contraption inside the cabin…
A massive pale green machine, with over three hundred orange glowing dials and gauges, stood ominously inside the head keeper’s hut. A deep throbbing energy emanated from within the monstrous machine and a phosphorescent blue glow hung in the air around it. The machine crackled and sparked angrily as Miss Yorktown entered the cabin…
‘Don’t be afraid,’ said Miss Yorktown to the hushed crowd, ‘follow me and I’ll show you how it works.’
The crowd stepped forward nervously, following Miss Yorktown into the cabin.
Miss Yorktown donned a pair of welder’s gloves and put on some dark glasses to protect against the glow.
‘With this system I can control everything in the zoo!’ said Miss Yorktown, proudly.
‘If I turn this key and punch in the secret security code, it will engage every enclosure in the zoo simultaneously, allowing me to remotely manage them all at the same time.’
Biting the tip of her tongue and peering through her dark glasses, Miss Yorktown fat fingered the code into the keyboard…
Immediately, the machine crackled and sparks spat into the air, fizzing and popping. A great hum sounded from deep within the machine and started to grow louder.
Raising her voice to speak above the noise, Miss Yorktown continued. ‘You can see three levers here in the middle of the console – green, brown, and red!’
‘The green lever activates a small feeding hatch used by the autofeeding program to deliver just the right quantity of food to each of the animals.’
The increasing hum of the machine made it hard to hear what Miss Yorktown was saying and Emily and her parents had to shield their eyes from the glow as the machine continued to flash and spark!
‘The brown lever activates the cleaning hatch used by the Dungomatic™ autocleaning program for autosweep and hose-down of the enclosure,’ continued Miss Yorktown, raising her voice.
The hum from the machine changed into a whirring and continued to rise, louder and louder! Miss Yorktown had to shout to be heard.
‘The red lever must never be touched! It opens the largest hatch, and is only for use in an emergency, to allow a vet to take a sedated animal out into an ambulance.’
At this point the din from the machine was so great that Miss Yorktown screamed to be heard.
‘Now, as it is precisely half-past two, I will engage the lunchtime program and you will see the “Automanagement, Feeding, Cleaning and Veterinary Console” feed three-hundred hungry animals simultaneously!’
THE NOISE FROM THE GREAT MACHINE HAD DEVELOPED INTO AN INCREDIBLE WHINE, WHIRRING AND WHINING FASTER AND FASTER!…
Miss Yorktown’s gloved fingers flew rapidly over the machine, expertly throwing switches and setting dials as the whine from the monstrous machine grew into an unbearable roar. Louder and louder it grew until finally, just as Emily and her parents could bear the din no longer, Miss Yorktown seized the green lever and triumphantly yanked it back towards her…
BOOOOM!!!
A terrific explosion blew Miss Yorktown, Mr Pilcher and several bystanders right out of the hut. Emily and Mrs Pilcher were blown onto their backsides by the force of the blast! Flames leapt from the top of the machine and billowing clouds of thick black smoke filled the hut!
- Chaos! -
Miss Yorktown raced back into the hut waving the smoke aside with her thick gloved hands and ran to what remained of the console. Emily and her mum got to their feet and gasped. The green, brown and red levers were all missing - only a smoky black hole remained. Just above the hole on the blackened console, blinking furiously, was a single warning light –
“EMERGENCY - EVACUATE THE ZOO!”
‘Oh my!’ said Miss Yorktown, ‘that’s never happened before!’
From all around the zoo, the ominous screech of un-oiled iron gates, grinding and scraping, sent shivers up Emily’s spine. A moment later a claxon wailed, its pitch rising and falling like a World War II air raid siren!
‘AARRRRRIIIIUUUUGGHHH! – AARRRRRIIIIUUUUGGHHH!’
Emily quickly realised what had happened. The bonkers machine had blown up, throwing all three levers at once! At this very moment, every door, gate and hatch in the zoo was opening... Soon the animals would be roaming all over the place!
All at once pandemonium broke out. People screamed and started running towards the exit, some tried to climb up on to the roof of the main building, as others locked themselves in the canteen and gift shop.
There was no time to lose! ‘Come on mum!’ said Emily, grabbing Mrs Pilcher by the arm. She dragged her mother, coughing and wheezing, from the smoking hut.
