Anika+Rahman

Aussie Dilemma

“Sunny! Nooooooo. Are you okay?!” I screamed while running toward my unconscious cousin. You’re probably wondering why my cousin, Sunny, is unconscious. Well, here is how it all started. My family and I went to Sydney, Australia and we were in a car, on our way to our cousins, Amy and Sunny’s house. When we got to their house, all those awkward hugs and, “Oh my! You’ve grown so much!” parts happened. I expected to see a really cool pet like a koala or something like that but it turned out they didn’t even have a pet. After unpacking and sharing a few stories, it was late so we went to bed. “RISE AND SHINE! COME ON! COME ON! COME ON! YOU DON’T WANT TO BE LATE!” Amy yelled into my ear while I was in the middle of my perfect dream. She was hollering as if the sky was falling and it would fall right on top of us. “What? Where are we going? What time is it?” I replied in such a sleepy tone Amy probably had no idea what I was saying. But apparently she heard me just fine. “We’re going to the best petting zoo IN THE WOOORLLDDD! Its 6:30 am. Come on! Go! Take a shower, get dressed, do whatever to your hair, then come!” Amy said holding out the ‘e’ in ‘the’ for a really long time and jumping up and down in excitement. Sometimes I really wonder if there’s something wrong with her. “Amy! Don’t you have to wake everyone else up too? Go get them and then come back to me. Good night!” I replied while rolling over and covering my ears with the fluffiest pillow I could find. “We’re going without our parents and our sister. It’s going to be just you, Ryan, Sunny, and me. Hurry up! I already got the boys up. Trust me! That took a while!” Amy stated while letting out a sigh of relief. “Alright! Alright! I’m coming!” I said while forcefully pulling myself out of bed and heading toward the shower. After getting dressed and eating breakfast Amy drove me, Sunny, Ryan, and herself to the petting zoo. Personally I hate H-A-T-E hate zoos. They smell so bad! It’s like a mixture of animals and animal poop. Yet zoos are so crowded all the time! It absolutely makes no sense! But when we got to the petting zoo it wasn’t that bad. It actually didn’t smell bad. It was very crowded but there was no problem getting inside the zoo. After entering the zoo I thought I might actually enjoy my day there and I imagined all the animals we would see and touch. Unlike America there was no litter on the floor or no graffiti on signs. Everything looked clean, tidy, and safe! But that’s probably because the zoo keepers and the employees that worked there were very strict. There were so many of them and they always watched everyone as if they were monsters and had other invisible eyes all over them. It was kind of creepy, but after a while the employees blended in with other people and it wasn’t so bad.

Looking at the map the zoo didn’t seem too big but when you look up and actually look at the place, it was really big! There were so many different species of animals and their cages were so spacious it took up a lot of space. Whenever the animals would look at me I would always wonder what was on their mind and what they were thinking. // Did the animals like being held captive there and letting other people touch them? Were they wild at first but then trained to be in a zoo? Can animals talk? // So many questions filled my head but so many of them were rhetorical questions. I couldn’t just go up to an animal and start asking it questions! People would think I’m nuts! The animals would probably think I’m nuts!

I wanted my first and last animal to visit be special. Maybe be the two most I want to see. Or maybe start off with my favorite and then end with the last. Or start off with my least favorite and then end with my favorite. Whichever way I did it, it had to be special. I didn’t want a day like this to be totally lame! This was the first zoo I actually liked! Probably the only zoo I will like. Just then someone grabbed my arm and pulled me off to the side. I freaked out a bit but then regained my balance. It was just sunny. Had I been staring blankly into space this whole time? That would’ve been so embarrassing! But I was pretty sure that didn’t happen…but not completely.

“Anika! Come with me,” Sunny said, pointing to a group of kangaroos. All the animals were separated but I felt like no one was near the kangaroos. All the people were checking out the koalas or other animals. Not the kangaroos. Thinking if there was a certain reason why no one was there, I tried figuring it out but I found nothing. Some of them seemed really cute, but the other just glared at me as if they wanted to eat me. Just at that moment, I noticed that Ryan and Amy weren’t there, it was just me, Sunny and of course…those kangaroos that just can’t seem to stop glaring at me! Shouldn’t they know their manners by now? Don’t the super strict zoo keepers teach them anything at all?!

