Garnette’s Last Visit

Posted on July 19, 2003 in Zoos

I went to the zoo yesterday with Garnette and Donna, two of my writer friends. The boilup from the Pacific finally coalesced into cooling clouds which brought down temperatures some ten to fifteen degrees at the Wild Animal Park. We strolled the grounds, allowing Garnette to lead the way because this would be here last time as she is leaving to go to New Orleans in a few weeks. Love beckons.

We had a tram driver who loved to point to the animals and say “Does anyone know what that is? Yes! It’s a zebra! Do you know why zebras have stripes?” And then go off into the explanation. She also pointedly commented about how in some species females chose the males, how the tram wouldn’t stop if wives accidentally dropped their husbands, and how in some species pairs bonded for life — “men take note”. I resisted the temptation to walk to the front of the train after we stopped, show her my ring, and state “Fifteen years. Where’s yours?”

In the pedestrian accessible portion of the park, the meerkats were off display and there were two baby wart hogs down in the Heart of Africa. “Joel likes pigs,” said Garnette, as we stopped so I could get pictures of the wart hogs and, later, of the Red River Hogs. Garnette says that I remind her of her father — bad jokes and all — and sometimes we exchange mild barbs, like uncle and niece. I will miss her, but Life calls and she must answer.