A zookeeper (who may take me home?)

I saw a woman standing at the gate. She was a pretty big, well-muscled, as if she was a professional weight lifter or something. She was also wearing a zoo keeper uniform, donned with a rain coat that also had the logo of the zoo printed on it. She looked quite grumpy. At the zoo nobody wore a name tag or anything, so I had no idea what they were called unless they told me. I thought I’d give this zoo keeper a nickname, and settled on Ms. Bullstrong, from the movie Matilda.

As I was still lying down on the floor with my neck strained as far as it could to take a good look at her, I decided it was time to stand up again. I set my hands on the floor and stretched my arms. Next up I pulled my knees once more towards me, but this time resting on my knees instead of the side of my body. I was now on all fours, and quickly crawled towards Ms. Bullstrong.

“I was called to pick up a girl here and take her home. I’m assuming that’s you?”

“Yes it is!”, I exclaimed. Glad that finally someone was going to let me out of here and I could go home.

“Okay.”, Ms. Bullstrong said, “but please tell me first who locked you in here and why you’re naked”.

“Well, uhm, “, I began to explain. I had somehow assumed that after having been a zoo exhibit everybody knew or had heard about me. I guess I was wrong. “Well, your colleagues put me in here as the new zoo exhibit, and zoo exhibits don’t typically wear any clothes”. As the words came out of my mouth I realized that I had sounded more smart than I had intended.

“Right, and you want me to believe that? Is this a prank?”, the woman said clearly agitated.

For a moment I thought about what I could say to convince her. But before I could form any words, Ms Bullstrong continued;

“Whatever, nevermind. If I let you out of here, can you at least behave like a full grown adult?”

“Well, I can be a wild animal”, I said jokingly, licking my lips with my tongue and a sly grin on my face.

Apparently Ms. Bullstrong wasn’t in for a joke, because the next thing I saw was her storming off while uttering the word “Great…”. Before I could give her a serious answer she had stormed off. This situation was somewhat conflicting. Her physique together with her grumpiness made her quite scary. At the same time I felt rather safe behind the wire mesh of the aviary, and I was just trying to have a great time here.

At the far end of my cage I saw the zoo keeper take out her phone and she was clearly calling someone. It wasn’t raining as much as it had previously been, but the rain continued splattering on the roof and was still way too loud to hear what she was saying on the far end of the street across from my cage. Occasionally she looked in my direction, giving me the impression that the phone call was about me or my situation. All I could do now was hope that she was going to finally let me out.

There were no other passers by, and I was still hoping intently on going home soon, so I put all my focus on Ms. Bullstrong. I followed her every move and tried to deduce what she was saying, no matter how futile those attempts were.

The conversation appeared to have been completed, as I saw the keeper pocket her phone. Assuming she had a key, all that was left was walk maybe 10 meters towards the aviary, unlock the gate, and let me out. I didn’t care about my clothes or how I was to get home, I would find a way. While following her every move and visualizing how she would walk towards me, hoping that somehow it would go smoother that way, I saw her turn around, and walk the opposite direction than what I was thinking. She walked away from the aviary, away from me!

Dejectedly I looked at the zoo keepers uniform from behind. They were nice uniforms, but this was not the sight I was going for right now. I had no idea if, or when, I was going to see anyone again, and when I was going to be let out.