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While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to |
complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the |
bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects. This morning, |
it was motorcycles. |
"... roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a |
motorcycle overtook them. |
I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It |
was flying." |
Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right |
around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet |
with a mustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!" |
Dudley and Piers sniggered. |
I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream." |
But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the |
Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking |
about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a |
dream or even a cartoon -- they seemed to think he might get dangerous |
ideas. |
It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The |
Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the |
entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry |
what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap |
lemon ice pop. It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they |
watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, |
except that it wasn't blond. |
Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to |
walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who |
were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall |
back on their favorite hobby of hitting him. They ate in the zoo |
restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker |
glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him |
another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first. |
Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to |
last. |
After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in |
there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts |
of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and |
stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, |
man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the |
place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car |
and crushed it into a trash can -- but at the moment it didn't look in |
the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep. |
Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the |
glistening brown coils. |
"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the |
glass, but the snake didn't budge. |
"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly |
with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on. |
"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away. |
Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He |
wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself -- no |
company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying |
to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a |
bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door |
to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house. |
The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised |
its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's. |
It winked. |
Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was |
watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too. |
The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised |
its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly: |
"I get that all the time. |
"I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the |
snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying." |
The snake nodded vigorously. |
"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked. |
The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry |
peered at it. |
Boa Constrictor, Brazil. |
"Was it nice there?" |
The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: |
This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see -- so you've never been to |
Brazil?" |
As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of |
them jump. |
"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE |
WHAT IT'S DOING!" |
Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could. |
"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by |
surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. What came next happened |
so fast no one saw how it happened -- one second, Piers and Dudley were |
leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with |
howls of horror. |
Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank |
had vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering |
out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and |
started running for the exits. |
As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, |
hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come.... Thanksss, amigo." |
The keeper of the reptile house was in shock. |
"But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?" |
The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea |
while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only |
gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except |
snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were |
all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had |
nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to |
squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers |
calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, |