Bo-Bo At The Zoo

Being the trainer, bus driver, cleaner, fundraiser and general all round do it yourself man at Bosco boxing Bo-Bo could use the club's equipment and facilities when ever he needed them as long as that involved the community .

Bo-Bo decided to use the bus to bring the children from Blueview orphanage on an excursion to the City zoo .
Being an orphan himself Bo-Bo was able to appreciate how hard life can be when you're on your own . That's the reason why Bo-Bo like to give the children at Blueview orphanage special treats now and then . He was able to give something that he never got and doing this kind of thing made him feel good about himself .

So after he got the ok from the authorities at the orphanage he approached some of the business people in the village for donations that would cover the cost of the excursion . As always most people were only glad to help Bo-Bo .

Last of all he knocked on his old friend Charlie's front door .

"Charlie would you ever do me a favour . Listen I want you to come along with me on the bus tomorrow and help me with an excursion to the zoo .

"To the Zoo ."
Charlie asked .

Bo-Bo replied .
"Yes to the zoo ."

"With who to the zoo ? ."
Asked Charlie .

"With you to the zoo ."
Bo-Bo replied .

"And who else ?
Asked Charlie .

Bo-Bo replied,
"Just some of the new kids from Blueview ."

"Which zoo ?
Charlie asked .

"Wildeview Zoo ."
Bo-Bo replied.

Charlie seemed to be stretching the conversation with Bo-Bo and said .
"So its me , you and some kids from Blueview to go to Wildeview zoo.

"Sounds too good Charlie .
Bo-Bo replied .

Charlie slowed up the conversation even more .
"Sounds too good to be true to me too Bo-Bo . So what time will the bus for Wildeview zoo leave then ."?

"Two outside Blueview ."
He answered .

"Then I'll see you at two at Blueview for our trip to Wildview Zoo."

"Is everything all right Charlie .
Bo-Bo said .

Suddenly Charlies Mum came to the door . She looked a little upset and said ,

"Well Charlie are you going to help me with the washing up or are you two just going to stand here and talk all night ?

Oh sure Mum, I'll be right in "
Charlie answered .

Bo-Bo smiled and said
"Now I get it Charlie you were stalling for time to get out of doing the dishes ."

" Bo-Bo I'm always doing the dishes ."
Charlie said .

"Don't let it worry you Charlie . See you at two outside Blueview ."

After he left Charlies house Bo-Bo went and collected the money donations that were promised . Then he went to break the good news to the kids at Blueview Orphanage .

The next day in the bus all the orphans were so excited . It was two and there was no sign of Charlie yet . They waited about fifteen minutes when Bo-Bo decided to call to Charlie house and see what was going on .

When they got there Charlie was up on a ladder cleaning out the gutters around the roof .

"Charlie what's your problem . "

The front door of Charlies house opened up and his Mother stepped outside with her arms folded and said .

"Oh there's no problem Bo-Bo . I told Charles that before he could go to the zoo he had to clean the gutters . You see Bo-Bo after you left last night
he made such a fuss about washing up a few dishes that I ended up doing them myself . Then I grounded him for two weeks ."

"Two weeks ?"
Bo-Bo answered .

Charlies Mother replied with a wink of her eye ,
"Yes . But then he told me about your excursion to the zoo today and how important it was that he had to go because it was his job to order all the lunches for the children on the bus ."

Charlie was embarrassed and shouted down from the top of the ladder .
"Mum don't go and tell all mu business on the street . That's personal stuff ."

Charlies Mother said ,
"So Bo-Bo anyhow the first thing I did was to forbid him from the zoo trip today but then I though how could I disappoint all those kids who might go hungry if Charles wasn't there and I decided I would just ask a small favour of having mu gutters cleaned in return for letting him go to the zoo ."

Bo-Bo winked at her and said ,
"Well that seems like a fair enough bargain ."

"Ok then Charles that will do you with the gutters . Off you go now and have nice trip to the zoo ."

Charlie nearly buckled up in two in his rush to get into the bus .The ladder was thrown to one side and in a matter of minutes they were on the road to Wildeview Zoo .