Together they helped poor Mr Pilcher to his feet, who had banged his head and seemed somewhat dazed and confused, ‘Finest rapeseed oil in the world, oh yes, keeps the wheels of industry turning!’ he mumbled. Emily, Mrs Pilcher and the babbling Mr Pilcher stumbled on through the crowd, looking for the exit.
All over the zoo, rare and endangered animals escaped their enclosures - scaring the living daylights out of anyone nearby!
By the big cat enclosure, the lion house was disturbingly empty. The growl of a Sumatran tiger could be heard as it prowled outside looking for lunch…
At the monkey house, a troop of baboons exited through the emergency hatch and raced around, foraging for the hotdogs, burgers and ice creams, discarded by the fleeing zoo visitors. Chimpanzees ran amok, swinging from visitor signposts and scampering across rooftops! A majestic troop of gorillas, lead by a mighty silverback, ambled towards the exit gates
... and the people ran for their lives!
As Emily and her parents continued on, a flock of fifty bright pink flamingos ran on stick legs among them, excitedly chattering and flapping their wings. The birds turned this way and that, buffeting the family as they passed by. The gangly birds seemed as confused as the hoards of visitors now desperately trying to find the exit.
On the main road, outside the zoo, passers-by were unaware of the unfolding drama; that changed when a pair of Indian elephants strode magnificently out of the zoo’s good’s entrance. They were followed by a pair of hippopotamuses, who proceeded to trot along the pavement causing everyone to dive out of the way and considerable damage to the paving stones! After the heavyweight hippos came three giraffes, seven zebras and a pair of smelly old camels – all headed for the town centre!
- P.C. Barnes -
Police officer Barnes had had a pretty uneventful day. He was nearing the end of his shift and was looking forward to getting back to the station for a nice hot cup of tea and a biscuit. As he drove back towards the station, contemplating whether to have a ginger nut or choc-chip cookie with his tea, the police radio burst into life.
“Emergency all units, emergency all units!” screeched the tinny voice from the radio, “I repeat, emergency all units, emergency all units, come in!” crackled the voice.
PC Barnes, being an experienced officer, knew that it was best to remain calm, even when those around seemed to be losing their heads!
‘Barnes here, what’s up Charlie? Have you got the kettle on back there at the station, I’m parched!’ he said.
There was a short pause as static crackled the signal, “Barnes! Barnes!” screamed Charlie, the duty officer. “Barnes! Forget about the kettle and get yourself to Wallington Zoo - Now!”
‘Wallington Zoo?’ said PC Barnes, puzzled, ‘has there been a disturbance?’
“A DISTURBANCE! A DISTURBANCE!” Screeched Charlie, panic-stricken. “THAT NEWFANGLED FEEDING MACHINE HAS GONE BANANAS!” he said. “IT’S BLOWN TO KINGDOM COME AND OPENED EVERY DOOR, GATE AND HATCH IN THE PLACE! THE ANIMALS HAVE ESCAPED AND ARE ROAMING ALL OVER TOWN… THERE’S TIGERS IN THE TOWN CENTRE!!!”
PC Barnes jumped on the brakes, bringing the police car to a screeching halt. ‘Tigers in the town centre!’ he thought, ‘now that does not sound good at all!’
He switched on the emergency siren and blue lights and sped towards the zoo - not knowing quite what he
was going to do when he arrived there.
- The Managers -
Emily and her family finally arrived, exhausted, at the exit gates. A large crowd of people had gathered. There were rumours going around that it would be safer to stay inside the zoo, as most of the animals had already escaped. At this very moment there were lions prowling along the high street and rhinos on the ring road - or so the rumours went.
Mr Pilcher was quite happy to stop and rest for a while as he was still feeling a bit woozy and had developed a nasty bump on his head, the size of a walnut. Mrs Pilcher sat down with him and attended to his sore head. ‘Poor old Mr Pilcher,’ she said, ‘we’ll have to get a nice ice pack on that bump when we get home.’
‘I’ve still got that delivery to make in the old girl before I can be thinking about ice packs,’ said Mr Pilcher.
‘I think we’ve had enough excitement for one day,’ said Mrs Pilcher, ‘you can make your delivery tomorrow. Let’s just go home and rest, you can phone Mr Rawlins from there.’
Just then Emily heard a squealing of tyres and watched as PC Barnes, lights blazing and siren blaring, raced up to the main gate and came screeching to a halt. She was a little surprised to see Miss Yorktown, quite recovered and still wearing her welder’s