The Zoo Trip

One sunny afternoon, a little girl, the age of five, called Catherine, was experiencing her first zoo trip. She had come with her big brother, Benjamin, who was ten, and her parents.

Catherine wanted to see all the animals but there was one that she particularly wanted to see, and that was the lion cubs.

After a little while, Catherine's mum and dad said that, if Benjamin wanted to, he could take her to the place where the lion cubs were.

Catherine was so excited that she ran over to Benjamin and said, jumping up and down, "Please, please, please, take me to see the lion cubs!”

“Alright, alright, I will, but only if you calm down,” laughed Benjamin.

Benjamin and Catherine walked side by side half of the way, then Catherine started to complain that her legs were sore so he gave her a piggyback the other half of the way.

Soon, in the distance, they saw a little wooden enclosure and they could hear, very faintly, little meows.

There was a zoo keeper waiting patiently outside the door and she beckoned them to come over.

When they stepped inside, the zoo keeper closed the door behind them and told them, “I’m just going to get the food for them.”

“Ok” answered Benjamin.

When they turned around, they were facing the cutest little lion cubs they had ever seen and they looked so soft and cuddly.
“They look so cute,but look at the one at the back. It looks like it is digging underneath the wire,” said Catherine, in a frightened voice. 
Benjamin looked at the back of the cage and he, too, saw the cub digging. He thought quickly, picked up the special gloves and wrapped his hands around the waist of the cub. He gently put him up on the shelf where there were beds for them.

Just then, the zoo keeper returned and said, “I’m back with the food for the cubs. Is everything alright?”

“ Yes, everything is ok, thank you,” answered Catherine, in a chirpy voice.

What they didn’t know was, that while Catherine and Benjamin were asking the zoo keeper questions, that little cub was digging under the wires again.

When they turned around to say their goodbyes to the lion cubs, they weren't there any more. At the back of the cage, there was a hole under the wires where the cub had been digging, but there was one little cub, the youngest, named Sunny, fast asleep upon the shelf where the beds were. 
“Oh no!” cried the zoo keeper. "Two lion cubs have escaped."

Soon, there was a message going around to the zoo keepers, saying to come to the lion cubs' enclosure at once. The zoo keeper in charge of the lion cubs explained what had happened and told them all to get some special gloves and look all around the zoo in every bush and tree.

The zoo keeper asked Benjamin, "Could you help us look  for the lion cub?”

“Of course I will,” so Benjamin jumped up and grabbed some special gloves and started looking.  

“What about me?” asked Catherine, in a confident voice.

“ I have a very special job for you to do.”

“Really! What is it?”

“Can you look after Sunny, that little lion cub, over there for me?”

“Of course.” 
So Catherine put food and warm milk in all of the bowls. Afterwards, she chose the smallest pair of gloves and picked up Sunny and put her in her lap. She gently stroked the soft golden fur until it sounded like there was a little motor inside of the little lion cub.

Sunny looked so peaceful that Catherine started to feel sleepy herself and she must have drifted off because, when she woke up, she saw her parents, Benjamin and the zoo keeper all staring down at her.

She then noticed something. Her mum and dad were each holding a lion cub.

Catherine asked, “Did you find the lion cubs?”

“Yes, we did, thankfully,” said the zoo keeper.