Christmas Eve

The day before Christmas at the N.C. Zoo:
The polar bears were stretched out catching the last rays of afternoon sunlight. One rested with its head on a plastic toy, its paws twitching in sleep.
The grizzly bears, too, were asleep. They didn’t notice the crows that silently flew down to steal their food.
The Red River Hogs rooted in the dirt, looking for food, pausing to look at visitors before resuming the search.
Nearby, the three lion cubs wrestled with each other under the watchful eye of the male lion stretched out in a patch of sunlight.
At a nearby exhibit, a chimp sat crosslegged facing visitors through the glass. A boy about 15 months old toddled up to the chimp and put his hand on the glass. The chimp placed its hand on the other side of the surface as though it could feel the warmth of the boy’s touch.
It is said that on Christmas Eve, the animals talk.
If you listen close enough, you can hear them.