The Reminder

Working with zoo sloths was never boring.

Contest Prompt

someone learning an important lesson from their encounter with a sloth.

“Who would have thought?” Steven checked the climate control readings. Temperature between 75 and 85 F, humidity 60-80%, crucial as anything else could shut down their slow acting digestive system.

“Next on the list.” He eyeballed the climbing structures with a central trunk and branches of varying widths, platforms for resting, and visual screens for hiding. “Looks good.”

The broad spectrum lighting was set up for twelve hours on, twelve off, with shaded nooks to adjust for exposure. “Nothing burnt out.”

“Here you go, buddy.” A fresh mix of leaf, flower, and low fiber fruit had to be hung in long strips for easy reach.

Henry studied the Sloth’s appearance for health concerns. It might look like they slept forever, but if one didn’t move over an extended period of time, it meant something had stressed it out. He watched as the critter slowly adjusted its grip and inch by inch moved to the floor. “Good on you.”

Sloth’s lose a third of their body weight when they poo once a week. It is the only time they leave their high rise home. In the wild, that is when they are most at risk of being made a meal by a roving Ocelot or Jaguar.

Henry checked his watch. It was about time for the zoo to open. Only by providing stimulating changes in the Sloth’s environment would visitors see it move. Henry changed the placement of resting platforms, food strings, and sprayed new scents on toys.

“Done and none too soon.” One thing Sloths had taught Henry was that even their slow paced lives required consistent loving care and support in order to thrive. It was a daily reminder for how to treat his wife and kids, and how he liked to be treated in return.

Harry nodded at the patrons in the gift shop as he tucked a spray of flowers into one hand for his wife and a boxed set of the newest toy animals in the other for his kids.

WC 335