The Zookeeper's Daughter

Chapter 1: The Book

“That’s just not fair, Maman!” she yelled.

“Isabelle!” cautioned her Swiss mother. “Do not shout at me. Apologize to your father at once then go to your room.”

Isabelle scowled at her annoying little brother, Joe, when he stuck out his tongue, then she turned towards her father.

“Sorry,” she said without looking him in the eye and in a voice so quiet it would have been drowned by the squeak of a mouse.

Mr Scott sighed as his daughter left the room in tears. If Isabelle had only known how he felt that day—as though the weight of the whole world was bearing down on his shoulders—she would not have been so cross about Gramps coming to stay and about him ‘only caring for Joe’.

The news that ‘Grumpy Gramps’ would be staying during the summer holidays, and that she would not be going to Switzerland to have that longed-for time with Mamie, her beloved Swiss granny, was just too much for Isabelle. It was like being kicked in the face by one of the caramel-coloured cows that her Mamie’s young Swiss friend, Emil, looked after, and would warn her to be wary of whenever he took her on a nature walk or ‘promenade dans la nature’.

A kind young man who always smiled, Emil also kept a caring eye on Mamie as well as looking after the deer beyond the Patinoire (ice rink) in the Alpine village of Leysin. The thought that she would not be seeing Mamie, Emil nor his young cousin Angélique—now definitely her best friend in Switzerland—felt more terrible than being swallowed by an avalanche. An expert skier, Isabelle knew all about avalanches and how to look out for them.

As she lay on her bed cuddling Florence, the fluffy snow-white Swiss chamois that Mamie had given her the previous summer, she tried to come to terms with the other thing Daddy had told her; the reason for changing plans for the summer vacation and cancelling the trip to Switzerland for her and Maman…

Old Jamie, who helped her father run the zoo, was ill in hospital.

As happened every summer, Joe was supposed to have gone to Gramps’ house in Edinburgh whilst Isabelle and Maman were in Leysin. Isabelle knew the real reason for Joe not coming with them, though it was never talked about. He would have wreaked havoc in Mamie’s old wooden chalet perched on the mountainside at the edge of town. Quite possibly even have burned it down, with everyone inside, because he had developed an interest in striking matches and seeing what happened when he set things alight. At the age of seven, soon turning eight, he was not only a nuisance but a dangerous one. Why Gramps doted on him Isabelle could never understand, but to be with Joe and Gramps all summer, and without those precious times with Jamie, because he was in hospital, would be the very worst thing imaginable. That was why she threw to the ground the little doll her Daddy gave her as a sop to soften the shock after telling her she would not be going to Mamie’s in the holidays.

If Jamie had been there for her, she would not have reacted like that. For sure, she would have been upset for she did so love being with Mamie. The cosy little bedroom upstairs, the chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) and croissant every morning, those nature walks with Emil and many super fun times playing his younger cousin, Angélique. But Isabelle might have just shed a few tears, shrugged her shoulders, and said, ‘Okay, Daddy!’ No, it was hearing that Old Jamie was ill, and that he and his wife, Jenny, had to stop working at the zoo, that really upset Isabelle.

Every moment Isabelle had with Old Jamie was magical. His understanding of animals was such that they were all his friends. Lizards and snakes included. As soon as she got home from school, Isabelle would run to seek out Jamie, and together they would sit in his little hut, munching Jenny’s delicious homemade biscuits, whilst she told him what she had been up to at school and he told her stories about his ‘friends’, the animals. She learned so much from him, not only about animals in her Daddy’s zoo but also about their lives in the wild. Daddy had told her that Jamie used to be a ‘zoologist’, so it made sense to the girl that the man now worked in a zoo. The thought that she would not be sitting with Jamie in that little hut learning, about the animals in their care, seemed the worst thing ever, and this was why she had been so upset.

Daddy came into her bedroom and closed the door quietly. He had a book in his hand. Seeing her lying face down on her bed, and so upset, he came and sat beside her.

“I have a much better present for you. From Jamie,” he said.

From Jamie?

