“Do you think this is going to be big enough?” Fran asked Brad as she helped him carry a large boulder into the new exhibit that was being built. He chuckled, shrugging his shoulders slightly as he backed into the exhibit’s entrance and guided Fran towards an area near a tree for the location of the boulder.
“Well, it is a pretty big bolder,” he said teasingly. Fran laughed and rolled her eyes as they set it down by the tree. They groaned as the weight was lowered and Fran stretched her back before leaning against the tree’s trunk.
“The exhibit, Brad,” she clarified, even though she knew that he knew what she meant.
He smiled, leaning forward and resting his hands on his knees. He looked around the exhibit. It was the largest exhibit that had ever been built at their zoo, and one of the largest in the world. It took up seven stories, and was nearly as wide as the entire building. It was big enough for a small river, and had trees that nearly reached the ceiling. There were wall-length windows on each floor that the exhibit covered, and plaques of information on the species that was being moved in the next week or so.
“Hell I hope so. Look at this place. I mean, geez. Why didn’t they just put it in an exhibit that was outside if they needed this much space?” he said, standing straight again and continuing to look around. Fran’s eyes followed his as she thought about it and shrugged.
“They said because it’s such a rare species, they didn’t want it being overwhelmed with the crowds of people. At least in here it’s limited to the glass, I guess,” she said as she crossed her arms, leaning more flatly against the tree. Brad grumbled, looking back at Fran.
“I guess. Is it really the last of its kind? I’m surprised they’d let a rundown town like ours have it.”
“We are not rundown. I heard the owner spent his life savings on getting this thing. He thinks it’s going to up the business around here.”
“I hope it does. We already had to sell all of the winter animals. The kids were devastated.”
“I know. I almost cried with them when they asked about the polar bears,” Fran said, putting her hand on her heart dramatically. Brad laughed, shaking his head.
“Don’t use the kids as an excuse. You were going to cry anyway,” Brad teased. Fran pushed his arm as they laughed.
“Oh come on. You can’t blame me. They were so cute! I’m going to miss them. You can’t tell me you’re not going to miss them,” she said, her hands now on her hips.
“Yeah well, I guess so,” he said, looking up and around the exhibit again. And as he did, something caught his eye. Someone, specifically. He had thought he saw Saphora standing on the first floor of the building, looking into the exhibit to watch them. “Hey, speaking of kids … Isn’t that yours?” he asked, pointing a finger up at her from his folded arms. Fran tilted her head, ready to deny the claim, thinking that she was still in interrogation. But when she looked up, she was shocked to see Saphora looking down at them, looking anything but happy. They shared a tense eye contact that shared both Saphora rage, and Fran’s apologetic plea.
Fran had thought that Saphora would be with the police long enough to get to the station and catch the end of the interrogation. She couldn’t miss another day of work, so she made the risky decision to catch up. She had asked Dr. Lupin to cover for her until she got there. But seeing Saphora staring back at her, it was obvious that he wasn’t able to do that. She swore under her breath and dashed toward the entrance to the exhibit. Brad flinched and stammered as he looked from her to the still staring Saphora.
“What – Fran? H-Hey!” he shouted, following after her.
Fran continued though, not stopping when she rushed past the food cellar and up the stairs towards the first floor of the building. Brad was quickly catching up, and was still trying to get her to talk to him about what was happening.
“Fran? What’s wrong? She’s fine!” he said, trying to get her to slow down.
But she was frantic. She was already near tears at the thought of having Saphora disappointed in her again. But what would she tell her? That she had to work? Saphora wouldn’t go for that. She doubted that she would even speak to her. And if she did, it would be nothing but slurred screaming - or broken phrases.
“No … No, no. I messed up. She’s mad at me,” she said, shaking her head as they rounded the corner to the next flight of stairs. It wasn’t much longer before they were coming out of the staircase to the floor. Fran immediately started running to where she had seen Saphora, trying to think of what she would say to her when she got there. There wasn’t much that she could think of, but she would at least try. But to Fran’s dismay, when she reached the display glass, Saphora wasn’t there. Not a sign of her. Fran slowed to a stop, and started looking around. Brad caught his breath as he came up behind her.
“Where’d she go?” he asked, looking around with her as they both gasped for air.
Fran plunged her fingers against her hairline in frustration as she spun around, still searching. Her eyes moving faster than her body.