Daisy and the Trouble with Zoos (11 page)

When I picked the first fish up, it felt a bit cold and slippery. I only picked it up by its tail. Just in case it WAS still alive. Plus I didn't know what it would feel like.

The
trouble with dead fish
is they feel a bit strange at first. Even if you only pick them up by the tail.

The
trouble with picking a dead fish up by the tail
is it makes it quite hard to throw.

My first fish didn't go anywhere near where I meant it to, but a penguin still got it anyway. In fact, THREE penguins zoomed right after it but only one managed to get it.

Everyone in the crowd cheered when the fish got gobbled! So next time I threw two fish at once!!

You should have seen the penguins then! I never knew they could swim so fast. The fish were only in the water for about a second before both of them had been gobbled up!!

Then I threw three fish at once, and they got gobbled up really quickly too!!!

After about five throws I was putting my fingers right into the bucket, right round the dead fish and everything. Without them feeling cold or slippery at all!

I'd really got the hang of throwing, and I was making the penguins zoom absolutely everywhere!

The penguins must have been REALLY hungry because the more I threw, the more they dived and zoomed.

One penguin even got out of the pool to try and steal a fish OUT OF MY BUCKET!

Everyone laughed, and Tiffany had to shoo him straight back into the pool.

It was soooooooo brilliant! Everyone was cheering and clapping, and there were bubbles coming out of the water, and splashes, and really fast beaks zooming everywhere.

Plus I was a really good thrower. Just like I said I would be.

When I did my second-best throw, it went right across into the corner of the penguin pool. But my BEST throw was SOOOO good, it went right over the pool, through the air and hit the glass on the other side, where Mum,
Gabby and Dylan were sitting. Everyone really laughed and clapped then!

Gabby and Dylan thought it was hilarious!

My mum tried to take a picture. But she missed it.

That's the
trouble with mums taking good pictures
. They're a bit slow.

So then I tried to throw a fish right out of the zoo! But I only had three fish left in my bucket, and they were
really slippery ones. Plus one didn't have a head. So they only went as far as the middle.

But Mum still took a picture. And everyone still clapped! And the penguins kept diving and zooming around.

Then my bucket ran out.

The
trouble with buckets running out
is you don't have any fish left to throw.

Which isn't very good, because the penguins still looked really hungry.

So I threw the bucket into the penguin pool too.

I didn't actually mean to throw the bucket in – it just sort of came out of my hands. I wasn't trying to throw it in on purpose or anything. I just thought there might be some fish juice left in the bottom and the penguins might like to lick it out.

Penguins love fish juice.

The
trouble with zoo buckets
is that they sink. Because they're metal.

Plus if they land on a penguin, they can give it a really big bump on the head.

Luckily all the penguins dived out of the way, but the zoo bucket sank right to the bottom of the water.

At first everyone laughed and cheered. Except my mum. Mum covered her eyes and went red, but most people thought it was funny. Gabby and Dylan thought it was hilaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarious!

I'm not sure if Tiffany did, though. She sort of smiled and sort of frowned at the same time. And then she had to go and get a long zoo net.

The
trouble with zoo nets
is they're not very good at picking up buckets.

Which meant Tiffany had to spend quite a long time trying to get the bucket out. I asked her if she wanted me to have a go, but she said it would be better if I left it to her.

So I did.

It would definitely have been better if she had let me have a go with the net, because I'm really expert at that too.

In Cornwall when I was on holiday, Mum bought me a net. When I put it in the rock pool, I caught loads of sand, two shells and a lolly stick on my very first go! I nearly caught some weed too, but it escaped when I lifted the net up.