We live in a zoo.

The zoo’s residents simply moved in with us. We didn’t invite them. They’re here 24/7. They follow us wherever we go. Into the living room, the den, our bedrooms. They join us for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Uninvited, though they may be.

They climb into our cars with us. They demand to be fed, heard, obeyed. Their voices penetrate our tender eardrums.

Their roaring and braying is incessant. We try to tune them out. Turn them off.   We simply can’t get away from them.  They even call our cell phones.

Who knew elephants and donkeys could be so smart?  And so annoying.

I think they’ll go into hibernation in a few days but sometimes I wonder. Will they go peacefully and quietly back to their enclosures?   Or will they continue to fuss and quarrel?

Will their keepers try to tame them or just let them roam at random? As they have for the past two years?

We just don’t know yet, do we?