Part 5A. The Natural World. Animals

Part 5A. The Natural World. Animals

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Jack almost jumped through the gates of the park. How stupid of him not to look at the watch and be late for a date…But now he is often absent-minded, especially when he thinks only about her…

-  Lainie! - Jack couldn’t control his cry.

-  Don’t worry, - answered a low musical and the most beautiful voice in the world. – I am here.

-  Oh, dear! – Lainie came out from behind the tree and gave a short laughter. – Your loud cry frightened Taiwaihoo out of his wits.

-  Taiwai…who? – Jack stared at her.

-  Tai-wai-hoo, - repeated Lainie more slowly. – He is still afraid of human voices. Ah, you call them pets.

-  Afraid of human voices? – Jack pretended not to hear the last phrase. – Perhaps, his last hosts offended him. Did you take him from an animal shelter?

-  Oh, no. We took it…It came… - Lainie suddenly paused. – I am sorry, but I can’t tell you now.

-  OK, - Jack was embarrassed, but tried to conceal it. – Where is your pet?

-  There, under the tree.

-  Tell him to come out. – Jack tried to make a joke.

But Lainie suddenly turned around and gave a long low cry.
-  What is it?

-  I told him not to worry.

-  She is imagining again, - Jack remembered how his dad called Lainie’s father a mad sci-fi writer. But he couldn’t think of anything else, as something big and furry jumped into his arms and began to lick his face...something which looked like a cub of a dog and a bear if, of course, it were possible. Yellow fur, four paws with claws, a tail, two big black eyes and…a beak?

-  Is this a beak? – Jack gasped.

-  You call it so, - was a quiet strange answer again.

-  Is he a carnivore or an herbivore? – Jack felt proud that he remembered the precise biological terms. Lainie was puzzled and Jack felt ashamed.

-  Those who eat only meat or grass, - he hurried to explain.

-  I understand. It’s from your human classification of animals. Tai is actually an evohu.

-  W-what? Evohu? Is it a mammal? Do they live in herds? – In one moment Jack recalled all his biology lessons, but this didn’t help.

-  Evohus like us very much. – Lainie might not have understood the questions. – They choose the hosts themselves.

-  Do you mean that evohus come to you themselves from the wild?

-  Jack, I am aware that it is complicated for you, but try to understand: we don’t tame those which you call animals, we communicate with them.

Late at night Jack was still sitting in his room. All his reference books on zoology, biology and even on botany (though he didn’t know why) were open. Reptiles, rodents, predators, beetles (a stupid thing, but maybe…) – every species and breed was carefully examined. And no single article about evohu. It seemed that they had never existed on the Earth.

-  You are a strange girl, Lainie. – thought Jack. - But the more secrets I find out, the more I fall in love with you. One day I will discover all your mysteries. - And with this thought he fell asleep.


Speaking Minimum Words:
animal shelter - притулок для тварин
paw - лапа
claw - кіготь
tail - хвіст
beak - дзьоб
carnivores - хижаки (м'ясоїдні)
herbivores - травоїдні
mammals - ссавці
herd - стадо
to tame - приручити, приборкати
zoology - зоологія
reptiles - рептилії
rodents - гризуни
predators - хижаки
beetles - жуки
breed - порода

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