off of trees, or trying to avoid the human tourists. As Sally sat still in her backyard chair, with the seagull watching her as it listened to the radio’s music, Sally opened up her biggest animal picture book to look at the world’s animals. She knew that she would not find the animal called the human animal, because she knew that all she needed to do to find the human animal was to look out the window or turn on the television. Sally thought to herself, ‘If animals could talk and write, what would they say?’ Maybe not much, but maybe a lot, especially if they could learn about mathematics and science and music and maybe others subjects like new ideas regarding the principles of flight to improve an airplanes and spaceship’s performance for interstellar travel.

Sally would usually opened the book anywhere in the middle, just to get started and then she would flip the pages either backwards or forwards, all depending on her mood. Her memory was like that too! In her middle age called human life, Sally found herself thinking about the past; her childhood and how she was raised up by her human parents and by society, while at other times she would be thinking about the future, especially the possibility of an afterlife. Sally always wondered how the animals and birds thought about such subjects; but after Sally had read through her animals books, and after she watched the television's nature stations, she did arrive at some fundamental conclusions on animals and death.

One of her biggest conclusions was that any animal who lived only in a cage, who was born in a cage, who never climbed a tree, or paddled through the muddy rivers, or who never climbed up some steep rocks, or who never experienced the four changing seasons in the wild, or who never slept in a cave, or who never caught a fish in the river, or who never heard the wolf’s howling or an owl’s hoots at night, or never saw the sunset before a cold night, or who ever escaped the death claws of a big bear, or who never learned to jump over a farmer’s steel and jagged edged fence, or never heard the ricochet of a farmer’s bullet after it hit a rock, that animal never really lived.

But if the animal did experience a natural and normal animal life, it would have learned to treasure life because he had learned that life was very precious after it realized that certain creatures would eat it for dinner. Or maybe the animal saw its fellow animal, maybe a partner, die a slow or even a fast death, by naturals wish or by the farmer’s bullet. But when all was said and written about it, the animal somehow inwardly knew, that everyday was a gift, because it could keep on experiencing the sun’s rays, and the moon’s glow, and the pretty flowers in the fields, and the clean and rushing waters of a river or the calm waters of a pond or lake and if the animal was a true animal with a brain, it would look up at the white spots in the sky and dream of a dream of life, another life somewhere far beyond the life on earth, even if it was a good life on earth.

Sally opened her animal picture and fact book to a page with two big Brown Bears. The first big Brown Bear was standing on its rear feet in a zoo’s white and gray enclosure, as it starred back at the human onlookers. The second big Brown Big was standing in the wild rivers of some river somewhere in the world, as its bear paw guided a huge trout fish into its mouth. As Sally looked at both pictures, she felt the need to touch each picture, as if to connect with each bear, even though she had already guessed what each bear must have feeling deep within its soul.
Two bears talking on a bear phone:. ‘Hey, how do you like your new home in the zoo?’ ‘Well, living in the zoo has it good points and its bad points. They feed me good food everyday, but I have to stare at so many of those humans as they take camera shots at me. I miss my freedom, but I do not have to worry about anything. Yet, it would be nice to just roam free from one wooded area to another, like my pappa and mamma bears did. What do you think about staying out there in the wild?’

The second bear might have stated in English, if it could talk, ‘Well, I still feel sorry for you because I get to hunt as the wild animal that I am. And I still have my thick and heavy fur to protect me from the weather, and I still have my caves to hide in during the summer and for protection from the winter’s cold in the winter time. And more importantly, I do not have to stare back at those boring humans. You know, we bears have survived many of generations of freedom, you lazy bear.’

Sally was only guessing that some big Brown Bears would like the best of both worlds. To be free during the day, and to able to return to the zoo home at night when they needed to relax. Sally had that option too, so Sally looked at the seagull and she said, ‘Good -bye.’ as she turned off the radio, she stood up, and walked inside her house to get ready for her trip to the zoo. She had traveled to the zoo before, with friends and family members, but never alone. For some reason, she decided to take a warm shower, dress in her zoo clothes, step into her car and drive the forty five minutes to the local zoo. If she wanted to visit another zoo, she knew that she would have to hop aboard an airplane and stay in nice hotel, and then visit the zoo of her choice. She also knew that even if she did visit a different zoo, it would contain the same basic animals as those in her local zoo. If she wanted to just watch some animals, she could turn on her tv to watch some animals or nature show or she could have watched a DVD movie of animals, but she decided she wanted to try something different. She wanted to try to communicate with some wild animals. She just felt the urge, to try to communicate with the wild, but zooed animals!

