Belly Up Quotes

“Mickey Mouse is just a rat in suspenders.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“It’s as though I went down to Disneyland and assassinated Mickey Mouse.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“Yeah,” I said. “Back when I was in the Congo, kids our age were dying of malaria and malnutrition and half their families had been killed in the war, but they’d always say, ‘Thank God no one’s taking pictures of us against our will.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“A capybara is the world’s biggest rodent. It looks more like a compacted Airedale than a giant rat, but I’d still never heard anyone refer to one as a “sweetheart” before.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“Dad often said that if J.J. McCracken set his money on fire, the next day, burned dollars would be worth more than gold.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“Henry was dead. The men had been trying to subdue the warthog for a while with no success, and Doc was in a nasty mood. But then, Doc tended to be in a nasty mood most of the time anyhow, so I figured maybe he’d be too distracted by the warthog to get angry with me for bringing bad news. Doc had just backed the warthog into a corner of its paddock when I arrived. He was a tall man, well-muscled from years of overpowering animals and baked brown from long days in the sun, with a mustache so thick it looked like a wooly bear caterpillar had fallen asleep on his upper lip. He groaned when he saw me, though I didn’t take it personally. Doc pretty much groaned in response to anyone approaching him. The only person he actually seemed to like was my mom. (They’d met fifteen years earlier when she’d done a gorilla-research apprenticeship at the Bronx Zoo.) “Beat it, Teddy,” he snapped. “I’m busy.” I’m not sure what I’d ever done to earn Doc’s distaste. I think merely being human was enough. “Martin told me to come get you,” I said. Doc’s reaction proved he liked Martin even less than me. “Go tell Martin to go jump in a lake.” “Henry’s dead,” I told him. Doc and the keepers were surprised enough to take their eyes off the angry warthog. They all glanced at me for a moment to confirm I wasn’t making a bad joke, then quickly returned”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“Without any warning, he’d hoist his rear out of the water and fire away.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“In the wild, male hippopotamuses occasionally exhibit an extremely disgusting method of battling for dominance: They aim their butts at one another and fire streams of feces.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“attractive shade of purple.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“As J.J. often pointed out (incorrectly): “Mickey Mouse is just a rat in suspenders.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“all PR disasters.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“one called security to report that a family had forgotten one of their children.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“throwing”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“The”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“Children would be devastated. And we’d look like we’re running a secondhand outfit here—which might be exactly what the killer wants.” “Why?” I asked. J.J. looked around cautiously, assessing how close the other guests were before answering. There was a small cluster of people nearby, so J.J. led us all down toward the tigers. A man-made waterfall thundered into the canyon there, loud enough to drown out most noise. Below us, four tigers slunk through the grass at the bottom of the”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“who kicked Martin’s ass on this, so if you’ve got a bone to pick, it’s with me. Carnivore Canyon’s opening tomorrow. We’re supposed to have a jaguar exhibit with no jaguars?”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“I had good references, a degree from Clown College…” Summer laughed. “Clown College. That’s funny.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“Anytime a new animal arrived, it was the lead story. I’d seen a newspaper survey that said Henry was the second-most recognized celebrity in the state, just behind J.J. McCracken but ahead of the quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys. So his death was huge news.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“No one there had liked Henry, not even his keepers. But his death now, so shortly after the park had opened, was most likely going to be a public-relations disaster.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“An autopsy? For Henry? Martin’s not going to like that.” Doc smiled for what was probably the first time that day. “No, I suspect he won’t like it at all.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“been”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“There was a whine from Kashmir. The tiger had licked an ice sculpture and got its tongue stuck to it.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“Disney”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“let having money go to his head.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“J.J. often pointed out (incorrectly):”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“Within seconds, the whole chimpanzee troop was lobbing balloons, howling with delight as they pelted the family from all sides.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“Buck slipped past his security men and Summer’s bodyguards and dashed for the hall. . . . . . . When Large Marge stepped into his path and punched him in the nose. There was a loud crack, a small spurt of blood, and then Buck dropped flat on his back, unconscious. Marge cracked her knuckles and looked J.J. McCracken square in the eyes. “Who’re you calling incompetent?” she asked.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“squirrel monkey”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“I held up the lunch bag. “Actually, Mom gave me a stool sample to give to him.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up

“He genuinely enjoyed shooting poop at people. There was no rhyme or reason to it, except that he was said to have an uncanny knack for knowing which zoo visitor was wearing the most expensive outfit. Without any warning, he’d hoist his rear out of the water and fire away.”
― Stuart Gibbs, Belly Up