by Amelia Cobb
Hetty’s eyes were bright with excitement as she grunted back to Zoe.
“You’re all copying Jamie?” said Zoe, looking around for the little giraffe.
“He’s over there, Zoe!” cried Meep.
As the tallest animals in the zoo, the giraffes came right at the end of the parade. There at the front was the mischievous baby giraffe, who was wobbling on his spindly legs more than ever! Jewel was walking gracefully beside him, but all the other big animals were watching the little calf ’s antics and copying him!
Zoe groaned. It did look very funny but the animals were about to walk past the strict zoo manager, and she knew he wasn’t going to be impressed.
“What on earth is going on here?” snapped Mr Pinch, his face turning bright pink. “I said I wanted a nice, neat, tidy and well-behaved line. This is utter chaos!”
“Is everything all right, Mr Pinch?” asked Lucy, who had heard the commotion and come running over.
“No, everything is not all right!” cried Mr Pinch. “These animals are going to turn my lovely parade into a shambles. How are we supposed to win the Best Zoo Award with terrible behaviour like this?” He pointed a shaking finger at the giggling baby giraffe. “And I know which animal is to blame. Ever since that naughty giraffe was born, the other animals have been out of control. Well, I won’t have it. If he can’t learn to behave, he won’t be allowed in the parade at all!”
As Mr Pinch stomped off, Zoe sighed. She loved the gorgeous baby giraffe, but his tricks were starting to become a big problem! How can I get him to behave? she thought to herself. There must be something I can do.
“It’s today! It’s today!” chattered Meep excitedly as he scampered along the footpath.
Zoe and Meep were on their way to see Jamie. It was Saturday morning, and the day of the judges’ visit to the Rescue Zoo.
Zoe thought that she’d never seen the zoo look so lovely. The paths were swept and the fences were freshly painted. Bunches of colourful balloons were tied to the trees, and extra-bright flowers had been planted everywhere. The zoo was already full of excited visitors, who were queuing up on the paths to watch the parade.
But Zoe was worried. She had tried talking to the funny little giraffe about his behaviour after the practice parade a few days ago, but he hadn’t seemed to listen. He was having too much fun. This was her last chance to convince him to behave well.
When Jamie saw Zoe and Meep slip inside his enclosure he trotted over excitedly and nuzzled his soft head against Zoe’s hand.
“Hi, Jamie,” said Zoe, stroking his snout. “I wanted to talk to you about the parade later today. We were wondering—”
Meep burst out laughing as the cheeky giraffe stuck out his long, pointy, purple tongue. “Meep!” cried Zoe as the little lemur copied him and stuck out his own tiny pink tongue. “That’s not very helpful, is it?”
“Sorry, Zoe,” Meep chirped sheepishly.
Zoe turned back to the baby giraffe. “Anyway, Jamie – Meep and I wanted to talk to you about the parade. We think it would be really good if you behaved nicely, because Mr Pinch is going to—”
Jamie poked out his tongue again, and Meep giggled again. Zoe sighed. This isn’t going to work, she thought. Jamie isn’t listening – and Meep’s just getting distracted!
Just then, Theo the giraffe keeper arrived at the enclosure. “Hi, Zoe!” he called. “The judges have just arrived. They want to see all the animals in their enclosures before we start the parade. There are three of them, and they all look quite strict, just like Mr Pinch.”
Zoe took a deep breath. This is going to be a disaster, she thought. But to Zoe’s relief, Jamie seemed to be behaving himself as he calmly trotted over to Theo and the other giraffes. “He’s behaving himself for now, at least,” Zoe muttered to herself. She really hoped it would continue.
“Here come the judges!” whispered Theo.
Zoe peered down the path and saw three people in smart suits, all holding clipboards and pens. One of them, a stern-looking lady with short grey hair and green glasses, had a badge pinned to her jacket that said “HEAD JUDGE”. A nervous-looking Mr Pinch was leading them. Great-Uncle Horace and Lucy were there too. Zoe hurried out of the giraffe enclosure to join them.
