Ok. (Grins at the twins) Since this is you kids' story, how would you like to begin? ;)

Little Mick: Yeah! :D

Shelly: Ok!

Emma: Just ask everyone if they're ready. :)

Little Mick: Evewyone weady? :)

Shelly: I weady! :)*The adults are still arguing.* ;) :P

Coco: Come on, kids. Let’s go see the birdies.

(The kids walk back down the path, past the aligator pit to a large pond surrounded by hundreds of birds of all kinds - Canadian geese, mallards, storks, bright pink flamingos, and many other species, both local and exotic. They fly and eat around the pond, or swim with their babies on the pond's surface. More, larger turtles sun themselves on jutting rocks in the middle of the pool.)

Shelly: (Points at a flamingo) Lookit, Auntie Coco! Pink birdies!

(Katie burbles.)

Coco: Aren't they pretty! :)

Little Mick: *points at a squawking goose* Noisy! *grins* ;)

Shelly: Yikes! (Pulls back as a goose snaps at her and Mick)

Little Mick: *makes a face at the goose* Bad! :P

Coco: Careful!

"Shelly: Nasty old bird! (Sticks her tongue out at the goose, who turns his rear to them and flounces off)"

Debbie: That bird doesn't like us much. :p

"Little Mick: You showed him who's boss, Shel! :D"

"Shelly: Well, he didn't have to be rude! :p"

Coco: There's better birds to look at than that old goose. :P

"Little Mick: I woulda liked to kick him in his rear! :P "

"Shelly: I'd like to see you try! He'd bite you! :p"

"Little Mick: No, he wouldn't! :P"

"Shelly: Goosies bite!"

"Little Mick: I'd kick him and he'd know not to pick on us and he'd leave us alone!"

"Shelly: What if he takes your arm or leg off?"

"Little Mick: He can't do that! I'd kick him again!"

Debbie: (Points to a flamingo) Hey, the pink bird is lifting his leg!

Gina: He's still standing!

"Shelly: Wow! I wonder if I could do that?"

Coco: Flamingos can do that. They've got great balance.

Shelly: (Out loud) Cool!

"Little Mick: Why don't you try it, Shel? ;)"

"Shelly: Only if you do it, too! Your legs are thinner than mine. They sort of look like that bird's. ;)"

"Little Mick: *sticks his tongue out* I can do that! :P"

"Shelly: Ok, hot shot! Let's see who can stand on one leg the longest!"

*Little Mick starts to pull one leg up and starts wobbling. He sets it down and tries again, with the same result. He tries again, and does it this time. He grins widely...and falls down on his rear.* :P

(Shelly lifts one leg and stands on it....with more or less the same results as her brother.)

Shelly: Ow! :p

Coco: *laughs at the twins’ antics* What are you two doing? ;)

Little Mick: Be like birdie! *gets up and tries again...and falls down again*

Shelly: Pink birdies! (Also gets up and tries again...and falls again)

Debbie: Careful, you two!

Coco: Don't hurt yourselves! We don't want to get Cur...Micky mad! :P

"Shelly: We won't! (Tries again and goes slightly longer before falling this time)"

"Little Mick: *makes a face* Daddy won't mind. He'd be trying this if he was here! ;)"

"Shelly: (grins) Yeah, that's true, and Mommy would be saying not to influence US. ;)"

"Little Mick: *grins* That's right!Daddy gets in trouble more than we do! ;)"

*Little Mick tries again and stands longer...before falling again.*

"Shelly: Daddy's ALWAYS driving Mommy crazy!"

(Shelly tries once more and does get longer...before falling.)

Coco: *laughs again* Okay, you two. Why don't we go see some other animals? :)

Shelly: Ok!

Little Mick: More aminals!

(Katie burbles)

Shelly: Katie say ok!

Coco: *grins* She sure did! (To the kids) How about we go see the jungle next? :)

Shelly: Yeah! (Grins)

Little Mick: Jungle!

Debbie: Let's go see the monkeys!

