New Orbit Magazine Issue 08; Feb 2020, The Future of Animals

I grabbed the paper from him. Inside
there were photos of pigeons, chipmunks,
swallows, and the puppies, of course. Even
old Ike had a photo. The caption said “the
traditional zoo animal now seemed out of
step with the new hip zoo.” Max was
described as a “rising star in a new generation
of social scientists.” The reporter appeared to
have fallen in love with the damn kid.
According to Mejora, the new zoo is a
reflection of our modern condition. “In some sense,
we are all living in cages,” Mejora said. “All of us
are under surveillance, not just terrorists and
criminals, all of us. The zoo of the real gives us a
chance to take a different look at the world we live
in now.”
Max’s so-called exhibits. Some even started
watching the old men play chess.
Perhaps the media was tired of reporting
on the terrorist bombings and continual war
on terror. Whatever the reason, they
pounced on the zoo story. Max appeared on
all the local TV stations. His “zoo of the real”
even made the national news, twice. I was
asked for interviews dozens of times. I refused
all of them. I took to hiding in my office.
To make matters worse, Max put up
donation boxes outside every exhibit and the
coins and small bills started to add up. I was
forced to make a budget and open a zoo
account, ironically enough, the things that an
interim zoo director would do.
My hands trembled. “That,” I said
stabbing the paper with my finger, “is
dangerous talk. Homeland Security has
probably opened a file on him, tapped his
phone, read his emails – and yours too, Mr.
Sato.”
“Relax,” said Mr. Sato. “It’s just some
harmless fun.”
“Fun? The kid is obviously young and
stupid, but you’re older than me. You’re
supposed to be smarter, wiser. Don’t your
people have a saying: ‘the nail that sticks out
gets hammered down’?”
Mr. Sato frowned. “My people? I’m
American. Maybe my great-great-grandfather
was from Japan, but I never heard of that
saying. And it’s a stupid one if you ask me.”
I decided that Mr. Sato had lost his mind.
From all the business from the next few days,
it seemed the whole damn world was right
there with him. The zoo began to live up to
its name, crowds of people braved public
exposure to gawk at the puppies and laugh at
Food cart vendors started infiltrating the
zoo. They provided the children with
ammunition. Soon the pigeons and the
ducks (Max had refilled the old seal-pond for
them) were being peppered with popcorn
and peanuts. I put up “no feeding” signs
everywhere, but there was no stopping the
teenagers from launching half-eaten hot dogs
into the Hyena Yard to watch the stray dogs
scrapple over them.
Even old Ike started to see some of the
action. The half-blind polar bear took some
time to locate a thrown hot dog. He still had
pretty good hearing though and a strong
sense of smell. He would wear himself out