The neighbourhood sat peacefully in its place. A few fathers were out mowing the lawn and watering the plants, while their young chased around bubbles and skipped over jump ropes. It was warm out, and the sky was clean from clouds – the perfect day to be outside.
It was the perfect day for a safari.
A faint motor sound grew loud from the distance until finally, it pierced through the neighbourhood bubble, causing one of the fathers to look up from his hose. The other fathers turned their heads toward the source, too. They all stood frozen in place. The kids continued to run around, indifferent to what was happening. The vehicle moved closer and closer until it reached their stretch of houses. It paused before advancing through the neighbourhood at a crawl. The motor sound had dulled. All was quiet – even the children momentarily suspended their activity.
The vehicle slowly rolled down its windows. A family of lions stuck their heads out, roaring with pleasure and amusement. They looked around, watching the humans. They pointed at the funny houses and tools. Some of the human offspring skipped closer to the vehicle to examine it. A few of the lions poked their paws out, and swatted aimlessly at the young, trying to pet them. The young ran off, afraid.
The lions disappeared back into the rolling vehicle for a second, and re-emerged holding white paper cups filled with little orange pellets. They threw the Doritos at the curious humans, who sniffed at them, and then opened their mouths wide in delight. The humans swarmed the vehicle, snatching up as many orange pellets as they could hold, and then scattered off onto their respective lawns.
The lions snapped some photographs, still roaring with delight, and then sped off into the distance, disappearing. The neighbourhood was left confused in their dust with little cheesy orange pellets littering the ground.
