A Trip to the Zoo

Asalamu Aliakom Wa Rahmat Allah Wa Barakatu. I would like to apologize
to my readers for not writing any new stories during the entire
summer. It has been a hectic summer for me, andthe ongoing events in
Palestine have dulled my desire to write. This, of course, is no
excuse, so I ask that you be patient with me, as I attempt to rekindle
the fire of writing within me.
Most of us at one point in our lives have visited the local zoo.
Although I am sure many of our brothers and sisters who have young
children may classify their own homes as zoos, this is not the kindof
zoo I am writing about today!
Every zoo has a wide variety of animals. As a child I used to take
great joy in visiting the zoo. From the roaring lions to the graceful
giraffe, I lovedit all. Over the course of my lifetime, I have been
tomany zoos, yet there was one visit that I shall never forget.
It was the mid eighties and my family and I were visiting Egypt during
the winter. Winters in Egypt are not as exciting as the summers, but
there is still a lot a person can do. My mother and her sister decided
to take us to the International Zoo in Madinat Nasr (Nasr City). Oh
the sheer excitement after hearing we were going to visit the zoo! I
ran all over the home shouting, "We're going to the zoo, we're going
to thezoo!" This was going to bea fun day.
The International Zoo was much like any typical zoo. It had its trees
and plant growth which attempted to enhance the feeling of being in
the wild. A quick look to the right, and therewere the wild African
monkeys. A look to the leftand one could see a peacock showing off its
beautiful feathers. I lookedin awe at each of the animals and thought
to myself that this was truly a grand place to visit.
As we ended our tour of the zoo, we came upon the most well known
animal of Arabia, the camel. It was sitting in the middle of its gated
clearing watching the passers by as if monitoringfor anyone heading in
its direction. Earlier we had stopped by a food stand and purchased
some popcorn and "coca-cola gummies" to eat. As I chewed on my popcorn
I watched the camel staring at us and licking its mouth periodically.
Both my mother and aunt commented that the camellooked hungry and
decided to feed it some of our coca-cola gummies. The camel had a
serious appetite. It finished all the candy we had. My mother and aunt
tried feeding the camel some popcorn but itwasn't interested. Seeing
as our day had come to an end, we decided to head towards the exit.
Suddenlymy mother felt the clamping of the mouth of an animal on her
shoulder.Lo and behold it was the camel himself! My aunt pulled us
away and yelled"Get away from the camel!" Oh no, it hadn't had enough
candy and now it was going after my mother.
Alhamdulilah, the camel only caught on to a shawl my mother was
wearing. With a tug she was able torelease the shawl from its mouth
and quickly ran away to put some distancebetween herself and the
hungry camel. Some school children on a field trip noticed the
incident and a young girl exclaimed, "Stay away from the camel, it
bites!"
Realizing that we had more than our fair share offun-filled adventure
we headed back home. The ironic thing is that I don't ever recall
seeing a "Do not feed the animal" sign. Now whenever I visit a zoo, I
think twice about feeding the animals.
Jazakom Allahu Khairan forreading. 'Til next time Insha Allah.