Monday morning standing noses pressed to the cold glass. The zoo at 9:23 AM is a quiet, cathedral-ish place. The wet ground echoes like a titled room. The whole valley, cool & damp like the sloping porcelain of a bathtub. The stoic mountains well matched for the stormy weather & the mood of the animals searching for signs of their pending breakfast; which is not us.
At 10:07 the tranquil landscape floods with schooled kids. It is the turning on of the tap full force and they rush down the paths like a flash flood exploding and gurgling to the very edges. Soapy bubbles clouding the otherwise crystal water. The girls in pink and the boys in blue. It takes me a minute to figure this out; it is the color of their jackets. But while I watch them, trying to read the different school names off their badges as they fly by Beach tugs on my arm, "I want to go home. I'm tired and I'm kind of hungry now..." "Of course", I answer her even though I know what she really wants is to pull the drain. To stay, nose pressed to the glass without the weight of water swirling around her.
