CHAPTER 5
It wasn’t every day there were camera crews at the Mapleton Regional Zoo. But with so many babies being born at one time, they were bound to attract attention. The world loved baby animals and the documentary maker was determined to showcase the ones from the zoo.
Hannah and Alicia were watching them from afar. Standing on the ridge above the gorillas, it gave them the perfect position to watch all the exciting action below.
“Animal parents are really good to their children,” Alicia commented. The gorilla mother had refused to let her child out of her sight since it was born. She kept chastising the baby when he wandered too far away from her.
“Maybe it’s easier for them,” Hannah replied. “They don’t have to worry about anything like jobs or money. They can just focus on their baby and let us do the rest.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
Hannah knew what was going through Alicia’s mind. She was still living in her spare room, unable to return home. “Have you spoken with your dad recently?”
Alicia shook her head. “I’ve left a couple of messages but he never returns my calls. I’m sure he doesn’t answer on purpose because he doesn’t want to talk to me.”
“I know it’s hard, but I think you’re doing the right thing. If you give up on your dream now, you’ll never forgive yourself in the future. You’ll probably resent your dad too.”
“I want to be a vet.”
“And you will be one. All this will be worth it one day,” Hannah reassured her. “Your father will come around eventually. He just needs more time.” She didn’t know if that were true, but it felt right saying it. She would do anything to help Alicia deal with the pain of her family situation.
“Let’s go scoop some poop,” Alicia said with a deep breath. “That’s never complicated.”
“You’re right there.”
They left the top of the gorilla enclosure and headed for the penguins. Even though it was freezing cold in their area, it was worth it to see the cute little animals in their preferred environment.
The birds waddled around, curious about their intruders. Some came right up to the girls and tapped them on the legs with their beaks. They were bright and alert, so much more intelligent than people gave them credit for.
Hannah crouched down to their level and saw the world as they did. Three dozen penguins were in the enclosure and each of them had a different personality. She could almost identify them individually. By the end of the summer, she might be able to.
Alicia brought out a bucket of fish which instantly caught the penguins’ attention. Even those previously ignoring them hurried over to the sweet stench of fish. They handed the fish out individually to the little creatures, making sure everybody got some. If they didn’t, the bossiest ones took more than their fair share.
The door to the enclosure flung open, catching all their attention. One of the zoo administrators stood there with a panicked look on her face. “The cameras are on their way. Make sure everything is perfect. We can’t have anything bad turning up in the documentary. Hurry up!”
Hannah and Alicia both looked around the enclosure, trying to find anything that wouldn’t show them in the best light on film. Yet everything was clean and the penguins were just going about their business. They’d even eaten all the crumbs from the fish breakfast. Nothing was out of place.
A few moments later, they could see the cameras and all the people working for the filmmakers. The administrator flung open the door again. “Get out! They’re going to film the penguins. Hurry!”
“No more coffee for Mary,” Alicia whispered, making Hannah laugh. They left the enclosure and headed around to the public area of the penguins so they could watch the filmmakers.
Logan was speaking with the head of the production. They attached a microphone to his shirt and cleared the area where they were going to conduct the interview. The girls stood on the sidelines. They were assigned to the penguins all morning so they had to wait until they could continue their work.
The birds in the enclosure stood around the glass so they could see what was going on. There was very little that went on in their area that they didn’t know about. The curious animals were always watching the interesting humans.
Everything went quiet for the interview to begin. The man asking questions was standing out of the camera’s view, leaving Logan right in the center of the field of vision. “So tell us about the birth of the newest penguins.”
Logan gave a charming smile as he spoke. “Penguins are fantastic parents. They take turns sitting on the egg until it is ready to hatch. Then both parents watch as their little baby emerges into the world and into their hearts. That was how all but one of the penguins were born this season.”
“And what happened to that one?”
“One of the chicks was too weak to fully smash through the shell. We had to intervene to save its life. That’s always the last resort for us, but sometimes it’s needed.”
The interview went smoothly, Logan having all the answers and able to talk for hours on the subject he loved so much. Hannah watched on, enjoying listening to him speak. He never failed to make her smile.
As the camera crew was getting ready to move on, Logan approached Hannah. He leaned in and whispered in her ear. “I can’t wait for our next date. I’m counting down the hours.”
“Me too,” Hannah replied conspiratorially. “You were awesome just now.”
“Only just now? I thought I was awesome all the time.”
“You are.” Hannah playfully slapped him on the arm. “And you’re making me blush. Go away.”
Logan gave her a quick kiss on the cheek, just to make the blushing situation that much worse before he left. Their duties didn’t assign them to work together that day.
