One rainy day, Chris takes a spur of the moment trip to the city zoo, because even walking around in the rain looking at damp animals is better than going back to the office. The animals are cute, especially Lucky, the red panda. But Lucky’s keeper Joel is even cuter and accepts Chris’s invitation to go for a drink that evening. This impulsive trip to the zoo was a good idea, but Chris still has to go back to work tomorrow.
One date leads to more. On their dates, Chris loves to hear Joel’s stories of crazy zookeeping and animal misadventures, and can’t help contrasting Joel’s job with his own. The one that’s slowly driving him around the bend with the mundane pettiness of it all. When Joel has an opportunity that will take him to the other side of the world, can Chris find the courage to leave his BS job behind and take a new path?
People laughed and the group started to break up, the kids running off to see the next cool animal, the parents following more slowly, putting up umbrellas as they left the shelter of the walkway. I didn’t move. I kept watching Lucky. A very chilled out panda indeed. Not a care in the world, beyond when his next pot of fruit was going to turn up. Was it possible to be envious of a zoo animal? Lucky didn’t have to create pointless reports for anyone. Or go to meetings. Or try to pretend he was working to justify his whole existence. He could just ... be.
“Sir?”
I was startled by Joel’s voice and I actually jumped. Joel, carrying some stalks of bamboo, had come over close to the barrier.
“Are you okay, sir?” Joel said, and I was a bit confused about why he was asking. Had I looked like I was about to cast myself into the enclosure? I didn’t think Lucky was capable of mauling me to death, even with his rather impressive claws. I’d have to go find the lions or chimps or polar bears for that. I shook myself out of the strange train of thought.
“Oh, yes, yes, I’m fine. Just ...” Thinking I’d like to change places with a zoo animal. Lucky had come down to his platform again and was starting on the bamboo that Joel had placed in long cylinders secured to the side of the lower platform. “Just ... watching.” My face was wet, I realized. The roof over my head was not watertight, water dripped through the wooden slats.
“The cafe is only a little way further on,” Joel said, pointing. “If you wanted to get out of the rain. They make great coffee, and I recommend the carrot cake.”
I smiled, wiping the rain off my face. “Good idea. I’ll go get dried off. Great talk, thanks. About the panda. He’s very cute.” Oh god, could I sound like a bigger dork? “Well, bye now.”
I fled the scene before I died of cringe. I could have continued on, gone back to my car, gone back to work, or gone home, called the office to say I’d gone home sick maybe. But I did come across the cafe, and it looked dry and inviting, and as quiet as the rest of the zoo right now. So I went in. They did indeed make good coffee, and the carrot cake was all Joel had promised. I sat at a table, which had an inlay of a tiger in the wood. The whole place was animal themed of course. The menu even told diners which of the zoo’s animals liked to eat the main component of the dish they were having. Carrots were apparently popular with wild asses.
“Hi, can I join you?”
I looked up from the menu I was amusing myself with, startled, to see Joel standing there with a tall latte mug in hand.
“Oh, ah, sure.” I scrambled to pull away my phone and cake plate and napkins from the other side of the table.
“Thanks,” Joel said, sitting down. “I hate to take my break alone. Was I right about the carrot cake, or what?”
“Definitely right,” I said, finishing off the last bite. “Thanks for the recommendation. I’m Chris by the way.”
“Nice to meet you, Chris. Thanks for coming to the keeper talk. They’re usually very well attended for the red panda, but with this weather I thought we’d have nobody at all.”
“I was passing at the right time. And he is a very cute animal.”
“People do love red pandas,” Joel said. “They’ve become one of the stars of zoos in recent years. Blame the internet.”
“Is looking after the panda your main job?” I asked, wondering what to ask a zookeeper whose number I’d like to get.
“I help out with some other small Asian mammals,” Joel said. “But right now I’m mostly focused on Lucky. And I really like giving the keeper talks. Even in the rain.”
“The rain didn’t seem to bother Lucky.”
“They’re from pretty rainy areas, so no, he doesn’t care. Shakes it off like a dog if he does get soaked. Usually right when I’m walking by in clean dry clothes.”
I chuckled. “Of course.” He sat back in his chair and I spotted that he had a pride flag pin on the collar of his shirt. Ah, now that was encouraging. Of course the zoo might hand them out for all staff for diversity and inclusion. But still ... encouraging.
“Have you been a zookeeper long?” I asked.
“About five years. Paid that is. Did a few intern posts before that, getting my foot in the door, after college.” He looked about thirty, the same as me.
“Is it hard to get into the job then?”
“Yes, but not as hard as getting into veterinary school, which was the other route for kids like me who grew up wanting to work with animals, in whatever job that entailed. Once I figured out that the job of being Steve Irwin wasn’t available, I had to come up with the closest I could get to that. How about you? You work nearby?”
“Yeah,” I said, strangely ashamed instantly. “In an office. Nothing like as fun as zoo keeping.”
“What brings you to the zoo today?” Joel glanced at the rain streaked window. “Of all days?”
“I wanted to ...” Be anywhere else. “Get out of the office.”
