Book after Book

It's time to say goodbye to our heroine, Senor Fernandez and Juan... The Zoo Keeper Part 10 of 10 By Amanda Sington-Williams At last he spoke again. ‘When the animals were all killed, the people wanted to forget, to pretend the past never existed, that the memories of Fascism, of the killings, belonged to a different place, another landscape. So, for the month of the anniversary of the death of Franco, I play recordings of their roars, their bellows, and screeches to remind people of what humans are capable of, to remind them of the past that they would rather didn’t exist at all.’ His eyes opened wide and for a short moment I thought I saw a yellow glint in them, before he blinked and waved his hands at us, ushering us out of the room. His neck retreated into folds of flesh as he slept, snoring like a hippo wallowing in shallow water. Juan knocked back his brandy and stood. ‘The old man gets very tired these days,’ he said. ‘Then we must leave.’ I bent to kiss Senor Fernadez on hi...

Don't let anybody disturb you while Senor Fernandez continues recounting the zoo's past... The Zoo Keeper Part 9 of 10 By Amanda Sington-Williams ‘Did you know the mayor?’ I asked. Finger to lips, Juan looked at me. ‘You must let him talk. He doesn’t get much chance these days to tell people about the zoo.’ I nodded. Senor Fenandez continued. ‘And so, the people of this city began to think of the animals in the zoo as representing themselves. They were the oppressed, the imprisoned in their lives of obedience, of poverty and deprivation, as the animals were imprisoned in their cages. When the animals howled and roared, desperate for their freedom, so did the people of the city. When they stared into the eyes of the caged lion, they saw themselves. But I fed the animals, I soothed them when they were ill, I watered them in the height of summer.’ I looked up at a picture of young apes wrestling in their enclosure and remembered my uncle. I thought of how he had been made fun of b...

Are you ready to find out about the history of the zoo? The Zoo Keeper Part 8 of 10 By Amanda Sington-Williams ‘Some people,’ Senor Fenandez said to me. ‘Are frightened of themselves. They think that if they change their outer appearance, their memories will vanish like the steam of a train as it chugs round a corner. But memories should pass from generation to generation. They must be kept alive, so that we can prevent it from happening again. So it is possible to learn from mistakes.’ For a long moment, his eyes closed and I thought perhaps he’d fallen asleep. ‘Juan will take over from me when I’ve gone,’ he said. ‘ And the zoo?’ I asked. ‘What happened to the zoo? Why-’ ‘Senor Fenandez will explain.’ Juan poured out three shots of brandy, handed them round. The old man scrutinized Juan, then drank his brandy ‘In 1960,’ Senor Fenandez said, ‘the mayor of this town, one of Franco’s men, ordered that the park should be turned into a zoo. He had grand ideas of self-importance, he though...

Are we going to trust the man in the park and follow him? Read on to find out... The Zoo Keeper Part 7 of 10 By Amanda Sington-Williams We left by an exit I’d not noticed before, where the apartments were older than mine, leaning in on each other, with rusted iron railings on balconies where sheets, towels and underwear hung out to dry. A lead stretched between the buildings dipping across the narrow street; a dog lay in the dust, its mouth slack, tongue lolling. The man turned into one of the buildings, waiting at the entrance and my heart began to pound. We climbed two flights of stairs. Standing at a little distance away from him, I watched as he opened an apartment door. ‘No problem,’ he said. ‘Nothing to worry about.’ I insisted on the door staying open. Rolling his eyes, he left the door ajar for me. I followed him into a shadowed room overlooking the street. Black and white photos of animals were stuck to the walls: a zebra, an elephant, a lioness, a tiger,...

A man is broadcasting zoo sounds across the park! What is he up to? The Zoo Keeper Part 6 of 10 By Amanda Sington-Williams Very slowly, he turned round to face me, just as the sounds of monkeys hooting, reverberated round the park. ‘Aha, a tourist,’ he said. I corrected him, noticing him stifling a yawn. The man was smaller than me with a head of disorderly curls and dark skin. ‘They kept me awake, these roars, all the animal sounds. I thought there must be a zoo.’ I said. ‘Why? Is it some sort of joke?’ ‘I can explain,’ he said. ‘Please do,’ I said in my teacher voice. He narrowed his eyes and shook his head as if he had just woken. ‘Better still follow me. Then you will understand. For some people it is important. For others…’ He shrugged his shoulders. ‘I can’t possibly-’ ‘Why not?’ ‘Well. I don’t know you for a start.’ ‘You are frightened of me?’ The murmur of voices from the restaurant was dissipating, replaced by the clatter of plates ...

