The story so far: It’s Christmas Eve, and four residents of the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo — Rafiki the gorilla, Bomani the meerkat, Uhura the giraffe and Malaika the elephant — have been transformed into humans.

By the time the four reached The Broadmoor, light had cracked open the darkness of the eastern sky, and a warm, red glow embraced the mountains behind them. Even so, The Broadmoor’s thousands of white Christmas lights still dazzled.

Uhura, when she had found herself outside the zoo, had wondered if she had made a mistake, if she should have turned down this “gift of being human and instead stayed with her fellow giraffes, safe and warm. Now she gazed around in awe.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispered as the four of them roamed the grounds of the grand resort.

Though still early, The Broadmoor was already buzzing with activity. Silverware and glasses tinkled as tables were set. Floors were being polished. A few hardy souls were jogging around the lake despite the early morning chill.

The human world, it seemed, was a kind and caring place. Anyone who passed them, they noticed, greeted them with a warm smile and a hearty “Good morning.”

The four of them watched as one woman, her arms full of wrapped presents, tripped on a sidewalk, scattering the gifts everywhere. A Broadmoor staffer, a young man, appeared seemingly out of nowhere, helping the woman to her feet and gathering up the packages. The two quickly vanished into the historic hotel, engaged in warm conversation.

It would have been tempting to spend the entire day in the grace of The Broadmoor, but Rafiki and the others were also eager to see more.

“I say we split up,” Bomani said. “That way we can experience more of the human, uh, experience.”

“Agreed,” Rafiki said. He looked at Uhura and Malaika.

“I assume you’d both like one of us to be with you?”

“Wrong,” sniffed Malaika. “At the zoo, I live with two other females and we get along fine. We don’t need a male to watch over us.”

Rafiki shrugged.

“Fine. The runt and I, then, and you two. Let’s meet back here when it’s dark.”

Malaika and Uhura, with the help of a Broadmoor employee, hailed a cab. Rafiki and Bomani hopped on a bus.

They were off.

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