Coco: *grins again* Yeah, let's go see some REAL monkeys! ;)

Shelly: Mon-keys! :D

*Little Mick makes monkey noises.* ;)

Coco: I always knew Curly had a bit of chimp in him. ;)

Shelly: Daddy a Monkee!

Coco: *laughs* Micky isn't THAT kind of monkey! He does resemble a monkey sometimes, though. Come on, we'll show you what real monkeys look like. :)

Shelly: Yeah! Monkeys!

"Shelly: And he ACTS like one sometimes, too! ;)"

"Little Mick: Like when he hogs the jungle gym! He likes to hang upside down, then Mommy yells at him to not do that! ;) "

"Shelly: She's afraid he'll get hurt! ;)"

"Little Mick: Daddy's good at climbing. Mommy's worried because she can't climb around like he can. ;)"

"Shelly: How comes she never does that? She has legs, too!"

"Little Mick: *shrugs* I don't know. Daddy's always trying to get her to try, but she just says no a lot. :P "

"Shelly: Maybe she's scared."

"Little Mick: Maybe we could help Daddy show her it's safe! :)"

"Shelly: Yeah! Climbing is fun! :)"

(Coco follows the crowd to a walkway into a dense thicket of tropical trees and flora. Over the entrance is a sign that says "Tropical Rain Forest.")

"Shelly: Wow! Look at all those trees!"

"Little Mick: This is cool! I wonder if Tarzan lives here? ;) :D "

"Shelly: And Jane, too!"

Debbie: (As the enter the rainforest, following the crowd) It's getting kind of dark in here. :o

Coco: *still pushing Katie* It's okay. The animals like it darker. :)

(They pass by an enclosure filled with trees. Two large, spotted cats jump around the tree branches. They aren't as big as the tigers or the panthers, but they are just as graceful.)

Shelly: Spotty kitties! :)

Coco: Hey, look at those cats! :)

"Shelly: Those kitties have polka-dots! :D"

"Little Mick: Cool kitties! :D"

"Shelly: I like how they move. They're almost like big snakes."

"Little Mick: Yeah! Daddy moves like that sometimes, too! ;)"

"Shelly: Especially when he has to run from Mommy! Do you remember when Daddy put hot sauce on Mommy's hot dog? It was when Little Mike was here."

"Little Mick: Oh, yeah! Daddy was really running that time! ;)"

"Shelly: Mommy tackled him! ;)"

"Little Mick: Daddy was making a fuss after that! ;)"

(The group moves on. On their left near the ocelots are large groups of small black-and-white monkeys who scream and howl to each other as they eat fruit and swing through the trees.)

Gina: (Puts her hands on her ears) Boy, are they noisy!

Shelly: (Does the same) Noisy monkeys! :p

Debbie: (Reads a sign) Howler monkeys.

Coco: *nods* And I thought Curly made a lot of noise! *moves to cover Katie's ears*

*Little Mick tries to match the monkeys' howls.* ;)

Coco: *grins* You aren't helping, little guy. :P

*Little Mick just grins.* :D

"Little Mick: I can howl like the real monkeys! :D"

"Shelly: Mick, YOU'RE not a monkey! :p"

"Little Mick: So what? :P"

Debbie: Can we go see quiet monkeys?

Shelly: Yeah. Monkeys noisy. :p

Coco: I think we should. Katie doesn't seem to like these guys very much. :P

Little Mick: Me noisy! *howls again* ;)

(Katie fusses and starts to cry, joining the monkeys' keeing wails.)

Shelly: Micky scare Katie! :p

"Shelly: See what you did, Mick? She's all upset!"

Little Mick: *stops howling and frowns* I sowwy. :P

"Little Mick: I didn't mean it! :("

"Shelly: (Runs in front of Katie's stroller and pats the baby) He always gets noisy like that."

(Katie still cries a little, but she doesn't yell like she did before.)

Coco: *smiles* Thank you, Miss Shelly. :)

"Little Mick: *goes over to Katie, also* I'm sorry, Katie! :("

"Shelly: (Katie starts to calm down a bit) See? She's ok, Mick. She's still little. She just got scared. She knows we won't hurt her."

