They come to see the nocturnal house. In the dark, the slow loris moves like a thought unfinished. The aye-aye taps its skeletal finger against the branch. And here, in the blue glow of the reptile room, he finally kisses her. Not because he wants to. But because the glass between the snakes and the visitors has fogged up, and for one second, they cannot see the future. Only the blur.

She does not cry. Instead, she places her palm against the glass. The orangutan, impossibly, places his palm on the other side. Three species of loneliness—human, ape, city—pressed against a single transparent wall.

It is a window.

Then, one December, he returns. Not to stay. Just for a day. They meet at the zoo’s entrance, the old gate that has not changed since 1882. The animals are the same. The tigers pace. The cranes endure. The orangutan’s glass has a new scratch.

And that is enough.