Joey’s Journey

If you are a kid, and you are reading this, I don’t have to tell you how boring it is being with just your Mother for months and months.  All she wants you to do is follow the rules and of course she makes the rules.  Eat, sleep, grow...the three directives!  It has been months of nothing but eat, sleep and grow!  Well I’ve done that for five months but for a while now I’ve been able to play in the grass, roll around and, well you know , just play,  but it always ends the same, back to warm and safe in her pouch to eat, sleep grow.

Today somehow something feels very different.  I had been out to play in the grass and I had eaten a bit of grass and then had my fill of milk and snuggled down into the warm fur that had been my bed for so long and right on schedule I fell deep into sleep.  My dreams were very different!  Mostly I dream about playing in the grass but today there were others in my dream, voices and I dreamed I was being wrapped up, or maybe rolled up in my fur blankets.  The voices were not meant for me but they came at intervals.  The feeding tasted different too.  I’d be sleeping so nicely and then more wrapping and unwrapping and voices.  I tried to wake up enough to hear and understand but so far I only heard one phrase and it sounded like...going on a journey.

My sleep seemed extra long today but as I woke I could sense a vibration or droning that was new to me.  I felt only half awake but I was awake enough to know, big changes had occurred!!

My Mother was nowhere in sight and the warm fur I had been sleeping in was not her fur or her pouch and the sounds I heard were not the normal regular sounds of my Mother’s heart beat  so close to me.   I was alone except for a strange person dressed in brown fur...arms and hands covered in fur just like my Mother.  It picked me up to feed me and kept saying over and over…”You are going to be fine Joey,  just eat your bottle,  it is good for you and you will grow up to be big and strong!”

It seemed this was a person who would care for me while my Mother was not here.  This person is the only one I saw but the directive was the same...eat,  sleep, and grow.

~~~~

I am not sure how long I slept but when I woke the drone was gone but the fur person was still with me.  We were in a new place with many voices, and sunshine and breezes.  I felt afraid so I snuggled down into the fur arms and peeked out to try to see what kind of place this was.  It was all very very different.

The noises were so strange and amazing!  Besides the noises of animals, there were machines and more people than I ever could have dreamed existed.  I stayed huddled down in the fur, eating often but I never stopped looking out to try to answer my question?  Where is my Mother?  What is this place?  Can I go to my Mother?  Those thoughts made me very sad but the person with the fur arms held me nice and made me feel safe.

This early morning when I woke I was no longer being held or wrapped in brown fur.  I was on my own and I looked for a way to play in the grass.  Through a small opening I saw sunshine so out I went...yes grass and sunshine, but many other animal noises.  I didn’t play like I used to, just rolling around in the grass, I was too busy looking and listening.

Yes there were others like me but bigger and many other animals,  over a great gate there were letters,  Z O O,  but I did not know the meaning.   Soon the care person came to me with my bottle of food.  While she fed me,  she talked on and on about things.., some made sense, some did not.     

What I learned was her name is Grace, and she cares for and studies animals like me from far away in Australia!  My name is Joey!  My Mother was left behind!  I will live here now with others like me.   I am a kangaroo and now I will live in this zoo in America!   

So much to hear,  I would eat and sleep and listen!  I was growing very fast now and soon,  my caregiver would be unnecessary.  Once I give up the bottle,  I will eat real kangaroo food,  mostly grasses and green leaves,  and live with other kangaroos!

Grace tells me many of the stories over and over trying to make sure I understand.  I’m still only drinking milk from a bottle but Grace tells me soon I will like to eat grass sometimes or moss.  I really like Grace but I am getting big enough that she sometimes has trouble with me.  I like to touch noses but sometimes bump Grace too hard,  she remains watchful.  I also like to play fight but Grace will have none of that but soon I will be added to a group of others my age and size.  Grace says they do a bunch of play fighting.  My tail is growing long and heavy so I hop everywhere.  I have found the edges of my world.  Sometimes the fence makes me sad as I wish to go everywhere but then I see who lives nearby and am glad for the fence to keep me safe!

So I guess that’s about it for my story.  I don’t miss my Mother so much anymore and being on my own more and more I think I will be alright.  Grace says, “You are a very fine Joey, Joey”,  so I think life here will be good.  The journey was long and my real home is far away but here at my new home, I’ve made many friends!  Friends just like me, far from their Mothers and  their homes.  

I have no idea what will happen next but I do know,  because Grace told me,  “Not every Joey gets to go on a journey!”