Preparing the Zoo for Christmas

I didn’t understand what it was saying, so I opened the group chat again to check.

Kingsley the Monkey: [Oh-ho! Oh-ho…]

The Egrets’ Shared Account: [What’s that silly monkey going on about? He almost made us fall when we passed by!]

Kingsley the Monkey: [I’m sorry. I got too excited. I’m saying the human gave the elephant enclosure water!]

George the Gorilla: [I heard it too. It sounds so familiar. That human really is… a good human.]

Animals kept popping into the chat, arguing and commenting. I even saw a panda send a GIF with its paws together, like it was thanking someone. For some reason, my chest felt warm, and a small smile tugged at my lips.

Then, the tiger showed up again.

Thor the Tiger: [How naive! Food and water are ours by right. Those humans dangle a little treat and expect us to forget everything? If she dares show herself, I’ll rip her apart!]

The chat went quiet for a long moment.

After a while, Kingsley the Monkey asked, [What if she gives you your favorite—a big drumstick?]

Thor the Tiger: [Hmph! I wouldn’t eat it. I’d rather starve, bash my head on the cage, and die than take a bite of her food!]

With that, I set off for the supermarket again. This time, I focused on meat, packing top-quality cuts of chicken, duck, goose, pork, beef, and lamb into bag after bag. Lucky for me, I had a little money saved. Otherwise, this kind of spending would’ve been brutal.

By the time I got back to the zoo, it was already afternoon. The animals had had their lunches, but nearly none of them were full, especially the big carnivores like the tiger.

I carried two huge bags of meat over to the tiger enclosure, which was basically a massive iron cage with a grimy metal shed. Because the shed was so cold, the tiger usually lounged in the outer pen to soak up whatever sun there was.

As expected, the tiger lay in the outer pen, head down, chewing at a pile of scabby offal that flies swarmed around. It kept gagging between bites. Its thin chest rose and fell, rib outlines visible beneath the fur. It was so skinny. Even though it was tall, there was almost no fat or muscle, making it look fragile.

This was “Thor the Tiger”? He’d be the one to get taken down by a single hit.

The group chat pinged again.

Africana the Lion: [Thor the Tiger, why are you gagging? I was sleeping next door. Can you keep it down?]

Leo the Leopard: [I heard it too. Thor, don’t eat it. You might as well eat excrement at this point.]

Callum the Coyote: [You don’t get it. Thor needs to force the cage open. If he doesn’t eat, he won’t have the strength.]

A chorus of sighs filled the chat.

Thor the Tiger ignored them and kept eating with his head down. However, after a while, the smell must have gotten to him because he rose to drink.

The moment he stood, he noticed me. I was carrying the two bags of meat and staring at him when our eyes met. He narrowed his lids, nostrils flaring. Then, he fixed his gaze on the bags in my hands.

I pulled out a steak and tossed it inside the enclosure. They were fresh and still streaked with blood. The bone and flesh were fused together like it had just been carved off an animal.

Thor the Tiger froze. He let out a low growl and stalked around the steak twice. After that, his mouth was full of saliva. His thin body trembled, and his eyes reddened.

A hungry beast was finally going to have a proper piece of meat. However, he didn’t lunge. He held himself back.