A day at the zoo.

Daddy, can we go to the zoo today? Ag, please daddy. Ag, please. You always say you will take me but you're always busy with work. In the week I'm back with mom and Steve. It's back to school and she always says no. Ag, please daddy. I know you work very hard but I come here every weekend and we just stay at home and watch T.V. together. I get bored. I want to see an African elephant. So big and majestic. It's huge gray ears flapping. It's stomping feet as it runs on the plains. It's trunk spraying water on it's back as it plays in the river. Ag, please daddy can we go. Otherwise, I have to ask Steve to take me. No, I'll take you. I mean I have a lot of work to finish off but you are right. We have to get out of the house a bit. Besides it's a Wednesday. I have the day off. Not that many people at the zoo today. I'll finish my work this evening when you are watching cartoons. After lunch we take the subway to the zoo, okay son. It's only a few stops. Look daddy, the rhinos were great, weren't they? The hippos were huge. The monkeys were hilarious, but I really can't wait to see the elephant. Well son, let's squeeze in between the crowd, everyone wants to see the elephant. Excuse me, ma'am. Excuse me, sir. Excuse me, little fella. Let's see if we can get to the front of railing. You see there my son, the great African elephant in all it's majesty. But Dad, the elephant looks kind of sad, don't you think? It's just a dust bowl. Where is the jungle? Where are all the trees and greenery? Where are the grasslands, where is it's family? Look at it swaying back and forth. Why did they have to chain the back leg? It just seems to be bored, swaying from side to side. Look at the way it is swiping the dust with it's trunk from one side to the other. And occasionally it picks up the dust and sprays it over it's own back. I bet it would love to get to the moat in front of the railing over here. That must be what it is trying to reach. It wants to take a swim, I think. It is too hot out there. It want's to touch the water. I don't think it likes all the cameras taking pictures and shouting things, and people throwing things at the elephant. I think it is longing for something right, Dad? For love perhaps or it's family back in Africa. Do you think it is remembering something, or wishing for something? Wow, did you hear that sound, dad? It cried out of something. So loud! Cried out for someone. The people are just laughing and making jokes. The elephant just keeps swaying back and forth, visually straining as it is stretching out that chain. Someone thew a rock at its hind. The elephant did not flinch. Maybe it just doesn't notice those things anymore. How cruel humans can be. Daddy, let's go home. I can't stand it anymore. It's just not the same as I expected it to be. Okay son, back on the subway home we go. There is quite a crowd of people going home from work now, squeeze in between them. Excuse me, ma'am. Excuse me, sir. Excuse me, sonny, watch who you are bumping you little shit. Quit shoving. Take your elbow out of my face. At last, we are on. That was quite a tight squeeze. Someone is getting up, son. You take the seat, I'll keep standing. Thanks, dad. Look at all these people dressed in their suits, black, blue, gray, brown and white. Where have all the colors gone. Look at them hanging on to the subway straps. Look at them swaying back and forth as the subway car weaves through the great unknown city expanse. They all staring at their phones with an air of melancholy about themselves, swiping their devices from side to side. Navigating their little lives on the tiny little screens, and hardly moving an inch except for the gentle swaying from side to side. They all seem so lost in pensive thought. Look at dad there, seem he is also thinking about something. Perhaps he is longing for something or thinking about the past, when we were all together still. Look at the girls all painted up trying to take pictures of themselves, straining their faces to enhance their appeal. Like they are trying to reach something slightly out of their grasp, I wonder if they ever will. Everyone seated seems chained to their small little space, little posture, little social cast. There is an forlorn old lady making a scene. She is moving about erratically and swearing out load. She is clearly distressed about something. The horrible things she is saying. She is cursing something or someone. I wonder who she is taking to. Everyone just seems to ignore her. People just stare at their phones. Some young teenagers are openly mocking her, laughing at her, antagonizing her, egging her on. Some people seem to get a kick out of that, snickering and then hiding behind their phones. I wonder what she is crying about. A memory perhaps, or perhaps wishing for something different. Some man is taking loudly on his phone. He is ranting and raving on about the foreigners coming into the country and taking all the jobs, saying how we don't want them here, we don't need them here. I think he is making a point of speaking extra loudly so the whole subway car can hear. I wonder if there is actually someone on the other end. If there is, when do they get a chance to reply? I wonder if he is taking about me and dad since we look different to the other people on the train. Dad just seems to ignore him anyway. Maybe he has heard that too many times. It doesn't bother him anymore. Daddy, wake up. Daddy, wake up. I think this is our stop. You were starting to sway back and forth too. Did you fall asleep? Come on, dad. Let's get home so you can finish your work and I can watch my cartoons. Thank you, daddy, it was a really special day at the zoo. But next time, I just want to stay at home with you.