Shadow Over the Meerkat Mound- 適合中高級的英語短篇故事

Dry mud had crusted on Lyle's sneakers as he shuffled toward the rope queue outside the penguin feeding deck. A keeper rolled a short wooden cask of fish across the planks, its hoops rattling. Keira rose on tiptoe beside him, yet the adults ahead formed an unbroken wall of shoulders. Just past the rope, the timetable board had been updated earlier, but the numbers looked wrong. Lyle copied her stance, calves tightening while he balanced like a gymnast, knees humming as he waited. Even so, only the feeder’s yellow hat and a trace of briny air reached them above the swaying heads. A breeze tugged a gossamer strand from the rail and brushed his cheek, making him wobble. His heels thudded onto the concrete, and a pebble popped free from the path and slid toward a resting pigeon near the fence.

The pebble nudged the pigeon’s tail feathers; the bird shot upward, its wings brushing air close to Keira’s ear. The sudden shadow slid over the neighbouring meerkat mound, and every narrow back stiffened before the colony dived underground. Loose sand hit the acrylic wall, prompting several adults ahead to lean aside and wipe their camera lenses. The gap they left opened a thin window, yet Lyle still needed extra height to use it fully. He slid one boot onto a raised footprint marker and balanced like a gymnast, knees humming as fish splashed into hungry beaks. A visitor beside him tapped a pocket translator; the small speaker chirped and the plastic seahorse on her cap bobbed. Keira wished they had arrived earlier as the keeper lowered a wooden panel to calm the birds. At the same hour, an iguana under reptile-house lamps inched toward drifting mist along the far glass.

萊爾的運動鞋上結了乾泥，當他拖著步子走到企鵝餵食區外的排繩時仍可看見。飼育員把裝滿魚的矮木桶在木板上推過，鐵箍發出碰撞聲。凱拉踮腳站在他旁邊，但前面的大人形成了一堵肩膀牆。排繩旁的時間表剛更新過，數字卻又似乎不準。萊爾模仿凱拉的姿勢，腿肚繃緊地像體操選手一樣平衡等待。即便如此，他們只能看到餵食員的黃色帽子和一絲腥鹹氣味越過晃動的人頭飄來。一陣風把欄杆上的蛛絲拂到他臉上，使他身形一晃。腳跟重擊地面時，一顆小石子從路面跳出，滑向圍欄旁休息的鴿子。

石子碰到鴿子尾羽，牠立刻竄上空中，翅尖掠過凱拉耳畔。突然出現的影子掠過鄰近的狐獴土丘，所有細長的背瞬間僵住，接著整群鑽回地下。鬆沙打在壓克力牆上，前排幾位大人側身擦拭相機鏡頭。空出的縫隙提供了細窄視窗，萊爾仍需再高一點才能看清。他把一隻靴子踩上突起的足跡標記，像體操選手般保持平衡，膝蓋微顫時魚群已濺入飢餓的喙中。旁邊的遊客拍了拍袖珍翻譯機，小喇叭發出啾聲，而她帽上的塑膠海馬隨之上下擺動。餵食員放下木板安撫鳥群時，凱拉心想如果早點來就好了。同時，爬蟲館燈光下的一隻鬣蜥正朝遠處玻璃邊飄散的霧移動。