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Tuesday, August 23, 2005
He Volunteered To Be A Baboon
Nothing is too awful for Benny to try. If he lives to grow up, he will have survived a lot that would kill better-behaved little boys. Yesterday was a good example.
Lydia dropped by early in the A.M., announced that she and the children were on their way to the zoo...did I want to go along? NO. I didn't want to go. Already it was so hot out that had you dropped an egg in midair, it would have cooked prior to hitting the pavement. Besides I had a sack of new stories and planned to spend the day in air-conditioned comfort reading my grocery store books.
I reminded her, though, that I was making dinner for everyone, so she needed to drop by at about 6:00 P.M. Cheery, Bye. Wave, wave. They were off. I went indoors to my cool air and my new books.
Time flew by and soon it was 6:00 P.M. and there were Lydia and the kids on the porch. Lydia was exhausted, looked like she had spent a long, hot day at the zoo. All trooped in and Benny headed like an automaton for the freezer and my supply of ice-cream bars. Lydia was so tired that, knowing she was about to take him home to a dinner he would not eat, she allowed the ice-cream. She slumped onto the sofa and told about the zoo day.
Benny, apparently had been impressed with a new baboon, one with an improbably colorful butt. Approaching its cage, he stared through the bars. Lydia look away. She looked back. Somehow, by twisting his head just right, Benny had managed to get his head between the bars and into the cage. He didn't mind at first, not realizing that he wouldn't be able to get out the same way he'd gotten in. Then he did realize it and was afraid because then the baboon, hearing Benny crying and panicking, headed for him. Baboons have really incredibly, long, sharp teeth. The closer the baboon came, the more Benny panicked.
Lydia, meanwhile tried every which way to get Benny's head back through the bars....while hanging onto Sadie with one hand. Desperation fueled the enterprise and Lydia succeeded.
The day ended happily wih Benny having so much fun running through the eight fountains that soon all children onsite did that, too...it was like a stampeding herd of children rushing around and around through the water again and again. At this point in the story, Benny broke in to tell me, "It was a race, and I won."
Wednesday, August 24, 2005 - 10:20 PM
Name:
Tessa
My God! That must have been a blue-bottomed adult male Mandrill Baboon and they have ENORMOUS long teeth! I would have had a heart attack or hysteria at the very least! Poor Lydia - no wonder she was drained of energy. Obviously, Benny soon forget all about his brush with danger!
I have never forgotten seeing an episode on television which took place at the famous Jersey zoo in the Channel Islands a few years back. The Gorilla family lived in a large circular pit enclosure and a small boy leaned over the parapet, scrambled up a bit and then fell over ten feet or so into the pit. An amateur video showed what happened next. The boy was lying there stunned and the big silver back male went up to investigate. All the spectators were in shock and fear and screaming! But all he did was to sit down next to the boy, keeping the other gorillas away, and then he very gently touched the boy's head showing tenderness and concern. That was amazing! Read about it here: http://www.shoarns.com/Jambo.html (the Gorilla was named, Jambo).
Thursday, August 25, 2005 - 9:15 PM
Name:
Joanna
Yes. I've read about/seen on TV such evidence of the cross-species kindness of animals toward helpless human beings. PETA is world-headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia....in fact their staff residence is right next door to Lydia and Dan and the kids. I do feel that sometimes they(PETA, not Lydia and Dan, :-)) go right out of their minds in defense of animals against human beings, but still, their rhetoric seems to point toward a hint...we should not automatically assume that big, wild animals mean harm toward us.
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