"Little Mick: Good! I got carried away. I like to howl. ;)"

(Katie burbles.)

"Shelly: (Pats Katie again) That's ok, Katie. I'll protect you! I'm your friend, after all! :)"

"Little Mick: So will I! I'm your friend, too! :)"

"Shelly: We'll never let anyone hurt you! We'll keep all the bad guys away from you!"

"Little Mick: That's right! If any bad guy tries to do anything, I'll get him! :D"

"Shelly: We BOTH will! We'll even keep that bad lady away from you!"

"Little Mick: *makes a face* Mean old bad lady! I don't like her at all! :P"

"Shelly: Me either! She keeps trying to hurt the adults, and she locked us up! I once heard Auntie Ursula the Crystal say that her sister wanted souls."

"Little Mick: I don't know. Why would she want souls?"

"Shelly: What ARE souls?"

"Little Mick: *thinks; then picks up his foot* Bad lady collects these? :P ;)"

"Shelly: Yeah, but what for? Are they like cars or something? Unca Mike collects cars. Auntie Emma collects books. Unca Peter collects instruments."

"Little Mick: Mommy likes stuffed aminals. I don't know why bad lady wants souls."

"Shelly: She did something weird to Daddy. I heard him and Mommy talking about it once. Something called 'cloning.'"

"Little Mick: *nods* I heard something like that. Daddy was kinda upset over it. And he said something about wanting to see some machine, too."

"Shelly: Daddy always wants to see machines. Maybe he wanted to take it apart to see how it worked, like he did to the TV set once."

"Little Mick: And the phone. And the radio. ;)"

"Shelly: Oh, and the back of the oven. Remember how he was going to set it up to cook food faster? ;)"

"Little Mick: *grins* He got really dirty when he did that. *shakes his head* It didn't cook food faster. Mommy said she thinks it cooks slower now. :P ;)"

"Shelly: We're lucky it didn't blow up. Daddy likes to make things go boom. :p"

"Little Mick: Daddy made the garage go boom. ;)"

"Shelly: Mommy was REALLY mad when that happened! Good thing she had the car and Unca Mike was fixin' Daddy's motorcycle! How did he do that, anyway?"

"Little Mick: I remember Mommy saying something about a darn chemistry set. *makes a face* What's that?"

"Shelly: (Frowns) What's what?"

Debbie: This place is spooky!

"Little Mick: A darn chemistry set. :P ;)"

"Shelly: Something Daddy uses to make things go boom. I've heard Mommy yell at Daddy about it before. She always hides it, and he always finds it again. (Grins at her brother) Do you think we'll be able to have a chemistry set when we grow up?"

"Little Mick: I hope so! It sounds like fun, even though it gets Daddy in trouble! ;)"

"Shelly: Daddy has fun before Mommy finds out he made something go boom again. ;)"

(The group has moved along the walkway. They see more birds, colorful parrots, macaws, and other tropical avian creatures with fancy plumage and loud calls.)

Shelly: Pretty birdies!

"Shelly: I like their feathers! They look like flying rainbows!"

Little Mick: Parrot!

"Little Mick: I like the parrots because they can talk, and Daddy can talk like a parrot. ;)"

"Shelly: Daddy does a GOOD parrot voice! ;)"

"Little Mick: *grins* I remember Mommy saying that he looked like a parrot once. I wonder how he did that? ;)"

"Shelly: Daddy? Who knows. Maybe he did it with that chemistry set thing. ;)"

"Little Mick: Maybe he did. ;)"

(The girls move along to more apes. These, however, are much bigger than the howler monkeys. They're very large and bright rust-orange, with big, sad eyes and long arms and legs that they swing through trees with.)

Debbie: Wow, these guys are orange!

Gina: I guess they drink their orange juice. ;)

Coco: That's their natural coloring.

Debbie: (Reads a board on the side of the walkway) "Orang-u-tang."

Shelly: Big monkeys! :)

Debbie: (Reading the board) According to this, Shel, they aren't monkeys at all. They're apes. They're different.

Little Mick: Look! *points at one swinging from branch to branch* Swing!

