Page 31 of Surviving in Everton

“How are we supposed to know, when you won’t tell us what animals there are?” Violet pouts. She tried so hard on the way here to get me to tell them what animals they’d see, but I kept telling her she’d have to wait and see.

“Well, pick a direction and we’ll find out.”

Logan and Violet share a look then both say, “left,” at the same time. It’s just about the cutest thing I’ve ever witnessed. With that decision made, we take a left at the fork and start following the yellow brick road. Okay, so it’s not really yellow, but still. The first enclosure we come to looks pretty empty, we can’t see any animals. I look around for a sign and read it so everyone can hear. “Panthers. Hmmm, I wonder where they are?”

“Panthers?” Violet huffs. “I thought this was a special zoo, Mommy. Panthers aren’t special. They have those at every zoo,” she complains.

“Well, I don’t know, let’s find some and see if they’re special or not,” I suggest. We walk around, looking for any sight of a panther. Suddenly, I see movement in the shadows. “There,” I point.

“I don’t…” Violet starts but trails off as she sees the movement. “I see it! Something’s moving in the shadow!” she points out.

Quinn and I chuckle as she tries to show Logan where it is. While they’re busy searching, a cub comes running across the enclosure and flashes right in front of them to pounce on the panther lying in the shade.

“Oh my god! That panther was purple!” Violet squeals.

“Yup, that’s what makes it special. It’s a purple panther. Look.” I point at the overgrown cats now playing in front of us.

“Oooh, so shiny!” Violet says in awe. “How else are they different, Mommy? Is it just their color?”

“Well, that’s the most obvious way they’re different, but not the only. They have a special bite. They can paralyze you or kill you with their venom. But they can also heal you with their saliva,” I explain.

“Wow! That’s so cool!” Logan exclaims.

“Oh really?” I chuckle. “You like deadly things do you?”

“Well, yeah, but I think it’s pretty cool that they can go both ways. Just like people, they can do bad things, but they can also do good. I wonder if their saliva will heal their bite. Like if they bite someone and paralyze them, but then decide they’re not a danger to them, could they just lick the bite and the person can move again?” Logan ponders.

“That’s a good question, Logan. Let’s check the sign and see if it says anything about it,” I suggest. “Well, look at that! You were right, Logan! It says here, their lick can heal any physical wound, including their own bite. That’s pretty cool, huh?”

“Yeah, it is! They’re my favorite so far,” he declares and all three of us girls laugh.

“It’s the only one you’ve seen, silly!” Violet squeals through her laughter.

“Well, it’s still my favorite.” Logan scrunches up his nose at her.

“Alright you two.” I chuckle. “Let’s keep going, see if we can’t change Logan’s favorite.” I wink at them.

We start walking again, stopping to see every animal along the way. The kids are having a blast learning about all of the creatures they thought were only myths.

“Hey, Mommy, that looks like a fox! What’s so special about it?” Violet calls out as she stands right against the railing looking out at the fox in question.

“That’s not a fox, baby, that’s a kitsune. Can you see how many tails it has?” I ask her.

It looks like the kitsune decided to show off a little because it gets up and slowly walks closer to us, then it turns to the side, and swishes its tails. It stays there for a moment, with its tails on display for us then turns back around and I swear it tilts its head at me before it turns and walks away.

“Wow, that was so cool, Mommy! She just walked right up to me and showed me all of her pretty tails!” Violet cheers. “Have you ever seen one of those, Logan?” She turns her wide eyes on her friend.

“No, but I’ve heard of them. My dad says they were one of my mom’s favorite animals. They’re super smart though. Did you see the way it looked at your mom? She came over to show us her tails, how cool is that? Some stories say they’re actually people with special abilities and can change forms!”

“That’s just a story, though. Don’t worry, these are just really smart animals. No people are locked up in the zoo.” I wink at them.

Violet giggles. “That’s still a fun story though. Is it normal for them to have so many tails, Mommy?” Violet asks me.

“Kitsunes can have different amounts of tails. Some have six, some have nine, while others only have three,” I explain.

“What about the babies, Mommy? Do babies have that many tails too?” she asks, bouncing on her toes.

“Well, let’s see what this sign says,” I tell her then lead the kids over to the plaque that gives more information about the kitsunes. “Hmmm, it says here, that kitsunes are born with one tail and as they get older and more powerful, they grow more tails. The most powerful kitsunes have nine tails,” I read the sign aloud.

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