“I don’t know…they seem…harmful,” I replied with a thoughtful look. Sunny stared at me impatiently as if he didn’t even hear my response//.// // Should I go? No, I don’t want to get kicked! But…if I don’t, Sunny would think I’m scared of everything! I don’t want him to think that. I’m not scared of everything! Maybe the kangaroos will just leave me alone. Or maybe they’ll attack me! //  Apparently, I was thinking so hard, I started talking out loud. Sunny and all the other people walking past us were staring at me as if I had a monkey on my head! I decided to stop embarrassing myself and choose whether to go or not. I decided to go. Even though I was taking the risk of getting hurt by an Australian animal, I suppose seeing a kangaroo right in front of me won’t be something I’ll see everyday back in America. “Alright, I’ll come,” I said while walking toward Sunny and the kangaroos. As soon as we walked in, one of the kangaroos hopped right to me. At first, I was a little frightened, but then it didn’t glare at me or seem like it wanted to eat me. It was completely harmless. All of a sudden, I felt like I could read the kangaroo’s mind. As if I could hear it telling me it didn’t like being held in a cage 24/7 and it just wanted to be free. I didn’t know what it wanted. But I’m sure it wanted or needed something. I felt as if it was my duty to help this animal and find out its needs and wants and get it to a better life. A life outside a cage. Outside tourists and visitors and publicity. A life with no harm or force. A free life. Something every living thing whether it’s a human, dog, cat, fish, rabbit, iguana, or in this case a kangaroo deserved. Then, all of a sudden reality popped back into my head. // What am I saying? Saving a kangaroo? That’s crazy! Or maybe…I’m crazy! Ehh…whatever. Forget this kangaroo. What am I supposed to do about it anyway? //  Even though my mind was back into reality, I didn’t leave the kangaroo. It was small; perhaps a baby? Gently stroking its fur, it reminded me of the furs someone would get on the hood of a puffy jacket. Other than the fact that this was real fur and the fur on the hoods were fake. “Hey Sunny,” I said looking over my shoulder, “what are you doing?” “Messing with this kangaroo! What does it look like I’m doing?” Sunny said while poking the kangaroo. “You know you could…never mind. You could be so immature sometimes!” I said under my breath. I wondered why this kangaroo stayed with me this whole time instead of playing with all the other kangaroos. Maybe it didn’t have friends and thought somehow I could comfort it. Well…I’m not in my crazy mind right now so I can’t comfort it. Basically all I could do is touch its fur. I’m not a therapist. Everything seemed quiet all of a sudden. A little too quiet...   I quickly turned around to see why everything got quiet. Then I saw the kangaroo glare at Sunny even more furiously then it did at me when Sunny and I didn’t even enter the cage. It was not a happy kangaroo that’s for sure! I was too scared to say anything or do anything to help Sunny so I just stood there and played as a bystander. What surprised me was Sunny didn’t seem scared at all. He just stared at the kangaroo as if he was going to burst out laughing any minutes now. I thought that evil kangaroo was about to attack Sunny just at that moment so I let out a shriek. There were no other people in the kangaroo place other than Sunny and me and it’s probably because of the evil kangaroo I decided to name Bob. (I’m not the best at coming up with names) Hearing my shriek, Bob turned at looked at me as if he was going to kill me next. I totally flipped out and started to cry! Sobbing, I dried my eyes and watched Bob glare at Sunny. Just then, the craziest thing happened. Bob turned around and with his hind legs... jumped up and kicked Sunny right in his stomach. Bob hopped away like nothing happened. But Sunny crumpled to the ground. // Thank god Bob left me alone! // Even though I found the incident of Bob kicking Sunny in the stomach slightly…actually VERY amusing, I went over to Sunny like any cousin would do. That day I learned that when you’re at a petting zoo and no one else is at a cage…DON’T GO IN THERE OR ELSE AN EVIL KANGAROO NAMED BOB WILL KICK YOUR COUSIN IN THE STOMACH! And I also learned that some animals really deserve to be locked up in a cage like Bob, unlike the kangaroo I was with whom I have decided to name Tom.