It was a dark and silent night. At Eli’s place, all the animals were fast asleep. A staff member was walking around on the night shift, but after a quick patrol showed everything in order, he was only too happy to hole up indoors inside a nice, warm office, and make himself a cup of coffee.

While the kettle was boiling, though, there were some rather unusual developments happening outside Eli’s place. A dark car had parked nearby, and after checking to see that nobody was about, two men in black, with hoods pulled low over their faces, emerged. Using a rope ladder, they quickly scaled the wall. Then, swiftly and silently, they made a beeline for a cage at the far end of the animal center. It was the cage where Pinny the peacock strutted his stuff during the day, much to the delight of all the visitors. Right now, however, Pinny was sleeping unsuspectingly.

The two men rubbed their hands in glee as they approached the cage. Once they had Pinny in their clutches, they would be able to sell him to an exotic animal dealer for a large sum of money. They would be rolling in dough! The first man opened a large sack, while his sidekick prepared to grab the bird.

A few yards away, Tuki the parrot — dozing, as usual, with his head tucked under his wing — stirred. What were those strange noises? Tuki raised his head, and had a quick look around with his sharp, beady eyes. It didn’t take him long to spot the two hooded men skulking around. Tuki took an immediate dislike to them.

The second man reached out for Pinny. Suddenly, they heard a deep growling. Grrrrrrrr!

“What’s that?” asked the second man, looking around him nervously.

“Just get on with the job, will you?” snapped his partner. “Who cares what it is?”

“It sounds like an animal on the loose. Hey, maybe a dangerous creature has escaped from its cage! I don’t want to get bitten, do I?”

“Coward,” sneered the first man scornfully. “Look around you. Can you see a single animal roaming around? There aren’t any. It’s probably just a bear with a sore head.”

The man lifted the sack above the peacock’s head.

Pop! A loud sound came from somewhere.

“Did you hear that? It could be gunfire,” hissed the second man anxiously at his partner.

“Probably just a wild shot. Let’s grab the bird and get out of here,” responded the first man.

The second man had made a grab for Pinny, and the first man had started easing the sack over his head, when they heard the last sound in the world they wanted to hear just then: a police siren. They froze.

Wooooo wooooo wooooo wooooo wooooo wooooo!

And then:

Wooooo wooooo wooooo wooooo wooooo wooooo!

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeooooooooooooooooo!

(Excerpted from Mishpacha Jr., Issue 742)