Yes, while carrying a heavy chain

As I laid in my cage, I was looking at the rain. The rain was slowly but surely dwindling down. It didn’t seize raining, but it just kept on drizzling. Looking outside of the aviary there was no activity to be seen. Where it had previously been bustling with people, it was now simply deserted.

With no idea how much time had passed, or how long I was going to be in this cage, I tried to simply stare into the distance. Bored, cold, and no idea what was going to happen next. As a distraction from the cold, I tried to focus on the naked Stacey that I had seen in my dream. But no matter how I tried, my mind kept coming back to the cold, wet, rain.

All of a sudden I heard something. It sounded like metal hitting other metal. I sat up and tried to determine where the sound was coming from. Just as I had figured out the general direction I noticed a pretty big, well muscled person coming around the corner. No doubt it was Ms. Bullstrong.

I suppose it should make me happy, assuming she was finally going to let me out. However, I couldn’t help but notice that the metal rattling I had heard was a chain. She was carrying a large metal chain around her arm.

As she walked towards the gate of the aviary I quickly moved to the back of my cage. As far as I recall I’ve never been hit with a chain, but I can only imagine it to be quite painful. And Ms. Bullstrong looked grumpy, and surely she has plenty of muscle power to make it truly hurt. The moment I had made my joke about being a wild animal I had regretted it quite quickly, but now I regretted it even more so.

She opened the gate, and I moved back as far as possible. My body now pressed against the metal. I looked down to the floor, not daring to make eye contact with my living nightmare. I must have made her mad, and she was now going to retaliate by hitting me with the chain. I was sure of it.

“You! Come here!”, Ms. Bullstrong yelled. Even though I was already fully pressed against the metal of the aviary, I tensed my muscles, trying to move even one more millimeter away from that woman carrying the chain.

“Trust me, if you make me come in there and chase you, I will make you regret it”, she said. I noticed a change in tone. It appeared she was trying to sound a bit more friendly, even though she was still making a threat.

I really didn’t want to be bated and walk towards the agressor. But on the other hand, I didn’t want to aggravate things even further. Slowly, I crouched towards her. Still not making eye contact, and ready to run away the moment she would hit me – if it came to that.

“No worries sweetheart, I’m here to take you home”

My mind went crazy. I had been wanting to go home all morning, ever since Stacey had asked me if I wanted to become a permanent zoo resident. Now, Ms. Bullstrong was actually suggesting she would let me out? Even though I had been rather confident that she was going to hit me with the chain only a few moments ago. I realized I just had no idea what that chain was for.

Meekly I continued walking towards her. She didn’t have an aggressive stance, but rather an impatient one. My urges to leave this place were winning from the side of my brain that was telling me that getting hit with a chain could be really, really painful.

Given how no one else was around, I dared to talk to her. And before I came in reach of her, I stopped, and stammered; “what’s that chain for?”

“Well, we typically don’t let our animals run wild in the zoo.”, she said as if it was the most logical thing ever, “So this is to leash you and make sure you don’t run off”

A sense of relief came over me. It made sense. They had put me on a collar and leash yesterday. Even though that leash had been made out of leather, while this one was made out of chainlink, it was still a leash. Another look at the chain from closeby also revealed a collar on one end of it: her story checked out.

I walked towards her, on all fours. Small steps. Still alert, ready to run if necessary. But also happy, that if it was indeed meant as a leash, I was finally going to go home.

“Now hold still”, she said the moment I came in front of the opening of the gate. She tried to put the leather collar that was at the end of the chain around my neck. I decided to help her a little by moving my hair out of the way.

It also meant that I was fully surrendering to her. It was a **** position; my head down to the ground, my hands moving my hair out of the way, and Ms. Bullstrong having her hands near or around my neck.

Suddenly I heard a click. The sound came from my neck. Ms. Bullstrong let go of the collar, and as she did that my hands moved to where I had heard the sound come from and felt the new contraption around my neck, trying to figure out what had caused that sound. It didn’t take long for me to realize that the sound I heard had been a padlock, and that the collar was quite tightly around my neck. There was no way the collar or leash was coming off without a key to the padlock.

Looking towards Ms. Bullstrong I saw her strongly holding the chain that was attached to my collar. Finally I was going to be let out. I was still on all fours, just next to the edge of the gate. Ms. Bullstrong was also right next to the gate, but on the other side. The chain securely connecting the two of us.

It felt safe. In a way I was glad that she had put me on a leash. Whether it was the aviary’s gate that used to be closed, or the collar and chain, I felt they both provided a certain form of security. As I relished this thought, I was brutely interrupted;

“Well, are you coming or what?”

She wouldn’t have to ask me twice. I jumped up and climbed through the gate, out of the aviary. I turned my head to the aviary and took a good look at it. Not sure if, or when, I would see it again. But it had been a shelter for the past 18 hours or so. My shelter.