Driving to the local zoo, she had already pictured the zoo and the animals such as bears, tigers, zebras, monkeys, elephants, and the colorful birds and the snakes and the reptiles of lizards, snakes, turtles, and the other earth creatures in her mind. She really tried to separate all of these creatures from the wooden fences, steel bars, steel cages, and the cement rooms, but she could not. She tried to visualize them in their natural habitats of the forest or the jungle or the woods, or even in her backyard, but her mind was preparing itself for the zoo, so her mental picture of the zoo seemed to imprison her own mind, even though she was only driving to the zoo. Her mind began to realize how even the mental picture of the zoo seem to limit her own conception of what the animals were as real creatures. She too, began to feel trapped by the limited images of colorful fur and skin and their shapely bodies, which were all trapped inside the different sizes and shapes of cages of steel and cement and water and glass. Maybe the fish felt some fishy freedom was missing, even if they did feel safe from fish predators.

As Sally walked up to the zoo’s entrance, she noticed all of the colorful signs and fences with the colorfully painted smiling animals being surrounded by tall trees and colorful flowers and plants, but she knew that the animal paintings were only a reminder that humans could only fantasize about the zoo’s animal’s being wild, but they would never be truly wild within the zoo. After paying her $9.00 for the daily ticket, she began the long walk around the zoo. She bought a bag of popcorn and a orange / lemonade soft drink to cool off her very warm body. ‘Need energy for the day.’ she thought. As she walked away from the food stand, she noticed a seagull on the ground. When Sally noticed the red ribbon, she almost fainted, but she caught herself from being overly excited. How could it be? She thought. Sally hurriedly tossed some popcorn at the seagull. The seagull squawked.

As Sally walked past the first few cages, she surprisingly began to feel the mental atmosphere change from that of the outside world, the world beyond the tall wooden and steel fences. Gone was the world of computers, televisions, cars and trains and airplanes. Gone was the world of the stock market, the political problems, even the wars all over the world. Gone was the churches and the people who believe in heaven and hell. Gone were the schools for children, and adults alike. Sally began to realize that the zoo was in one sense, a completely different world from which the outside world. In a real way, the zoo was a completely different world than the outside world of people and material things. It was a completely different mental world.

Therefore, the minds of the animals, along with the collective mind of the zoo, were going to be very different than the collective minds of people and their events in the outside world. If the minds of the animals were confined within the zoo’s walls, then maybe she would be able to feel that state of mind, just as she would feel the world’s mind when she exited the zoo. Sally decided to consciously leave the outside world out of her mind as she opened her mind up to the zoo’s mind.

So Sally felt her mind changed too. She found herself being no longer concerned with money problems, and car problems, and her bosses problems, and her own personal psychological issues, and her night dream worlds, and her day world, and her parents worlds, and her grandparents worlds. And as a matter of fact; in one very real sense, almost every historical human event did not exist within the walls of the zoo. ‘It was the Zoo Zone!’ thought Sally. The zoo felt like a different world because it was a different world! Just as the oceans were a different world from the air world, from the dirt world, from the people dream world, and even from the space world.

The collective minds of all the animals were aware of people, but they were not remotely knowledgeable about the people world, the people universe. This was especially true if the animals were born in the zoo. The current zoo animals could not know about the millions of years of history of the people world, with their wars, and human technological developments, and space ships, and of its music. The zoo’s animals were truly free to walk only inside their cages while they were partly free of the human mind, and its errors regarding life and death and space and time and even communication. The human animal basically believe that communications is purely material, while some wild animals know better.

Sally thought to herself that maybe she should began to look past the animal’s skin and bones, to their meta-being. As Sally looked at a group of bears, she wondered, what if I was inside their brains, inside their minds, what would I see, if I could tap into their bear brains. What would happen if I could read the mind of an animal, along with communicate with it, as they do with each other?’ Just as Sally thought up of the possibility of the concept of telepathic communication with the animals, a nice old gentleman walked by her. He stopped short, turned around, and remarked to Sally, ‘Of course it is possible. And the zoo is a good place to begin to learn to become inwardly silent enough to listen to the animals who are also mind reading you. By the way, my name is Frank, and I am in charge of helping people communicate with the animals.’

