I Am Not Uptight!

The Zoo part 8

A couple of aww's echoed, while Daniel froze once more and looked to Mr. Pritch for help. The guide, however, was of no use. He proudly smiled, said, “Look at that, he likes you!” and only continued to tell the group about Marshall's species and the human-like things he had learnt to do.

This went on for a solid minute—seemingly the longest minute in Daniel's life thus far. Marshall remained nicely on his lap, occasionally poking and examining his face while he sat there. 

And then he decided to climb up Daniel’s shoulder and play with the man's ear and hair.

To everyone that was watching, it seemed like a “cutesy’ little moment of a tiny animal showing affection, but Josh had never seen Daniel become as still and quiet like that. 

He did not know the whole story behind it, but he new exactly what Daniel was doing. He saw the look on Daniel's face when their eyes met for a second right before he stepped up to the task. It wasn’t that hard to see. The man was trying to prove something and in doing so, got more than he could take. Despite his attempts to put on a brave face, the deathly terrified look in his eyes and the beads of sweat forming on his forehead even during the cold day were very telling.

Now, Josh was never one to meddle—especially in affairs like this where he barely knew the person or the person put himself in such a position—but he couldn’t help but feel a little responsible. 

So, Josh looked to Gary and Dustin. “Shouldn’t we go help him?” he asked in a whisper, but Dustin had taken out his phone and was recording the entire thing on video with a devious smile, while Gary was right behind him on it.

“One more minute,” Dustin replied to Josh as he zoomed into Dustin's face. 

Josh had never had any siblings or a group of close friends that did things like tease each other in public, pull pranks, or bicker, so this whole dynamic had been foreign—and frankly a bit disconcerting especially at first—to him. However, he soon realized that these new housemates of his, unruly and carefree as they liked to be, did not know when to stop and how to set boundaries. Whereas Josh only knew how to do that.

“Mr. Pritch,” he found himself suddenly stepping up when the guide was telling Daniel that he should try to feed the animal some food, which only made the panic in the man's eyes worsen. “Can I try to feed Marshall? I thought about it and I think I should give it a try. I’ve never seen monkeys up close.” That was a lie, of course, that even Dustin and Gary who he had been living with for only more than a week knew. Feeding primates had never been something in his bucket list, but he figured it would just be a slight inconvenience for him compared to Daniel.

“Josh, right? Come on up!” Mr. Pritch seemed delightfully surprised as he waved him over. Then he turned and did a gesture to Marshall that made him get off Daniel and sit on the guide's shoulder. “Thank you, Daniel, for being our first volunteer!” 

The relief of Daniel's face was apparent as he was finally able to stand up. He didn’t even bother to say anything and just walked back to join the group while Josh took his place.

“You can hand this to Marshall with your palm up,” Mr. Pritch handed Josh a glove and a piece of fruit. He did precisely as he was told and the monkey took it quickly before running back to the guide's shoulder and munch on his snack. “There you go, nice and easy, right? Look at the little guy so happy.”

He was right. Just like that, it was done and over with. Josh had been reluctant to step up before, but then he found himself not minding it as much as he thought he would. 

After him, the guide asked for other volunteers and a couple more people raised their hands. Josh took off the glove and stepped back feeling quite proud of himself. It was just a little thing he did—something even little kids could do—but it was new for him. Something he wouldn’t do if not given a push—and it was enough to give him a small rush of adrenaline.

He was still highly doubtful, but he was beginning to think that maybe Daniel was right. He could use more experiences like this.

With a small smile on his face, Josh watched as the others lined up and took pictures with the guide and Marshall. Dustin was also there, being pushed by Gary to the front to feed the monkey. Daniel, however, was not within the group. It took Josh a couple of seconds to spot his crazy hair in the crowd. He was standing far back, leaning a hand against the fence with his back turned. 

Josh looked at the tour group, and with all of them still busy, decided to come up to Daniel. He couldn’t see his face, but he could see his shoulders moving as he took deep breaths.

“You okay?” Josh asked, causing him to startle.

Daniel straightened up and ran a hand through his ever messy hair in a failed attempt to fix it before turning around. “I’m fine!” he replied with a smile that was trying hard to be convincing, but it was clear as day that he was still somewhat shaken. “I’m great, actually. Did you see that? I was—I was very, you know, like what I told you—try new things. Something like that. Be more free.” Even Josh knew that he knew he was rambling nonsense. 

“Yes, you seemed real loosened up back there,” he said with sarcasm, making Daniel softly chuckle in his embarrassment.

“We should probably get back, huh?”

Josh turned to check on their group and saw that they were beginning to move on with the tour. He was never one to veer away, but then he saw the look on Daniel's face and knew what he had to do.

“You know what,” he said, “come on, let’s get you something to drink.”

Daniel's expression suddenly turned to that of surprise, as if Josh just said something worthy of such a reaction. “Are you saying,” he asked with a growing smile, “that we should ditch the tour?”

Josh didn’t think of it as ditching. It’s more of like when you’re in a classroom and you need to excuse yourself to go to the restroom. Or more like helping someone who looks like they’re about to pass out to go to the school nurse's room.

But with the excitement on Daniel's face and the residual burst of energy he got from volunteering to feed a primate, he decided to humor him and nodded. “Yes, sure. Let’s go ditch the tour.”