Second Thoughts

Chapter 1

The wilds of Africa are always a spectacular sight to see, but this day was without a doubt the most beautiful day for their inhabitants. The sun above them was like a glowing ball of pure gold against a cloudless, sapphire sky. The warm, gentle breeze in the air was scented with the fragrance of wild flowers and fresh water.

It was a very hot day, so the animals tried their best to stay cool by resting underneath the shady trees or drinking cold water from their watering hole. But for two certain lions, who happened to be the leaders of their pride, the hot weather was perfect for lying lazily under the sun and catching some rays.

Alex the lion, previously the star attraction at the Central Park Zoo and often known as “The King of New York”, and his dad Zuba had been seriously stressed out lately with being the alpha lions. It wasn’t a bad job or anything, but it was challenging and involved a lot of manual labor. Alex had only been doing the job for a little more than a month but Zuba had been doing it for half his life. Alex had told him multiple times that they needed a day off and Zuba agreed, so today the two of them were sitting by the water hole and letting the warm sun rays soak their aching bodies.

“How’s that tan comin’, son?” Zuba asked Alex.

Alex opened his eyes and examined his tan body through his shades. “Pretty good, Dad. How’s yours?”

“Not bad,” Zuba replied as he examined the back of his arm.

“Hey Dad,” said Alex, “I gotta be honest. I don’t feel very good about lying to Mom.”

He was referring to the excuse the two of them had given Alex’s mom Florrie in order to get out of doing chores while she went hunting for food. “We’d love to help Honey,” Zuba had told her. “But we have some major alpha lion business to do today.” “Yeah we do,” Alex had agreed. “And it may take us a while to do it. That’s just how major it is.”

Zuba laughed. “Son, we didn’t lie to her. We just kinda twisted the truth in some places.”

“Dad, Gloria always told me, Marty, and Melman that there’s no difference between lying and twisting the truth.”

Zuba’s smile quickly faded. “Gloria’s right,” he admitted. “But don’t worry about it. I’ve lied to your mom thousands of times and she still doesn’t know that I really did forget about her birthday five years ago.”

“Really?”

Zuba nodded.

“Well I guess it’s okay then.”

“That’s the spirit,” Zuba said with a small laugh. “I’m tellin’ ya son, soon you’ll be able to lie to your mom and feel nothing at all.”

Just as he finished speaking, a female’s voice spoke. “Wanna bet, Zuba?”

“AH!” Both lions were taken by surprise when they opened their eyes and saw Florrie standing right above them.

“Well, well, well,” Florrie said looking down at her husband and son with a devious smile on her face. “Look what we’ve got here. Two pathetic excuses for alpha lions sitting around making beanbag chairs of themselves.”

Zuba and Alex stared dumbfounded at Florrie. They both tried to think of a way to get themselves out of trouble.

“Uh, this isn’t what it looks like, Hon,” Zuba smiled nervously.

“Yeah, we were just, uh…taking a lunch break,” said Alex.

“Yeah, that’s it,” said Zuba. “We were takin’ a lunch break.”

“Hm, lunch break huh?”

Zuba and Alex nodded simultaneously.

“That’s nice,” Florrie continued. “Too bad I don’t buy it, now let’s hear the truth.”

Zuba and Alex’s smiles vanished instantly. They both looked at each other, then at Florrie, and then pointed to each other. “It was his idea,” they both said at the same time. “No seriously it was him,” they said. Then they faced each other again and said “Liar.”

Florrie sighed. “I am gonna put an end to this stupidity right now. I’ve known you two were planning to take this day off of work for almost a week.”

“How’d you know, Florrie?” asked defeated Zuba.

“I overheard Alakay telling you that you needed a day off three days ago.”

“Mom, you eavesdropped on us?” Alex asked.

“Alakay, I am your mother. It’s my job to eavesdrop on you.”

“Oh, right.” Alex was still getting the hang of having a mom in his life.

“Besides, I’m not an idiot. I know that when men say they’re gonna do something “important”, they’re just trying to get out of doing something they don’t wanna do, like chores for example. And for your information Zuba, I did know you forgot about my birthday that year.”

Zuba gulped. “Y-ya did?”

“Yup. So don’t think for one measly second that you can lie to me and feel nothing at all.” She turned to Alex. “And that goes for you too, Alakay.”

“We’re sorry, Mom,” Alex apologized sadly.

But Florrie wasn’t finished with them yet. “Not only did you lie to me, but you left me to do all the chores by myself so you can just sit here like a couple of beach bums.”

