Level Three. Animal Day.

Level Three – Animal Day.

By Michelle Lloyd.

Animals were much loved by New One.  What was not to like about them?  He loved the furry, scaled, claw clad and the feathered varieties…there was not an animal that he did not like and did not love to talk about.

New One’s Mum, Dad and Gran knew the animal passion was for him important and it was decided that for a special treat they would arrange to take him and some of his friends on an Animal Day Experience.

The screams of excitement were high-pitched, the wails of are we there yet were loud and numerous because New One, Little Herbert and R V were all expert animal lovers.

The journey to the Animal Park was slightly long and longer for some than others…namely a certain Lana who needed to take a few doggy toilet breaks.

Eventually they arrived at the experience location and were able to drive through the animal exhibits.  Ooohs and Ahhhs ensued and even Lana looked paws on window eager about the sights they did see.

It all went quite splendidly until the petting part of the experience.  Everyone had to exit the vehicle for this and R V, New One and Little Herbert were asked to please follow instructions.  There was a lot of emphasis on rules and why they needed to be adhered to and lots of nods from all of them to show that they understood what was required of them.

Small animals were stroked, held and watched.  Exhibits were entered and exited, excitement was had and Lana, where needed, was kept to the side by obliging parents.  All in all it was thought a success and it was as they were leaving that New One decided that to bend the rules may not be as bad as to break them.

They all had to walk through specific enclosures to get to their vehicle and it was as they did this that New One could not help but notice how Lana looked adoringly at a certain hard-shelled, slow moving, animal.  She had been engrossed in watching his every movement and in watching her New One, Little Herbert and R V had been in fits of giggles.  How exciting would it be thought New One, to take a little hard-shelled memory of their Animal Day home with them and how happy would Lana be with him if he could do it.

New One told R V and Little Herbert what he had thought of and neither looked convinced that it was a good idea.  It was Lana’s loving and longing look at her new playmate that did it though and the three attempted to hide the object of the dog’s affection in New One’s going out pack.

It was in the going out pack that was contained his water bottle, notebook, snacks and a hard-shelled animal…one more obvious entry than had been in there when they had started their day out.  It had taken all three to get the hard-shelled hero of Lana into the material bag and a distraction of a Lana’s getting into a no go enclosure as dealt with by the parents.

New One kind of knew he had done a punish worthy action, R V and Little Herbert all knew it too but they all thought if they were allowed one token of their day out then maybe if they all put their individual allowances together then the turtle could be it.  And Lana would love it.  This is what they convinced themselves with as they all got into the vehicle with a we know nothing of any turtle theft faces on.  It was Lana who on getting in last decided to sniff out her token of their day out early and would not leave New One’s bag alone.

She sniffed, sighed, sniffed again and when she started barking at the bag Mum, Dad and Gran all looked at New One.  It did not take too long before a certain hard-shelled escapee from the Animal Park emerged from the material pack with a quizzical expression and Lana nearly leapt out of the vehicle in her excitement.  Mum, Dad and Gran did not have the same matching looks of glee on their faces though…it was more that of horror, shock and puzzlement, in that order.

After a rather relieved hard-shelled get away of an animal was returned to his rightful enclosure, New One, R V and Little Herbert were in for a talk about the perils of not listening to the rules.  It was explained that while Lana may well have loved the little addition, that little addition would have suffered because of their actions and the consequences could have been terrible.

Lana looked at the three as they heard all about what could have happened and deep down they knew that what was explained was to some extent already known by them.  A quick decision thought to be for the good of Lana could actually have turned into something New One would not ever have wanted and that could have been to the detriment of everyone.  Lessons had been learnt and it was decided that the Animal Day had been fun, exciting (particularly for Lana) and thought-provoking.