The Whispering Zoo

About this story

Winnie Hart is unlucky. After getting fired from entertainment in three months, she lands a job at Southridge Zoo and discovers she can hear animals talk. The tiger Waffles fakes starvation for snacks. The monkeys crowd around chanting "Single Winnie!" The red-crowned crane Reggie critiques visitors like a retired gentleman. And every ten seconds, the goldfish reboots: "Who am I? Where am I?" Meanwhile, her mysterious zoo director — who hired her sight unseen, texts her with a smug smiley-face profile picture, and keeps giving her bonuses for no reason — turns out to be breathtakingly handsome, from a family that's communicated with animals for generations, and has been her secret fan since the night he watched her nearly trip onstage, recover without blinking, and buy a lottery ticket on the way home. When a hit reality show films at the zoo, Winnie goes viral, the animals become internet celebrities, and the director finally runs out of excuses to hide what every creature in the zoo already knows.