The look in the tiger's eyes was one that I would never forget. As I looked at Jojo the tiger through the bars of her cage, she stared at me. My younger sister Lilly smiled, jumping up and down while slurping her cherry Icee.

"Hi Jojo," she said, "I'm Lilly. Do you wanna be friends? I could come visit you every day this month. I would visit you every day this year, but I'm going back to Miami after this month."

I smiled and wished I could be four again. I didn't appreciate it while it was happening. I needed a second chance, just to live it again, only this time I would know how lucky I was.

"I don't know if mom wants to take you to the zoo every day this month." I said.

"I know!" Lilly's face lit up, "Tina, you could take me!"

"Lilly, I don't have a driver's license," I replied.

"Yeah you do. You turned sixteen yesterday and you have to be sixteen to get a driver's license. So you could go buy one right now."

I laughed at that. She was pretty clever for a three-year-old. But sometimes she got her facts confused. 

© 2007 Cassidy P.K. Original for CCF  (Cassidy P.K. grants CCF  first electronic rights for one month; CCF  may archive the material indefinitely and include it in an eBook anthology).

* CCF does not publish students' last names on the work they submit for publication.