8 The zoo incident

Katherine had offer to drive Damien to the zoo without any escorts. Damien was all smiles for the trip to the zoo. He was so excited about the zoo that he had almost didn't want to take his lunch. Katherine giggled at her son high spirit. Robert on the other hand gave a preview of the zoo and all the exciting animals kept there, since it will be Damien first time of going there. He had begged Katherine to at least take a driver with them but Katherine had disagreed. Both mother and son went upstairs to go prepare. Leaving Mrs Baylocks and Robert who have been staring at the duo scurrying up the stairs to go and prepare.

Robert was the first to leave home for the same reason of his early appointments at work. He had few escorts of cars behind too. While Robert car drove passed his home's gate, he caught sight of Father Brennan.

Father Brennan has been on the look out, though conscious of not being seen by little Damien. He wanted to speak with Robert. A chance at least yet stalking Robert was not helping. Robert in his car was curious why Father Brennan was outside his home. Maybe he wanted to know if he had taken communion and accepted Jesus Christ. He could not help but recall how their conversation at the office had gone. When the priest had talked about Damien real mother, he had thought that the priest had come to blackmail him. But there was something the priest had wanted to say about Damien mother, like she was different from any mortal being.

Katherine and Damien had reached their destination, the city zoo. After her dream last night, she had been scared for her son and that of her life. Now she was happy seeing how Damien was excited about the zoo. Today's distraction will help her bond with her son and forget about her dream. They could do this more often, this mother and son bonding.

Katherine drove to the ticket boot where she paid for both her and Damien's passes. The sales lady in the boot gave her some instructions about the animals which Katherine took note of. She was also given a guide book. She thanked the sales lady and drove in.

They first made a visit to the giraffe. Katherine thought about the giraffe that even if they were tall and strong, they are the least harmless and trustworthy animals if fed, so she went to where food for animals in the zoo are sold and bought some veggie which she gave to Damien. She wanted Damien to feed the animals. It will be an exciting feeling. When Katherine and Damien approached the animals, they became scared and scurried away. Katherine felt bad, she didn't understand why the giraffes ran away. But they hadn't ran away because they didn't like the attention of the onlookers but because they feared Damien. His innocent yet charming face gave them the restless chill of fear.

Now Katherine and Damien are at where all different species of primates are kept which include the lemurs, lorises, tarsiers, monkeys, apes and the baboons amongst others. Allot of children and their guidance were there too enjoying the sight of the free primates in the park. The only thing demarcating the animals from the child are metal cages which surrounds each type of primates in their various inhabitants.

But something strange happened, while Damien got close to the cage the primates of the trees scurried away. The apes became aggressive and tries to attack even if they were in cage. They shook their cage trying to set themselves free. To the horror of it all, the children and their guidance ran away. It was even more horrific that while the other children ran away, Damien didn't flinch at all. He stood there still staring waving at the aggressive apes that kept attacking their cages. Katherine whom went to get some goodies from a candy chart just nearby on seeing people running hurry to go take her son out of there. She didn't need a notice to tell herself that today was not a great day for them and the animals. She took Damien home.

While at home, Katherine told Robert what had transpired today at the zoo. it was bedtime and everyone was fast asleep except Katherine who was restless about what had happened. Robert felt bad that Katherine and Damien didn't got the fun they had look forward to today. It was weird all the same why the animals ran away and the apes became aggressive. Even Katherine could not help but wonder too. She starts to think that something is up with Damien, something very strange. She remembered Damien didn't run like the rest of the children at the park but only smiled and waved at the animals that were trying to break out of the cage. Then she recalled her dream last night which made her even more terrified. Was her son an evil child. 'NO' she brushed that thought off her mind. Even with all the curiosity, their conclusion were that maybe the animals they had seen weren't used to crowd of children on a particular day.

"Honey, what about I see a psychologist. With what had happened today make me remember the nightmare last night." Katherine told Robert.

"You haven't still told me what the nightmare was about. I wanted to enquire about it this morning but you were too excited about you and Damien Zoo trip."

"Nothing important dear. I don't want to think about it either." Katherine lied.

"Don't worry love, we are gonna have our own zoo exhibit here. Just you, me and Damien." Robert teased her with a smile.

Katherine in turn giggled and hugged Robert. Both drifted to sleep afterwards.