“I’m bored out of my mind”,Joey the Giraffe said to his friend Bobby the Kangaroo.
“And why is that”,Bobby replied back.
“Because we do the exact same thing over and over and we can never have any
fun”
Joey was a giraffe who lived in Africa who lived and grazed with his family and friends.
Grazing means roaming and wandering to find food. Once they found the leaves they
liked they ate them. Then once all the leaves were gone they left in search of more
food. But right now there was a war going on in Africa and the humans began to start
hunting season so they would have food.This meant that the herbivores, they had to
look for trees and leaves in dense forests to not be noticed and killed for food. Once a
member of the family was old enough he or she would start leading the pack to look for
food. Joey was almost old enough to have the honor of leading the pack. In
fact,tomorrow was his chance to shine! He would lead his pack into a bunch of forests
and they would never run out of food. That's what he wanted to do anyway,to give his
family and friends a permanent home. So when he was roaming today with Bobby he
decided to chat on how to find it. He was asking Bobby because Bobby’s family was
killed by humans when he was little so he was very knowledgeable in terms of how to
avoid humans. After Bobby’s parents were killed, he ran away and that’s where he
found Joey’s family roaming the desert looking for food. He doesn’t like to talk too much
about it, though he tells Joey’s family where to graze where they could not be seen.
“Aren’t there any spots in this region with so many forests and rivers that we
could have a permanent home”,Joey asked,finally bringing up his big question.
“Well I do know a place,but it’s a big risk trying to get there. We would probably
be seen at least once during the journey.” Bobby responded trying to make Joey
change his mind about going there.
“Oh,well in that case I guess we’ll just have to keep roaming far and wide only to
find food,eat the food,and repeat.” Joey cried trying secretly to make Bobby give him the
directions to his special place.
“You know what,let’s do it!!!”
“Really”
“I mean you’re old enough to lead your pack now,right”
“Actually,tomorrow I turn 13,so I probably would be able to”
“Great. In that case,I’ll tell your parents about this so they to be careful and will
have some planning time.”
“Wait…”
“...Yeah?”
“Don’t tell my parents.I want it to be a surprise for them. To be honest,they never
really thought I could accomplish anything. But that will all change today.Because from
this day forward I will be know as Joey the Great Giraffe.”
“Bedtime!”,Joey’s parents called.
“Coming”,Joey and Bobby said in unison
“Hey Bobby”
“Yeah,Joey”
“Do you think we will really be able to get to the place”
“I promise”
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Michael’s Point of View
“Fine then,quit I don’t care”,Michael angrily hung up his phone.
See,Michael the human was a World War II veteran who had just came back from a
long,cold war injured and bruised all over. When he got back to his home in America he
was astonished to find out that the only family he had left had died of plague. No one
respected for his services and he had no source of income to support himself. He
needed a way to get money and fast. The only thing he had received for his service in
the war was the privilege to keep his beloved steamboat. When he found out that there
was a job opening for someone with military skills in Africa he packed up his
things,drove his car (with steamboat attached) to the coastlines,bought a parking ticket,
and started his journey to Africa. Because he couldn’t afford a airplane ticket he decided
to sail there. Because it was a steamboat it only took about nine hours to get there.
When he arrived he was exhausted and could barely move. He had ran out food on the
way there so his first priority was to find food. The job task was to go to Africa and bring
back a live,native South African giraffe. “That was easy enough,”he had said to himself
before starting the voyage but now he was beginning to rethink his life choices. But the
job was worth a lot of money so he better get to work fast so he could leave and go
back to his home in the U.S. As he looked at his surrounding he had a decision to
make. There were two paths,a forest and local village. Since he did not speak the native
African language he went into the forest. After all,he was a World War II veteran.
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Joey Point of View
The next day when it was time to start grazing Joey volunteered to be the leader of
roaming and his parents let him with encouragement and praise. So with Joey in front
and Bobby at his side they were going to get a permanent home. At first Joey didn’t
know where he was going so he had to keep asking Bobby for help but after a while
Joey just let Bobby take full control and he became the leader instead. When Bobby
went into a forest right next to the rural village Joey’s parents finally began to speak up.
