Three
883 Words
That night, I tossed and turned. My dreams were filled with thoughts of those poor animals, forced to fight for the enjoyment of people.
I sat up in bed, drenched in sweat, and shaking with frustration. I looked at the clock. It was only midnight.
My cat, Alfie, jumped off the bed in frustration after I accidentally pulled the covers out from under him. My phone buzzed, so I picked it up, expecting it to be one of Nick’s late-night email requests.
It was a text from McKenna, my best friend, asking if I was up. Rather than text her back, I called her.
“Hey, girl!” she squealed. She sounded like she’d had a few drinks.
“Hey, you! What’s going on?”
McKenna filled me in on the latest goings on with her boyfriend. She seemed pretty happy with this one, the last one wasn’t good for her.
“So, enough about Ian. How’s that internship? Meet any office cuties?”
I laughed. “No. No cuties, I think I’m the youngest there by a decade. At least. But everyone is super nice. Besides, I don’t have time for a boyfriend. Next semester is going to be crazy busy.”
“Girl. Whoever said anything about a boyfriend? Everyone needs a little action now and again.”
She laughed and I smiled.
“I guess so.”
“Get you some.” I could practically see the s**t-eating grin on her face through her words.
“Let me ask you a question,” I said.
“Go on, it’s about a boy isn’t it? Your boss?”
“No, McKenna! Sheesh. He could be my dad. This is serious.”
“Oh, okay. Sorry.”
“What would you do if you got a call about animal fighting?”
I explained the whole thing to her. Everything from the call to Nick and Laura’s reactions.
“I just don’t get how they can be so casual about it, you know? What if they’re wrong? What do I do, Kenna?”
She was so quiet for a minute that I was afraid she’d fallen asleep. Finally she spoke.
“You need to get them to listen to you. Wouldn’t they rather be right than wrong about this?”
“That’s what I said. I’m afraid that if I push it too far, I’ll lose this internship. I have to get into this veterinary program.”
“Well, if you can’t push it any further with your boss, how about you go check it out yourself?”
“What? That’s crazy. I don’t have the authority to—”
“But The Menagerie doesn’t know that, do they?”
I lay in bed all night thinking about my best friend’s words. Sure, she was drunk, but what other choice did I have? If Nick and Laura weren’t interested in checking it out, I needed to.
For the animals.
The next morning at the office, I couldn’t focus at all. The caller’s voice still sounded in my mind.
I thought of the dog fighting rings that had been broken up recently in my city. As horrible as dog fighting was, fighting endangered animals seemed even more unconscionable in comparison. Just thinking of the pain--
“Beth, hello. Anybody home?”
Startled, I dropped my pen and knocked my computer mouse on the floor trying to catch the pen.
My cheeks grew hot.
I gave up on the pen and the mouse and looked at Nick. He stood at my desk with his arms crossed. He furrowed his brow.
“Are you feeling alright? You seem a little off today.”
“Yeah, Nick. Thank you for asking. I’m just a little distracted today, I guess.”
“Is this about the call you took yesterday about The Menagerie?”
I nodded and tried to swallow back the giant lump that had appeared in my throat.
“What if there is something? It would be really bad if we had a tip off and never looked into it. I just couldn’t stand the thought of all that suffering and us doing nothing.”
Nick turned around and looked out the window for a moment before turning back to me.
“If it’s that important to you, I won’t stop you from going and taking a look.”
“Really?” I smiled.
“I want you back in this office first thing Monday with a full report and any evidence you might find of injured animals.”
“Thank you, you—”
“This isn’t a sanctioned inspection. I just want you to go look around to clear your conscience. I need you running on all cylinders for this presentation.”
Before I could say another word, he turned and walked toward his office.
He stopped briefly and looked back at me. “Take your badge and some interview forms. Be back Monday morning.”
- Writer
