Hammond

“Harold Hammond’s retiring,” Reuben told me.

“Who?” I asked, but he shot me a look while my memory rapidly jogged. “From Adelaide.”

“Yes, the esteemed Mr Hammond is retiring from his position as the Head of Carnivores at Adelaide Zoo.”

I nodded, then took a bite of toast.

“Would you consider going for the position, Jumilah?” Reuben wanted to know.

“Well, I,” I stammered, “I wouldn’t be thinking that I would have been.”

Reuben leaned forward, as I finished my toast.

“Right answer,” he replied, then picked up my empty plate and his.

Reuben got up from the table and started walking back towards the kitchen.

“Then why did you ask me?” I questioned over my shoulder. “It’s not like I would be anyway qualified, anyway.”

Reuben disappeared into the kitchen.

“You said it, not me,” he remarked.

I checked my watch, then got up and followed Reuben into the kitchen. It was almost time to go for the day.

“What do you want from me?”

Reuben laughed as he roughly rinsed the plates and stacked them in the dish drainer.

“I was just messing with you, Jumilah,” he insisted, before shaking his hands dry. “Acarda Zoo will be open by the end of the year, I know.”

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Jumilah Fioray is a recent high school graduate from lutruwita, Tasmania. Her parents, Catherine and Adriano Fioray, met at the University of Melbourne in the 1990s and returned to Hobart after finishing their degrees, where they raised their daughter and worked in agriculture. Jumilah's passion for conservation reflects her grandparents' work running a sanctuary in Sumatra.

Abbey Sim is the founder of Huldah Media. She is a creative writing, law and theology student who lives on the lands of the Dharug people in Sydney, Australia. Abbey has long had a passion for the weird and the wonderful of stories, sport and zoo animals. 'From the Wild' is her first anthology.