Saving Summer

by Masters, Constance

  "Okay, then," Summer said, scooping up a pile of dung and tipping it into the barrow. "You're the one in charge."

  "Yes, I am."

  "So you keep telling me over and over. Just so you know though. I want to do this because I love animals, not because I want to be a glorified cleaner."

  "Right." Ben took her arm and firmly lead her over to a corner that couldn't be observed from inside.

  "What are you doing?" Her tummy was squirming, telling her in no uncertain terms that she already knew exactly what he was doing.

  Ben said nothing until she was bent over a log and held down securely. "You were warned that I wasn't going to take any of your lip." He brought his hand down smartly on the back of her pants.

  "I'm sorry! I just want to experience the real job, with the gorillas!"

  "This IS the real job! I'm your boss and I'm shoveling poop right beside you." He peppered her bottom with a half a dozen hard whacks. "This job isn't just about playing ball with the primates."

  "I know Ben, I'm sorry. I won't complain anymore, I promise."

  "Good." He stood her up and helped her back to where they'd been working, with a smack on her bottom for incentive.

  Summer said nothing, but started shoveling, embarrassed that she'd once again put herself in that position.

  They worked in silence for a while, only breaking while Ben emptied the barrow. Finally they'd cleared the area of refuse and dung. Summer allowed herself to glance at Ben every now and again to see if he was still angry with her, but he wasn't giving anything away.

  When Ben did speak it wasn't unkindly but his tone had definitely changed to all business. "If you want to go around and see if you can find any left over food, I'll finish up here. There's not much left. Then you can get the hose out."

  "Ok." Summer hurried around, picking up old pieces of fruit and chewed stalks, throwing them into a trash bag. She wished she hadn't ruined the easy camaraderie that they'd shared earlier. Things just seemed awkward now and she wanted to clear the air. When there was nothing left to gather, she unreeled the hose and turned it on, accidentally on purpose squirting Ben, hoping that he did, in fact, still have a sense of humor and that it didn't end up again with her in trouble.

  "Hey!" Ben shouted loudly, but the relieved girl could tell he had a twinkle in his eye.

  "Oh, sorry. I didn't see you there," she giggled.

  "I'm sure," he said brushing off his clothes. "You'll keep." He took the hose from her with a chuckle and flushing all the hard areas. "Can you pick up the tools please?" he asked.

  She turned her back to him to gather the shovels and squealed as cold water sprayed all over her back.

  "Sorry," he said with a grin. "I didn't see you there."

  "Is that it for cleaning? Are we done?" she asked after putting the tools away. She was glad the atmosphere was easy going again.

  "Yep. Now for the fun part, hiding the food."

  "Can I put some in here?" Summer asked pointing to a thick patch of bushes.

  "Anywhere you like, but don't make it too easy. They have to work to get their food. It makes their day interesting."

  "I know," Summer said, assessing her words. "Of course I'm really glad that you took the time to inform me of that most interesting and educational fact."

  "Uh huh." Ben took her chin between his fingers. "You'll have an audience soon Little Miss Smart Alec. I'm happy to put on a show. Are you?"

  "No, thank you. I think I might just get on with the treasure hunt for the hairy kids."

  "Good idea."

  Summer did most of the lower hiding of the different sized canisters filled with vegetables; although she couldn't resist a couple of turns on the rope bridge that hung across the length of the entire space. The view was pretty good as well, as she watched Ben shimmying up trees like they were nothing so he could tie large nets of fruit to the branches.

  When he'd hung the last bag of vegetables, he shimmied down the trunk and jumped the last few feet. "Impressive climbing skills," Summer said. The gentle giants were making noise and banging on their doors, their need for food making them want out.

  "Natives are getting restless. I think that's that for now." Ben said steering her towards the exit.

  * * *

  They chatted while they walked from the behind the scenes area up to the fenced off platform that was one of the places the public could see what was going on.

