Night fell on the tiger habitat once more. Kali, the white tiger, found herself staring at the moon again, entranced by its hypnotic silver glow. Watching it intently, she failed to notice the small orange tiger plodding over to her side on his unusually large paws. She sat there, completely oblivious to his presence, until he said, “Hello, Kali. What are you staring at?”
Broken from her trance, Kali jumped, startled. “Oh, hello, Paska. I am just watching the moon.”
“Why? It isn’t going anywhere.” The young tiger said, staring at her with a confused look on his face. Kali sighed. Paska was a strong little tiger, but he wasn’t very bright.
“I am not waiting for it to flee, Paska. I am only watching the creatures that dance on its surface,” she replied, yawning and stretching her paws on a fake rock.
“Really? Do you think they’d taste good?”
Kali rolled her eyes. “No, Paska, I do not. We could never reach them, and besides, they are not meant to be eaten. They are deserving of their life, dancing for eternity on the Silver Star.”
“I thought you said it was called the moon?” Paska inquired innocently. Kali grumbled and put her paws over her head. It was useless trying to explain her views to Paska. He simply could not comprehend her perception of things. He only saw things for what they were, and never would inquire further. She, on the other hand, was a deep thinker, curious of the world around her, always striving for a deeper understanding of the universe she lived in. She doubted Paska, or anyone else in the zoo, thought the same way, however, she could not say that with conviction, for she had never personally met any of them.
She only had ever seen the monkeys that lived in the cage across from hers, and all they seemed to do was lounge in trees and eat berries all day. Although she wondered about the other animals, she still doubted their ways of thinking, and she saw no light in the eyes of any creature that passed by her cage, no spark of thoughtful intelligence that she saw in her own eyes when she stared at her reflection in the pool of water.
Beside her, Paska seemed to become bored, and left to go lounge underneath the umbrella tree. Kali grumbled and stared at the moon once more, wondering if the creatures there shared her thoughts. She watched the animals dance tirelessly until her eyelids became heavy and she fell asleep.