Meera was bored. School was closed for the winter holidays, and she was tired of being home all day.

She had not met her best friend, Meena, for a whole week. Her older sister, Rani, had no time to bother with her. Even the weather was boring, cold and grey, with not a ray of sunshine.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. “Meera!” called Mummy. “Look who’s here!” It was Meena, with her mother and father. Meera cheered up at once!

“The Zoo!” said Meera in joy. “Oh Mummy, can I really go with Meena?”

“Yes, of course,” said Mummy smiling.

Meera ran to put on her shoes. 

“Bye Meera,” called Mummy, “have a lovely time and be good!”

“We’ll take the tram,” said Meena’s mother, smiling at the two excited girls. 

Meera liked Auntie Rina very much. She was always cheerful and great fun. 

The children climbed on to the tram and settled themselves by the window for the long ride to the Zoo.

Meera could see the gleaming steel tracks, like narrow railway tracks, along which the tram was running. If she tilted her head to one side and squinted upwards, she could catch a glimpse of the overhead cable sparking and swinging as the tram passed by.

Auntie Rina opened a bag and gave each of the girls a banana. “For you,” she said laughing. “Not for the monkeys at the Zoo!”

“We’re there, girls!” called Uncle Suresh.
“Now remember, hold hands and stay close to us,” said Auntie Rina.

Uncle Suresh went to buy tickets for all of them, and in they went to the Zoo.

Meera had not had so much fun in a long time. She liked all the animals, but her favourite was the big grey elephant called Chandni.

Chandni lived in the elephant enclosure with two other elephants. She loved little children almost as much they loved her.

Chandni’s keeper, Ashok,  gave Meera and Meena some peanuts for the elephant. “Hold them out in your hands,” he said. “Chandni loves peanuts, especially if children feed them to her.”

The elephant reached out over the fence with her trunk, and gently took the peanuts from their hands.

“Oh!’ cried Meena, laughing. “That tickled!”

“Look, look!" called out a group of children excitedly. “The peacocks are dancing!”

Meera and Meena ran over to the peacock enclosure. The beautiful birds had spread their colourful tails in a glittering fan over their backs, and were circling slowly around their cage.

“It seems as though they can hear music that we can’t!” said Meena’s mother. Auntie Rina was as fascinated by the glorious birds as the children.

Uncle Suresh then led the way to the tiger enclosure.

The two tigers lived in a large grassy enclosure with a deep moat around it. “So that they don’t get out,” explained Uncle Suresh.The tigers were fast asleep on a sunny rock. “They’ve probably had a good lunch,” said Meena’s father.

Auntie Rina laughed. “What about our lunch?” she asked.

Meera and Meena realised that they were hungry.

“Last stop – monkeys!” called Uncle Suresh after everyone had eaten and cleared away the picnic.

The monkeys’ cage was hung with ropes and swings and tyres. The monkeys were swinging and jumping and running all over. They seemed to be having a marvellous time.

Meena laughed and clapped her hands. The monkeys were so much fun!

“We must go home now,” said Meena’s mother. The day had passed much too quickly for the children. They wished they could stay longer.

The children chattered excitedly about their day all the way back. Meera was dying to tell Rani all about the animals she had seen that day..

At home, Meera’s Mummy was waiting for her.

“Bye Meena,” said Meera. “And thank you Auntie Rina, Uncle Suresh, for the best day ever!”

Suddenly Meera was very tired. She was asleep as soon as her head touched her pillow. All night she dreamed of the animals in the Zoo, and of her friend Meena. Winter holidays were not so bad after all!

The End.