But his confidence here, his knowledge, his ability to actually do what needs to be done. It’s unsettling.
And maddening.
Why couldn’t this guy have been my lab partner?
“Ready to meet some of the patients?” Quint asks, oblivious to my silent stewing.
I smile tightly. “Been waiting all day.”
We return to the long corridor. Most of the enclosures have three or four animals inside them, with the names of the patients written on a small whiteboard beside each gate, but Quint doesn’t need to look at them as we pass by. “We can get up to two hundred animals in a single season,” he says, “and it can be tough coming up with new names for them all, so we tend to put them in groups. Lately we’ve been on a superhero kick, so here we’ve got Peter Parker, Lois Lane, and Iron Man. Avenger and Hulk are out in the yard.”
“Does your mom come up with the names?”
“Naw, usually we let the rescue crew name them, or sometimes whoever found them and called us. People get really excited when they get to name the animal they found, and that can inspire a whole new slew of names. This year someone named an elephant seal Vin Diesel, which inspired an entire action-flick group—Bruce Willis, Lara Croft, James Bond … We also have a huge Harry Potter group going on right now, because one of the volunteers is a megafan. So far, we’ve got…” He inhales deeply and his eyes rise to the ceiling as he tries to count them all off. “Harry, Hagrid, Percy, George, Fred, Krum, Draco, McGonagall, Dumbledore, Tom Riddle”—he pauses to give me a secretive look and whispers—“he was always bullying the others. And…” He perks up and crouches down in front of one of the gates. A sad-looking animal is resting on its side, staring up at us with unblinking eyes. “Luna Lovegood.” He shakes his head. “You weren’t supposed to come back here. What happened?” He shakes his head. “Poor girl. You look terrible.”
I stare at the animal. I don’t think she looks that terrible. Just tired. And definitely skinnier than a lot of the others we’ve passed.
“She’s lost a lot of weight since we released her,” he says, as if reading my mind. He sighs. “Back to step one.”
“Will you try to release her again? After she gets better?”
“I don’t know.” He stands up. “Our goal is always to return them to the ocean, but if she can’t survive on her own…” He shrugs. “I guess we’ll see what Opal thinks.”
“Opal’s the vet?”
He nods. “Sorry, I guess I should introduce you to more people.” His expression is hesitant and I know he’s thinking it would be a waste of time. I know he still doesn’t expect me to come back.
But for the first time all day, I realize I’m actually not eager to escape. Fish guts aside, it’s actually been kind of interesting.
“So, the animals here, they all … what? Washed up on the beach? And someone called you?”
“Usually, yeah. People can tell something’s wrong. A lot of times it’s obvious stuff, like they have wounds from a shark bite or something, or maybe they’ve got a bunch of fishing line tangled around them.” Quint’s expression darkens. “One time we rescued a sea lion that had nineteen fishhooks caught in his skin.”
I shudder, remembering the photo in his report.
“That’s awful. Was he okay?”
“He made it. We released him a couple years ago. We named him Captain Hook.”
I laugh. “Was there also a Peter Pan?”
“No,” Quint says, in a tone that suggests this is a ridiculous thing to ask. But then he grins. “But we did have a Mr. Smee and a Tinker Bell.”
I fold my arms on top of the short wall that separates the enclosure from the walkway and peer down at Luna. “What are those markings on her side?”
“That’s how we tell them apart. It’s like a code. There’s a chart in the office that explains it, but pretty much every mark is a different number. We shave the fur, but it’s easier to make straight lines than curves, so they get a little V instead of the number five, and two dashes instead of a nine, that sort of thing”
Luna’s markings are two arrows, each pointing toward her head.
“How many volunteers are there?” I ask. “As opposed to staff.”
