“What’s yours?” I asked Ricky. “It looks like a monkey.”
“It is a marmoset,” he told me. “And it is a kind of monkey. They live in trees. In South America. Mostly they eat insects. Guess what the smallest kind of marmoset is called.”
“I give up,” I told Ricky.
“A pygmy marmoset. Pygmy marmosets only get to be six inches long, not counting their tails.”
“Gosh,” I said. “That is very tiny.” I went back to work on my capybara. I was shaping his feet. I wanted the feet to look just right. Then I changed my mind. I crossed two of the capybara’s toes. This was for good luck. For the zoo trip on Friday.
The Great Animal Fact Hunt
The next day was Wednesday. I went to school with my fingers crossed. Nancy was with me. I made her cross her fingers, too.
Bad news. Eight kids were absent again. Only they were not the same eight kids who had been absent on Tuesday. Two of those kids had gotten well. They were back in school. Two other kids had just gotten sick. They were absent for the first time. Those kids were Jannie and … Hannie. Oh, no! Hannie had to get better fast. She and Nancy and I were going to stick together on the zoo trip. Best friends always stick together.
That afternoon we worked on our sculptures again. My capybara was almost finished. I even began to paint him. (I named him Prince Charming.)
On Thursday I went to school with my fingers crossed. Also, I held my breath. My magic must have worked because only three kids were absent. And Hannie was back! She looked fine.
“I just had a little cold,” she told Nancy and me. “Not the flu.”
When Ms. Colman took attendance that morning, I waved my hand in the air. “Oh, Ms. Colman, Ms. Colman!” I cried. “Only three people are absent today. If three people are absent tomorrow, will we go on our trip?”
“Karen, let’s wait until tomorrow,” said my teacher. “We will see how many people are absent. Until then, think positively.”
“Okay,” I replied. I thought, We will go to the zoo. We will go to the zoo. We will go to the zoo.
Ms. Colman must have been thinking positively, too. She acted as if we would be going on our trip the next day. First she gave us some reminders: “You can buy lunch at the zoo cafeteria, but you might want to bring a soda or a drink with you. Also, if you have not yet given me your permission slip, please bring it to school tomorrow. And remember the bus rules. You must stay in your seats. And you must sit with your partner.”
“What partner?” asked Ricky.
Ms. Colman smiled. “I was just going to tell you about that. I want each of you to choose someone who will be your partner on the trip. You must stay with your partner all day.”
“Can we choose anyone for our partner?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Can we choose two partners?”
“No.”
Bullfrogs. Of course, I wanted both Hannie and Nancy to be my partners. We wanted to stick together. But we could not do that. Finally, I decided to be Nancy’s partner, and Hannie decided to be Natalie’s partner. We would stay together as much as we could.
When we had chosen partners, Ms. Colman said, “While you are at the zoo, you will work on a project. You will go on The Great Animal Fact Hunt.”
Cool! I thought.
“You will divide into three groups of partners,” Ms. Colman went on. “Each group will complete a worksheet. The worksheets will be different. You will need to find animal facts at the zoo. A room mother or room father will be with you to help you and to be your group leader.”
“Is the fact hunt a contest?” I asked.
“No. But if your group fills out your sheet correctly, every member of your group will receive a small prize.”
Oh, please, oh, please, oh, please — we have to go to the zoo tomorrow! I thought.
That afternoon, I worked very hard on Prince Charming, and I finished him.
Off to the Zoo
Here is how many people were absent on Friday, zoo day: one. Jannie was the only kid who could not come to school.
“We will go to the zoo,” announced Ms. Colman.
I almost shouted, “Yea! Hurray!” But I did not. This is why. The three room parents were standing near Ms. Colman’s desk. Guess who one of the fathers was. Daddy! He was coming to the zoo with us. I promised myself to stay on my very best behavior that day. I did not want him to hear anyone remind me to use my indoor voice.
That morning, Ms. Colman did not make us sit at our desks. She said we could sit anywhere we wanted. Natalie, Hannie, Nancy, and I sat on some desks in the back of the room.
