#36 - Joseph Jagger

The rear service gate of the Red Leaf City Zoo opened twice each day; once at eight o’clock in the morning, when the three member structural maintenance crew arrived, and again at four o’clock in the afternoon, when the crew had finished their work and exited the zoo. Josephine had observed their comings and goings from her bedroom window on the fourth floor of the Monte Carlo apartments on Bethel road, a complex of clay-colored brick buildings built across from City Park, overlooking the northern end of the zoo.

It was summer, school was out, and for the first time, Josephine’s parents had decided she was old enough to care for herself while they were away at work each day. She would be fourteen before school started again in the fall, and though the freedom of staying at home alone began as a thrill, by the end of the first month, she was incredibly bored. She couldn’t leave the apartment. She couldn’t answer the door (unless it was Mrs. Liao from across the hall). Daytime TV was monotonous (she had memorized the constantly recurring law firm advertisements). And her mother had been adamant that friends were not allowed.

Josephine was compliant with her parents’ rules for the entire month of June, but on the fifth of July, with smoky red bits of firecracker paper still littering sidewalks and streets, Josephine made the decision to leave the apartment. After having watched the zoo’s rear gate swing open and swallow up the three khaki-uniformed maintenance men so many times, a compulsion to slip through that gate had begun growing in her until, on that Tuesday morning following Independence Day, she felt as if she might go mad unless she gave it a try.

When her parents poked their heads into her room that morning to say goodbye, Josephine played her usual role. It was a few minutes past seven o’clock, and she was waiting for them, eyes closed, her body balled up beneath her neon-striped psychedelic bed sheets.

“Josephine.” Her mother called to her in a low voice.

Josephine grunted softly, shifting one of her legs, but keeping her eyes closed. It wasn’t the first time she had pretended to be asleep. Her performance was believable. She heard her father and mother walk across the room to her bed. They took turns kissing her forehead. Her mother said, “We’re taking off. Be good today. Call us if you need anything.”

Josephine opened her eyes slowly, trying to strike an expression of sleepy-confusion. She looked up at her parents, rubbing her eyes dramatically, and mid-yawn said, “Okay. I will.”

“Don’t just stay in bed forever.” Her dad said.

Josephine rolled over, away from them. “I won’t.” She said.

She stayed in bed, perfectly still and listening, until she was sure they were gone. As soon as she heard the front door shut, she tossed the sheets off and jumped out of bed. It took only a moment to change out of her pajamas and into a pair of cut-off shorts and her favorite tie-dyed Bob Marley t-shirt. The night before, Josephine had packed her school book bag with two cans of Diet Coke and a package of chocolate Ho Hos she had taken from the Fourth of July picnic she and her parents had attended, along with a paperback copy of Ender’s Game. She slid the straps over her shoulders and walked to the front door where she slipped a pair of pink flip-flops onto her feet. She quietly opened the door and peeked out into the hall to be sure Mrs. Liao wasn’t around. The hallway was empty. In the elevator, she pressed the lobby button and descended nervously, feeling as if her disobedience was something visible that everyone might recognize on her face. But the lobby was as empty as the hallway and elevator had been, and she slipped out the front entrance without seeing anyone.

Just before eight, Josephine crossed Bethel road and walked to a spot only a few yards from the zoo’s rear gate. With her back to the zoo’s tall stone wall, she slid down into a crouched position and removed Ender’s Game from her book bag and pretended to read it. From the corner of her eye, she watched the gate, waiting for the three men to arrive. It was sunny out, and Bethel road was busy with morning traffic; BMWs buzzed by, their drivers talking on cell phones or sipping lattes. There was also foot-traffic on the sidewalk where Josephine sat. Women in high heels click-clacked past, completely oblivious to her.

For Josephine, time seemed to pass very slowly. Though it had been only ten minutes, by the time the three zoo employees arrived, she had started to worry she might be stuck waiting by the gate all morning. As soon as she saw them, she stood quickly, still staring blindly at a page in the book, and began to move casually toward them. The tallest of the three, a man with a giant, bushy mustache, removed a key from his pocket and inserted it into the gate’s lock. He turned the key and swung the gate wide enough for his fellow khaki-clad coworkers to enter ahead of him. Once they were through, the bushy-mustached man entered, allowing the gate to close behind him.

Except, it didn’t close. At least not fully. Josephine had arrived at the gate just in time to wedge her paperback between the steel frame and the latch, keeping the lock from fastening. She had done this instinctively, and hadn’t considered that the bushy-mustached man might turn to check that the gate had locked behind him. Thankfully, he didn’t. Josephine sighed with relief and very quietly eased it open and slid inside, her heart pounding fiercely. Once on the opposite side of the gate, she stuffed the book back into her bag and glanced through the bars at the pedestrians strolling past. No one had noticed her.

At first, Josephine was disoriented, not sure which direction to head. She found herself in a confined area; still outside, but behind a wall that separated the service area from the rest of the zoo. She remained quiet, listening for the three men. They were gone, or seemed to be. Josephine moved away from the gate, toward a gap in the inner wall. As she moved further from the gate, the noise from the street, the whoosh of cars, faded and gave way to the sound of – what she imagined to be – the calls of tropical birds; parrots, jungle fowl, cuckoos, and tiny yellow birds hopping between tree limbs. She rounded the wall. Before her was a gravel path that led across a small lawn and to a narrow paved road.

Josephine followed the path around a small grove of acacia trees and out to the paved road. Upon reaching the road, she suddenly froze stiff. Directly in front of her, behind a decorative wrought iron fence, a seventeen-foot tall giraffe stood chewing a mouthful of green leaves. She had seen this giraffe before on earlier visits to the zoo with her parents, but never before had it struck her as such an intimidating creature. It stared at her with its wide-set, bulging eyes, chomping sternly on its breakfast.

“Excuse me.” A woman’s voice said. “Are you supposed to be here?”

Josephine turned to find a blonde woman wearing an olive green ranger uniform. She was standing a few yards from Josephine, on the gravel path that led from the service area just inside the gate.

“Uh. Sorry.” Josephine managed to say.

“Did you come in with someone?” The woman said.

Josephine shook her head, her chin sinking.

“How did you get in here? We don’t open for two hours.”

Briefly, Josephine considered running. But the woman stood between her and the service gate. A lie came to her.

“The gate was open. I just wanted to look around, but I’ll leave.” She said. She started in the direction of her apartment, stepping toward the woman on the gravel path.

The woman’s expression softened.

“We can’t have people sneaking in like that.” She said. She stepped aside to let Josephine pass, but then said, “Hey, let me take you out the main exit, at the front.”

Josephine stopped. “Okay.” She said.

“It won’t hurt for me to show you around a bit on the way.” The woman said.

“That’s cool.” Josephine said, smiling.

*     *     *     *     *

To learn about Joseph Jagger, read the original Wikipedia article HERE.