New Kalon Name; Beau
Kalon Used in Story;
EvangelineWell, wasn't this just perfect.
Of course a date at the zoo sounds lovely before you're left standing by the gift shop for almost half an hour, and the penny finally drops that you've been stood up.
The stuffed animal toys stared out at me with goofy stitched grins, and I felt the desire to punch them.
Of course, I wouldn't do that. I was upset, not stupid. I knew how to keep a level head. I knew how to hold myself. Working as a secretary for so long, you get used to the unexpected, and people messing you about. I knew how to make snap decisions and not back down from a challenge. I knew how to keep calm.
Maybe I wasn't used to being stood up, but no matter. Just another obstacle to overcome.
I was here. The day was young. I was absolutely rocking these overalls, and my hair looked great. And, of course, I'd already paid for a ticket. So why not go and enjoy myself?
I didn't need a date to have a good time. I could absolutely have fun by myself.
And so I started my wonderful wildlife adventure. I got to feed a giraffe, while avoiding its scarily long tongue. I saw the lions through a glass viewing wall, one so close it was like you could reach out and touch it. The birds, with all of their beautiful rainbow plumage, flew around and chittered loudly. The elephants were having a wonderful dust bath, but I was glad not to experience that.
I made my way towards the lemur enclosure, when I noticed two of the workers standing close together and talking in hushed voices. Casually, I inched closer to eavesdrop.
"But how did it get out?" one of them whispered.
"No idea," the other murmured. "Must have found a…a gap in the fence somewhere."
"But why is only one gone?"
"It must be the only one to have found it. I've alerted security and other workers. It can't have gone far. Someone will spot it."
So a lemur had escaped from it's enclosure? How scandalous. But I wasn't one to gossip - not about stuff like this, anyway. So I carried on my way, stopping to admire a peacock and coo at the red pandas. By the time I'd explored more it was midday, and I was definitely hungry. Time for lunch.
I made my way towards the food court when suddenly someone bumped against my side. I jumped away, as did they, and I saw a pair of panicked multicolor eyes stare into mine.
"Sorry!" He squeaked, hurrying to scuttle past me. I could have sworn he was trying to shove something into his jacket.
I watched him go, eyes narrowed. Whoever he was, he was up to something. The guilt had been painted on his face as clearly as a portrait. A very skittish, obviously-doing-something-he-shouldn't portrait.
So I did the obvious thing; I followed him. I weaved my way throughout the throngs of people, trying to keep a casual pace while still keeping him in view. He seemed to be taking every path that had the least amount of people, which made him even more suspicious. Trying to avoid the public? Definitely shifty.
For a moment I thought I'd lost him, but then I spotted him ducking into a small gap between a building and one of the enclosures. Without hesitation I stood at the entry, cornering him. For the moment though, he seemed rather occupied.
Whatever had been in his jacket, he was trying to coax into his open backpack. He pulled grapes and pieces of melon out of his pocket - I shuddered to think of how sticky that would make the jacket - to give to whatever he had. His plan seemed to be working, and I glimpsed a bushy tail disappearing into the bag.
He let out a sigh of relief as he zipped it up, hoisting it over his shoulders, and turning to leave. Once again he squeaked, freezing when he saw me standing there. I had my arms crossed, a single eyebrow raised.
"What are you doing?" I demanded.
"Nothing," he said quickly.
"What's in the bag?" I asked.
"Nothing," he repeated.
As he did so, the backpack in question began to move.
"What's in there?" I questioned, eyes narrowing again.
"That's my dog," he replied without thinking, and then cursed quietly to himself at the ridiculous answer.
"What's his name then?"
"Lem-uh, Lenny. Lenny the dog." He was shifting from foot to foot, beginning to grow fidgety. But then his body suddenly tensed when he heard the sound of his bag unzipping itself. I tilted my head and watched a little black hand forcing the zip up, and through the small gap a furry black and white face peered out. It's nose twitched, bright eyes gazing around. Without a word the boy reached into his pocket, pulled out a grape, and passed it back to the creature who happily popped it into their mouth.
