The Midnight Zoo (16 page)

The lady stood very still, her hands resting by her sides, a dark woolen cloak draping from her shoulders to the ground. Her face was shaded by the grayness of dawn and by the ash that the bombs had disturbed. She did not speak and they could not see her face, but Tomas knew immediately who she was: “Mama!” he cried, so surprised and pleased that he stayed where he was, fingers twined tightly together, like a good boy who knew how to behave. His mother understood about food and babies and traveling — there was nothing Mama didn’t know. Certainly she would know about cages, and how to open them. His mother would care for Andrej and Wilma and himself, and everything would again be as it had always been, a life made of sunshine and roving. This battle was over, and Tomas felt joy.

It wasn’t his mother, however, whom Andrej saw standing on the path. Gazing at the lady, he felt such peace overcome him that she could only be the saint, Black Sarah. From high up in the sky she must have heard his plea, must have seen that he and his siblings and the animals were in need of more than a boy — even a brave boy — could provide. With the saint at their side, no soldiers could harm them, no lightless night would confuse them, no journey would be endless or impossible. No iron bars would have the strength to resist her will: already Andrej could hear the bolts sliding back like hands exhausted from holding on too long. Already his own hands were opening, reaching to take hers.

To the animals, though, the beautiful cloaked woman who stood before them was neither mother nor saint: she was Alice, the daughter of the zoo. They smelled on her the caves where she’d been hiding, the plans that she had made, the many travails she’d had to endure, the thrilling triumphs she’d known. They smelled the reason why she had finally come back to them, the wound that turned her heart into a brilliant sun, a rose.
Alice,
who didn’t need a key because she bore this wound which made of her heart an unfastened lock.

She smiled gracefully at the children, and held out her hands to them, and in its cage the eagle shook its wings, and readied itself to fly.

Sonya Hartnett
is the acclaimed and award-winning author of several novels, including
Thursday’s Child, What the Birds See, Stripes of the Sidestep Wolf, The Silver Donkey, The Ghost’s Child, Butterfly,
and the Michael L. Printz Honor Book
Surrender
. In 2008, she received the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for the body of her work. She lives in Australia.

Andrea Offermann
is a fine artist and the illustrator of
Boneshaker
by Kate Milford. She attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, and now lives in Germany.