“Here goes,” Zoe whispered to Meep, who was perched on her shoulder, waving his tiny paws excitedly. “I hope Jamie remembers to be good!”
The judges strolled down the path, looking carefully at the animals as they passed, and making notes on their clipboards. Zoe saw the head judge pay special attention to the enclosures, too. “Very impressive,” she heard her say as she studied the polar bears’ home, which was a huge, twinkling igloo with a deep blue pool for Bella and Snowy, the two gorgeous polar bears, to splash around in.
Next, the head judge peered over the fence at the penguins. Some of the penguins were happily diving and swooping in their pool, catching shiny fish in their beaks. Other penguins sunned themselves on the smooth rocks around the edge of the enclosure. Zoe saw the head judge smile and nod.
Zoe’s heart leapt. This was going well! The judges seemed to like the zoo – and the animals were being as good as gold.
“Oh, the giraffes!” the head judge said, peering down the path and spotting the enclosure. “I’ve heard excellent things about the Rescue Zoo giraffe enclosure. I’d like to take a look at that next.”
“Of course! Right this way,” said Great-Uncle Horace, leading her to the enclosure.
Zoe’s heart began to pound. Please, please be good, Jamie, she thought to herself.
The judges walked up to the fence and looked inside. “Goodness me. What a beautiful home,” the head judge said approvingly. “And such elegant creatures. I hear you have a new baby giraffe here at the zoo?”
“Indeed we do!” said Great-Uncle Horace, pointing at Jamie. “Here he is.”
Jamie trotted towards the fence curiously and lowered his neck so that his head was right next to the judge’s. Zoe swallowed nervously, and thought she saw Mr Pinch doing the same. Don’t let us down, Jamie! she thought.
But in one quick movement, the little giraffe stuck out his long purple tongue – and grabbed the lady’s glasses from her face!
“Jamie, no!” said Zoe quickly – but it was too late. The naughty calf popped the glasses on top of his head. The crowds of zoo visitors who were lining the path to watch the parade all burst out laughing.
But the judge didn’t seem to find it very funny. “My glasses!” she cried, frowning at Jamie.
“Jamie, give those back right now,” whispered Zoe, holding out her hand.
But the giggly giraffe was having way too much fun with the glasses to pay any attention to Zoe. He waved his head back and forth – making the visitors laugh even more! Then he shook his head so hard the glasses went flying up into the air and over the fence. Thankfully Zoe was able to catch them.
“Here you go,” she said, handing the glasses back to the head judge.
She watched anxiously as the head judge put her glasses back on and wrote something on her clipboard.
She seemed very unimpressed. Had Jamie just spoiled the Rescue Zoo’s chances of winning the prize?
Mr Pinch’s face turned very red. “Er, time to start the parade!” he announced quickly. “I think you’ll like this very much, madam,” he added to the head judge.
“Hmm,” muttered the head judge, looking stern.
The zoo keepers began leading the animals out of their enclosures and into their line, under the watchful eye of Mr Pinch. As the parade began, Zoe crossed her fingers. Slowly and steadily, the line of animals marched past the judges, who all nodded and whispered to one another. Zoe wished she could overhear what they were saying! If I could just get a peep at their clipboards, I might be able to read what they’ve written down, she thought, edging a bit nearer to them and standing on her tiptoes.
“Well, I never!” the head judge exclaimed.
Zoe looked up – and gasped. The animals parading p
ast the judges were sticking out their tongues! Zoe groaned as she turned to see Jamie pulling funny faces. The other animals were all copying him and pulling funny faces too. The monkeys blew raspberries and the hippos waggled their tongues from side to side.
As the judges stared, the parade of animals burst out laughing together. The neat, tidy and calm line suddenly became the noisiest pack of cackling, chuckling, braying and squawking animals Zoe had ever heard!
Without thinking, Zoe darted towards Jamie. She squeezed through the line of giggling animals until she was standing next to him. “Jamie,” she whispered. “You’ve got to stop making all the animals laugh. Mr Pinch is going to be so cross – and the judges are going think this is the worst zoo they’ve ever seen!”
“I should have known you were behind this,” snapped a cross voice.