They where about half way there when the bus broke down .
There was no phone and after a while on the side of the road Bo-Bo waved down a truck and asked for a lift . Lucky for them the truck was going to the zoo with a delivery of goods and so they all clambered in the back of the truck except for Bo-Bo who got in the front with the driver ..
Finally they arrived at the zoo but when the truck driver tried to open the back door of the truck he discovered it wouldn't open .The latch on the door was too old and the rust on it seemed to have welded it tightly shut .
Bo-Bo shouted under the door ,

"Listen it Bo-Bo . The back door won't open but don't worry we'll get you out very soon ."

Bo-Bo could hear Charlie starting to panic in the back and said .

"Charlie they are coming now with a device to open the truck . "

A man with an oxy welder cut through the locking bar on the door and it swung open to everyone's relief .

They all got off the truck and thanked the truck driver and the workman for their trouble . The truck driver said ,

"Oh that's ok . You probably all did me a favour because I should have got that lock fixed a year ago . It's now going to happen so thank you ."

Bo-Bo shook his hand and they all parted friends .

"Oh look at the monkeys .
Said Dan who was one of the orphans . They all went over to the monkey section were a large group of monkeys were housed behind wire in a small monkey sanctuary . A man made river ran through the monkey house bordered by rocks and trees with lots of ropes and things for them to climb and swing on . It looked remotely realistic to their wild habitat . After looking at the monkeys someone asked to see the lions who were also kept nearby .

Bo-Bo and the orphans made their way over to the lions den . Everyone went over except for Charlie who remained at the monkey cage . He was enjoying making funny faces at the monkeys who in turn made faces back at Charlie .
This game continued for a short while until a monkey reached out from behind the cage and grabbed Charlies hat from his head . Behind the wire cage the small monkey sat wearing Charlies hat . It put one finger up in the air as if pointing to the hat to dare Charlie to come and get his hat back .
Sure enough Charlie climbed up the wire cage and jumped over into the monkey enclosure . That's when Bo-Bo spotted what was going on .
He rushed over and called Charlie . Charlie never heard a word that was said and began to chase the monkey with the hat . Bo-Bo scaled up the wire cage and also jumped in and started to chase after Charlie . A crowd gathered around the monkey enclosure thinking it was part of a show the zoo had put on . Charlie was running after monkeys who leapt up on the trees and were swinging on ropes . Bo-Bo was trying to grab Charlie who followed everywhere the monkeys went . The audience began to throw coins and even bank notes in through the wire . All of a suddenly Charlie grabbed his hat from the monkey who was swinging from a trapeze . Charlie in turn was tackled by around the legs by Bo-Bo who almost dragged him by the scruff of the neck over to the wire cage where the audience applauded and threw more money over the wire . Charlie looked at Bo-Bo who waved and started to pick up as much money as he could . Charlie also began picking up the cash . The crowd dispersed thinking that was the end of the show .
Outside the monkey cage Bo-Bo and Charlie counted how much money was thrown in by the public . It added up to one hundred and fifty pounds in total .
Bo-Bo decided that as going to pay for the truck to get fixed and so he rang a motor mechanic to come from the village to fix the truck and bring it up to the zoo where would pay him and bring him back home .
After an hour the mechanic arrived and to Bo-Bo's surprise all that was needed was a new fan belt . Bo-Bo gladly paid twenty five pounds and that was it . With well over a hundred pounds left from the publics generous coin tossing Bo-Bo made a decision that the money should go towards Christmas presents for the orphans. So on a date set they would go into town and buy some things for Christmas at Blueview .

When the animals had all been seen and they were on their way out of the zoo an attendant approached Bo-Bo and asked for the money for their admittance .

Bo-Bo had forgot that because all the orphan children were in the back of the truck when they arrived he hadn't actually paid for their entrance .
He apologised and paid the fee and they left Wildeview Zoo for Blueview .

Once back in the village Bo-Bo escorted everyone back to the orphanage .
They were all tired after a long day .
A week before Christmas Bo-Bo and Charlie went into town and purchased a tall Christmas tree and bought some fairy lights, tinsel and decorations . With the money that was still left some toys were bought and plans were also made for a Christmas dinner at the orphanage .

Sure enough Blueview were in for a real special treat this Christmas .

By Paul McCann

The End