WORDS TO USE: desk – hamburger – flamingo – soccer – sweet

Penelope wasn’t like the other flamingos at the zoo. She had dreams and a sense of adventure.

She’d heard two zoo helpers talking about her the other day. The head of the children’s zoo section was at her wit’s end with Penelope’s exploits, and a file two inches thick about them sat on Ms. Sweet’s desk.

Well, she’ll no doubt be adding another page to it today, Penelope thought with an amused smile.

She lowered her head toward the pond bank as if to snag a choice piece of grass to nibble on. Stealthily, she glanced to her left, then to her right.

The zoo helpers had finally left the area to go to their next assignment. About time! She’d begun to worry that they would be here all day.

Raising her head slowly, casually, she shifted to look down the nearby path toward The Beastro restaurant. She had spotted what looked to be part of an abandoned hamburger close to the entrance, and she wanted it!

She leaped out of her area onto the paved walkway with the gymnastics excellence that she’d honed. Behind her, the other flamingos twittered amongst themselves about her foolishness. A dozen feet away, a young couple with two small children froze in shock, the mother gasping in surprise. But the kids laughed and tried to drag their parents toward her.

Then she saw him, and her heart raced in panic. One of the zoo’s custodians was headed toward the restaurant area, stabbing with his spiked pole at pieces of trash. He hadn’t spotted her goal, though!

She hurried down the path with a burst of speed, dodging around zoo guests leaving the children’s zoo section. Nobody and nothing would keep her from reaching that hamburger.

Until a soccer ball came out of nowhere and zipped past her.

A ball! She wanted that ball more than anything, more than the precious bit of hamburger.

Off she raced, giggling in delight.

Oh, what a wonderful day this was turning out to be!