Isabelle sat up quickly. She stared at the book in her father’s hands.

“For me?” she asked in disbelief, reaching out to stroke the cute koala joey on the book cover.

“Not only that. It’s dedicated to you. Just been published. Jamie wanted to give it to you himself and we were keeping it safe, but Maman says you should have it now. To cheer you up."

Isabelle took the book from her father. The koala joey, peering anxiously out at the world, seemed to be looking straight into her eyes. Wiping away her tears, she opened the book at the title page:

Animals in the Wild, Changing Lives in a Changing World, by James McKendrick

Isabelle always knew that Jamie was clever but, until now, never knew he was clever enough to have written a whole book about wild animals. What made this super special was the next page called, Daddy informed her, the ‘dedication page’. All that was printed there was:

For Isabelle Scott, A very special girl

Daddy left her alone with Jamie’s book. Now shedding tears of joy, Isabelle flipped through the pages, pausing at each of the many photographs. Beautiful photographs of animals in the wild. Many of these were recognizable as cousins of the animals in her daddy’s zoo, but in the wild they looked so different. And there was something else about the book. Something that she could not quite put her finger on. Something even more special than the dedication page.

“Would you like to join the animals?” a voice asked in French. This came from her bed, just behind her, where Florence lay on her side. Isabelle stared at the little chamois. Surely it could not have been Florence who had just spoken! Then, “Il peut t’aider à le faire, tu sais!” The chamois’ mouth moved. Being Swiss, and a present from Mamie, it made sense that she also spoke in French.

“Who can help me join the animals?” asked Isabelle in French. But before the chamois could answer, the door opened and Maman entered.

“Je comprends, ma chérie,” she said. “Really, I do understand how you feel. Viens! On va manger. You must be hungry!”

Isabelle glanced briefly at Florence. She felt sure the chamois gave her a wink, but she said nothing. It would be their shared secret and might even make up for not seeing Mamie during the holidays. A little, anyway.

“Maman, I want to write a letter to Emil,” Isabelle said. “Tell him how much I long to see Mamie and him again. Angélique too, of course. And tell him why I won’t be in Leysin this summer. Will he mind if I write to him?”

“Pourquoi, ma chérie? Why? And Mamie, she knows your Maman and Daddy have to work twice as hard. Because poor Jamie, he is very 'malade'. In hospital.”

Very sick? Oh no!

“I could go on my own. To Switzerland. I am old enough,” suggested Isabelle.

Maman shook her head and hugged her daughter close. Isabelle thought she would never ever stop crying as she held on to her mother.

Chapter 2: The Spider

After Isabelle sat down at the table for supper Joe stuck out his tongue when their parents weren’t looking. She ignored him. It was what Jamie had told her to do whenever her brother was mean. Any reaction from her, the wise old man said, would be like a reward for his bad behaviour. Throughout the meal of cauliflower cheese, which always cheered her up, Florence’s words, ‘Il peut t’aider’, kept going around and around in her head. He can help me? Isabelle sat wondering who the mysterious ‘he’ was. Did ‘he’ wish to help her escape from the boredom of staying with Gramps and Joe all summer? Maybe let her live free with the animals in the wild like those in Jamie’s book?

When supper was finished, and she had cleared the table and washed the dishes for Maman, and whilst Joe, who never lifted a finger to help, played noisy battle games on the floor with his Lego, she asked if she could read Jamie’s book in bed.

“Bien sûre!” agreed Maman. "For sure!"

On her way back to her bedroom, Isabelle halted in the living room. A rather large spider was on its way across the floor just behind Joe who was making noises that were supposed to sound like guns being fired but just sounded silly. Joe was terrified of spiders, but for Isabelle they were her friends, as were all animals. Jamie had once told her how useful house spiders are, busily controlling the numbers of flies that can spread diseases.

“There’s a big spider right behind you, Joe, and he might just gobble you up!”

Joe flipped around, screamed, jumped upright and began to stamp about on the floor. Luckily the spider was too quick for him. Isabelle pushed her brother aside, knelt down, gently scooped the spider into the palm of her hand and threw Joe a withering look.

