Page 99 of Unlikely to Stay
“Just wait until you see the rest of them,” CC said.
“The rest of the sloths?”
“The rest of theanimals.”
After hanging out in the sloth room for about half an hour, they spent time with the lemurs before moving on to the kangaroos.
“I just thought the sloth fur was soft,” Brant said quietly as he held the joey in the pouch Annie had provided.
“She’s a sweet one, January,” Annie said.“One of my favorites.”
“I think they’re all sweet,” CC replied, rubbing the joey’s silky ears.
“How do you get all these animals, Annie?”Brant asked.
“Some we acquire because zoos request animals be moved here.Either they’re overfilled or some of their animals aren’t interacting well.We get some from other sanctuaries that have shut down.Sadly, some of our animals here were illegally purchased for pets.Others are born right here, just like this girl.”
“I’m guessing she was born in January?”
“New Year’s Day, to be exact.”
Brant smiled.“Should’ve named her Auld Lange Syne.”
Annie returned Brant’s smile.“That’s quite a handful for a newborn kangaroo.”
“You speak fluent kangaroo, do you?”
“Absolutely.”
They stayed at the sanctuary the entire day.Annie led them through each animal enclosure.He got to see llamas, alpacas, zebras, and the elephants, but Brant’s personal favorites were the baby tigers.White tigers and orange tigers, all growling and playing with their toys.He didn’t adventure into the adult cage but he personally watched the mom wrap Annie in a hug.Ahug.
“Nala was beaten in her lastsanctuary,” CC said, finger-quoting the word sanctuary with a roll of her eyes.“When it was shut down, they brought Nala and her cubs to Annie.She was so mean at first.Annie could barely get in the cage to feed her and the cubs.But the longer Nala was here, the more love and patience Annie showed, the more docile Nala became.I’ll never forget the first time she wrapped Annie in a hug.She literally jumped up on her back paws, placed her front paws on Annie’s shoulders, and began purring so loudly I could hear her from the other side of the cage.Then, she licked Annie’s face.It was the craziest, most wonderful thing I’d ever seen.”
Brant smiled.“That’s pretty great.I don’t think I would’ve been able to do it.”
“Do what?”
“Get into a cage with that…” Brant swallowed hard as he looked at the huge tiger sitting in her enclosure, her tail curling lazily as she swished it back and forth.“That big ass momma cat.You’re scared ofhousecats?Look at the claws on her.”
CC started laughing.“Annie’s always had a way with animals.Her granny did, too.She named all her farm animals after Disney princesses.”
“Really?”
“Yep.We didn’t go to the petting zoo.I figured you wouldn’t have much interest in petting chickens and goats.”
“Are you kidding me?It’s on my bucket list.”
Freckles looked at him.“Seriously?”
Brant put down the tiger cub he was holding and jumped off the floor.“Well, not really bucket list.But we don’t have chickens and goats in the city.I’d love to see them in person.I’ve actually seen a video on YouTube of a chicken giving a kid a hug.Do they really do that?”
“Her chickens are pretty friendly.Just don’t mix up their names.Snow White gets really irritated if you call her another princess’s name.”
“I shall do my best.Hey, Freckles?”
“Yeah.”
“Think you’d go into the cat room.For me?”