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I look into his special little cage in the hospital wing of the veterinary building.
“Hey, little bear, how are you today?”
We still haven’t named him. We didn’t want to grow too attached in case he didn’t make it. It’s been a slow process nursing him back to health. Because of how young he is and the care he needs, we won’t be able to return him to the wild. However, the board president wants him to be transferred to another zoo. I don’t want him to leave, and the doctors don’t think he’s stable enough to move yet. The vets say moving him now could be a detriment to his health as he’s still fragile. He’s not on solid foods, and we have platelets from the male here we can give him if he crashes again.
“Lydia, you need to come.” A frantic zookeeper rushes into the room. Her clothes are disheveled, and her eyes are bouncing everywhere. “President Singer said you need to take care of this.”
“Coming.” I’m thinking there is something wrong with an animal, but as we race to the entrance of the zoo, I hear her voice. I stop in my tracks and shake my head. Why the hell is she here? I turn back to the keeper. “Call the police.”
“They are on their way.”
“Good.” I stand as tall as I can, straightening my spine and pushing back my shoulders. I haven’t told many people here about my personal life, but it looks like it’s about to come to a head now.
“I demand to see Doctor Rorke. Right now,” the woman screeches.
I step into her line of sight. She’s in a crazy over-the-top sexy outfit. It’s a pink cropped sweater that barely covers her fake boobs. Her matching miniskirt is so short that if she moves just right, it will show her hooha.
“What are you doing here?” I refrain from calling her Botox Barbie.
“You need to pay him. Call off your dog lawyers. His boss is angry and threatened to fire him.” She advances on me.
“I’m not doing that.” I step back and crane my neck to look up at her in her ultrahigh heels. Her perfume is overpowering and causes my eyes to water. “He made his bed, now he can lie in it. I don’t understand why his boss has a say in what happens in his personal life.”
“Listen, bitch. Like really, you have enough money. Just give him what he deserves.” She steps closer, and again I take a step back.
“Deserves?” I laugh. “You mean what you think you should get. Did my money pay for your latest round of Botox.” I wave at her face and laugh again.
A tickling sensation irritates my nose from her clawing perfume, and I close my eyes to hold the sneeze in. The air stirs slightly around me before a resounding smack stings my face. My head snaps to the side, and everyone around us gasps. I turn back to her as the police pull up outside of the entrance.
“Kill them with kindness.”My mother’s old advice flashes through my mind, and I smile.
“Bless your heart for reminding me why I shouldn’t turn my back on you.” The police rush up and pull her away as she comes at me again. “Please take her away. I don’t want to press charges at this time, but the zoo might want to.” I look at her. “As for you, he signed that prenup and he cheated, so go to hell.” I keep my voice low so everyone around us doesn’t hear.
“I’ll get you, bitch. You can’t have all that money. You don’t need it.” She screeches as she is pulled away.
I watch, waiting for her to be removed from the premises before I return to my tasks.
She turns her head and looks around her, eyeing the gathered crowd. A sinister smile spreads across her face. It looks worse with her lip injections. “It’s all your fault.” Her voice hitches and the waterworks start. “You killed my precious baby.” Her hands go to her extremely flat belly.
I don’t give her the satisfaction of a response. Instead, I turn my back and leave her to the police. On my way back to the clinic, I’m stopped by staff numerous times to ask me work-related questions. None of them comment on my face, which I’m sure is red from anger and embarrassment.
I step through the clinic doors and lean against them as my body begins to shake. Baby? Was she telling the truth? I don’t think so because of the look she gave me. I’m sure she said it for shock value.
Raised voices coming from the triage area grab my attention. I steady myself before investigating the ruckus. I enter the area and find the board president standing toe to toe with Hal, our head veterinarian.
“Excuse me? What is going on here? Has everyone lost their minds today?”
“Doctor Rorke, what happened to you?” The president waves his hand, indicating my face.
“Nothing, I—” I brush my hand across my lower face and come away with blood.
Shocked, I turn toward the counter and look at my reflection in the glass cabinet. My lip is split, and my cheek is red. It’s not bleeding too much, but I can’t believe no one told me. I grab a 4x4 piece of gauze to blot the blood away before turning back to face the president.
“President Singer, why are you here?”
He hardly ever comes to the zoo unless it benefits him. Something about germs and it being dirty. I glance around to see there are no camera crews or benefactors present. He’s a pompous ass who uses his position on the board not only to rule over us but to also promote himself. He acts like a politician in the making or a wannabe movie star. I wish we had a director who could head him off instead of him being directly over me.
“I was told by a staff member that the cub has a chip. We need to scan it and return him to his rightful owners or to the game preserve that chipped him.”