Zoe turned round and saw Mr Pinch glaring at her, his hands on his hips. “You made them all overexcited, didn’t you?”
“No!” cried Zoe. “It wasn’t me!”
“Mr Pinch, I think we’ve seen enough,” called the head judge. “We’ll go to the zoo café to make our final decision. We won’t be very long.”
Mr Pinch stared helplessly after the judges as they walked away. “Well, there goes our chance of winning the award,” he said miserably. “We’ve blown it!” He scowled at Zoe. “Did you know the prize money could have paid for us to make our animal enclosures even better? I was going to get a waterslide for the penguins and a new climbing frame for the monkeys. But it will all go to another zoo now!”
As Mr Pinch stormed away, ordering the keepers to take all the animals back to their enclosures, Zoe’s heart sank. She had done her best to persuade the little giraffe to be good but it hadn’t worked. She looked at Meep and sighed. “Oh, Meep, I feel awful about not winning the prize money. I didn’t even know there was prize money. It would have been lovely to be able to make our animal enclosures even better, wouldn’t it?”
Meep nodded sadly.
Next to Zoe, Jamie had finally stopped giggling. Instead, he was looking as unhappy as Zoe felt.
His long neck drooped and his dark, shiny eyes were full of sadness. He nudged Zoe with his nose and let out a miserable bleat.
Zoe managed a smile. “That’s OK, Jamie,” she whispered. “It doesn’t matter.”
Jamie gave another sad bleat. Zoe listened carefully as the little giraffe explained why he’d been behaving so crazily. When he’d finished, she shook her head. “Oh, Jamie! You didn’t need to mess around and be silly to make friends at the zoo,” she said gently. “Everyone here would have loved you just as much, even if you didn’t make them laugh.”
“Well, almost as much,” added Meep, from Zoe’s shoulder.
“Meep, that’s not very helpful,” whispered Zoe.
“Sorry!” squeaked Meep.
“Look – I’ll prove it to you,” Zoe told the little giraffe. “Come with me.”
She led Jamie along the path to a nearby enclosure. Inside, the brown bears were relaxing in the sunshine, and the two cubs, Billy and Buzz, were playing with a ball. When they saw Zoe their eyes lit up. “Hi, everyone!” called Zoe, waving. “Jamie and I thought we’d come by and say hello.”
She whispered to Jamie, “Now, try saying hello to the bears – but remember, just be yourself. You don’t need to act silly or make them laugh for them to like you.”
Jamie nodded nervously. Then he took a deep breath and greeted the cubs. He stared in surprise as the bears gave him a warm, friendly grunt back, and the two cubs raised their paws and waved.
“You see?” said Zoe, grinning. “The bears like you just as much as before. Didn’t I tell you? Let’s try another enclosure now.”
They walked on to the penguin enclosure and peered over the fence. A bit more bravely than last time, Jamie called hello to the colony – and beamed in delight as all the penguins waved their flippers and squawked back. They were obviously very pleased to see him.
“There,” said Zoe, stroking Jamie gently on his neck. “Well done, Jamie. I knew you could do it. Now, there’s one last place we need to go. Follow me.”
Zoe led the way down the path. She smiled as she saw the little giraffe taking slow, careful, steady steps on his long, spindly legs, with no wobbling or stumbling at all.
Suddenly Meep squeaked, “I think I know where we’re going. The zoo café!”
“That’s right, Meep,” replied Zoe.
Jamie gave a worried bleat, and Zoe nodded. “Yes, the judges are there. We’re going to show them how well behaved you can be. I have an idea.”
Quickly, she whispered in the little giraffe’s ear.
When they turned the next corner, Zoe saw the three judges sitting at a table by the window of the zoo café, with their clipboards and pens in front of them. They looked like they were having a very serious discussion. “Come on,” she said to Jamie.
She stepped inside the café and saw the look of surprise on the judges’ faces as Jamie stepped in after her, lowering his head and neck so that he would fit through the door.
The other visitors in the café all cheered with delight.
“Hello,” Zoe said to the judges. “We know you’re busy, but we just wanted to come and make you a special Rescue Zoo treat.”