“Look at this,” said Hannie, jumping off the desk. She pulled a wallet out of her pocket. “Here is how much money I brought with me. I have been saving my allowance. I bet I could buy a really good souvenir with this.”
Ms. Colman had told us about the souvenir shop at the zoo. She had said we might have time to visit it. I hoped we would. I like to buy souvenirs.
Natalie held out a paper bag. “Look what kind of soda I brought,” she said. “It is called Fresca and it is so, so delicious.”
“Mommy made me bring juice,” I said. “Apple juice.”
“My mother made me bring milk,” said Nancy.
“Mine, too,” said Hannie.
“Class?” Ms. Colman called from the front of the room. “May I have your attention, please? Listen up. I want to talk about what to do if you get lost from your group. Who remembers?”
Nancy’s hand shot up. “I do,” she said. “We should look around for an adult. A grown-up. Especially someone who works at the zoo.”
“Right,” agreed Ms. Colman. “Should you look very far?”
Bobby Gianelli raised his hand. “No. We should try to stay in one place, because we will be easier to find.”
“Great,” said our teacher. “What else?”
“Listen for announcements,” I answered. “And follow instructions.”
“Perfect!” exclaimed Ms. Colman. (Daddy smiled at me.) “All right. Please make sure you have your drinks with you. It is time to get on the bus to the zoo.”
I could not help myself. I let out one tiny “Hurray!”
The Wheels on the Bus
“Please find your partners,” said Ms. Colman. “And hold hands.”
“Hold hands!” cried Bobby. “No way! I’m not holding Ricky’s hand.”
Ms. Colman just said, “Please hold hands until you get on the bus.”
I took Nancy’s hand. (Bobby held onto the sleeve of Ricky’s coat.) Then we walked out of our room in our double line of partners. We walked down the hall and across the parking lot. A yellow school bus was waiting for us. We climbed up the steps. Nancy and I sat in the very back seat. Hannie and Natalie sat right in front of us.
“We are going to the zoo!” I cried. “We are going on a fact hunt!”
Everyone else was as excited as I was. Except maybe for the adults. They sat together at the front of the bus. They did not shout.
Soon the driver pulled the bus away from school. We drove through town. My friends and I talked and laughed. The driver flew over a little bump in the road — and the people in the back bounced into the air.
“Do that again!” I called.
Across the aisle sat Ricky and Bobby. In front of them were Pamela and Leslie. Leslie’s braids hung over the back of the seat. Bobby was busily trying to poke a paper clip through the end of one.
We drove out of Stoneybrook. We turned onto a highway.
Just then Natalie said, “Uh-oh.”
“What?” asked Hannie.
“I am bus sick. My stomach does not like being bumped up and down.”
“Are you going to barf?” I asked.
“Maybe,” said Natalie.
“Ms. Colman!” I shrieked. “Daddy! Natalie is going to barf!”
Ms. Colman hurried to the back of the bus.
“I only said I might barf,” Natalie told our teacher. “I am getting bus sick. I need
to sit up front.”
So Natalie and Hannie had to switch places with Audrey and Sara. One of the room mothers gave Natalie a plastic bag to barf in. Luckily, Natalie did not need to use it. She held it in her lap, though.
“Let’s sing songs!” called Leslie. (She was wearing a paper clip in one of her braids, but she did not know it.)
“Good idea,” said Ms. Colman. “I know the perfect song for a field trip. How about ‘The Wheels on the Bus’?”
“Yea!” I cried.
My classmates and I sang, “The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round, all about the town.”
Then we sang some other verses: “The driver of the bus says, ‘Move on back!’ ” and, “The wipers on the bus go back and forth,” and, “The people on the bus go bump, bump, bump.”
“I have a new verse!” Pamela Harding announced. She sang, “The people in the back bounce up, up, up!”
And Ricky said, “I have a new verse, too.” He sang, “Natalie Springer goes barf, barf, barf, barf, barf, barf, barf, barf, barf. Natalie Springer goes barf, barf, barf, all across the floor!”