“There are only three people on staff. Mom, Shauna, and Opal—Dr. Jindal. Then we have…” He pauses, and I can tell he’s counting in his head. “Sixteen volunteers, including me and Morgan. My mom would love to hire more people, but money is…” He trails off. “I mean, we’re pretty reliant on government grants, which barely makes enough to keep the animals fed, much less pay a bunch of employees. But the volunteers are great. It’s kind of like a family, and everyone really cares about what we’re doing.” He pauses and looks at me, and I can see the hint of accusation there again: the what are you doing here? But it passes quickly. “I mean, look at those eyes. You can’t help but fall in love, right?”
I startle. My heart skips, and it takes me a second to realize he’s gesturing at Luna. Except, when I glance down, her eyes are closed. I think she might be sleeping.
“All right,” says Quint. “I need to get to work. I’m setting you free.”
“My, how generous,” I say, but I’m frowning. “But why not let me help you?”
He shakes his head. “I can do it faster on my own. We’ll continue your training tomorrow.” He gives me a sideways look as we start walking back toward the lobby. “That is, if you’re still planning on coming back. Because if this isn’t for you…”
“I’ll be here,” I say. Firmly. “And by the end of summer, we will submit one killer report to Mr. Chavez. That’s the deal, right?”
Quint’s jaw seems to tighten, but then he holds out his hand.
I swallow, but my hesitation is brief. I take his hand and we share a determined shake.
SIXTEEN
“It’s so gross!” I say, flopping onto the sofa in Ari’s den. “It’s literally fish puree. Plus, I had to chop off fish heads! Ugh, I feel sick just thinking about it. And then, you can’t just feed it to the animals, right? Oh no. You have to give it to them through a tube.” I shudder.
Ari makes a sound like she’s trying to care about my complaints, but I know she’s mostly ignoring me. She’s sitting cross-legged on the floor, her guitar in her lap, leaning forward to study something on her phone.
I sigh and stare at the ceiling.
“But I have to go back,” I say, as much to myself as to Ari. “If I want to redo that project, I have to go back. For four whole weeks.”
Ari plucks a few strings, then frowns and shakes her head. She finally looks up at me. “Why can’t you just settle for the C?”
I give her a withering look.
She shrugs. “Just saying. It’s what almost anyone else would do.”
“Well, it’s not what I would do. A C. It will haunt me the rest of my life if I don’t get it fixed.”
“Will it, though?” says Ari sweetly. “It’s not like you’re going to need science credits when you apply to business school. Literally no one but you cares about this project or the grade you got.”
“Exactly. I care, which is the most important thing.”
She considers this. “I suppose that’s true. So you’re officially volunteering at an animal rescue center for the next month. How very selfless of you, dear Prudence.”
“Hey, I can be selfless,” I say, noting the dryness in her tone.
She laughs. “I know you can, but don’t you see the irony? You’re only doing this for the grade.”
“So?” I sit up, suddenly defensive. “Actions make a person good, not motives.”
“I’m not sure I agree with that,” she says wistfully. “But it’d make a good theme for a song. Good or bad, right or wrong … do the means justify the ends and vice versa…” She goes into her dazed songwriting look, but it passes quickly. She bends over the phone again, long wisps of dark brown hair falling over her face like a curtain. She pulls them back with one hand, twisting her hair once at the nape of h
er neck, before letting it drape across her shoulder. The wisps will return in a few minutes, and I consider offering her my hairband, but she never uses them so I don’t bother.
Ari’s brow furrows and she plucks the same strings over again. She harrumphs, frustrated. “Other than fish smoothies, how was it working with Quint?”
I snarl. “It feels like I’m being punished for something.” My brow crinkles upon further consideration. “Although I guess it wasn’t as terrible as it could have been.”
Her eyebrow lifts, and I grab a pillow to throw at her. She hunkers forward, protecting the guitar. “Stop it. I am not interested in him. I’m just saying, evidently, he can be a halfway-decent human being when he’s doing something he cares about.” Because I could tell he does care about the center, a lot. “That still does not excuse all the stress he put me through this year. And I guarantee that when it comes time for us to finish this project, again, it’s going to require just as much prodding and tooth-pulling as it did the first time. Ideal scenario: I do it myself and we just use Quint’s email address to submit it, so our teacher thinks he was involved.”
