Broken Open

Belle drove into a parking space just before a small yellow car did. Even through both closed vehicles she could hear the driver shouting profane words. Belle puckered her face to keep from laughing out loud. Jesse gasped and covered his mouth.

"Bellie, she said a bad word!"

"That's a guy dear brother," Belle was still trying to keep from laughing. "Just ignore him and never repeat what he says." Jesse saw that his sister was giggling so he thought that he'd just join right on in. When they were done Belle hopped right out of the truck and helped Jesse to the ground.

"I wanna shoulder ride!" Belle just looked at the eight-year-old boy.

"How's about a piggy back ride instead?" Jesse pouted for a second before stretching his arms straight in the air. Belle knelt down and grabbed his hands from over her shoulders and lifted the child by his hands. Jesse grabbed his sister around her middle with his legs and wrapped his arms around her neck and shoulders.

"Forward!" Jess pointed toward the zoo gates and Belle marched onward.

Once inside Belle went to a box sitting on a stone ledge near the walk way. Opening the box she grabbed a map and handed it back to her passenger. Jesse opened the map right in front of his sister's face and started talking incessantly.

"We could go see the lions and tigers! Then we'll go to the penguins and watch them down fishies! I don't like hippos or elephants but the alligators are pretty cool! Ooh, and what about seeing the sea lions?" Belle took the map out of her face and spread it on the rock ledge. Taking a pen out of her pocket she put a star where they were now, then she drew a circle around the zoo following the paths.

"We'll go clockwise," she said dragging her finger in a circular design going from left to right. "And when we get back to the gate we'll go get food and head toward the park for a picnic." She was sure Jesse had no idea what she was talking but she felt his short hair brushing against her own as he nodded in agreement.

Belle marched all over the zoo like a ship at sea, and with Jesse acting as captain, they never lost their bearings. A few times Belle made the boy get off of her back and walk a bit simply because he was too heavy to carry the whole time. But it was worth it; when she saw the smiles that lit up her younger brother's face, it helped soothe her anxious nerves.

When they got to the hippos, Jesse ran up to the large glass tank and stared intently into the foggy blue water. Belle laughed and leaned up against a sign to take a short rest.

"I thought you didn't like the hippos." She called kiddingly to the boy. Jess waved his hand at his older sister, still staring into the water. Just as she was starting to relax her pocket decided to vibrate, scaring her half to death. Cursing under her breath she fished her phone out of her pocket and checked the caller I.D. She answered promptly when she saw that it was her landlady on the other line.

"You've reached Arch." she spoke in a calm voice.

"Arch, you owe me two months' rent! If this is gonna keep goin' on imma have to E-vict you!" Belle loved to get her landlady to talk just because of the way she pronounced things and put emphasis on odd words. she had a hobby of annoying her landlady in an indirect way just so she could get her to talk and yell to nobody. She was fabricating a great plan to toy with her wonderful landlady when she had answered with incomprehensible grumbling then a click as the other line went off. Belle put up her own phone and made her way over to Jesse, who had his face squished against the glass still trying vainly to see the ever elusive Hippo.

"Jess, there's other sights to see." Belle tried to pry the young boy away from the thick glass walls of the aquarium. Suddenly a boulder coloured giant hippopotamus swam toward them, then stopped and rubbed its back against the glass. Without warning the hippo turned round and opened its mouth right in front of Jesse. The eight-year-old jumped back in surprise, his eyes wide with excitement. He lost balance and fell on his bottom. Jesse was quiet for a minute before he erupted in a fit of laughter. Giggling childishly along with her brother, she clumsily helped him up.

Immediately Jess acted as a tugboat and towed Belle to every exhibit featured in that zoo. They "ooh"ed at beautiful exotic birds and "ah"ed at colourful reptiles. Whey wondered through the wonderland of the Butterfly Hut and scouted bravely through the Primate House. Though Belle was used to walking this much, Jesse started to lag behind.

Once they got back to the gate they had entered from Jesse collapsed against a wall. With a bit of a struggle Belle managed to pull the tired corpse of a boy onto her back and started toward her truck.

At her parking spot Belle was surprised to see the angry yellow car parked right next to her. She debated on tampering with the car but decided against it; mainly because Jesse was with her. Belle opened the door of the truck and shimmied her brother into the passenger seat.

"Buckle up sunshine, we're gonna get food then we'll go to the park for a picnic." Jesse perked up at the mention of food, just as he always did. Belle looked down and noticed a blue jar on the floor. Smiling slyly she picked up the jar and placed it on her brother's lap. "Don't open this until we get to the park." She said , knowing that she had aroused his interest. She watched Jesse run his small hands over the jar, feeling every crack and indentation trying to figure out what was inside. suddenly Jesse looked up and gave an ear-to-ear grin.

"Okay sissa!" She knew that he was going to try something, but she just had to laugh at his attempt to hide his plan.