“Not much of a soldier if you’re scared of a little spider!” she teased.

“Mum! Iz is chasing me with a ginormous spider!” Joe yelled.

Joe was the only person who called Isabelle ‘Iz’ and she hated it. Sounded too much like ‘isn’t’, as though she did not even exist. Sometimes it really felt like that, particularly when Joe and Gramps played together and totally ignored her.

Maman was far too busy to come to Joe’s aid. With her free hand cupped over the spider, Isabelle gave a haughty sniff for Joe’s benefit then took the little creature into her bedroom to introduce it to Florence. With the door closed, she crouched down and tipped the spider onto the floor.

She had to admit it was rather large. Even Maman might have been scared of it, but Isabelle knew the spider would never bite her if she were to treat it as a friend. She watched it run around in circles on the floor, as if looking for something or someone, before coming to a halt beside the bed. It was most definitely looking up at her. She leaned forwards to get a better view of its tiny face, wishing she had a magnifying glass handy to see its eyes better.

“What are you waiting for? Dépêche-toi!”

It was most definitely Florence who spoke. But why did she say, ‘Hurry up’?

Isabelle stood, went over to her bed, carefully avoiding the spider, and picked up the little chamois.

“You never told me before that you can talk,” Isabelle said in French.

Florence said nothing.

“‘Hurry up,’ you just said. In French. Why?” she asked.

“Because ’e ’asn’t got all day,” Florence said in English with a lovely French accent.

“So, you can speak in English and French?” Isabelle said.

“Of course! Comme toi! Like you!”

“And who is ‘he’? The spider?”

“Oui! L’araignée. You didn’t think I meant that naughty little brother of yours, did you?”

“You said he hasn’t got all day. All day to do what?” the girl asked. “Anyway, it’s nearly bedtime.”

The chamois let out a gentle sigh.

“Tant mieux! So much the better!”

“To do what!?” questioned Isabelle again, and rather irritably.

“Take you there.”

“Where?”

“Where you want to go, of course,” replied Florence. “In Jamie’s book. To be like one of those animals. Wild and free.”

Isabelle grinned.

“You’re having me on!” she said.

“Quoi? Je ne comprends pas[8].”

“An English expression. Means you’re joking. Tu rigoles, n’est-ce pas?”

“We chamois never joke. Particularly Swiss ones. We are very serious animals. You see, the spider can take you wherever you want to go to in the book.”

“How can he do that?” As Isabelle said this, the door opened and Maman entered.

“How can he do what, ma chérie? And who were you talking to?” She saw the spider on the floor, gasped and backed away.

“Just talking to myself, Maman. And don’t be frightened of the spider. He’s really very friendly. And I do know it’s a ‘he’.”

“Just put him outside, please. You know Joe and I both hate spiders. Then off to bed.”

“Okay!” Isabelle returned Florence to her usual place beside the pillow, ran to her mother and gave her a hug. “Maybe we could go to Mamie’s at Christmas? Go skiing with her? And with Emil and Angélique?” she begged. “Emil wants to teach me cross-country skiing, tu sais! Ski de fond[10].”

Maman gave her a kiss, then said, “On verra! We shall see!” When her mother had left, and the door was closed, Isabelle picked up the book, sat on the floor beside the spider then flipped through the pages till she reached the very first chapter about a special and rather small deer in Florida, USA, called the key deer. There was also a picture of a larger Scottish mother deer and her baby, called a fawn. They looked so happy and free with all that open space around them.

“Daddy used to say he’d take me up onto the moors one day to see the wild deer, but he never did. Always too busy!” Isabelle pouted, looking at Florence. “They only think about Joe.” A tear tickled as it trailed down her cheek. On her bedside cabinet was a photo of her, as a toddler, holding a baby… Joe! Maman must have put it there earlier on. For a purpose. How come that cute little baby had turned into such a mean little boy, she wondered?