Sally quietly starred at Frank, as she looked him over. Frank wore a tan outdoors outfit, with brown boots, and a white and tan stripped vented hat. Frank said, ‘I noticed that you were looking at the Brown Bears, lets walk over to the elephants.’ So they walked over to the elephants and Frank said to Sally, ‘I sense that you are wondering what the animals feel about death and the afterlife.’ Sally simple nodded yes, and kept walking with Frank until they arrived at the elephant grounds. Sally stood very still as she glared into one seemingly sad elephant’s tiny eyes. She sensed that while Frank was watching them, he knew what was happening between Sally and the elephant. A telepathic connection was being made between Sally and the elephant.

Frank said, ‘That elephant has not opened up to a single human since she arrived here, at the zoo. We were hoping that that elephant would meet a person that it would trust, so we could get to know it better. It seems so sad, but how are we supposed to know what is bothering it if it is mentally closed to any telepathic communication?’ Sally did not say a word to Frank as she felt a strange sensation within her mind. Frank stayed still as he knew if that connection was going to be made between Sally and the elephant, but it would be the elephant’s decision to open up to Sally. Out of no where, it seemed, that red ribboned seagull flew on the elephants back. Frank said, ‘I have never seen that before.’ Sally replied, ‘It seems that that seagull is following me around today, as funny as that might sound.’

The red ribboned seagull flew over to Sally and Sally rudely tossed some more popcorn at it.

‘Frank, do you mind if I walk up to the elephant to touch it? You could watch or come with me if you wish?’ Frank answered, ‘Sure Sally, sure.’ So they slowly walked over to the elephant and the seemingly sad elephant’s tiny eyes moved towards Frank and Sally. Frank backed off a bit by slowly walking backwards. The elephant’s long trunk swung towards Sally, but Sally did not move. Sally took out a juicy apple from an arm bag and she let the elephant’s trunk suck it up, to move it to its mouth. Sally began to gently pet the elephant. The elephant did not move. Sally moved around to the front of the elephant, and she looked into the elephant’s eyes. Sally wondered what to do next, as she looked over towards Frank; but Frank held up his arms and hands in mid air, as if to state, ‘It is up to you, Sally.’ Then, Sally noticed that seagull with red ribbon around its thin bird leg.

Sally remembered the radio, and then she asked Frank to get a battery powered radio. Frank quickly left and within ten minutes, he arrived with the radio in his hand. He handed the radio over to Sally and Sally turned on the radio to the classical music station. The elephants’s ear perked up and the elephant started flapping her huge ears. Sally turned up the radio’s volume and the elephant let out an elephant’s roar. Sally turned her head around to smile at Frank, but Frank was smiling such a wide smile that Sally knew Frank liked the elephant’s response, even though she did not know the whole story regarding the mammoth creature.

Frank told Sally that the elephant had not roared or even flapped its ears since it had arrived at the zoo a few months ago. Frank looked so happy that Sally began to feel good about the day, and even about the seagull. ‘Hey Frank, where did that seagull go?’ Frank answered, ‘I did not see it fly off.’ The elephant stepped over to Sally and it gently felt Sally’s arm. Sally stood very still. Sally was not quiet sure what to do, so she closed her eyes for what seemed a second. A very clear image quickly developed in Sally’s mind.

In what seemed to be a waiting station in Africa, Sally saw the elephant in a large room, with the radio playing some Africa classical music. Sally then saw the elephant's partner drop to the floor and die. The elephant then walked over to its partner and touched the dead elephant with her trunk, while the classical music played in the background. Sally kept looking at the radio, as the elephant flapped its ears back and forth, seemingly to the music. Sally quickly opened her eyes and she yelled to Frank, ‘Hey Frank, I think this elephant likes to listen to the radio.’ Frank laughed out loud as he responded, ‘Sally, I think that you are correct.’ Sally walked over to Frank as Frank put out his hand to give a congratulatory hand shake to Sally. ‘I did not know you had that gift in you.’ stated Frank. Sally smiled as she said, ‘Neither did I.’

Frank said, ‘The elephant helper quit last week and we are looking for a replacement. How would you like a job working for the zoo, working right here with the elephants? We will train you, but you seem to have a handle on the stuff that can not be taught.’ Sally looked around at the brown wooden fences, the silver steel cages, the cement walls and floors, she looked into the elephant’s eyes as she answered, ‘Why not. I can always quit.’ as she heard the response of Frank’s laughter, the elephant’s roar, the seagull’s squawking, and the modern day classical music, all within the walls of a zoo.

When Elephants Weep: by Jeffrey Masson and Susan McCarthy
The Language of Silence and Letters to Strongheart: by J. Allen Boone.
Inside The Animal Mind: by George Page