Ok, let's go and explore the park... The Zoo Keeper Part 5 of 10 By Amanda Sington-Williams I wandered over to the park, to the restaurant with its striped blue and white parasols. Waiters rushed from table to table, balancing plates as if executing part of a juggling technique, careful not to sweat too much, tea towels slung over an arm. Fish, lentils, rice, succulent juice from roasting, frying, or boiling, wine glasses never allowed to fall empty. The customers chatted and drank, preparing for their afternoon of love and slumber. I drifted past, following the path that wound round the park, trying to find a bit that I’d missed the day before. But I couldn’t imagine how a zoo could possibly function in a park of this size. I turned a corner in the park. There was a loud roar. Close this time. And another. I backed in the direction of the restaurant and the park gates. My hands were beginning to sweat and I broke into a run. I would go home and take a siesta. I wo...

Do you think we are finally going to find out the truth about the zoo? The Zoo Keeper Part 4 of 10 By Amanda Sington-Williams She giggled and ran out of the room with her class mates. The director was at the door. ‘So your class went well, did it?’ she asked. She glanced around my room at the abandoned books scattered on the floor, up at the white board where I’d written out the learnt phrases. ‘A little different from where you used to teach, isn’t it?’ For a year, I’d taught in a hot dry southern city famous for its Moorish palace with fountains and domes rising to the sky like blown-up balloons. Beautiful though the palace was, I’d found the metropolitan hub too noisy, with its screeching cars speeding past my bedroom window every night. From a hamlet on the edge of Dartmoor, my tolerance for traffic noise was low. The director and I chatted about the class. All the time, I was checking the pauses in our conversation, searching for an opportunity. It didn’t c...

We have arrived in front of the school. Let's step in... The Zoo Keeper Part 3 of 10 By Amanda Sington-Williams Inside the school, the walls were covered in tiles. Red and green, like a sunset on a northern sea, they shimmered in the half-light of the shuttered room. The school director was pleasant enough, a Catalan woman with dyed blonde hair, protruding teeth and a strong belief that the entire Spanish population should become conversant in English so that the works of Shakespeare and Chaucer could be fully understood. Her love of language was derived from her father’s defiance during the Franco years, his insistence that she learn Catalan and study the great Catalan poets. She had travelled in England and visited Kipling’s house; after my interview for the teaching job, she’d exulted over the illustrations for his Jungle Book. And so, as I stood on the threshold of the school, adjusting my eyes to the cool interior, I thought she would be just the person to ask abou...

Welcome back! Are you ready to find out what the barman knows? The Zoo Keeper Part 2 of 10 By Amanda Sington-Williams ‘I didn’t realise there was a zoo in the park,’ I said to him in my exquisitely pronounced Spanish, learnt in an English university. He spent a great deal of time polishing a glass, rubbing and chafing it with a cloth until it squeaked like a frightened mouse. ‘There is no zoo,’ he said in a deliberate voice. ‘But I heard a lion’s roar in the middle of the night.’ I saw that his left eye was starting to twitch. ‘It came from just over there.’ I pointed to the park. ‘Dogs,’ he said. He licked his finger and smoothed down his moustache. ‘No zoo.’ I wanted to question him further, to engage him in a conversation about zoos. For I knew about zoos: my uncle had been a zoo keeper. A kindly man with hair sprouting, multi layered like an orangutan and eyes the same colour as a seal’s coat, his job was to look after the ape house. It is said that ...

It is with great pleasure that I am able to present The Zoo Keeper , a short story by Brighton-based author Amanda Sington-Williams . The story will be serialised on Book After Book twice weekly over the next five weeks. It has been read at Short Fuse live literature events at Brighton Komedia and is also available in downloadable format from Ether Books . So, are you sitting comfortably? Then let’s begin… The Zoo Keeper Part 1 of 10 By Amanda Sington-Williams It was before dawn when the first growl wove through my dream. A few minutes later a howl startled me out of sleep. I hurried over to the balcony that overlooked the park. This was my first night in my new apartment and it was the balcony with its balustrades and pots of flowering geraniums that had first attracted me to it. Chosen out of dozens advertised for renting in the local Spanish newspaper, the aspect was just what I was looking for. After I’d unpacked, I’d taken a walk round the park: a playground, a ...