Stolen Animals in Tupperware Containers

By Andres David Lopez
Part 1 of 2

Three young men climbed what appeared to be an ancient Mayan pyramid, grappling rocks with the faces of warriors carved upon them.

The steps on the pyramid’s façade were too narrow for walking up. Guarded by two feathered serpents, representations of the God Quetzalcoatl, the steps were not designed to be used at all. To aid their ascent, the boys grabbed the branches of young trees growing from the pyramid walls. These trees and the Queen’s wreath surrounding them were planted to replicate a jungle’s act of reclaiming the stone from an artificial mountain.

The first boy reached the top level of the pyramid and sat down with his feet dangling from the edge. He could straddle the zoo wall. On one side was the Jaguar habitat surrounded by stone pillars and metal mesh fencing. On the other was a road that separated the zoo from low-income housing. The wind howled but died against the stone.

As the second boy reached the top, the first slid a marijuana cigar out of his pocket and lit it. The third boy had stalled at a lower level. He looked up and could barely make out the orange at the end of the blunt in the darkness.

Carlos felt a cloud in his chest and began rapping:

“We trust no black leaders, use the stove to heat us, powdered eggs and government cheeses. The calendars were Martin, JFK and Jesus. Gotta be fresh to go to school with fly sneakers. Schools with outdated books, we are the forgotten, summers cooling off by the fire hydrant. Yeah I’m from the ghetto, where old black women talk about their sugar level. It’s not unusual to see photos of dead homey’s funeral, aluminum foil on TV antennas, little TV sitting on top of the big TV, eating TV dinners, girls dye their hair with kool-aid. They gave us lemons, we made lemonade, but this nigga’s paid, ancestry of slaves, descendant of kings, it’s necessary I bling, put rims on every thing, wear tims on every scene.”

Carlos passed the blunt to Adam who took a hit and responded, “Pssshhht, look at this deep ass nigga I got here on my pyramid.”

“I know that’s not Nas’ verses you spitting,” he continued. “That’s that intellectual New York shit huh.”

“We are the slave and the master,” Carlos said. “What you looking for? You the question and the answer…”

“Damn son too bad you’re Mexican and not black.”

“Ha, Mexico stand up! Yo dawg you’re probably one of them magical Mexicans who can read the stars and shit.” Adam shook his head and hollered. “Let’s get it popping papi, we’re getting ready to kidnap some monkeys tonight!”

Adam proceeded to explain how he would train his primate butler. He was grinning and gesturing wildly, flexing forearms and shoulders that he maintained with a dumbbell set at home. His oversized white t-shirt waved in the wind along with his slicked-back ponytail.

“…Gonna be gearing him up with a bowtie and baby skates, making him grab me beers from the fridge!”

“That’s stupid. I thought you said you wanted to sell them.”

Carlos was shorter and stockier. His hair grew in small, light-brown curls. He had dimples on his cheeks, but he was not cute. A black tank top hugged his broad chest close.

“Yeah man, how much you think we can make off them? Cuz I need to make some bread for real. I’m fucking tired of riding around on my bike everywhere. Bitches need to see me when I get my Caddy. I’ll have niggas hating on me for real then…”

The boys had entered the zoo through a side entrance located in the shadow of the highway overpass. They used bolt cutters to break the lock at the gate. Once inside, they commandeered a golf cart and took a ride around the compound. They stopped at the Mayan pyramid to smoke their blunt and plot their next move.

Adam was the only one that had been inside the zoo before, though all of them lived within walking distance of it. He was six years old and walking with his father, who was in a bad mood that day. Adam angered him by refusing to leave the bear exhibit.

His father pretended to leave him, as Adam stood mesmerized in front of two black bears facing him behind a thin layer of reinforced glass. Their enclosure was no forest, but it had massive tree trunks for bear-clawing, a massive stone ball for rolling around, and a large pond for swimming. It looked comfortable enough.

It was late afternoon and the bears were sluggish. The male was sitting upright while the female lay on her side next to him. Suddenly, the boar opened his mouth wide and gently started nibbling on the female’s face, with her responding only occasionally with gentle slaps. He burrowed his face into her chest and then moved up to work her ears while she bit down on his muscular shoulder with her teeth.

At home, his parents growled through sharp teeth but possessed none of the bear couple’s tenderness. His father was not in his life for much longer.

Woody was patient but nervous waiting in the golf cart at the foot of the pyramid. He was younger and smaller than Adam and Carlos. He contemplated taking the cart and ditching them, but decided against it for fear of retaliation.

The zoo was eerie quiet as the trio rode back to retrieve the duffel bag and parrot cages they had left at the storage sheds near the zoo entrance. The wheels riding over the wooden planks of a walkway startled a deer with a lame leg. It turned its head as the boys rode by and revealed a pair of red eyes that startled Woody.

The boys took a trail by the storage sheds normally reserved for zoo employees towards rows of large polygonal cages, each one about as big as a child’s bedroom. Purposefully, Carlos led the way past the first cage which contained a large group of Scarlet Macaws. He followed the trail of his flashlight to the next cage ahead of him, careful to step quietly.

The animals inside were used to humans entering their habit. It usually signified feeding time, though no one entered at night. Outside of the metal mesh looking in, Carlos’ flashlight found no signs of life in a cage that held the prize of a single rare Goeldi’s monkey.

“Where you at little guy?” Adam said as he followed Carlos in. Woody stopped short and let the door slam shut. From a hollow tree trunk inside the cage, the monkey woke up from his sleep as his cage-mate the Green cheeked Amazon let out the alarm with a sharp “Graaa.”

The Goeldi’s monkey, capable of over 40 distinct sounds (some of them ultrasonic,) peeked out from inside the tree trunk and was spotted. The hairs on his little black head stood up like a crown as he assessed the threat with his mouth gaping open.

“I’m just gonna grab this sucker,” Carlos said. He stood over the tree trunk and cupped the small opening with both hands. Complete darkness closed in on the primate inside.

With that, the monkey exploded with high-pitched calls that reached as far as the lemurs and saimangs on their respective islands across from the polygonal cages. The lemurs disappeared inside their thatch hut while the siamangs turned over in their sleep lying on the grass out in the open.

The animal sliced at the hands with ferocious claws.