watchmaker

tatumbo
by me

Tatumbo was born in the Yolanski zoo, near Milwaukee.
he was born in the zoo, lived in the zoo,

and,

would probably live there for the rest of his life.


when he was

g
r
o
w
i
n
g

up,

the zookeepers had taken good care of him, but this had never stopped Tatumbo from dreaming BIG dreams

of:

leaving
his
cage

and generally having all sorts of exciting adventures that were hard to have when you were
locked in a cage,
working
for
peanuts.

the zookeepers taught him to read and he read many books about life outside of the zoo. he read very well, but when he read the books out loud for the zookeepers, it sounded like
hawooooooooonk,
whahoooooonnn,
hoonn,
haaaawoooooooon

so they gave up on Tatumbo ever learning to read,
even though he read very well thank you very much.

when Tatumbos mother died, Tatumbo was twelve years old.

Tatumbo missed her terribly and without her he found his dreams of leaving growing bigger,
and BIGGER,
and BIGGER,
and BIGGER!

one afternoon, a zookeeper left a Superman comic in Tatumbos cage. Tatumbo read it, and then he read it again, and then he read it again.

he couldnt believe it. with just a pair of glasses and a change of clothes, no one could tell the difference between

Clark Kent
and
Superman.

so he stretched his trunk through the bars of his cage, grabbed the key ring,
unlocked
the

DO
OR

and strolled on out.

Tatumbo went to the zookeepers locker room and in one of the lockers, labeled Kepanaw, he found just what hed been looking for:

a zookeepers suit, a hat, a tie and an identification card.

he first tried on the pants.

R-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-P!

Tatumbo ripped the pants.

he sheepishly folded the tatters and put them back in the locker. The same thing happened with
the shirt.

but when Tatumbo put the hat on his head, it perched there perfectly.

the tie fit, though it barely made it around his neck and looked rather sad and stubby.

and he hung Bob Kepanaws Zookeeper ID around his trunk.

then Tatumbo walked out of the locker room and out into the zoo.

past the monkey cages.
past the zebra cages.
past the lion cages.

and then up to the main exit.

Tatumbo was thinking of his BIG dreams and exciting adventures.

he was also nervous and shaking and sweating. he didnt want to go back to his cage.

As he walked through the main entrance, the night watchman in his blue uniform looked up from the newspaper and said,

Have a nice night, Bob!



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