  "Pickles is starting to separate himself from the rest of the group." Ben said carefully, like he'd been planning to bring the subject up but didn't know how to do it.

  Summer frowned, she knew what Ben was thinking and it made her sad. When they'd touched on it downstairs, she knew he'd be looking to do something about it. There was no way they could hold up the breeding program for long. It would break her heart to see her young friend go. She loved him. He was always the most responsive to her. It was normal for male gorillas of Pickles' age to start to move away a bit and start to spend most of their time on their own. It was sort of like moving out from home she guessed. Still, understanding all that didn't help, the last thing she wanted was for him to move away. "Maybe he's just having a bad day. We all have our moods."

  "He's not having moods, Summer. We've known this would happen and have been making plans for a while."

  "What kind of plans?"

  "Plans for his future. We all love him. That means we have to make the best decisions for his future."

  "Well I think you should just wait a month or two and see if it passes. What if you make all these plans for him and you send him away and you're wrong about the timing? What if he's sitting there all sad because he misses his family?" She brushed away a tear.

  Ben put his arm around her shoulders. "It won't be like that and you know it. We're not sending an eleven-year-old boy away to boarding school. He's almost a man in gorilla terms. He'll be sent to a bachelor group where he'll stay for about four years."

  "What if it doesn't work out?"

  "If it really didn't work out because of a clash in personalities, then he would be moved to a different bachelor group. But that almost never happens. Males together of this age are usually fine. Now if you introduced a female into the mix there'd be trouble."

  "It's not yet though, right?" Summer was well aware that she had no say in the situation.

  "A few weeks. When the other zoo is ready for him."

  "I feel sad for him."

  "Don't. It's like he's going off to college. Did you cry and miss your mom and dad when you left?"

  "A little," she admitted sheepishly.

  "Until you started to have fun, right?"

  Summer giggled. "Yeah, not for very long." She'd actually been pretty glad to spread her wings without anyone telling her what to do. That being said, she could go home and visit whenever she wanted.

  "See? Of course, you seem to have a little too much fun," he said with a grin.

  "You can never have too much fun."

  "Oh, yes, you can. Come on. Let's go have some lunch."

  "Together?"

  "Yes together. We both have to eat, don't we?"

  "Yeah, it's just that you've never asked me to have lunch with you before. Be careful there Ben, I'll be thinking that you actually like my company next."

  "I do actually," he said with a smile. "I like your passion. For the gorillas, I mean."

  "Of course. I knew what you meant," Summer said with a giggle. Was the great man actually blushing? I do believe he is, she thought with satisfaction. She'd managed to embarrass him and she hadn't even been trying. The question was why did her passion affect him? Interesting.

  "Tell me about yourself," Ben said, as they sat opposite each other with plates of food between them.

  Summer popped a French fry in her mouth, dispensing of it before she answered. "You know most of it. I'm the youngest of three children. I have an older brother and an older sister. Both married, both teachers."

  "Really, that's interesting. You didn't w
ant to go into education?"

  "No, not my thing. I love kids but I couldn't imagine a whole class full of them every day. I don't think I'm cut out for that. I prefer the large hairy children. They're quieter, most of the time."

  "Yeah I guess you're right, when they're not throwing their feces at the crowds behind the windows or Char's having a grumpy day and sniping at everyone in his path."

  "There're still only seven of them."

  "There is that. I can only imagine what it would be like to have thirty of them to deal with at the same time."

  "How about you? How did you know you wanted to do this?"

  "Geez, I don't think I could tell you that in a few words. I don't remember a time when I DIDN'T want to do this. When I was little and I was brought to the zoo, I always loved the gorillas and the chimps the best. As I got a little older and I understood how unhappy they were in the cages, I wanted to improve their lives, make their living conditions better. Thankfully for them, by the time I'd started junior high someone else had already had the same thought and the new more sprawling and life-like enclosures had started to spring up in zoos all over."

  "You still knew this was where you wanted to work?"

  "Oh, yeah. We're learning more and making things better all the time."

