Star’s enclosure was a pool of deep-blue icy water, with a circle of smooth rocks around it where Zoe sometimes sat to watch Star and the other seals swimming. Today Star was practising her somersaults in the water, but as soon as she saw Zoe she gave an excited squeal and flopped straight out of the pool, shaking the water from her fluffy white coat.
“Hi, Star!” Zoe called, waving. “Wow, those backflips looked great!” She patted the seal on her fuzzy head. “Listen, I’m trying to think of a good Halloween costume, and I can’t pick one! Do you have any ideas?”
Star suddenly looked very worried, and gave a nervous squeak. Zoe chuckled and bent down to pick up the little seal. “No, Star. Halloween isn’t really spooky!” she reassured her. “Some of the zookeepers dress up as spooky things, like ghosts and witches, but it’s not real. It’s fun! In fact, it’s one of my favourite days of the whole year.”
Star didn’t look too sure, and gave another little squeal. Zoe cuddled her close. “Oh dear! I think some of the other animals have been teasing you, Star,” she said. “The Rescue Zoo is definitely NOT all creepy on Halloween! I’ve lived here for a long time and I’ve never seen anything scary at all. Except maybe Leonard the lion when he’s in a grumpy mood!”
“Halloween is exciting, Star!” added Meep, nodding his little head enthusiastically. “The zoo is full of balloons and other decorations, and there are lots of treats to eat!”
Zoe hid a smile. Every year, Meep also got frightened when he saw people dressed up in spooky Halloween costumes! Zoe always had to explain to him that they weren’t really witches or skeletons – they were just normal people, in costumes!
Eventually, Star seemed reassured. But the little seal didn’t have any costume ideas for Zoe. Soon Lorna, the seal keeper, arrived with a bucket of shiny fish for their dinner, so Zoe and Meep waved goodbye and headed back out on to the path again.
Zoe sighed as they walked on. “Let’s see. A tiger? A tortoise? A porcupine? There are just too many animals to choose from! I wish Great-Uncle Horace were here. I bet he’d have some good ideas,” she said.
“Me too!” chattered Meep.
Great-Uncle Horace had been travelling around North America for over a month now. The last postcard he’d sent had said, Helping a grizzly bear with toothache. Home soon! Zoe couldn’t wait to see him again – not just because she missed him, but also because Great-Uncle Horace often brought a new animal back to the Rescue Zoo when he came home!
“I wonder what he’ll bring back next, Meep?” Zoe pondered out loud to her friend. She couldn’t wait to find out!
At the end of school the next day, Zoe’s class were still buzzing with excitement about their trip to the Rescue Zoo – and they were even more excited once Miss Hawkins had told them all that they’d be going back to the zoo on Halloween, to perform at the Spooktacular event!
“We should practise our song as much as we can until then, so we’re really good!” said Sareeta, a girl in Zoe’s class, as they all packed up their bags and started to walk out to the playground to meet their parents.
“Let’s start now!” said her friend Jenna. She took a deep breath and sang the first line. “Spiders and slugs, creeping on the wall…”
Sareeta and Nicola joined in too. “They’re called creepy-crawlies but they’re not so creepy after all…”
Nicola smiled at Zoe. “Come on, Zoe, you sing too! The next line is the one about bats and snakes, remember?”
But Zoe couldn’t! As her friends looked at her, her mouth suddenly felt dry and her face went hot. All the words of the song were muddled up in her head. “Err – I can’t sing today. My – err – my throat’s feeling a bit sore. Sorry,” she said quickly, rushing off to where her mum was waiting.
All the way home, Zoe worried about the Spooktacular. What if she froze like that when they were meant to sing their song on the night? Would everyone notice? I could pretend to feel poorly so I don’t have to sing, she thought. But then Mum will make me stay in bed and I’ll miss the rest of the Spooktacular as well!
When they got back to the Rescue Zoo, Meep was waiting for them at the gates. Zoe was about to head straight for the cottage, but Lucy said, “I need to go over to Higgins Hall to check on a pelican. Do you want to come along?”
Zoe said yes straightaway. A visit to Higgins Hall always made her feel better! It was the huge old manor house that sat on a hill overlooking the zoo, and it had belonged to Great-Uncle Horace’s family for over a hundred years. It had once been very grand, but when Great-Uncle Horace had created the Rescue Zoo, he’d decided to turn almost all of its rooms into homes for different animals. He had just kept one attic room for himself and Kiki, his hyacinth macaw, to live in when they were at home.