They wanted to know why he was going so close to town. And that’s when Bobby
revealed his and Joey’s plan to his parents and they were not happy with it. “THAT
COULD GET US KILLED”,Joey father yelled to Bobby,for he was too upset to speak
calmly. “You never let me do anything”,Joey replied back to his father. “That’s because
you’re too small to do anything”,his mother said in calm kind tone,but still sternly. “I
HATE YOU”, Joey shouted,and with that he ran off into the forest so fast that his
parents would not be able to catch up to him nor his friends. He just wanted to be alone
for once,without anybody telling him that he couldn’t accomplish anything. He was doing
this for them so they would be happy and to make their lives easier. But now all of that
vanished he just wanted to be left alone and to not be bothered. He heard footsteps
coming toward him and right now he did not want to talk to anybody. So he kept walking
until his foot got stuck in the grass. As sudden as it was,a metal cage sprung out of
nowhere trapping him at that exact same moment. He was caught!!!
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Michael’s Point of View
“Hello,this is Michael and I have informed you to know that I have just caught the South
African giraffe specimen that you are needing...yes...It is here with me in a metal
cage...ok..see you back in the U.S”
“I’m going to be so RICH”,Michael said to himself in joy as he turned off his phone.
“Now to bring the specimen back to ship” Michael commented.
Joey restrained however.He had listened to the entire phone conversation and thought
he knew exactly what was happening.He thought that he would be killed and eaten
down to the bones and that was not happening. He now wished that he would be stayed
with his mother and father and Bobby so this would not happen. Though he tried to
plant his feet on the ground Michael was strong enough to lift the entire cage and load it
into the cargo bay of the steamboat. “And now to start this thing Michael said in a
gleeful tone. “Hmm… I dropped my keys somewhere.I’ll go back for them.” Then he left
the steamboat with Joey in it and ran back into the forest to retrieve his keys.
Joey waited. He wanted his death to be quick and clean. Why couldn’t this man just eat
him and get it over with already. Three long boring hours had passed before he came
back with three new cages in sight. Wait. “Are those my parents and Bobby,you
finally came to rescue me...wait,why are you in cages..oh no did you get captured too?”
Joey wondered out loud.
“Yeah,we tried following your footprints and that’s when we noticed keys on the
ground.Then the human came and lured us with food into this ship.”, Bobby said in a
sad,diminished voice.
After that Joey’s parents apologized to him about his plan. “It was actually a
really great plan and we were wrong to discourage you from your goal”,Joey’s mother
told him. “I’m sorry too,for leaving and running away”,Joey told everybody. ”It’s
ok,we all make mistakes sometimes.”
They then chatted about what they thought was going to happen to them. Everybody
mentioned something about them dying in their future visions. But that would never
happen. Because as they were arriving back in the U.S. Michael called one more time
this time with his true intentions being revealed. “Yes the specimens are ready.I’ll drop
them off personally,then we can talk about payment.” They were going to be sold!
Though when Michael went to the office with the specimens he was surprised to see a
man in a black coat and dirty hands palmed together like he was plotting some evil
scheme. “I’ve brought the specimens you wanted”,Michael stated. “Great,put them over
here”,the black coat man remarked. “First,my payment then the animals”,Michael
reported. “Fine take it “,the man mumbled while handing him a five-dollar bill.
“This”,Michael said pointing to the $5 bill,”This is what I get for traveling to Africa and
back”. “Well once the specimens are analyzed and dissected then we will really know
how much it is worth”,the man explained. “DISSECTED.I thought these were for a
zoo,but dissecting them.That is cruel in so many ways.I quit on your offer.”,Michael
fumed as he left the building. Then he drove to the local zoo where he was offered a
full-time job for capturing specimens for the zoo and while he was there he donated the
three specimens he had caught in Africa. His problems were solved,he now had a
source of income and might even be able to have a family again. Things were even
better for Joey and friends who now had a permanent home like Joey wanted and did
not have to avoid humans or even have to worry about being hunted. Michael even
visited them sometimes with food. All was good.
THE END