Oh well! I can use this as a bookmark, she reckoned, picking up the photo and placing it over the picture of the deer and the fawn. She looked up to see the spider run along the ground, climb up the leg of her bed, then crawl over the bedcover and onto the book. He seemed very determined, and the girl watched with fascination as he secured the end of a web to the corner of the page then, after running onto the picture, he paused to attach golden spider silk to the baby deer, and the photo of her with baby Joe, before continuing over her hand and up her arm. Isabelle remained stock still as the busy spider darted to and fro from her arm to the book and the photo.

It soon became apparent that those golden threads were not strands of ordinary spider silk and therefore, as she had already guessed, this was no ordinary spider. As the spider speeded up, his web began to glow. Soon the whole of her right arm was covered with a soft, silken film of glittering gold which felt curiously warm. She kept her arm still, fearing any movement might break the magical web. Suddenly the spider looked up at her, stopped weaving and scuttled off to join Florence on the pillow.

“Tu es prête?” Florence asked. “You are you ready?”

Not knowing what to say, Isabelle nodded. Then an extraordinary thing happened. The spider climbed up onto the chamois and simply disappeared. At the same time, Isabelle felt a gentle pull on her right arm before, quite suddenly…

Chapter 3: The Deer

Isabelle was no longer in her bedroom. She had no clothes on, but that did not seem to matter because she was covered with fur. No hands either, but why would she now need hands? All four of her hooves were firmly on the ground and, like the rest of her, free in a huge, wide, open space. She looked up from the delicious grass she had been chewing to see her mummy, a large and beautiful deer, with her head down and munching away.

“Maman!” she called out. Nothing happened. Being a Scottish deer, perhaps she did not understand French. She tried English… “Mummy!”

Mummy deer raised her magnificent head, looked at Isabelle and blinked. Such lovely eyelashes, Isabelle the fawn thought. Funny how I’ve never really noticed those before! But I guess this is a different mummy.

“Yes, sweetie?”

Mummy deer trotted towards her. Isabelle was amazed at how beautiful her mother’s movements were. And how strong Daddy deer looked, standing proudly on the brow of the hill gazing across the moorland at the dark forest in the distance.

Isabelle the fawn wondered,

Why has he got those huge antlers on top of his head? Perhaps to protect us.

Joe, who had been eating grass beside their mother, looked up and made a funny little noise. Of course! He’s trying to tell me the grass is better there than where I’m standing. He’s being nice to me. This puzzled Isabelle. Never in my whole life has Joe been nice to me. Hey, I really like it here! Freedom at last! And with a brother who’s no longer mean!

She ran to Mummy deer. They touched noses. Just like kissing, she thought. Joe came up to her to have his nose rubbed too. It was wet and slimy, unlike Mummy’s, but this did not seem to matter to her.

“What’s Daddy doing?” questioned Isabelle. “Why doesn’t he join us?” Mummy did not answer. Isabelle looked around her, scanning the hill that they stood on. There were many other mummy deer busily chewing, but no other daddies. This, to Isabelle, seemed strange. And she could not even count the number of fawns like herself and Joe. There were simply too many. “Where are all the other daddies?” she asked.

“Just one daddy. Yours and theirs. And he’s worried. I can tell.”

Worried? Why, Isabelle wondered, should her daddy worry with those big antlers on top of his head? And the open moorland was sheer paradise. Total freedom. No school, no rules, just an endless supply of food. In the near distance were some sapling baby trees. They looked scrumptious.

“Mummy, just over there! Baby saplings. May I?”

“Of course, my sweetie. But don’t go any further. Not till Daddy says.”

Oh dear, rules again! But the saplings looked close enough.

“Joe… are you coming with me?”

Unbelievably, Joe agreed. In fact, he seemed over the moon about joining her, and together they scampered across the heather to the saplings. Isabelle sniffed one and, for a moment, thought that she must be in heaven. She was about to curl her long tongue around the tender green leaves when…

BANG!

