Lord of the Wings Read Online Free Page B

Grandfather said. “A lot of animals in the zoo are hard for visitors to see, because they’re nocturnal. That means they sleep during the day and are awake all night. And that’s no fun is it—when you come to see the animals and they’re asleep in their burrows?”
    Much head-shaking by the children.
    â€œSo we built a new exhibit that’s underground,” Grandfather explained. “There are no windows, so the animals can’t see the sunshine. We have really big lights that make it as bright as day when they’re turned on, but when the lights are off, it’s nice and dark, the way nocturnal animals like it. And once we got the animals settled down there, we started turning the lights on a little earlier each day. And then turning them off a little earlier each night. We gradually adjusted the lights so that now they go on at sunset and off at sunrise. So during the night, when all of you have to be home and asleep, the bright lights are on and all the animals are asleep. But in the daytime, like now, the lights are low, and the animals think it’s night and they come out to eat and play. So now you can see them.”
    More cheers.
    â€œNow we have to be careful as we go through the Creatures of the Night,” Grandfather said, with a slight but definitely menacing frown. “For most of the exhibit, we’ll be traveling in a kind of tunnel. Most of the animals are behind one-way glass, so we can see them but they can’t really see us. But to bother them as little as possible, we keep the lights in the human tunnel very low. You’ll need to watch your step. And try not to make loud noises, because that might scare the animals. There are a couple of places where we won’t be behind glass. In the Louisiana Swamp exhibit, for example, we’ll have only a railing between us and the beavers and bullfrogs and alligators.”
    This statement seemed to alarm some of the children—at least, until Josh leaned over to one little girl who looked on the verge of tears.
    â€œDon’t worry,” he said. “Alligators don’t eat people. Only crocodiles do that.”
    â€œVery good, Josh,” Grandfather said. “The other exhibit where you won’t have glass between you and the animals is the Bat Cave—but I’ll explain that when we get closer.”
    As he was speaking, a large bloodstained mummy came out of a nearby building and shambled over to stand at Grandfather’s side. Its face was covered, but since it was slightly taller than Grandfather and much wider, I deduced that under its bloody bandages the mummy was Dr. Clarence Rutledge, the local veterinarian who looked after the zoo animals. The mummy bent over and whispered something in Grandfather’s ear. Whatever the secret was, it turned Grandfather’s usual stern expression into a scary scowl.
    â€œBlast,” he said. “I should go and deal with that. Meg, could you come and help me with something? Clarence, you take over the tour for a couple of minutes. Take them over to the Kingdom of the Night—but take them the long way round.”
    â€œPast the hyenas?” Clarence asked.
    â€œNo, through the aviary,” Grandfather said. “That’s about as far as you can get from the lions’ habitat.”
    With that, Grandfather strode off. For someone in his nineties he had a remarkably fast and steady stride. Clarence began gathering the class and shooing them in the opposite direction from what Grandfather had taken.
    â€œI’ll keep you posted,” I said to Michael, in an undertone, and then I set off to follow Grandfather.
    â€œWhy are you taking the children as far as possible from the lions’ habitat,” I asked when I caught up with him. “The lions aren’t loose, are they?”
    â€œOf course not.” He came to a stop at the railing designed to keep people from falling into the moat around the