All the animals in the petting zoo had something special about them. Some were just more special than others. All the animals were attractive, too. Some were just more attractive than others.
Every week the petting zoo had kindergarten classes come to see the animals. There were different rotations of the tour the children would go through when they would visit. Every animal was responsible for finding their partner for each week. Now, for some animals, this was a piece of cake. For others, it was no walk in the park. For example, all the attractive, confident cheetahs had no issue finding a partner. All the beautiful peacocks practically begged to be their partners. As for the turtles, not so much. The peacocks weren’t so much interested in the shy, insecure animals in the zoo. They all wanted cheetahs. At the beginning of each week, the animas would line up in the barn to find their new partners. Turtles, like Benny, would hide their faces, trying not to draw attention to themselves. Cocky cheetahs, like Max, would prowl around with their heads held high, hoping to catch their eyes. All the while, the beautiful peacocks, like Jaclyn, walked up and down the line examining their choices. One by one all the peacocks chose cheetahs. Then, Jaclyn got to Max.
“Hey, Max, will you be my partner?” she asked eagerly.
“Of course I will, sweet thing!” he flirtingly replied.
“Perfect!” she whispered with a wink as she walked away. All the while, Benny watched with jealousy.
“If only I knew how to talk to her,” he thought to himself. But, like always, he did nothing. This same pattern of the cheetahs being asked and the turtles being ignored continued. Pretty soon, the cheetahs just expected to be asked by a beautiful peacock. It all went to their heads. They because vain, arrogant, and rude.
“Female, get over here and ask me to be your partner already!” Max said irritably. At first, the peacocks just dealt with it. After all, they we cute… Week after week the girls were treated like this. Soon enough, they were sick of it.
“Jaclyn. Here. Now.” Said Max impatiently.
“No, Max! I am done with you treating me like this!” she yelled. Benny listened with excitement as he peeked out of his shell. When she started walking towards him his heart beat faster.
“Benny, will you please be my partner?” she asked innocently.
“Um… sure…” he mumbled. Inside, he exploded with excitement. “Jaclyn… MY partner?” he thought to himself. It was his dream come true. Benny prepared all weekend for the “Big Week”. He treated Jaclyn like a princess. “Do you need anything? Anything at all? Just let me know! You look really pretty by the way…” he blabbed nervously, almost to himself. She didn’t even know how to respond. The other animals had never treated her this way.
Pretty soon all the other peacocks realized that the “cute” animals weren’t so cute after all. They discovered that there is more to turtles than there seems.
Benny and Jaclyn were partners from then on. Jaclyn LOVED the shower of compliments she got every time she was with him. He just loved seeing her beautiful face.
As for the cheetahs…they spent most of their time looking at their reflections in the pond, with no partner.