Alex and Zuba looked down at the ground feeling ashamed of themselves.

“But you know what the worst part is?” Florrie asked.

“We didn’t invite you?” Alex guessed.

“I forgot to bring sun block?” asked Zuba.

“No and no.” Florrie turned away from them, walked up to the water hole, and placed her front paw into the water as if to check the temperature. “The worst part is…” She suddenly splashed both lions in the faces with a large pawful of water. “You big time alpha lions just got pranked!” Florrie laughed.

Alex and Zuba rubbed water from their eyes and noticed that all the animals around them were laughing at them. Then they realized that Florrie wasn’t really angry with them, she was trying to make them look like fools which they were not going to take. They smiled sneakily at each other and quietly approached Florrie, who was laughing too hard to even keep her eyes open. When she was least expecting it, Alex and Zuba grabbed her, lifted her off her feet, and jokingly threw her into the water hole.

“HA! WHO’S BEEN PRANKED NOW, MOM?” Alex yelled the moment Florrie surfaced. Alex and Zuba laughed and gave each other a high five.

Florrie still had the same devious smile on her face. “You two aren’t gonna get away with this,” she said.

“Well I dunno about this one,” Zuba replied lifting Alex from the ground. “But I sure am gettin’ away with it.”

Alex kicked his legs and tried to break free. “Hey! Dad, put me down!”

“No problem,” Zuba said throwing his son into the water hole as well. “There, I put you down. Ya happy, son?”

Alex and Florrie began dogpaddling towards Zuba. “Ha ha, good one,” Alex said sarcastically. “You think you’re pretty funny, don’t ya Dad?”

Zuba nodded.

“Well you won’t be laughing after we do this!” Alex and Florrie each grabbed one of Zuba’s ankles and dragged him down into the water. Zuba surfaced just moments later and tried to escape but with no success. Alex and Florrie both jumped onto his back and began wrestling him in order for him to fall back into the water. They might’ve been making fools of themselves, but during the whole time the family of lions just couldn’t stop laughing.

Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippo were resting in the shade of a nearby tree when they saw their friend Alex having fun with his parents.

Gloria giggled at the adorable sight. “Isn’t that sweet, Melman?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Alex look so happy,” Melman smiled.

Gloria agreed with that statement. “I don’t think he could be happier if someone told him the world was made of fish.”

Melman looked shocked. “The world’s made of fish? GROSS! That means we’re standing on thousands of millions of dead, rotten fish germs. AHHHH! SOMEONE CALL 911! I’M HAVING AN…EPISODE!”

Gloria sighed to herself. “Relax, Melman. I was just being rhetorical.”

Melman settled down and let out a sigh of relief. “Oh thank heaven. You really scared me that time, Gloria.”

“Melman baby,” Gloria said putting her hand on her boyfriend’s shoulder, “I love you, but sometimes I just worry about you.”

“I know,” said Melman. “I’m sorry Gloria.”

“Don’t be sorry, just take it easy.”

“I’ll try,” Melman promised. “Why do I always act like the sky’s falling?” he asked himself.

“Psst,” said a high pitched voice coming from behind the tree they were under.

“AH!” Melman yelled. “A SNAKE! GET IT AWAY, GET IT AWAY!”

The “snake” actually turned out to be their friend Marty the zebra. “Melman, take it easy. It’s just me.”

“Oh, Marty,” Melman sighed. “You scared the bajeebers out of us.”

“Us, Melman?” Gloria asked crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“Okay, you scared the bajeebers out of me.”

Marty giggled. “Sorry ‘bout that, Melman. I didn’t know you’d freak out that much. I was just tryin’ to get your attention.”

“Well now you have it,” said Gloria. “So what’s up, Marty?”

“I gotta show you guys somethin’,” Marty said eagerly.

“What is it?” Melman asked.

“It’s a surprise. You guys are gonna love it. C’mon, follow me.”

“Wait,” said Gloria, “Shouldn’t we get Alex?”

The three friends looked over at Alex and his parents, who were still laughing and enjoying each other’s company in the water hole.

“Nah, we’d better not interrupt him while he’s with his parents,” said Marty. “Besides, I don’t want him to know yet. We’re all gonna tell ‘im tonight.”

“Tell him what?” Gloria asked.

“I’ll show you. C’mon.”

Melman and Gloria walked out from under the shady tree and followed Marty to wherever he was leading them to.

End of first chapter