15 for 15 Contest --- Closed

"That's a monkey."

"Yes, it is sweetie." I look down at my little boy and see his amazed face at seeing all of the animals in the zoo. His little hand points toward each cage as we pass it and he calls out the name of the animals, showing off his knowledge from the pamphlet in his hand.

"That's a panda, and that ones a tiger! Oooh, I wanna pet the tiger Mommy!" Timmy starts jumping up and down and trying to run over to the tiger cage. I keep my hand tight around his and slowly walk over toward it so he can see the animal inside.

"It's so pretty! Here kitty," He says as he waves his hand emphatically at the tiger. The tiger continues to lay on the flat rock and bathe itself.

"Come on sweetie, let's go visit the giraffe over here." I smile at him and he looks up at me, his blue eyes full of excitement.

He begins pulling me toward the area with the giraffes. As we near the area to look down toward the giraffes, Timmy catches sight of the feeding machines. "I wanna do that, Mommy! Can I feed the G-raffes?"

"Of course you can. Give Mommy a minute." I reach into the purse at my side and pull a quarter from the bottom. Inserting it into the machine, I put Timmy's hands under the spout to catch the food when it spills out. I turn the knob and food spills out into his little hands and some spills over onto the pavement below.

"Come here Mr. G-raffe." Timmy chides as he sticks his hands out through the railing. A giraffe slowly moves over and starts nibbling the food from his hands. "It tickles, Mommy," he giggles as the giraffe finishes off the food.

I turn around to put another quarter in the machine so Timmy continue to feed the giraffes when I hear him scream out while slightly laughing, "Mommyyyy!" I whip around to see the giraffe picking him up and setting him on top of his head.

I start to scream when the giraffe rears up and over the edge of its pen, rampaging to the exit of the zoo. I hear Timmy yelling "Go, go, go Mr. G-raffe!"

"Timmy!!!" I yell and start to run after him when everything suddenly goes dark.

~~

I sit up, breathing hard, my pajamas soaked by sweat. Rushing out of bed, I miss one of the slippers laying beside the bed.

I storm into Timmy's room and pull back the sheets on his bed to see him sleeping peacefully with a smile upon his face.

It was just a dream, thank God. I let out a sigh and cover Timmy back up. As I turn around and leave the room, Timmy breathes one word, "G-raffes," and I just know to stay away from the zoo today.