Joe squealed and jumped up. Never before had the two young fawns heard a noise like that. It was even more terrifying than the crashes off thunder which would send the herd cantering across the moorland for the safety of the forest. Isabelle looked at her daddy who remained still as a statue. Then at Mummy deer. Not a flicker of movement. Daddy turned his head up towards the heavens, opened his mouth wide and let out an extraordinary noise. A deep-throated foghorn of a bellow that, to Isabelle the girl, sounded like a ship in distress.

“Quick!” Mummy urged.

“Quick!” Isabelle called out to Joe munching a sapling. “Run! As fast as you can! Follow my tail.”

Together with the other deer, she turned and fled up the hill towards Daddy, her short white tail bobbing.

Joe―the other Joe who kept sticking out his tongue at her―was never one for running. He preferred to sit on the floor and make noises that he thought guns made. Or pinch her iPad to play video games. But this Joe was different. He listened to his sister and sped after her up the slope to the brow of the hill from where they could see the rest of the herd zigzagging across the open moorland towards the forest.

The forest, the forest the forest…

The word ‘forest’ went round and around in Isabelle’s head till she felt quite dizzy. That dark green band of trees on the horizon seemed so horribly far away. How would they ever reach it? And why were they running so fast? Isabelle knew it had something to do with that awful ‘bang’, but why did the noise frighten her big, brave Daddy? No time to think for an answer, though, as she and Joe copied their parents and the other grown-ups, darting from side to side whilst desperately trying to shorten the distance between them and the trees.

BANG!

Isabelle now saw why Daddy was so frightened. One of the deer ahead of them―not Mummy deer, thank goodness―flipped over and fell. For a few moments she appeared almost comical, her legs scraping and kicking the air, as if still running whilst lying on her side. When Isabelle passed the felled deer, she glimpsed its eyes. Fear mingled with panic. Nothing funny at all. Then the deer went completely still.

“Faster!” Isabelle shouted to Joe who, tiring, had slowed down. “The forest! We must reach the forest!”

On they ran, darting this way and that, in herd panic.

Another BANG! Another deer, running close to Mummy deer, tumbled to the ground, rolled over then lay motionless with her legs pointing towards heaven.

Deer heaven? I don’t want to die and end up in deer heaven with four hooves and no hands!

The words ‘I don’t want to die’ repeated themselves over and over in Isabelle’s mind as she sped on towards the forest.

At last, this seemed to get closer. Daddy, up front, vanished into the line of trees. Others, including Mummy deer, followed him. Just as Isabelle reached that green haven of safety, she heard a third BANG, followed by a squeal. After dodging tree trunks, she arrived at a clearing. Daddy and Mummy deer, together with other mummies and fawns, stood panting clouds of steam into the cool evening air. Steam of exhaustion. She turned, expecting to see Joe who, out on the open moor, had been close behind her. No Joe!

“Where’s Joe?” she cried out.

“With you, my sweetie. You know you must look after him!”

“Oh Mummy… that last bang. Before that, Joe was right behind me. I know he was. Then…”

Isabelle felt a tear cool her furry cheek. Glancing down, she saw a spider crawl over one of her hooves. Everything changed. She heard a sound. Like a little cough as though someone was trying to catch her attention. It came from the ground between her front legs. Or rather arms, because she was a girl again, in her bedroom. And there was Florence, the cuddly white chamois, looking at her. Isabelle sprang upright, ran to the door and called out, “Joe? Where are you? Are you okay?”

In the corridor she bumped into Maman who had been alarmed by her shouts.

“Mais, qu’est-ce qu’il y a, ma chérie[11]?” Maman asked anxiously. “What’s the matter? And why do you shout so? Joe, he is asleep.”

“Is he all right, Maman?”

“Bien sûr,” Maman replied, “Mais tais-toi! Be quiet! You might wake him up.”

“I must see for myself, Maman. See that he’s okay.”

She pushed past Maman and entered Joe’s bedroom. Breathing a sigh of relief to see her little brother safely tucked up in bed, his eyes closed, she burst into tears. When Maman placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, she turned and buried her face in her mother’s warmth.

“I’m so sorry I was mean to Joe. About that spider.”