Quickly, she slipped behind the counter of the café, where the ice cream was kept. She grabbed an ice-cream scoop and three bowls, and put a big scoop of banana ice cream in each one. Then she smiled at the baby giraffe. “This is the bit I need your help for, Jamie,” she whispered.
Zoe and the judges watched as Jamie stretched his neck up. He reached towards a high shelf, far above Zoe’s head, where packets of ingredients were piled. Carefully, he stuck his long tongue out and curled it around a bag of chocolate buttons, picking it up off the shelf. Then, lowering his neck, he dropped the bag into Zoe’s hands.
“Thanks, Jamie!” laughed Zoe.
She scattered chocolate buttons over the ice creams, then put a long silver spoon in each bowl and placed them on a tray. Then she carried the tray over to the judges’ table.
“Giraffe ice creams,” she explained proudly, handing one to each judge. “We hope you like them. We wanted to say sorry for Jamie taking your glasses before,” she added to the head judge. “He’s only a week old, and very playful, but he didn’t mean any harm.”
To her relief, the head judge beamed. “Giraffe ice creams – what a treat!” she exclaimed. “Thank you very much. This looks absolutely delicious. And you mustn’t worry about the glasses. Actually, we all thought it was very funny.”
“You did?” Zoe stared at her in surprise.
The judge ate a spoonful of ice cream and nodded. “Just as I thought – absolutely delicious! Now, we’re almost ready to come and tell you all our decision, so why don’t you show us the way back?”
When the judges had finished eating their ice creams, Zoe led them back along the path to where Mr Pinch, Lucy, Great-Uncle Horace and the zoo keepers were waiting.
Mr Pinch’s mouth dropped open in shock as he saw them arriving with Jamie beside them. “What is that animal doing out of its enclosure?” he spluttered. “And walking with the judges? After all the trouble it’s caused already—”
“Mr Pinch, I’m pleased to say that we’ve reached our decision,” interrupted the head judge.
Everyone waited in silence. Zoe held her breath and crossed both sets of fingers tight.
“You should all be very proud of your zoo,” the judge went on. “Not only is it beautiful, but your animals are quite remarkable. In fact, we have never seen such happy animals before. This little chap is a perfect example,” she added, nodding at Jamie.
Zoe glanced at Mr Pinch, whose eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head.
“And that is why we have decided that you are the winners of the Best Zoo Award!” the judge said with a smile. “Perhaps you should look after this, my dear.” She pulled a shiny gold trophy from her bag and handed it to Zoe.
Everyone cheered and clapped.
Zoe couldn’t believe it. “We’ve won!” she cried.
“I ... I just don’t know what to say,” stuttered Mr Pinch, who looked as if he wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. “Manager of the Best Zoo – me!”
“We mustn’t forget the prize money,” added the head judge, handing Mr Pinch a gold envelope. “Congratulations! We’re sure you will do excellent things with it.”
“This is just splendid,” said Great-Uncle Horace, beaming. “I’m very proud of you all – every single person and animal at the Rescue Zoo. Now, we must think of a good way to celebrate. But what?”
Zoe knew! “Giraffe ice creams!” she cried. “Wait there – we’ll go and get them!”
Zoe, Meep and Jamie raced down the path, back towards the zoo café. Meep used his nimble fingers to line up enough bowls for everyone, and Zoe added the scoops of banana ice cream, while Jamie held the bag of chocolate buttons between his teeth and scattered a few into each bowl. Then Zoe found a big trolley that was used whenever parties were held at the zoo, and stacked the bowls on top. With some help from Jamie, she pushed the trolley back towards the waiting crowd.
“Giraffe ice creams for everyone!” she cried, handing them out.
As everyone ate their ice creams, Zoe whispered to Meep, “can you start spreading the word to the animals that we’ve won the prize? Everyone’s going to be so happy!”
Meep nodded and scampered off. Soon Zoe heard an excited chatter start passing through the zoo enclosures, as the good news spread. She felt a warm tingling in her tummy. It seemed like everyone in the whole zoo was celebrating together!
