top of page

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.”


 

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.


3 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

The horizon was awash with a lime green glow. Above it, the sky sparkled, stars so visible amidst a sea of purple, the contrast stark. Right over us the hues darkened, to a vivid shade of navy blue. A

The thought of the Kalgoorlie animals gnawed away at me, figures which have loomed in the undercurrent of my dealings within the ZAA, but as ghostly figures, rather than main characters. Now they were

This morning the red letters screamed 3am when I woke up and rolled over. Next I came to with the chirping of the birds, the finches in the aviary acting as an alarm. As the sky swirled pale pink, I f

bottom of page