Two
919 Words
I stared at the phone in my hand for a moment before placing it back on the receiver.
“Uh, guys?”
They were still engrossed in their conversation. I stood and walked over to Nick and tapped him on the shoulder.
“Hmm? Oh, yes. The complaint. What was it?”
I shook my head. “It was bizarre. The guy wouldn’t give his name and then he said that there are animal fights at the Menagerie.”
My boss barely contained his smile. “Ah, I’m glad I had you take that one. It’s a prank. Nothing more.”
“But, how do you know? I mean the guy sounded serious. He said it was dangerous.”
Nick touched my shoulder like my dad used to when he would explain something to me when I was a young girl.
“We get these calls all the time. It’s either a competitor or some kids pulling our legs. There is never anything to these claims.”
I shook my head. The caller sounded so, so believable.
“Shouldn’t we check it out, at least?”
Nick sighed and smiled knowingly. “Alright then, let’s call back and get some more details.”
“He refused to give any personal information.” I looked at my feet. Was he right?
“I thought so,” Nick tutted. “Now, if you were to call in a complaint about animal abuse, wouldn’t you want follow up? Especially with such a serious accusation.”
“Fair point.”
“So let’s drop it, alright? Did you prepare those files for the presentation this afternoon?”
“Yes, Nick. I emailed them to you before I left last night.”
“Good. Thank you. I’ll take a look at them this morning. We’ve got to have everything in line if we’re going to be invited back to speak at these conferences.”
Our office had been picked to speak at a prominent conference about the care of captive exotic animals. Nick had all hands on deck preparing. It had to be perfect if we were going to make a good impression. Nick, being our leader, knew that the entire performance would reflect on this division.
“We’re going to knock their socks off!”
“That was enough excitement, crew. Let’s get back to work.” He clapped his hands as he walked back to his office.
I clicked through my emails, trying to focus on today’s tasks but I just couldn’t shake the desperation from the caller before. What if it wasn’t a prank? What if some asshole was really exploiting these animals?
After a while, I approached Laura at her desk. Laura specialized in nutrition for zoo animals and was frequently consulted for her expertise. The woman was always either traveling or communicating in some ways.
After I stood politely at her desk for a moment, Laura hung up her phone and took off her glasses, and rubbed her temples. She had tiny crinkles around the corners of her eyes and a kind smile.
“What’s going on, Beth? Doing okay?”
She always dropped whatever she was doing to help me. Seeing how stressed she looked after her call gave me a twinge of guilt. Perhaps I was just being foolish after all.
“Do you have a minute?” I asked.
“Of course. Have a seat.” She gestured to a chair at the corner of her desk and I pulled it close to her desk so that our knees were almost touching.
I glanced back at Nick’s office and saw that he was talking on the phone. Good. I leaned forward, not wanting anyone to overhear me. She sat forward in her seat so that
“I feel kind of silly asking this, but I’m pretty worried about The Menagerie. I can’t stop thinking about it. What if there really is something going on there?”
She sat back and folded her manicured hands in her lap.
“Is that what’s got you so worried? I’ve seen you fidgeting all morning over there.”
I nodded.
“I mean, it might be nothing but the thought of someone hurting those animals makes me so angry. It’s not right.”
Laura touched my hand. “Sweetie, I know that you haven’t been with us long, but trust us. We get calls like that all the time. You can always tell who is being serious and who is lying.”
“I—” I snapped my mouth shut. How could everyone here be so uncaring about this?
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and chose my next words carefully. “So, what does it take to investigate a complaint about a zoo?”
“It takes a credible report. Look, The Menagerie is a pretty new facility. We all visited not that long ago during the accreditation process. It’s clean and the animals are well-cared for. I wouldn’t sweat it. Honestly.”
The phone on her desk rang and she picked it up. She gave me a friendly smile and a wave as I got up.
I just can’t let it go.
- Writer