Shelly: Tarzan monkey! :D

"Shelly: I like these guys! Look at them swing! :D"

"Little Mick: We gotta get on the swingset when we get home! :D"

Coco: They can really move, can't they? :)

Shelly: Move! :D

"Little Mick: We can show Daddy some new tricks!"

"Shelly: That's right! The grown-ups are STILL arguing! ;)"

Debbie: Maybe we ought to go back to Micky now. We got to see the jungle.

Coco: *nods* Yeah. I hope they aren't still arguing. :P

Coco: Lets head back. *glances down at Katie* The little miss looks ready to fall asleep. :)

(Katie lets out a tiny yawn. I-) )

"Shelly: Nighty-night, Katie! (Tucks a blanket around Katie, whose eyes droop) I like Katie sometimes. She's cute. :)"

"Little Mick: She's got a great howl of her own, too! ;)"

"Shelly: Auntie Emma says that's how really little babies tell people there's something wrong with them. Katie can't talk yet."

"Little Mick: Daddy says we were even louder than Katie. *grins* ;)"

"Shelly: Well, we had to out-yell each other. ;)"

(The girls turn the group around and start to go the other way.)

Debbie: Yikes! Look! (Points to their right. Flicking tongues and green tails are seen slithering through trees. The snakes are ENOURMOUS. One swallows a huge egg put out for it, shell and all, right in front of the kids.)

Shelly: Wow!

Little Mick: Hungwy!

Coco: *nods* Snakes can eat things that are several times their body size! :P

"Shelly: Damn, Mick, I thought YOU could eat! Mr. Snake has you AND Daddy beat!"

"Little Mick: *makes a face* No fair! :P"

"Shelly: I guess Mommy wouldn't let you and Daddy try to swallow an egg whole, huh? ;)"

"Little Mick: I don't think I want to try, but Daddy likes to eat big things. Did you see that sandwich he had yesterday for lunch? ;)"

"Shelly: It had more layers than our carpet! Daddy just likes big things. ;)"

"Little Mick: Mommy does, too! Daddy asked her if she wanted a big surprise for her birthday. ;)"

"Shelly: Oooh, I like surprises! Mommy's birthday is next month, isn't it?"

"Little Mick: *nods* Yeah! I think Daddy said he had a surprise for her after we go to bed. *makes a face* :P ;)"

"Shelly: That's not fun! :p"

"Little Mick: I know! But that's what I heard! :P"

Gina: Where are we gonna go now?

Debbie: I still say we should go back to the grown-ups.

Coco: I think so, too. They might be looking for us.

Debbie: Especially since Katie's still a baby. Emma and Mike will be really worried if she's gone!

Coco: Okay, everyone, let’s go back and find those adults of ours. ;)

(The girls start back over the walkway, following the path they took before into the reptile house...but the adults are no longer there.)

Debbie: They're gone! :(

Shelly: No Mommy! No Daddy! :(

Coco: Uh oh... :-O

Little Mick: Daddy! Mommy! :(

Gina: They must have gone looking for US! :o

Coco: *trying to stay calm* We're okay. We'll be fine. We'll just have to look for them. We're bound to run into them. *mutters* I hope.

Debbie: The zoo is awfully big, though... :(

Shelly: I want Mommy! :((

Little Mick: I want Daddy! :((

"Shelly: Where's the grown-ups? I miss Mommy! :(("

Coco: *frowns* Awe, guys, don't cry, please!

"Little Mick: I don't care if they are still fussing, I want Mommy and Daddy! :(("

"Shelly: Me, too! They wandered away and left us all alone! :(("

Shelly: Want Mommy, Auntie Coco!

Little Mick: Want Daddy! *tugs on Coco's pant leg*

Coco: We'll find them, don't worry! *small grin* Your Daddy should be easy to find! ;)

Shelly: (Tugs on Coco's other pants leg) Mommy?

Coco: Well, if we find your daddy, Mommy will be there, too. :)

"Shelly: Mick, where do you think they would go? Where did Mommy and Daddy say they wanted to go in the zoo this morning?"

"Little Mick: I don't remember. Maybe they back to see the big kitties again?"

