02.03.2004 - 4:20 p.m.

You can tell by the attention I give to the site how much work I have to do through the day, it's a zero sum game of corporate responsibility vs my desire to blow this place and slack off, so hurrah for a timely alignment of european managerial meetings and holidays.

If you didn't read the last entry ( and why not ?) you will have missed my talentless cry for help, I need some dark, gothiky, superhero art as a pictorial header to go with the FaunaMan entries, I can't illustrate at a level above crayons and potato printing, so if you want to show off and have me praise you into the bargain send me a link or note or guestbook thingy describing just how fantastic you are, and how much better my D-house will be with your artwork on it.

If you missed the last one, it can be found Here, and shame on you for not keeping up. And now that Pearl & Dean have fucked off, it's time for the main picture....... ~focus~........

Harald Goethe finished his cup of coffee, rinsed the mug out and left it to drain on the worktop, he checked his appearance in the small mirror on his way to the door and satisfied, he picked up the clipboard hanging near the door and stepped out of the employee canteen ensuring the door was closed behind him. He found himself in the reptile house in amongst a small crowd of school children who were busy pressing their faces up to the glass of the exhibits and making too much noise, the inconspicuous door behind him, with the small 'private' sign hanging on it was almost invisible in the half light. He walked through the reptile house checking each tank as he went, as he passed there was an imperceptible movement of the animals in turn as they followed his progress. He thought he heard something, just on the edge of his senses, like a dry leafy, rattling sound, he was used to that in here, when the zoo was closed and quiet it was easier to hear but it was always there.

The reptile house ended and he was outside in the sunshine, he blinked for a minute, looked at the clipboard and walked down a narrow path in between two enclosures, to his left the Lemurs were gathered around their own lunch of fruit and seeds, one enterprising baby had captured a large beetle and was noisily working through it, they all turned to watch him as he passed, Harald blinked deliberately back to them, the Lemurs went back to their food. The enclosure to his right was empty at the moment but being prepared for a family of porcupines who were due to arrive from another park at the end of the week.

As he worked his way round the park checking each animal as he went it was always the same, the animals regarded him quietly and he acknowledged them just as quietly, there were no distressed animals, one of the panthers had hurt its paw a week ago after landing awkwardly from jumping down off its shelter, but was now happy basking in the afternoon sun.

As the head keeper ( and the most experienced with large cats ) it had been his job when it happened to go into the cage and check the panther out, this was a spectator event for the other staff ( they only saw to the animals medically after the park was closed ) and they gathered round to watch. Harald let himself into the cage, climbed up onto the platform and sat down, at first a nose appeared in the doorway, sniffing the air and bit by bit 'Kochee' the panther came out into the cage, he was definitely limping and seeing the 'two legs' on his platform made his way up the ramp. Once nearly at the top he and Harald spent several minutes staring into each others eyes before Kochee came up onto the platform and sat down. Harald slowly took the injured paw and lifted it to inspect, there was no sign of obvious damage but when he felt around, there was some tenderness on the underside and Kochee let him know he didn't like it being squeezed by bearing his teeth. With only superficial damage, Harald put down the paw and stared into Kochee's eyes before taking a small hypodermic syringe from a pack and loading up an anti-inflammatory shot. Kochee had had a shot before and watched the syringe intently, Harald put his hand on the back of the panther's head and grabbed a handful of skin and gently pushed the needle in and emptied it, Kochee didn't make a sound, when he was finished he put the syringe back in the pack and massaged the back of Kochee's neck with both hands, Kochee made a kind of cat smile, shut his eyes and enjoyed it. After a few minutes Harald eased himself off the platform and left the cage, once outside he returned the first-aid pack to the medical centre, a junior keeper came up to him,

'How do you do that ?' she asked, 'Do what ?' said Harald smiling,

'Y'know, sit in there with a cranky panther, feel its paw and give it a shot without getting your neck broken ?'

'The key is being calm, animals know when you're scared or nervous and will act on it, be calm and the animal will also be calm. And get to know the animals, once they are comfortable around you you'll be fine.'

'Rather you than me' she said and left to join her colleagues, 'that's what I think' he said under his breath.

It was dark by the time he finished his final checks of the day, he swapped some idle chat with the night incoming night watch before hanging up his jacket in the locker and walking to his car, the drive home was uneventful and as he pulled into the drive he could see many eyes staring from the windows of his house, glowing from the headlights of the car. First thing on getting in the house was to feed the various animals who gathered awaiting his return each evening, once they were fed he made his own dinner and then sat down for a while until his food had settled.

After a while he made his way down the stairs to the cellar, it was a normal cellar, stacked with this and that, at the back was an old wardrobe covered in dust, he opened the door and stepped into the wardrobe, closing the door behind him.

What should have been the back of a wardrobe was in fact a tunnel, it led into the earth at a slight decline and after a few hundred metres opened up into a largish cave about fifty metres long and ten metres high and lit with low wattage bulbs. Along one side were a series of five grey boxes, each about the size of a large wardrobe, he placed his palm against a black glass panel set in the front of one of the grey boxes which glowed briefly and with a click and a hiss the front swung open to reveal a row of three suits hanging from a rail, and in large pigeon holes were gloves, boots and a mask.

As he changed into the suit he noticed a small collection of raccoons clustered around a console desk watching him, they often came down here and sort of kept the place tidy. He tucked the mask into his belt and opened another of the grey boxes, inside was a large cardboard box lined with old jumpers and nestling in the jumpers were his specially bred Pine Martens, he leant into the box and when he stood up seven Martens had attached themselves to his arms and were making quiet warbling noises, he reached round to the slim pack on the back of his suit and pressed a button, a door popped open and the Martens clambered through the door and into the pack. Once he was satisfied everything was set, he followed another narrower tunnel which ended in a dilapidated garage, he got into the innocuous looking car, turned it on and drove off.

He parked the car at the back of the abandoned cinema two blocks from the wharf and pulled on the mask, as the connection was made the suit powered up, what had been a grey, overcast night was now though the mask a bright, green tinted day, the shadows had vanished and everything was clearly defined, he felt the synthetic muscles in the suit expand slightly and then contract. He looked up to the top of the fire escape attached to the cinema, the distance flashed up in his peripheral vision, he crouched down low, tensed and launched himself into the air.

He landed softly on the top of the cinema, walked to the front and leaned over a low wall, the road below drained the remainder of the days traffic from the neighbourhood and to the east, the lights of the city center were cutting into the night sky. He checked his watch and looked around, on the other side of the road and to the north was a slightly taller building, only a hundred and forty metres away as well, for a moment he crouched like a sprinter on the blocks and in a heartbeat was an ascending blur in the sky.