“I did not barf!” Natalie shouted.
“Class, please settle down,” called Ms. Colman.
So we did. Until we saw a sign that said TO THE ZOO.
The Kinkajou
I almost jumped out of my seat and shouted, “We’re here!” Then I remembered Daddy was sitting in the front of the bus. So I just turned to Nancy and whispered, “We’re here. We are at the zoo!”
“Please file off of the bus,” said Ms. Colman. “And stay with your partners.”
Nancy and I stood in the parking lot, holding hands. We looked around us.
“I see a giraffe’s head,” said Nancy.
“I see the top of the … the bird cage. What is it called?”
“The aviary?” said Nancy.
“Yeah, the aviary. Oh, boy. This is going to be awesome!”
“Class, please follow me,” said Ms. Colman. She led us through a gate and into the zoo. One of the room mothers collected the drinks we had brought for lunch. She took them to the cafeteria.
While she was gone, Ms. Coleman divided us into our three groups. Guess who was in charge of my group. Daddy. He was going to be our leader. Yea! The kids in my group were Nancy, me, Hannie, Natalie, Ricky, and Bobby.
“Do you remember your zoo manners?” Ms. Colman asked my class.
“Yes!” we answered.
“Do you remember what to do if you cannot find your group?”
“Yes!”
“Good. Now I will show you the visitors center and the cafeteria. They are places you could go to if you need help.” Ms. Colman pointed out the buildings. Finally she handed a worksheet to each group.
I looked at ours. I saw a list of sentences with blanks, like this: “The largest reptile known to man is ________. It lives in ________.” And like this: “The kinkajou is a nocturnal, arboreal mammal. It lives in ________, in Central and South America. Another name for the kinkajou is ________.”
“We will have to find a lot of answers,” I said to Daddy. “How will we know where to look for them?”
“The sentences are clues,” replied Daddy. “To fill in the first blanks, we will go to the reptile house. To find out about kinkajous, we will go to the building where the nocturnal animals live.”
“Oh, I see,” I said. “Cool!”
“Class?” said Ms. Colman. “Please give me your attention. Does everybody understand how the groups will work? Each worksheet is different, so the groups will go off in different directions. Please stay together and stay with your group leader. Your leader will help you fill in the blanks. I will walk around the zoo and check on each group. Let’s meet at the cafeteria at noon for lunch. Afterward, you may continue the fact hunt. Most important, have fun today! Enjoy the animals.”
The fact hunt was about to begin.
My friends and I looked at our sheet again.
“Okay, let’s go to the reptile house first,” said Daddy.
“Excuse me, sir,” spoke up Natalie. “Is a snake a reptile?”
“Yes,” Daddy answered.
“Then I do not think I want to go in the reptile house.”
That was how our fact hunt began. Daddy stood in the doorway of the reptile house where he could watch Natalie (outside) and the rest of us (inside). We filled in the first sentences on our sheet. The largest reptile known to man is the saltwater crocodile. It lives in Southeast Asia and other parts of the world.
Karen’s Alligator
My friends and Daddy and I walked all around the zoo. Do you want to know what the kinkajou lives in? It lives in trees. Only trees. That is what arboreal means. Can you imagine never touching the ground? And the other name for a kinkajou is honey bear.
“Honey bear,” I said as I read the sign in front of the kinkajou’s cage. “I like that name. I think I will change my teddy’s name. I will call him Honey Bear from now on.”
We looked at the animals of Africa and the monkeys in the ape house and the birds in the aviary. When we left the aviary, Daddy said, “Kids? It is almost twelve o’clock. It is time to go to the cafeteria.”
We were the last ones to reach the cafeteria! The kids in my class, plus the group leaders, plus Ms. Colman were already there. Hannie and Nancy and Natalie and I each got a tray. We walked through the food line. Here is what I bought: a peanut butter sandwich, an apple, a brownie, and then another brownie. I had never seen so many choices. That cafeteria served lasagna and hamburgers and lots of kinds of sandwiches and vegetables and salads and cake and cookies and doughnuts…. Yum!
