Zebra in the Kitchen

Young teen Chris Carlyle understands but doesn't much like that his parents have made the decision for the family to move from their farm, where Chris has lived his entire life, to the city. What Chris doesn't really understand is why he can't take one of his two pets with them: a mountain lion named Sunshine, who Chris has raised since Sunshine was born, who is largely tame, and who in their rural environment is able to roam around the countryside without bothering anyone or anything. While Chris is able to hide Sunshine in their move to the city, he isn't able to hide Sunshine once in the city. Of all the options offered to him, none which he really likes, Chris decides to send Sunshine to the local zoo to live under the direction of its caring staff: curator Dr. Del Hartwood, Dr. Hartwood's assistant Isobel Moon, and the head animal keeper, elderly Branch Hawksbill. The three, in turn, allow Chris to visit Sunshine whenever he wants, although Chris cannot take Sunshine out of his enclosure as he would like. Dr. Hartwood has long been in a battle with city council for funding, the zoo, due to that lack of funding, run down to the detriment of the animals who Dr. Hartwood admits live in less than ideal conditions for a zoo. Seeing not only Sunshine suffering in being caged, an environment he isn't used to, Chris contemplates taking drastic measures in breaking Sunshine out. But in seeing the fate of the other caged animals, Chris further thinks about breaking them all out, not fully realizing the consequences of doing so. Written by Huggo