Zoo
“Look Harry over there.” Regulus points toward a large enclosure with giraffes. He is holding his son in his arms. The boy is constantly wiggling making Regulus worried he will drop him. But Harry refuses to sit stroller and they are outside for too long for them to expect him to walk anymore. James is leaning against the handles of the stroller sipping his slushie.
“Do you see them? These are giraffes. They are the tallest on earth.” Regulus is explaining to his son without noticing that Harry is not paying attention at all.
“Papa, papa! Kitty!” Harry shrieks.
“No, it’s a giraffe.” Regulus corrects.
“Down, down.” Harry insists trying to wiggle from Regulus’ embrace. As soon as he puts him on the ground Harry starts to toddle towards the bench not even glancing back at the giraffes nor his father. The thing that caught his attention is indeed a black cat.
James laughs at Regulus’ pure disbelief. “Gently, Harry,” James calls after Harry who is now trying to pet the cat.
“But…” Regulus opens his mouth. “…there are giraffes over there…” Regulus gestures helplessly.
“He found a cat.” James holds the laughter.
“But we are at a Zoo...”
“The cat is pretty cute though.”
“The tallest animal on earth…”
“Look how happy it makes him.”
“He never saw giraffes before…”
“But he found a cat.”
Regulus turns to his husband. James is biting his lower lip in an attempt not to laugh at him. Which is truly hard since Regulus looks completely lost. In the end, they spend over an hour at the same spot with Harry petting the cat grinning widely.
“It made him happy, Reg. It doesn’t matter.” James holds him around his waist as Regulus pushes the stroller with sleeping Harry in it.
“I know. But I wanted him to learn about new animals.”
“We can watch Madagascar tomorrow,” James suggests. Regulus rolls his eyes because no it’s not the same and also, he suggested it only because it’s James’, not Harry’, but James’ favourite cartoon that he saw thousand times before. But well, his son did have a good day and Regulus is already planning another trip to Zoo to have another try.