How Green Becomes Wood

"We do not supply pufferfish," The employee laughed, "It seems like it might be a bit cruel to the puffer. In the wild, they have been observed bouncing them between each other, then resting near the top of the water."
 
That sounded much more boring and simple than what Alec had been picturing, but he doubted that it was boring or simple for the puffer fish! "Thank you! I appreciate your time and knowledge," Alec said politely. He made his way back to his family. "It is true, and the aquarium does not let them do it."
 
"You're welcome," The employee replied.

"I had presumed as much," Dark said, looking up from his sketchbook, "I fear your sister will demand to stay here for the rest of her life." At that present moment, Ivy was leaning against Daizi and silently watching in pure amazement.
 
"I, for one, would like to see the rest of the zoo eventually, but we can stay here for a while," Xander said, leaning back as much as one was able to on a bench.

"I wonder if whistling back would be rude? It'd probably be rude. Even if it wasn't, I don't want to encourage everyone else to do it at the same time. That would be horrible," Alec mused.
 
"I have absolutely no idea if whistling would be rude," Dark admitted, "I am not an expert in dolphin culture."

"It would probably be disruptive to the other humans," Daizi said, holding Ivy around the waist while had one arm around her neck, "I don't mind waiting here with her if you all want to look at something else, but she'll be getting hungry for her lunch soon."
 
"You don't have to, I just thought I'd offer," Daizi replied, turning her head to kiss Ivy's hair when her toddler giggled when the baby dolphin swam by again.

Checking the time, Dark said, "We are so close to her lunchtime, I do not think there is a point in splitting up. As soon as she is hungry, she will be pleased to move on."
 
Alec laughed but shook his head. "Let's stay here and enjoy the dolphins! If we don't get through the entire zoo, that's okay. It's better to go slow and enjoy what we can see than to try to speed through it all just so we can say we saw it all."

"There's too many signs to speed through it," Xander agreed. "There's more signs over there. We should read those." He and Alec moved over to the signs and started reading through them, telling the rest of the family any of the interesting bits and stopping often to look at the dolphins.
 
As predicted, for a little while Ivy still stayed enthralled by the dolphins but eventually began to grow restless. Still staying with her mother, Ivy grumbled a bit, and after Daizi asked if she was hungry, convincing her to leave to go eat was not difficult at all.

The next question was if they wanted to stop at one of the food stalls or if they'd prefer to just go to the big indoor food court overlooking the fountain. The quality of the food was about the same everywhere.
 
Alec argued for the big indoor food court, saying it might be more comfortable there. Xander said a food stall would likely be less crowded and, therefore, less of a hassle. Alec said that the food stalls were likely to be in the same crowded state with less seating. They agreed that since they had to walk past (more or less) two food stalls, they could look and see what things looked like, and if the food looked good and there was seating, they'd pick a food stall. If not, then they'd move on to the indoor food court and the fountain.
 
As they walked past the two food stalls, Dark commented the food seemed decent enough, but Daizi pointed out it didn't quite seem toddler friendly. Ivy wasn't picky, but what they had would be difficult to cut up small enough for her using a plastic knife. That detail made the food court significantly more appealing, and after all, it was possible it would have at least some of the food the stalls had.
 
The twins quickly agreed to the food court once Daizi pointed out the toddler trouble. They were able to find a nice spot with a good view of the fountain. It did not take them long to get the food they wanted, and then they gathered at the table to watch the water and hang with their family.
 
At the table, Ivy was given the rare and exquisite treat of a juice box. She responded to it with unbridled delight, especially since at home, anytime she was given juice, it was at a ratio of 3:1 water to juice. Still wearing his Sad Dad hat, Dark watched her absolute joy with quiet satisfaction. As she babbled at them, she occasionally included sounds like offin and how-how.

Near the end of their meal, as they were discussing where to go next, Dark leaned over towards Alec and silently pointed to a picture on the map, but said, "I think we should head towards the bears. There is a good path from them to the primate house." And the fact an equine was on the way to the bears had nothing to do with it.
 
Xander got a short recording of Ivy, though it took some doing not to get anyone else in the video. He was quite satisfied with the result and even had a "conversation" with her about juice.

Alec followed Dark's finger and nodded, grinning. "Absolutely! That is a great idea!" He spotted the horses on the way and almost said something about it, but he stopped himself. "The primates are going to be a lot of fun. Do you think they'll be loud?"
 
"They will be," Daizi said, "And it's always humid in there. It is a nice setup, first you go through South and Central American monkeys, then you go through Asian monkeys and ape, and then finish with ones from Africa."

"My favourite are the gorillas," Dark said, "They are why I bring my sketchbook to the zoo."
 
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