When the old keeper forgot one latch, the 400-pound silverback reached through the steel

The children had visited before, years earlier, but they were taller now and less certain around the smell of hay, disinfectant, and animal breath. Maggie stood beside Linda in the observation hall, watching her father speak to Winston through the mesh.

“Did he always talk to him like that?” she asked.

Linda glanced at her. “Like what?”

“Like he doesn’t continue reading …