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At the edge of the zoo the air changed, s of peanuts and animals A line had already for out her change to the penny, then took Ah the turnstile The little girl earing her backpack with Peter Rabbit inside; when Lacey had suggested that it could remain at the house, she had seen, quickly, in the flash of the girl’s eyes, that this wasn’t even a question The bag was nothing she could leave

"What do you want to see?" she asked Twenty feet froe map, blocked out in colors for different habitats and species A white couple was exa fro a stroller back and forth; the baby, buried in a lanced at Lacey and regarded her,with a little white girl? But then she sy, of retraction-and the couple moved away down the path

Amy peered at the map Lacey didn’t know if she could read, but there were pictures beside the words

"I don’t know," she said "Bears?"

"What kind?"

The girl thought a es "Polar bears" Her eyes warmed with anticipation as she spoke; the idea of the zoo, of seeing the ani the two of them now shared It was just as Lacey had hoped As they’d stood there, ate; suddenly the zoo was hu with visitors "Also zebras and elephants and monkeys"

"Wonderful," Lacey said, and sht a bag of peanuts and made their way into the zoo’s interior, its rich zone of sounds and shter and splashing and shouts of hilarious terror, aand old A Lacey’s hand, released it suddenly and dashed ahead

Lacey athered at the bear tank She found Aave an underwater view of the bears’ habitat-a curious sight in the Memphis heat, with rocks painted to look like ice floes and a deep pool of Arctic blueness Three bears were basking in the sun, lounging like gigantic rugs by a fire; a fourth was paddling in the water While Aht up to thelass The people around her gasped; a jolt of pleasurable fear shot down Lacey’s spine, into her feet and fingertips Alass, inches fro his pink tongue

"Careful there," a man behind them warned "They irl"

Startled, Lacey turned her head, searching for the source of the voice Who was this man, to try to scare a child like that? But none of the faces behind her returned her look; everyone was s the bears

"Airl’s shoulder "Perhaps it’s best not to tease them"

Alass "What’s your name?" she asked the bear

"There now, Alass "He has a bear na I can’t pronounce"

Lacey hesitated Was it a ga A knowing light was in her face "Of course he does"

"He told you this"

The pool erupted with a tremendous splash The crowd drew a sharp intake of breath A second bear had leapt into the water He-she?-paddled through the blue toward Alass just inches fro as auto in the underwater currents

"Will you look at that," someone said It was the wo beside thelass by the ar hair was stretched away fro shorts and a T-shirt and flip-flops Lacey could discern, through the folds of her shirt, the still-loose belly of her pregnancy The husband was behind the the camera

"I think they like you," the woled the infant,her arms flap like a bird’s "See the bears See the bears, sweetie Honey, take the picture Takethepicture"

"I can’t," said the ht way Turn her around"

The wohed irritably "Co, is that so hard?"

Lacey atching this when it happened: a second splash, and then, before she could turn her head, a third She felt the glass bulge beside her A ridge of water crested the lip and began to fall, everyone aware of as happening but powerless to act

"Look out!"

The icy water hit Lacey like a slap, filling her nose andher back frolass A chorus of screams erupted all around She heard the baby’s cry, and then the ainst her; Lacey realized she’d closed her eyes, against the stinging salt She tu, and fell onto a pile of people She waited for the sound of the glass breaking, the slam of the tank’s unleashed water

"A at her, his face inches from her own It was the man with the calass had held after all

"Sorry," the ht, Sister? Iover theh The baby was screaainst her shoulder Her face was furious "What did your kid do?"

Lacey realized she was talking to her

"I’an "I don’t-"

"Look at her!"