“I thought you said part of the reason you got a bad grade was lack of teamwork?”
I sneer. “Again—not my fault. You try working with him.”
Ari giggles. “And yet, you’ve signed up to do just that.”
“I know.” I groan and stretch out on my side.
Ari tries the strings again, playing the same melody over and over until she lets out a frustrated groan. “Okay, this is clearly not right. Whoever wrote this arrangement had no idea what they were doing.”
She stands up and goes to her shelves of vinyl records. She scans the spines for a second before pulling a record from its paper sleeve and setting it onto the ancient turntable that has lived in this room since the day I met her. Probably it’s lived in this room since the day her family moved into this house. Ari’s record collection is something else—an entire wall of built-in shelves, floor to ceiling, each one packed full. There’s an order to the system, but it’s lost on me. Genre? Era? I know there’s a section of Mexican music somewhere, because Ari introduced me to an eighties rock band called La Maldita a while back, and they turned out to be pretty awesome, but I couldn’t say where their records live in all of this.
I do know where to find the Beatles, though.
That’s not what Ari is putting on now.
A beautiful melody begins to play, but it takes me a minute to place it. “Elton John?”
Ari shushes me. “Just listen. Oh, I love this intro. A flute! Who thinks of that? I never would have thought of that. But it’s so perfect!”
I make a face. Whatever you say, Ari. But she’s not paying attention to me.
On the record, Elton John starts singing about someone named Daniel, who’s traveling to Spain.
“Oh, hey, that reminds me,” I say. “Did Jude talk to you about working at the record sto—”
“Yes! Prudence. Stop talking.”
I press my lips together. Ari picks up her guitar again, but she doesn’t play. Her face is set with single-minded focus as she listens to the song.
My mind drifts back to the center and all the photos in Quint’s report. Fishhooks. Fishing line. Shark bites. Sad, tragic eyes.
I think about Quint, how angry he looked at first.
But then the way he lit up when he was telling me about the different animal patients they’ve had this year.
For some reason, I find myself thinking of his smile. His eager, ever-present smile. It seemed different today somehow. More energized.
Oh, come on, Brain. Are we really wasting valuable space toward analyzing Quint’s smiles? Knock it off.
My memories circle back to how Quint and the other volunteers seemed so busy, and Rosa so stressed. And why they don’t just hire more staff.
The song ends, and Ari hops up to stop the record before it can move on to the next song. She grabs her guitar, and I realize she’s trying to figure out how to play the intro, the part that the flute plays on the album.
“I think they might be in trouble,” I say.
Ari stops playing. “What? Who?”
“The center. Quint’s mom seemed super tense, and maybe it’s just because they were shorthanded today, but I don’t know. I just have a feeling, like, things aren’t going so well there. Most of their money comes from grants and it sounds like that’s barely enough to keep them afloat.” I massage my forehead. “I can only imagine what they spend on fish, much less everything else it takes to keep the place running.”
“Do they do any fundraising?” Ari asks.
“I don’t know.” I mull this over. There was all that paperwork in the lobby. Financial reports? Donor information? Grant applications? But if they are fundraising, they seem to be doing a terrible job at it.
“Araceli!” yells her dad from the kitchen. “Is Prudence staying for dinner?”
Ari glances at me.
“Is Abuela cooking?”
“I don’t think so.”
I pout, but it’s still the best offer I’ve had. “Yeah, fine. As long as it’s not fish.”
Ari sets down her guitar and darts upstairs. When she comes back, she gives me an affirmative nod. “He’s ordering pizza. No seafood involved.”
I give her a thumbs-up. “So, are you excited to work at the record store?”
