The Vampire's Apprentice

There was a little plaque in front of each station telling just a little bit about each animal. Norville spotted the one for the birds and went to read it. "Emus. One of them is Lucy, and the other is Linus."
The birds were tall, easily meeting Norville's eye with their own big honey-brown ones as they slow-stepped their way toward the visitors. Their stringy feathers almost resembled fur, and the whole mat swayed as they walked. It was impossible to see where their wings were in the glistening dark brown, or if they had any wings at all. Then they made a sound. Norville felt it in his chest more than heard the deep, gutteral, drumming noise. It took him a minute to realize it was coming from the bird's chest.
Sam stuck his nose into the fence and stared intently.
 
"Woah," Kitty breathed. "How cool."
Gingerly, though fearlessly, she reached out to touch Linus' dark feathers. They looked so soft and smooth.
 
Again, the low, rumbling noise as the bird cocked its head and trained a beady eye on her. The noise was so similar to a big dog's growl, and yet not. It was like a cross between a drumming and a growling.
"I wonder if they can fly. Do you see any wings under the strings?" Norville asked, fascinated.
 
The feathers were soft and smooth. She pet them very gently, fingertips barely brushing over the dark feathers. "I dunno. I don't think they can fly, but then, science says bumble bees shouldn't either."
 
"Huh." He reached out and tried to pet Lucy. Lucy watched his fingers for a moment then tried to eat them like worms. Norville yelped and pulled his hand out of harms way just in time. "Oi! I am not eatable!" he scolded then laughed. "Never had to say that before."
Something caught Sam's eye, and he turned, pulling on the leash. A single baby goat was watching them curiously from the boardwalk instead of inside a pen.
 
Kitty tugged back before relenting to following where Sam led, keeping a close eye on him. At the sight of the goat, her heart practically melted. It was so cute!
 
It was a tiny thing, not much bigger than Sam's head, with a brown and white body, a black tail, and black tipped ears. It stared at the giant dog bearing down on it then stepped forward boldly.
"Be gentle, Sam!" Norville warned worriedly, following Kitty.
Sam stopped and began eagerly sniffing the goat all over while the goat tried to sniff him back.
 
Kitty giggled, watching the two. "I wonder how Clancy would feel if we accidentally brought a baby goat along." She joked.
 
Sam started licking the goat, who gave an offended bleat and bounded off, shaking its head. Sam tried to follow.
"I don't know, but something tells me he'd give us both that look. You know, the one where he kind of pulls back his head, gets all straight, and he almost kind of sniffs?" Norville copied the look, and even managed to wing up an eyebrow awkwardly. "Really, Miss Kitty Cat, where do you get these absurd notions?" he huffed, doing a decent immitation of Clancy's accent.
 
She was having a hard time holding Sam back with the laughter Norville's impression had caused. "That sounds like him alright." Kitty grinned. "Yep. Definitely."
 
Norville snickered and looked down at Sam. "Chill, dude. He didn't like you. Or her, can't tell. Either way, most people don't like it when you lick them."
Sam huffed and plunked down his bottom, watching the baby goat easily wiggle into the pen with the adults and other babies.
"Sore loser. Hey, look, pigs!" Norville pointed to where three hefty pot-bellied pigs were snorting and rooting around in the dry dirt.
It was hard to imagine that these massive hulks with their lowering brows, dragging bellies, and wide backs were actually small for their breed. They waddled along calmly, completely ignoring anything outside of whatever they were finding in the dirt.
 
"Norville!" Kitty pretended to scold. "Don't be rude!" Her smile made certain she would not come across as serious. "Do you think they're for petting or just looking at?"
 
"Sorry," Norville grinned. He walked over to the sturdy fence and looked down. "Well, if they come over, we can reach easily enough." He dropped down a bit of feed. One of the pigs spotted it and came snorting over to investigate. He reached down and cautiously patted the bristly back, which the pig ignored entirely. "Wow. Pigs feel weird!"
 
Kitty tugged gently on Sam's leash and followed Norville over. "You know, the reason pigs roll around in the mud is for their skin. It protects them from sunburn and such and also helps keeps them cool."
 
"Probably helps with the flies, too," Norville said, giving the prickly back another pat.
Sam looked almost nervous with the pigs, staying close to Kitty.
 
Norville laughed out loud, making the pig jump, but it couldn't be bothered to move. "I agree. I do know they are crazy smart, apparently, but that's kind of creepy, knowing my breakfast could probably out-think me."
 
((I was so certain I just read "out-oink me"))

"Mhm. They're expert foragers, so if you ever get stranded with a pig, eat the pig last. You might just live a little bit longer."
 
"Sounds fair to me!" Norville said cheerfully, not questioning once why he'd be stranded with a pig. "I wonder why that thing is kept separate. Is it a sheep or a goat?"
He pointed to the other side where there was a second fence a couple of feet inside the first, ensuring proper separation between a wooly beast with horns and any wanna-be petters. The wooly beast was not as wooly as a sheep, but woolier than a goat, and glared at them menacingly under its curved horns.
 
"Hmmm." Kitty examined the beast. "Looks to me like a ram." She guessed. "And even if it isn't, I can assume it's over there because it's violent. But then, that's only a guess."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top