Disclaimer: The characters and
situations of the TV program "Big Valley" are the creations of Four
Star/Republic Pictures and have been used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended by the
author. The ideas expressed in this
story are copyrighted to the author.
Audra smiled at the sleeping cowboys across from her. Nick and Heath had their Stetsons pulled
down over their eyes and were recuperating from the late night spent with a
mare that was foaling and the last minute details in preparation for their time
away from the ranch. The train was
taking them to San Francisco where they would meet Jarrod and their
Mother. The Barkleys were on their way
to the grand opening of the new zoo and aquarium. As a prominent family in the state of California, their
donations were invaluable to the new facilities and buildings.
As the train screeched to a halt, Heath pushed up his hat
and shook Nick’s arm. “Nick, we’re
here.” said Heath as he stretched to get the kinks out of his back.
“Huh?” growled Nick as he felt a persistent shaking of his
arm. “We’re here already, I feel like I
just closed my eyes.”
“Let’s go meet Mother and Jarrod.” said Audra excitedly as
she grabbed her brothers’ hands and pulled.
“Com’on!”
Heath grinned as Nick snorted, “Alright, we’re coming!”
Jarrod and Victoria stood patiently on the platform
watching for the rest of the family.
Jarrod pointed as he saw Heath helping Audra down off the train steps
with Nick following. Walking over,
Jarrod and Victoria greeted them
enthusiastically.
“You two look beat.” said Jarrod “Why don’t we check you into the hotel and make it an early
night. Then we’ll all be refreshed for
the grand opening tomorrow.”
Everyone agreed and walked to the hotel lobby. The next morning the family meet for
breakfast in the hotel restaurant.
Heath and Nick having caught up on their sleep were raring to go.
“Mother, I’m so excited about seeing the new zoo.” said
Audra as her eyes glistened. “I think
it’s going to be so interesting.”
Nick rolled his eyes, “Who wants to see a bunch of animals
in cages? I don’t understand why they
think people are going to pay to see that.
Waste of money if you ask me!”
Jarrod and Heath smiled as Victoria patted Nick’s hand,
asking softly, “Nicholas, are we going to have to listen to this conversation
again?”
Audra snickered as Nick blushed, “No, Mother.”
“Good, now let’s go.”
Riding to the zoo, Heath pointed to the hot-air balloon
floating in the air and nudged Nick in the side, “Look at that Nick. Who’d be crazy enough to go up in one of
those things?”
Nick sneered, “Probably the same person who’d pay to see
animals in cages.”
His siblings laughed as Victoria sighed with exasperation
at her son’s comments.
Pulling up in front of the main gate, Victoria was handed a map and guidebook
which explained all about the different displays at the zoo.
“Which section did we help build, Mother?” asked Audra.
“Let me see.” said Victoria as she read the list “Here it
is. The Barkley Aquatic Center. It’s over there.”
The family made their way to the Aquatic Center enjoying
the sights as they walked. Stopping in
front of a cage with the mountain lion, Heath watched as Nick shivered “I’ve
already seen one up close before and that was too close. Let’s go.”
Heath clapped him on the back as they started forward with
the rest of the family and whispered, “Sure
hope they don’t have any wolves in here, either. I hear there’s gonna be an eclipse tonight. Animals and people act strange during those
things.”
“Yeah, let’s hope they don’t have any of those.” shivered
Nick as they followed the others to the aquatic center.
Entering the building, Nick and Heath stopped and eyed the
colorful fish in the glass cases as the rest of the family walked on.
“Heath, these things aren’t even big enough to have for
dinner.” scoffed Nick.
“Boy howdy, a man could starve before he caught enough of
them to eat.”
Nick groaned, “People are gonna think the Barkleys
couldn’t afford to buy full sized fish.”
Nodding, Heath looked at Nick puzzled, “Wonder where they
got them?”
“Don’t know, Mother’s got the book.” said Nick as they
continued onward.
Heath stopped Nick with a hand on his arm. “Hey Nick, what’s a ornithorhynchus?”
Nick looked at the sign and shook his head, “No idea. Sounds like a disease or something.”
Heath chuckled, “Yeah, it sure does. Guess I wouldn’t wanna catch whatever it
is.”
Nick laughed, “Well if you catch it, we’ll just have Dr.
Merar give you some anesthesia and cut it out of ya’.”
“What is that?” exclaimed Heath as he caught a glimpse of
the animal swimming through the water.
Nick held his hands up to the glass, straining to
see. He jumped backwards as the animal
swam in front of him unexpectedly and knocked over the elderly gentleman and
lady behind him.
“Oh, sorry about that.” apologized Nick as he and Heath
helped the couple to their feet. “The
ornery hynchus startled me.”
The couple laughed as Nick’s face turned crimson and the
lady said. “I believe you mean
Ornithorhynchus. It is also called a
duck-billed platypus, young man. They
are from Australia.”
Nick grinned, “You don’t say!”
“Thank you. My
brother was afraid he was gonna catch whatever it was.” said Heath with an
innocent expression as the couple laughed and Nick snarled.
Walking away, the couple continued laughing at the two
cowboys.
“That sure is a strange lookin’ creature. You suppose it was mated with a duck or
something?” asked Nick as he watched the platypus mesmerized by its movements
in the water.
“Look at it go!” exclaimed Heath.
“Heath, its
amazing they brought that thing all the way from Australia.” whispered Nick as
his eyes lit up with fascination.
Heath grinned, “Next thing you know people will actually
be paying to see animals in cages.”
“Very funny, little brother. Let’s see what else they got.” said Nick as he pulled Heath’s arm
dragging him from display to display as the day continued and the Barkley
family took pride in the Aquatic Center that was in their name.
THE END