Hannie and Nancy and Natalie and I ate at a little round table. Daddy brought our drinks to us. We pretended we were eating in a fancy restaurant and Daddy was our waiter. His name was Garçon.
After lunch, Ms. Colman made a very wonderful announcement. “Before you start the fact hunt again,” she said, “you may go to the souvenir shop. You have time to buy one souvenir each.”
“Yes!” I whispered to Nancy. “The souvenir shop! All right!”
The souvenir shop was next door to the cafeteria. It was very big. And it was full of cool stuff. Hannie and Nancy and I hardly knew where to look first. Finally we all looked at different things. Hannie looked through a rack of zoo T-shirts. Nancy looked at some books about animals. I looked at the animal toys. I saw animal erasers. I saw glow-in-the-dark dinosaurs. I saw rubber snakes and spiders. And then I saw … biting alligators. At one end of a yellow stick was an alligator head. At the other end was a handle. When I squeezed the handle, the alligator’s mouth opened and closed.
That was the souvenir for me.
“Hey, Hannie!” I called.
Hannie was holding up a T-shirt. “What?” she said.
I stuck out the alligator. I made it nip at Hannie’s nose. “Gotcha!” I said.
Hannie giggled. “Let me try,” she said. Hannie made the alligator bite Nancy. Nancy made the alligator bite me again. And I made the alligator bite Ricky and Natalie and Bobby.
“Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha!” I cried.
“Karen,” said Daddy. “Please settle down.”
Uh-oh. “Sorry,” I said.
When we had paid for our souvenirs, Ms. Colman collected them. “I will put them on the bus,” she said. “They will be waiting for you when we leave the zoo.” Then she went on, “Class, it is time to continue the fact hunt. You have until one-thirty to finish your worksheets. At one-thirty, we will meet at the seal pool. Good luck!”
Daddy and my friends and I looked at our worksheet. Then we set off again. This time we were headed for the exhibit of desert animals.
The Sea Lion
My group and I walked all over the zoo. We were very busy. We saw eagles and elephants and cougars and turtles and hyenas. I never knew there were so many different animals. If I made a list of the animals I saw at the zoo, I bet it would be as long as the sc
hool bus.
Even though I was having fun, I began to feel sad.
“Daddy,” I said, “I do not like to see animals in cages. I feel sorry for them. You know what? We are supposed to be learning about wild animals. But these animals are not wild. The zoo people take care of them and feed them. Plus, the animals do not have any privacy. They live in cages, and every day people stare at them and point at them.”
Daddy took my hand. “You are right, Karen,” he said. “Visiting the zoo is fun. And it is a good way to learn about animals. And maybe some animals like being around lots of people. But I am sure that some do not like it. I feel sorry about those animals, too.”
I did not feel sad for very long, though. That is because we finally finished our worksheet. Our fact hunt was over.
“What time is it?” I asked Daddy.
“Time to go to the seal pool,” he answered. “It is almost one-thirty. You worked hard today, kids. You did a good job.”
Nancy and Hannie and Natalie and Ricky and Bobby and I let out a cheer. Then we ran alongside Daddy, all the way to the seal pool.
We had been to the seal pool earlier that afternoon. We had filled in some sentences on our worksheet. The sentences were about sea lions. They are a kind of seal. They like to eat fish. Most boy lions have manes!
“Hello, everybody!” I called when my group reached the seal pool. The rest of my class was already there. So were the group leaders. Ms. Colman was not there, but we were a little early. It was not quite one-thirty.
Hannie and Nancy and I looked at our worksheet. We read over our answers again.
“They must be right,” I said.
“Yeah, we worked hard on them,” added Nancy.
“We were very careful,” said Hannie.
“I wonder what our prizes will be,” I said.
“Hey!” cried Hannie. “maybe they will be free trips to the zoo!”
“Oh, that would be gigundoly wonderful!” I exclaimed.
Ms. Colman Is Missing