I stared at him. He stared back.
"You stole the missing lemur," I said. It was a statement, not a question. "How did you even-?"
"Found a gap in the fence. Lured it out."
"Why?"He began fidgeting again. "I just wanted to take him back to his home," he mumbled, scuffing his feet as he looked at the ground. "I've got a buddy whose cousin works on a cruise ship. I thought maybe somehow they could get him back to Madagascar. I like animals to be free."
I wanted to laugh. I could hardly believe what I was hearing. It was a horrible plan, not thought out at all, could only end in disaster-
But I could see on his face that he really thought it could have worked. And that's why I felt my anger crumble. My shoulders dropped, and I let out a heavy sigh.
"Listen kid," I began, "this isn't right. You can't just take a wild animal and try and ship it halfway around the world, it doesn't work that way. For that lemur, this place is his home. All those other lemurs are his family. There's a whole team worried sick about this little guy."
His head drooped more, and he looked guiltier than ever. Even I felt a little bad. Was he deluded? Naive? Yeah, for sure. Did he have good intentions? Also for sure.
"My name's Evangeline," I told him. "What's yours?"
"Beau."
"Listen here Beau, if you wanna help make a difference, go about it in another way. Join an organization. Volunteer at a shelter. Do
not come to the zoo with the intent to steal a lemur, got it?"
He nodded quickly, his eyes still glued to the ground. They flickered up for a second as he said in a joking tone, "my first choice was a penguin, but I thought it would make too much noise."
I tried to force myself not to smile, but the corners of my mouth still twitched up.
"I think you're a good person. Good intentions, not so great actions. I'll help you, but you gotta try and channel that passion into more helpful things. Got it?"
"I will," he said sincerely. I wasn't sure if I totally believed him, but I didn't really want to see him get into trouble. Plus the workers might think I was an accomplice, and I was not risking that.
"You stay put," I said. "Get the lemur out of your bag. Put all of your pocket food into the bag. You found him here, waved down a passing stranger - that's me - and asked them to go and get help. Which I'm gonna go do now. But do
not-"
He flinched at the sudden sharpness in my tone.
"-let me down. I'm trusting you here."
After a nod of confirmation, I strode away from where he was and made my way back along the paths, winding my way past signs and people until I found myself back at the lemur enclosure. By luck, one of the guys who had been talking was still there. I approached him, tapping him on the shoulder.
"Not to make a fuss," I said in a quiet, casual tone, as though I didn't want others to hear. "But someone found that missing lemur of yours. They asked me to come and find someone while they kept watch."
He stumbled out some sort of reply, seeming both relieved and panicked at the same time at the idea of one of the public knowing about the mishap. Within minutes he'd contacted other members of staff, and as a small group I led them back to where Beau was supposed to be.
Please be there, please be there, do not be dumb and run off-He was there, looking rather startled as the lemur clambered its way up his shoulders. "I think he likes me," he laughed nervously, as the creature sat atop his head, acting almost bored with the arrival of its keepers. Probably trying to act as though he'd done nothing wrong. Smart thing.
The keepers carefully removed him from Beau's head, and I thought it was good for him to see how gentle the staff were. They thanked us many times, telling us how grateful they were. Beau seemed quite delighted with the praise, and quietly I told them we wouldn't tell anyone else about this.
Still, one of them escorted us to the gift shop and, after speaking to the manager there, we were allowed one free item from the store. We both went for a plush toy; I a lemur, him a penguin. We tried very hard not to laugh at our inside joke.
"No more of this, okay?" I told him once we were outside. "No more plans of animal thievery, no skulking around zoos - you're lucky I was the one who spotted you, you were
so obvious, you looked incredibly guilty."
He looked down again, face going pink. "I won't, I won't..." But then he looked up at me and said, "you know what I think?"
"What?"
"I think you secretly had fun."
He gave me a toothy grin as I rolled my eyes, but I think he knew that I was trying not to return the smile.
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