The Science of Lost Futures by Ryan Habermeyer

Author:Ryan Habermeyer
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781942683612
Publisher: BOA Editions Ltd.
Published: 2018-03-07T00:00:00+00:00

One of the snow leopard cubs at the zoo became sick and died. It was the male. It had quit eating the week before and started retching up frothy pools of green liquid. The zookeepers had been unable to evaluate the cub in the lab because Mrs. K. guarded over him. They shot her with three or four tranquilizers, enough to topple an elephant, but they only succeeded in infuriating her. Whenever they came close she flecked menstrual blood and vomit at the nosy zookeepers. Late at night, she licked the cub’s fur smooth.

The older girl cub mauled her brother in the night. Mrs. K. had fallen asleep and the female cub split open her brother’s neck. When the mother awoke and found the lifeless body, the female cub made a strange purr that Mrs. K. understood was a kind of lullaby. She did her best to imitate the sound.

“What happened?” Mr. K. wanted to know. He was on the observatory deck watching the scene unfold. The zookeeper explained the mysterious illness. Then he sighed.

“These things happen.”

The husband watched as his wife licked the fur of the dead cub.

On the other side of the enclosure was a group of young boys. They were huddled in a circle. They looked the same age as Thomas. One of the boys threw a rock. It bounced off Mrs. K.’s right hind leg. She skittered beneath the tree. Another rock came down. It hit her on the shoulder. Her eyes squinted, but she did not flinch. She shielded the cub’s lifeless body from the barrage of falling rocks.

Mr. K. found a rock of his own. He held it in his trembling hands.

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