“And I’m so sorry you’re not going to Switzerland to be with Mamie in the summer. Somehow Daddy and I will make it up to you. We promise.”

Isabelle stepped back and looked very seriously at Maman.

“He really is a good spider, Maman. I don’t know why you and Joe are scared of them. Jamie says they help control flies and diseases. That’s got to be good, hasn’t it?”

“Of course, ma chérie. You and Jamie are right.”

“Why can’t they just make Jamie better in the hospital then let him come back to work here? He really loves the zoo animals.”

“I hope they will make him better very soon, but I must stay and help Daddy with the zoo over the summer. Our busiest season, tu sais[12]!”

“And I can write to Emil?” Isabelle asked again.

“Mais oui, ma chérie[13]. He would love to hear from you. But just now, off to bed with you. All right?”

“Okay! Will Daddy say goodnight too, please?”

Isabelle’s father found her in tears and hugged her close.

“I’m so sorry about having to cancel your trip to Leysin to be with Mamie,” he said.

“That’s not what I was crying about,” she whispered. “Why do they shoot the deer?”

“It’s called deer culling, sweetie.”

“Deer culling? I think it’s horrible!”

“My oh my! Don’t worry your young head about things like that.”

“But it’s so unfair!”

“Life’s not always fair, sweetie. But Maman and I will try our absolute best to arrange something really special for you. Very soon.”

He gave her a little wink. Isabelle loved it when Daddy did that. As if there was a secret for them to share and not knowing what this was made it even more exciting.

In bed, she cuddled up beside Florence who said nothing when she opened Jamie’s book and read about deer across the world. In Scotland they were sometimes killed by hunters. She had learned a new word from Daddy to describe this. Culling. Isabelle was horrified to learn that these beautiful creatures, of which she had been one earlier that very evening, were deliberately shot to keep their numbers down. Although Joe could be intensely annoying, no way would she want him to be shot just to keep down the numbers of humans. Jamie had written in the book that sometimes there were too many deer partly because humans in the past had got rid of their natural predator… the wolf.

Then she read in his book about the endangered little key deer in a place called Florida, USA, being pushed to the brink of extinction because their wilderness territory was shrinking, and people called poachers were still shooting them even though they were not supposed to. Also, they were being killed by cars on the highways. It seemed like, if they had been humans, cars were being driven at speed right through their homes. Isabelle felt angry that the US government no longer wanted to protect these lovely animals, having threatened to remove the key deer from the endangered list. Emil would be furious about this, she reckoned.

Thinking of Emil, Isabelle got out of bed and crept along to Daddy’s office. After taking a clean sheet of paper from his desk, she returned to the comfort of her bed and started to write a letter to Mamie’s friend. Periodically, she had to wipe away the tears that fell onto the page and felt cross with herself whenever these smeared the words.

She told Emil all about the wide-open spaces where the deer in the Scottish Highlands run free only to be shot at, but never let on that she had been one of those deer. Of all the people in the world, she did not want Emil to think she had gone crazy. But she did ask him whether there were also people in Switzerland who liked to shoot animals with guns.

Then, remembering that wonderful open moorland where, briefly, she had felt so free and happy as a young deer, she fell asleep, her letter unfinished.

Chapter 4: The Polar Bear

“Wake up, ma chérie!”

It was Maman, dressed in the old clothes she wore when working in the zoo. Somehow, these always smelt of different animals depending on where her mother had been. Isabelle closed her eyes, grinned and said,

“L’ours polaire, Maman, je crois. Oui?”

“Yes, Isabelle. The polar bears were very hungry this morning.”

“I think wild polar bears are so lucky. They can dive into the sea to catch their breakfast whenever they want.”

“And you, young lady, must dive into your school clothes whether or not you want. Hurry! Vite! Dépêche-toi!”

As Isabelle sat scooping up her Corn Flakes, Joe suddenly blurted out,

“Last night I dreamt I ate grass!” Isabelle’s spoon clattered to the floor. After reaching down to pick it up, she glanced at Joe, feeling a little guilty.