CHAPTER 5 — FEEDING THE ANIMALS

Tammy and Tommy hurried to the gate to The Land of Choice Zoo, but before they went in, a small sign caught Tammy’s eye. It said, NO EXIT in big block letters. She stopped and turned to Choosy Chicken to ask her what it meant, but just then a clown parade, followed by a throng of laughing children, passed in front of them.
Tammy laughed in delight and forgot all about her question as she and Tommy followed the clowns into the zoo.
“Tammy, look!” A bright yellow sign off to their right said BABY ANIMAL HOUSE. CHILDREN MAY FEED THE ANIMALS AT 10:00 A.M. Even as they looked, a loud gong sounded ten times, and the blue doors beneath the sign slid open.
“Wow, talk about luck,” Tammy said. “We got here just in time to feed the animals.”
“Oh, boy!” Tommy exclaimed. “Let’s go.” Then he saw Choosy Chicken watching them silently. “Oh,” he said a little uncertainly. “It is OK, isn’t it? I mean, they do want us to feed the animals, don’t they?”
“Of course,” replied Choosy Chicken. “You may do anything you wish here. But,” she added darkly, “you must think about your choices in advance.”
The twins looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. What could be the harm in feeding a couple of baby animals?
They stepped inside. The dimly lit room was lined with cages of all sizes and shapes. Each cage was labeled with the name of the animal inside. Tammy stopped in front of a cage labeled LEO.
“Oh, look,” she cried, “a baby lion!”
Leo was standing on his hind legs, his front paws braced against the shiny steel bars. His tail brushed back and forth across the floor and he was purring heavily, flexing his sharp claws in and out.
“Oh, isn’t he adorable?” Tammy exclaimed, holding out her finger for him to lick with his sandpapery tongue.
Leo’s food was on a bench in front of the cage. Picking up a jar of raw meat and a spoon, Tammy scooped up a generous serving and pushed it toward him. He ate greedily, wrapping his paws around Tammy’s arm in ecstasy.
Unable to bear the weight of his heavy paws, Tammy tried to pull away, but Leo flexed his needle-like claws, pressing into her skin and holding her fast.
“Oh, dear,” Tammy thought in dismay. “What do I do now?” So that she wouldn’t be scratched, she pressed herself tightly against the bars of the cage and continued the feeding.
It seemed like hours! Her arm ached, her back and shoulders were stiff.
Finally Leo finished. He drew in his claws and lowered himself to the floor of his cage.
Heaving a sigh of relief, Tammy replaced the jar and spoon and examined her arm. There were ten angry-looking red marks where Leo’s claws had touched her skin.
In the meantime, Tommy had stopped in front of the cage marked DONNA DEER. A small brown fawn was lying quietly on a bed of straw, looking up at him with huge, velvety eyes.
Her food was an over-sized baby bottle full of milk. A sign on her cage said, COME IN, so Tommy pushed the door open and sat down in the straw next to Donna. She butted gently against his hands and arms, searching for the milk she smelled. When she found the large rubber nipple, she reached for it greedily, then she curled up in his lap and began to feed.
“Hey, this is neat!” Tommy said enthusiastically. “Much nicer than feeding a baby lion that has needle claws.”
When Donna had finished the last of her milk, she stirred slightly and Tommy waited for her to get up. Instead, she put her head down on his leg and promptly fell asleep.
“Oh, no,” he thought. “Now, what do I do?” Cautiously, he tried to move out from under the sleeping fawn. But every time he moved, she moved with him, adapting her body to his new position.
Tommy’s legs began to hurt. Who would have thought a baby deer could weigh so much? He pushed with all his strength, but Donna did not budge. “Tammy, help! I can’t get up.”
Tammy started toward the cage, but at that moment Choosy Chicken stepped aside and revealed a small sign that neither twin had noticed before. “NO MORE THAN ONE PERSON IN THIS CAGE AT ANY TIME — SEVERE PENALTY,” Tammy read aloud.
Tommy wailed, “What am I going to do? My legs are numb.”
“I don't know,” Tammy said uncertainly, biting her lip. “But I’m afraid to go in there.” She glanced over at Choosy Chicken, but the huge bird was busily preening her feathers, and seemed not to notice what was happening.
“Here,” said Tammy, sticking her arm through the bars of the cage. “Reach your hand toward me. Maybe I can help you get up.”
But Tommy was too far away for their hands to meet, no matter how hard they strained. Finally he turned away, biting his lip to keep back the tears of frustration. There was nothing to do but wait.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, Donna Deer lifted her graceful head, rose and stretched, then bounded away with a flick of her white tail.
With a loud groan, Tommy got stiffly to his feet, and hobbled painfully out of the cage.
“Gee, my legs feel strange. They’re so stiff and sore I can hardly walk,” he moaned, while glaring at Choosy Chicken as if to say that what had happened was her fault. Then he sank down on a bench and tried to rub some feeling back into his legs.
Choosy Chicken drew herself up to her full height and lifted her tiny glasses to her beak. “My dear boy,” she said, as if she had read his thoughts, “in The Land of Choice you must be prepared to pay the consequences of the choices you make — as you have been told!”

Chapter 5 — THE BIG IDEA

For Chapter 5 the Big Idea is: After we make a choice, we think of what happens next as a consequence.

The User’s Guide for this chapter has an activity called Consequence Surprises that we can use in a simplified way here. The idea is this: Look for chances to say or do something that will surprise someone else in a positive way. For example, if you might normally groan about or argue about something, smile and respond agreeably — surprise the other person with a positive consequence he or she doesn’t expect.

Think about what happens when you surprise someone in a positive way, and figure out how you can use this idea to make your life better.

To order the print form of In the Land of Choice, and the second novel in the series, The Magic of Choice, use the ORDER LINK below.

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