This is a true story. I had gone to Australia, and in any case, I wanted to gather some scenes from Australia for a book I was writing. Even though I had gone for a different reason to give some lectures. And I remember that on the eve of my departure, I realized I hadn’t seen a single kangaroo. That’s the story.
You hear about kangaroos everywhere there, and you see them too on signs, on flags, on coats of arms, and so on but I hadn’t seen a live one. I had stayed in the city.
So, I went to the zoo, just to have seen the animal at least once. And there I met a lady, around fifty, thin, dressed in green. She was a zookeeper, and all the zoo employees there wear green. Which I don’t find very clever, because the whole natural environment is green so the staff basically disappear. You can’t see them at all. How does that even work?
But anyway, that’s the Australians’ idea. This lady, very kind, says to me: “Of course you’re leaving, but I’ll show you the kangaroos,” and we start walking. The zoo was like a jungle.
We walk and walk, pass by gorillas and various animals, and just before we reach the kangaroo area, she says, “Just so you know, kangaroos sleep at midday.” I say, “Just like the Greeks.” It was one o’clock. And we reach the kangaroos, which were in an open space, not even fenced off, and all of them, about twenty, the size of donkeys were lying on the grass.
The lady and I stopped in front of them, and she said: “I’m so sorry that you’ll leave without seeing them run.”
And then she said, “I’ll show you how they do it.”
And as we stood there, this lady who knew the animals very well and had built her career in the zoo,put her hands in front of her and started hopping like the animals do. Meanwhile, the kangaroos, who had opened one eye and were watching her, must have wondered whether humans had started copying them too. I believe the animals were somewhat impressed.
I remembered this scene, which was also very touching, because it showed the great kindness of that woman in doing that.
And I also remember this is an extension of the story that with me was a Greek professor from the university there, the one who had invited me. And that evening, when I recounted the scene during a talk at the university, everyone burst out laughing. After the talk, this professor, who had been right next to me during the incident, said: “You know what? I didn’t even notice that scene, because it wasn’t very spectacular.” We had just been sitting there, maybe he was looking elsewhere, the lady was doing her little hops, and he paid no attention. He was a literature professor, and I said to him: “That’s exactly how it should be. It’s not your job to notice that scene it’s mine. When I put it in a book, then it will become yours too.” Because when I lived through that scene, I said (let’s say) to myself: this is the ending of a chapter.