  Summer smiled at him. You had to admire someone that had it together like that. Someone who knew what they wanted and how to get it and it wasn't even all about him. It was because he loved the animals. "Those little guys are lucky to have you."

  "Thank you. Now we better get back to work."

  "What's on this afternoon?"

  "Paperwork."

  "Aw, man!" Summer whined, immediately pulling herself up. "What I meant to say was...yay...paperwork!"

  "I knew you'd enjoy that." Ben said happily. "Another necessary task. Life's full of them."

  Chapter 3

  By the end of the day Summer was beat, as usual. She dragged herself out to the car, wincing as she noticed the great job she'd done of parking that morning, not. She managed to get the car over the yellow line just a smidgeon, which put her slightly in the disabled spot. There were prizes for being that stupid and there it was stuck to her windscreen, a ticket. "Damn," she said. That's all she needed. She was running low on money as it was. When she read the notice her jaw dropped. Four hundred and fifty dollars! Crap! There's no way she had that kind of money. She got in her car and pulled away.

  She was on the road and driving, happy, at least, that there didn't seem to be much traffic. Then her phone started. With much difficulty, she ignored it; grateful when it finally stopped ringing. Her relief was short lived when it started again. Again she didn't answer it; although this time she picked it up to see who was calling. Poppy, great. She knew there was no way the girl would give up until she spoke to her, but she tried anyway to do the right thing. By the fifth phone call, though, she couldn't take it anymore. She was at a standstill at the lights so she just thought she'd answer it and tell her friend that she couldn't talk, that she was driving.

  "Finally. Don't you EVER answer your phone?" Poppy asked when Summer answered.

  "Not when I'm driving."

  "Since when?"

  "Since I came out of work and found a parking ticket on my windscreen."

  "OOh, that's bad luck. So where were you last night? I wanted to wait for you, but Chrissy wanted to go and pre-party at Estelle's..."

  "I got hung up at work. Listen Pops, I'm going to have to call you back. The lights are going to change in a sec."

  "Just let me tell you this one really important thing. You're going to DIE I tell you, DIE twice even."

  "How can anyone die twice?" Summer asked, amused by her friend's dramatics.

  "You KNOW what I mean. Anyway stop asking me questions so I can tell you."

  "Okay, tell me." The lights changed and Summer drove off; completely forgetting that she was supposed to end the call.

  "Ok. Get this. You know that guy from the other night? The one you thought was so hot? The one you were dancing near, but not with? The one you thought didn't notice you?"

  "Uh huh," Summer said distractedly. She loved Poppy but she had a way of using forty words where ten would have done the job easily. "Get to the point, Pops, really."

  "He was at the club last night and he asked me where my friend was!"

  She could tell by Poppy's silence that she was waiting for a reaction, she must have been sorely disappointed, because Summer didn't feel any excitement at all and it took her a minute to say something that would make her friend feel like she did. Yesterday morning she would have been beside herself with that news, but at that moment she felt, well, nothing really. But she wasn't about to tell Poppy that. "Wow. Really? That's so great," she said, hoping her fake enthusiasm was enough. It wasn't.

  "I thought you'd be over the moon!"

  "I am. Sorry Pops, I guess I'm just a little tired. It's been a long day."

  "Ok. Well, come home and get yourself a shower girl 'cause we're going out. He's going to meet us there tonight."

  "I can't." Summer knew this wasn't going to go down well.

  "Why not? Have you contracted some kind of disease that's going to put you in quarantine?"

  "No," Summer admitted. It was worse.

  "If it's a money thing, I have money."

  "It's not, but you know how I feel about you paying for me." Summer did hate the way Poppy had no respect for money.

  "We don't have to stay out late. I know you have to go to your little job thing."

  Summer sighed. She was going to have to tell her; she wasn't going to let up until she did. "My boss, Ben, cut up my ID."

  "Oh, my God! He can't do that! That's theft, abuse, mental torture. It must be something. We should call the police."