"Shelly: Is there a place to eat here? If there's food, Daddy will find it! ;)"

Shelly: (Tugs Coco's leg again) Eat, Auntie Coco!

"Little Mick: The food stand!"

Shelly: Daddy eat!

Little mick: *also tugs on Coco's pant leg* Food!

"Shelly: Auntie Emma did say that there was a food area here!"

Coco: *grins* Of course! There's a concession stand not too far from here. I'll bet Curly got hungry! ;)

Debbie: Maybe they asked someone there to help them find us, too!

Gina: Someone who works at the zoo!

Coco: *nods* Let’s go there. If they aren't there, we could ask someone to help us find them!

Debbie: Right!

(The girls leave the reptile house once again, squinting in the bright sunlight.)

"Shelly: Is it my imagination, or is the sun brighter when we come OUT of there than when we go IN? :p"

"Little Mick: I noticed that, too! It IS brighter when we come out! Probably because we get used to the dark. :P"

"Shelly: And Mommy has our sunglasses! :p"

"Little Mick: Yeah. I can barely see! :P "

*Little Mick rubs at his eyes.* :P

"Shelly: (Takes Micky's arm) I'll help you, Mick, like those big doggies help adults who can't see!"

"Little Mick: Thanks, Shelly! :D"

"Shelly: Sure! You ARE my twin! That's what twins do! :D"

Coco: *frowns at the twins* You poor kids! You must be having a tough time seeing in this sun! :(

Shelly: Micky no see. :p :(

Coco: Oh, that's right, Micky's eyes are more sensitive. Debbie, would you push Katie for a little while? *picks up little Mick* How's that? At least now you can close your eyes against the sun. :)

Debbie: Ok! (She takes the stroller)

Little Mick: *close his eyes; grins* T'ank you, Auntie Coco! :)

Shelly: Micky ok?

"Shelly: Are you ok now, Mick?"

Coco: No problem, kiddo. *reaches her free hand to Shelly* He's fine. :)

"Little Mick: Better! :)"

Shelly: Good! (Takes Coco's hand)

"Shelly: I know your eyes are more sensitive than mine! Maybe Mommy should let you keep your sunglasses with you from now on."

"Little Mick: Yeah! She should know that! Mommy says she has more sensitive eyes than Daddy!"

"Shelly: I guess she didn't think we would be separated. :p"

"Little Mick: Oops. :P "

"Shelly: We shouldn't have left them. We should have waited, even if it took all day. Now we don't know where they are. :("

"Little Mick: Aunties will find them! You're right, though. We shouldn't have left them. I miss them. :P"

"Shelly: Me, too, and Unca Mike and Auntie Emma and Unca Peter. Do you think they'll be mad?"

"Little Mick: I think so. Daddy doesn't like it when I run away from him in the house and we aren't playing hide ‘n seek."

"Shelly: Do you think we'll get punished? :("

"Little Mick: I hope not. I don't like getting spanked. :P "

"Shelly: Me, either. My tush always hurts after that! :("

"Little Mick: Mine, too. *pauses* Do you think Daddy gets punished like that when he does something wrong? ;)"

"Shelly: I don't see him crying or see Mommy taking a spoon when she's mad at him. Maybe she does something else to him."

"Little Mick: I wonder what his punishment is?"

"Shelly: Maybe Mommy takes away his chemistry set again?"

"Little Mick: Maybe, unless she's already done that..."

"Shelly: Maybe she tells him to go to his room without dinner! That wouldn't make Daddy happy! ;)"

"Little Mick: Daddy wouldn't like that at all! :P"

"Shelly: Not getting to eat is a real punishment for Daddy! ;)"

"Little Mick: That would be a real punishment for me! :P"

"Shelly: You're almost as bad as Daddy! You'll eat anything! You'd eat what the piggies were eating this morning that got all over their faces! :p"

"Little Mick: *makes a face* I wouldn't eat THAT! :P "

"Shelly: Yes, you would, if someone put ketchup on it and stuck it on a hamburger bun! ;)"

"Little Mick: Well...maybe. ;)"