The Petting Zoo

Midge and Booker-T walked to Jake's house and strolled through the gate into the yard. They found Jake sitting on the porch staring into space.

“Hey Jake!” called Midge. “What are you doing?”

“I'm waiting for you two to come,” said Jake.

“How did you know we were coming here?” asked Booker-T.

“You always come here,” laughed Jake.

“Ha ha,” said Booker-T.

“Midge told me yesterday that you would come so we can go check out the new petting zoo,” said Jake.

“Did you forget, Booker-T?” asked Midge.

“I guess I did forget,” said Booker-T. “Do you think it is open now?”

“Maybe,” said Jake. “We can check it out.”

“Lets go,” said Midge. “I want to see the pot belly pigs.”

The three started walking along the sidewalk on their way to the petting zoo. Suddenly, running past them going in the opposite direction, came a fat little pinkish colored animal.

“What was that Jake?” asked Booker-T as they stopped to watch it running down the sidewalk.

“I think it is a pig,” said Jake. “Lets go see.”

They ran after the animal and in a couple of minutes they caught up with it.

“Hi,” said Midge. “Where are you going?”

“I don't know,” said the little pig. “Do you know where I am?”

“Well, you are not far from my house,” said Jake.

“Can I go to your house?” asked the little pig.

“Why?” asked Booker-T.

“I want to hide,” said the pig.

“Why do you want to hide?” asked Midge. “What are you hiding from?”

“I found a hole in the fence and I crawled through it and ran real fast,” said the pig. “I'm hiding from all those kids.”

“Were you at the petting zoo?” asked Booker-T.

“Yes,” said the pig. “I'm Pinky.”

“Don't you like the kids petting you?” asked Jake.

“I don't mind them petting me or wanting to hold me,” said Pinky. “But it hurts when they step on my feet or the little ones want to hit me on the back and pull my tail.”

“We were just on our way to go see the petting zoo,” said Jake.

“Did you run away from the zoo too?” asked Pinky. “I don't remember seeing you there.”

“No,” said Booker-T. “ We live in a house. It must be fun living at the petting zoo with all those animals.”

“Yes,” said Pinky. “I like all the animals and we stay in the building at the zoo.”

“Are you friends with everyone there?” asked Jake.

“No,” said Pinky. “I don't know all of them yet. Some are new to our little petting zoo.”

“Why don't you make friends with them?” asked Midge. “They can help you with the kids.”

“I want someone to help me escape,” said Pinky. “Can I come live with you in your house?”

“We don't know if our owners would like to have a little pig living with us,” said Booker-T.

“Come on and walk to the zoo with us,” said Midge. “We will help you.”

As the four were walking to the petting zoo, a small blue truck pulled up along side of them and someone jumped out of the truck with a net and tossed it over the top of  Pinky before he could run away.

“Come on Pinky,” said the man. “lets go back to the little zoo.”

“Pinky the escape artist,” laughed the other man as they put Pinky into the truck.

“Come see me!” shouted Pinky as the man drove the truck back to the zoo.

“Why did that human call Pinky an escape artist?' asked Booker-T.

“I think he escapes from the petting zoo all the time,” laughed Jake.

“Lets go see him there,” said Midge. “And all the other animals.”

The three hurried down the sidewalk and looked for Pinky as they entered the little petting zoo. They found him in a large fenced area with some little Billy goats, rabbits, a couple more pigs, small horse,  couple of lambs, some ducks and chickens.   

 "There are a lot of animals here," smiled Booker-T.   "Lets go talk to Pinky." 

 They walked around the fenced area and stood outside the fence and talked to Pinky.  "Wow, you have lots of friends here," said Midge.  

 "I guess I do," smiled Pinky.  "I'm glad you came to see me." 

 " We will come and see you some times," said Jake.  "We like to come and see the animals."

 "We are happy you are our new friend," smiled Midge.