  "And tell them what exactly? That my big bad boss cut up my fake ID?" Summer could hear a siren. She looked in the rear view mirror and yelled, "Fuck no!" She ended the call straight away and threw the phone away like it was a grenade, but it was way too late; the officer was signaling for her to pull over.

  Summer panicked. "What do I do? What do I do?" she repeated over and over. When the officer flashed his lights again she whacked on her turning signal and slowed down. "Oh, crap," she said out loud as he got closer to her car. She wound the window down as the large man peered in the car. Would he know she'd already gotten a parking ticket today? Would that get her in even more trouble? Hell, what if she got arrested? Her lip wobbled.

  "Turn off your engine please, Miss," the man barked with a solemn expression.

  Summer tried to do as he asked, but her foot bounced on the gas pedal making the engine roar to life. She immediately turned the key and took her foot off. "Sorry," she said in a whisper.

  "It's ok. Can I see your license and registration, please?"

  "Ok," Summer answered. She tried to breathe as she reached into the glove compartment for her registration and passed it over. Thank God her dad had taught her to leave it in there and never move it.

  "License?" he said as he read it through.

  "Yeah, um, I think it's in my backpack." She tried hard to calm herself down. It wasn't a good look to keep her fake ID in the same place as her real driver's license so she usually just threw it in whatever bag she was using. Today that was the backpack she used for work.

  "Where's your backpack?" the officer asked.

  "Back there," Summer answered pointing to the back seat. "Can I get it?"

  "Yes ma'am, but keep your hands where I can see them."

  Summer got out of the car with her hands up in the air. She wasn't sure if it was overkill, but she didn't want to get shot. This guy had a massive gun strapped to the side of him and she'd rather it stayed there. She pulled out the bag and took it to the front of her car where she hunted inside for the missing license. "Where is it?" she asked herself, not the large uniformed man beside her. One by one she dumped the contents onto her hood. A spray can of deodorant. "I know roll-ons are better for the
environment, but I just like..."

  "Just your license, ma'am."

  "Ok, sorry." She was nervously babbling, but she didn't seem to be able to stop herself. She pulled out a packet of tissues and a bag of cough drops from when she'd had a cold a month or so ago. Two bottles of water both half drunk, and birth control pills. She winced as she placed the feminine products down. "Ew," she said as she found an old apple that had seen better days. A hairbrush, a few candy wrappers and half a packet of gum. No license. "Can I look in the trunk?" she asked.

  "Yes ma'am, but make it quick. You're in enough trouble as it is."

  "I know. I'll find it." When she popped the boot, she found a couple of pairs of shoes and another bag, one that she didn't use for work. With a quick zip it was open and there was her license. Thank God. Finally she passed it over with a sigh of relief.

  "Miss, you were talking on your cell phone while driving. Are you aware that you were breaking the law?"

  "Um kind of. I mean yes, but I didn't want to." Summer was well aware that her answer sounded lame, but it was true, sort of.

  "You were also driving twelve miles an hour over the speed limit."

  "Are you sure?" Summer was surprised at that. Now this morning she wouldn't have been surprised, but she was going from the zoo and her impatient boss, not towards, and she was in nowhere near as much of a rush as this morning.

  "Yes, I'm sure. I'm going to have to issue you a ticket."

  Tears ran down Summer's flushed cheeks. "But I'm sorry. Officer, I wasn't speeding on purpose, I promise! I didn't mean to talk on my phone, either. I HAD to. I probably prevented an accident. I couldn't concentrate because it kept ringing, over and over. I was just going to answer it and tell Poppy that I couldn't talk because I was driving. That must have been why I sped because I was on the phone."

  "I dare say that's EXACTLY why you were speeding; which is the precise reason we have laws that prevent you from talking on the phone while driving."

  "But I would have stopped speeding as soon as I hung up anyway!"

  "Listen ma'am, that is the MOST ridiculous excuse I've ever heard and I've heard them all. Take my advice..."