I was lost for a while in the zoo yesterday. I always have trouble orienting the map, fixing the miniature to the scale version in any meaningful way. The best I can hope for is some kind of point to point navigation. I can see that the monkey cage is adjacent to the tiger dens, and here are the monkeys, and that looks like a tiger, so I should go this way. And beside the tigers is the aquarium, so that must be it! I end up hopping from station to station, up and down the food chain, one caged beast at a time, but never quite knowing where I am.
In front of the monkey's I'm a little despondent. It's a tiny cage. The size of maybe a Grammercy studio, but the ceilings aren't as high. The monkeys seems perpetually anxious. Wouldn't you? They managed to evolve up onto two legs and they can peal their own bananas, but the lazy lions, Darwinistically static for millenia and for t most of those millenia, asleep get a lawn to lounge on. Oh for the quiet of that! They can even hear the breeze through their main.
Next to the monkeys was, as I said, the tiger den. The tigers are behind two layers of bars. The first to keep them in, the second is to keep the watchers far enough back from the first barthat they can't foolishly reach their arms in and have them ripped off. The tiger seems to sense the irony. People want to put their hands in, for the thrill and to find out how fine their fur of a killer is, and the tiger knows this. He's probably confused: "In the wild, they don't want to be fleshed, but I chase them down and kill them anyway. Here they'd love to be ripped, but the architecture won't let them."
Next to the tigers was an enclosed aquarium. I walked through a stone portico, past which everything seemed suddenly cooler. Light shined through plastic blue filters that stained the walls. It entered into a large oval room lined with different fish tanks and a pool in the middle. Some tanks held fresh water, made to simulate the muck beneath a rice patty, others coral reefs, and still others darkened like the bottom of the ocean.
I enjoyed the darkness and made my way around the oval, making eye contact with fishes as I went. They seemed entirely content and so was I. In this room I could see everything and there was no way to get lost and no need for a map.
I made two revolutions around the oval before bumping into a man making opposite revolutions. He was well dressed and grey around the temples with the comfortable air of a man who knows most of his life is happily behind him. We both apologized and continued on our way, me going clockwise and he counter. I marveled at the coral reefs, full of iridescent color. I put my hands on the glass which was warm, like the Caribbean.
I wandered to the center where a shallow pool of dark water was brimming with skates and rays. I put my hands in the water and closed my eyes. I felt the velvety flesh slide under my palms. They were playful and prodding and the cool water felt pleasant.
"The puppies of the sea, no?"
My eyes opened and I saw the man whom I'd bumped into. "Yes, very social."
"Friendly! Positively happy to see you!" And he was correct: a ray nearly jumped out of the water and flapped his wing at the man.
"Gerome Calhoun. Pleasure to meet you. Don't worry, mine's wet too."
We shook wet hands.
Into the light we stepped together. It took a few moments for my eyes to adjust allowing me to get a decent idea of what Mr. Gerome Calhoun looked like. He was older than his voice and handshake would lead one to believe. By the look of him only, a cane wouldn't have been out of order.
I produced from my back pocket the map. He snatched it from my hands and quickly deposited it in a garbage pail.
"No need of that nonsense now. I know my way around the zoo."
Indeed he did. I followed him to the finest position in which to view the birds of paradise, impressive they were and where one can peer over a fence to see the hippotami sunning themselves, letting it all hang out believing themselves to be in a place quite private.
And he also knew the position of the snow cone man who used the most sugary syprup on his cones, assuring me that to end one's refreshment with a patch of bland ice can leave a bad taste all day in someone's mouth.
At last he said, "Before you go, I think there is one more think I should like to show you. It is something of secret, not by dint of being hidden but simply by dint of few caring. He led; I followed.
A angular, black building looked ahead. The sign read "Reptiles." Inside the building the air was cool and still, yellow lights shined from inside glass enclosures. I was mesmerized. Vipers, cobras in repose, constrictors relaxing. My pace slowed and jaw slacked. I'd never found this place before, and likely for good that was. I didn't know what to think, like I did about monkeys or tigers. And I was glad I wasn't there alone, for I might have become frightened and frozen in place.
"Come on! The day is late as it is," said Gerome in a raspish whisper.
"Late? It's always dark in here. Is it ever different?" I too whispered, no wanting to alert the serpents to my presence.
"Yes, I believe at night they dim the lights significantly allowing only a glimmer in each cage."
I followed him back, past cages and cages. In some, despite the sign before it specifying the species, I could not even discern the snake. Farther and farther back. The air seemed stiller and we were no longer surrounded by animals of any sort.
"Are we supposed to be here?"
"It is not proscribed, though perhaps not advertised," responded Gerome, quietly. Up ahead, I saw the reflection of a green, glowing light. We turned a corner. Before us was a long wooden bench before a huge glass cage. Unlike the others, there was no foliage or dripping water; no attempt at natural semblance. Lying in the cage was a snake of grotesque propotions. Flat out, a it was, it was perhaps the length of two rather tall men. But it's length, while huge, was unnoticed compared to it's girth. It was gorged, and swollen, only coming to a point at the head and tail. It's eyes followed us though the body did not stir. It seemed far too large for any but the most necessary motion, and even then that result was in doubt.
"Impressive? Shocking, no?"
It was indeed, but I was too taken to possibly respond.
"How about just 'magnificent'?"
"Yes, perhaps," I muttered.
"Delilah is of West African descent. She of course shouldn't..."
"Delilah? Are all the snakes named?"
"Well, no. And you'd be hard pressed to find her name recorded anywhere. But I've been coming here to see her so long that the handlers saw it fair that I do so. They all refer to her as such. Like I was saying, she shouldn't be this size. This is the result of gross over-feeding and captivity induced lethargy-- mostly during the mid-1990s when she was first brought here. I've seen pictures from before then and you wouldn't recognize her."
No doubt the circumference of her stomach at it's center exceeded her length, and it was barely possible to perceive of any motion in her breathe.
"At first she hunted. Live game was presented and she happily finished them. But she's become lazy. So very lazy. When I first came she'd only approach freshly dead meat that was dropped into a corner, but now anything. They lower food, whatever they deem most low and unwanted by the other animals, into the cage from a pulley above. It dangles, dry and putrid over her head and usually lands inches from her mouth. She seems to not care about anything any more."
The snake seemed genuinely touched by Gerome's compassion. It's eyes followed him closely, imploringly.
"I've taken quite a liking to her. Isn't she beautiful? Or at least, don't you find it undeniable that she could be stunningly beautiful?"
Gerome settled onto the wooden bench. I was unsure if I was supposed to follow him.
"Look! They are feeding!"
From a hook descending scratchily from the ceiling a piece of meat, dry, cracked, and likely just defrosted, came into view. It swirved over her head and fianlly came to rest in front of her face. The tongue flicked.
"It's sad. Never easy for me to watch. So unnatural!"
The snake eyed the food but then returned his gaze to Gerome.
"Oh I doubt she'll eat before you. It was years before she even considered eating before me. It's humiliating for her too."
I glanced at my watch, unreadable in the dark of the room.
"Then perhaps I better go."
Gerome looked to me. "Yes. Yes, maybe that's best."
"How does one get out of here?"
"Walk back the way we came, keeping an equal distance from the vipers and cobras, and then a mild left at the anacondas. You will see the light. Once outside, follow the path before you to the right, and then take every right you can while staying on that path. You will arrive at the parking lot."
"Thank you. Thank you for everything."
"Any time."
I left Gerome sitting there, watching Delilah, and having no idea what to possibly think.
-Robert de Saint-Loup
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