Doctor Who_ The Forgotten Army - Brian Minchin [20]
The Doctor smiled and tried to explain himself. 'Ah, right, you think I'm a teacher 'cos of the jacket and the bow tie, ah, I think you'll see their teacher is actually over there.' He pointed to the other side of the path, where a flustered-looking man was having a sneaky cigarette by the koala cage.
The teacher was a deeply uncool man in his forties, flustered, paunchy and wearing a purple shirt and bow tie.
He was trying very hard to ignore the noise of the rowdy children who were meant to be in his care.
Amy laughed out loud. 'You could so be brothers.'
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THE FORGOTTEN ARMY
The keeper pointed down the path. Thank you both. The exit is that way.'
Amy held her hands up as the keeper walked away. 'I am saying nothing. That was just priceless.'
'Yeah, quiet, Pond. Just keep walking...'
The Doctor and Amy followed the keeper's instructions until they were out of sight, then ducked down another back alley. The service path weaved in and out of the animal enclosures and made the Zoo look like a crazy mass of concrete walls, bars and piles of animal dung.
'Where do you put a mammoth in a place like this?' Amy asked.
'Follow me,' said the Doctor, striding off down the dusty path.
As the light faded, and the last visitors left, the Zoo became dominated by the excitable chattering of wildlife.
Macaque monkeys squabbled in the trees, gnus lounged in the long grass and, safe from view, polar bears did energetic laps of their pool, throwing pieces of fish to each other as if they were playing water polo.
As they walked, the Doctor told Amy the best way to deal with wild animals. 'In a place like this they're all well fed, so you've no real need to worry. Out in the wild there is one very important thing to remember. You need to make sure you look as little like food as possible.'
'Is that it?' Amy said. 'Grrrreat. Top advice.'
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DOCTOR WHO
The Doctor pointed to a crocodile, and they both went very quiet.
Tiptoeing past, the Doctor whispered to Amy when they were well clear of the reptile. 'I don't think he remembered me... Never do a deal with a crocodile, Amy. They tend to eat the contract.'
Amy laughed. 'You expect me to believe everything.'
Finally, they reached the large animal enclosure. The mammoth's cage had been clumsily covered with white plastic sheets, and a double fence closed the area off.
The Doctor looked at Amy. 'One more chance. Keep out signs are like a red rag to a bull for you. I'm sure you can get through here.'
Amy grinned, stepped forward, casually lifted the fence from its support, and stepped through the gap. 'I've never paid for a festival yet.'
Pushing up the bars, the Doctor tore the white plastic sheet down, and found himself face to face with the Polar Woolly Mammoth.
'Whoa! It must have been watching us through the sheets.
That's some eyesight it's got.' The Doctor took his sonic screwdriver out and shone it into the mammoth's eyes.
This is beautiful work,' he said. 'Exceptional. It must have taken years to make an iris and a pupil that work as well as this. And the tusks! Yep, hardened dead hair, definitely real.'
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THE FORGOTTEN ARMY
'So what's fake about it?' Amy asked. As she did, the mammoth let rip a fart. That smells pretty real to me.'
The Doctor was staring absentmindedly into the distance.
'I wonder...' He fiddled with his sonic screwdriver and shone a green light onto the mammoth's fur.
Where the beam touched the fur, the light seemed to linger, as if the sonic screwdriver had caused the fur to glow.
'What are you doing, Doctor?' Amy asked.
The Doctor was too focused on his task to answer. 'This is just amazing...' Swinging up on the bars of the enclosure, the Doctor stood above the beast, and lit the mammoth with a large torch. All of the creature was glowing a mysterious green, phosphorescent in the dark of the Zoo.
'Where did you get that from?' Amy wondered, looking at the torch.
'Big pockets. Not really relevant at the moment.'
'You want me to ask about the fur?'
'It's not fur. Can't be.