She gives a small squeal. “Are you kidding? It’s my dream job! Well, my dream summer job, anyway. I start next week.”
“Better you than me.”
She lifts the needle on the record player. “Speaking of dream jobs, did you know that Elton John didn’t write his own lyrics? He did the music, but the words were almost entirely written by a guy named Bernie Taupin. Can you imagine? I want to be him so bad.”
She starts the song again, but she doesn’t pick up her guitar this time. Instead, she lies down on the floor and shuts her eyes, her face tense with concentration. The flute introduction plays and is soon joined by a keyboard and Elton’s sorrowful voice.
“Listen to this,” says Ari, her fingers dancing through the air. I can see the red taillights heading for Spain … She throws her hand upward, mirroring the rise in the music, then brings her hand back down in a giddy fist. “There! Did you hear that E-seven? A non-diatonic dominant chord, but then it resolves straight to the A minor. Brilliant. Honestly, piano players write the best chords.” She presses both palms against her forehead and sighs heavily.
I have literally zero idea what she’s talking about.
“Maybe I should take up the piano,” she says.
“I have a keyboard you could have.”
She turns her head to look at me. “Really?”
“Sure. It’s in our living room, abandoned and unloved. You can totally have it. I mean, it’s not super-high quality. Probably your mom could buy you something way nicer, but if you want it…”
Ari grimaces. She hates it when anyone mentions her family’s affluence, which I guess I can sort of understand. She doesn’t want to be judged for having money any more than I want to be judged for not having it.
“I would love to have it. Thank you,” she says. “And I promise to take very good care of it. Now, shush, listen. This part—”
Elton sings about the scars that won’t heal, about the eyes that have died. Ari looks positively euphoric as both hands shoot upward again, pointing at the ceiling. Daniel, you’re a star …
“Oh,” she croons wistfully. “Listen to that high note! He’s hitting the tonic note over a modal interchange chord. So simple, yet so brilliant. It’s just…” She sighs, dropping her hands down to her heart. She starts to sing along, but I can barely hear her over the album.
Honestly, I find these music-theory riffs of hers brilliant, but she seems like she’s speaking another language entirely. One I definitely do not speak. Her music descriptions are even harder to understand than the rapid Spanish she speaks with her family, because with music, she ex
pects me to sort of understand what she’s talking about. At least I have some rudimentary knowledge of Spanish, having taken it for three years in school, but all I remember from piano lessons is how to play “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” (With feeling.)
As Elton drones on, my mind wanders again. To ecotourism. To the rescue center.
To Quint Erickson and his mom and how they need more staff and how dingy the building was.
What the center needs to do is stop acting like a nonprofit focused on helping poor stranded animals, and start acting like a business. It needs someone with vision. Someone who can help them be profitable. Well, profitable for a nonprofit, at least. If that makes sense. I don’t know, it doesn’t matter, because my wheels are turning, and it seems suddenly clear that …
What the center needs is someone like me.
“That’s it!” I sit up suddenly and look at Ari. “Ecotourism! I can … I…” I frown. “Are you crying?”
Ari, embarrassed at being found out, swipes the tears from her cheeks. “No,” she says. Then sniffs. Then, “Yes! I can’t help it! It’s just so sad.”
I listen to the song as the final verse plays.
Oh God, it looks like Daniel. Must be the clouds in my eyes.
I shrug. “Who the heck is Daniel?”
Ari starts to laugh. “I have no idea!”
I groan and stand up to shut off the record player, just as the last melody plays on the flute. “So, the whole time Quint and I were working on that project for biology, he kept talking about this animal rescue center. Well, I think he maybe had a point. What if the center could become a huge draw for tourists? They might even be able to make some money! I mean, they’d still be a nonprofit, but some nonprofit CEOs are, like, millionaires. Not that this is about money. But I’m just saying. I could take what I learned doing that stupid report and … and what if I rescued the rescue center?”
Instant Karma Page 14