When it was only the visitors left in the public area, Hannah and Alicia got back to work. They checked on everything they needed to and updated the charts backstage. All the penguins appeared to be in good health, and the babies were doing just fine. The little fluffy gray chicks were the cutest of them all.
In the afternoon, Hannah was called to the front ticket office; Coco was waiting there for her, so she let her mother in. She wished Coco had worn more appropriate shoes for the zoo and had tried to tell her, but Coco hadn’t listened.
“So where are all these babies you keep talking about?” Coco asked. Hannah had been so vocal about the cuteness of the new additions that Coco just had to visit the zoo to see them for herself. Otherwise, she would never have been able to see them with her own eyes.
“We’ll start with the bear,” Hannah said.
Coco walked with pride as her daughter gave her a personal tour of the zoo and new additions. Hannah was allowed to take her where the public wasn’t permitted, giving her the best tour possible.
She had visited the zoo before, but seeing all the new babies made it completely different. The cute factor was through the roof and she had never exclaimed ‘aww’ so many times before. Hannah loved being able to share it with her, showing Coco the reasons why she was so passionate about her job.
“This is amazing, Hannah,” Coco exclaimed while she was looking through the glass at the baby baboon. “I can’t believe you get to hang out with all these little tykes every day. No wonder why you’re never home.”
“It’s hard work but I love it, Mom.”
“I can tell. I’m very proud of you. You’ve taken to animals like a duck to water, it’s clearly what you’re supposed to do with your life.”
“That’s how I feel,” Hannah confessed.
It was a nice moment they shared, leaving Hannah feeling warm and fuzzy. Having her mother’s approval was so important for what she wanted to do; she could certainly understand why it was so heartbreaking for Alicia to be missing that with her father.
They went home together, Hannah finally having some time off from the chaos of the unexpected baby boom. Dinner was going to be eaten together for the first time
in ages, and a movie night was in order too. Billy sat on Hannah’s lap all night, enjoying the cuddles.
The only thing on Hannah’s mind, though, was her next date with Logan which was less than twenty-four hours away.
CHAPTER 6
Logan really enjoyed surprising people. And there was nobody he enjoyed surprising more than Hannah. He picked her up for their second date and kept the location a secret.
When he pulled up at the venue, he couldn’t keep it a secret any longer. “Have you ever been to the Natural History Museum before?” he asked.
Hannah looked out the car window at the massive old building. They’d had to drive all the way to Charlieview to get to the museum, a good two hours’ away. “I came here once when I was in middle school; it was an excursion and we had to complete a workbook with heaps of questions in.”
“I promise no homework.” Logan climbed out of the car to hurry around to her side, opening the door for Hannah. He led her into the building where he didn’t even have to pay to get in. Just one nod at the person behind the counter and he was waved through.
“How do you know so many people?” Hannah asked. She enjoyed the way her hand felt in Logan’s.
“I’ll let you in on a secret.” His voice dropped down to a whisper. “I’m a big nerd. I’ve been coming here since I was a little kid. So many times that they felt sorry for me about charging entrance. So they just stopped and said I could come back whenever I liked. I think my childhood pocket money paid for the dinosaur wing of the museum.”
Hannah laughed. She wasn’t sure if his story was true but it was amusing. Whatever Logan’s reason, she knew they would only be good ones.
Logan took her all around the museum, telling her stories about the exhibits and pointing out little-known facts. It was a million times better than when she’d been there as a kid. Logan made her see things with new eyes, bringing the exhibits to life in a way nobody else could.
They stopped by a door marked ‘Staff Only’. Logan’s hand rested on the knob. “And now, Hannah Banana, this is where things get really interesting.” He turned the knob and opened the door.
“That’s for staff only. We can’t go in there,” Hannah said quickly, in a slight panic. Getting arrested for trespassing wasn’t something she wanted to do that Saturday.
“Fear not, my cute girl.” He ducked inside and beckoned Hannah in too. When she was with Logan, she felt reckless, and perhaps he was allowed to go behind the scenes just like the way he was waved in at the ticket counter.
Behind the public area, everything was different. Gone were the velvet ropes that stopped people from touching things. Gone were the large displays and bright lights. Everything was cramped in the long corridors and rooms. The museum was overflowing with additional items not on display.
It was a chaotic mess, but Hannah suspected it was probably very organized in someone’s mind. Whoever was responsible for everything surely knew precisely where every single item was.
“This is one of my favorites,” Logan declared as they reached a room that looked like all the others. They went inside the room, shelves lining every single wall.
“What’s in this one?”
“The coolest things ever.” Logan ran his fingers over the drawers until he found the one he was looking for. He pulled it open and ushered Hannah closer. “These bones are seventy-five million years old.”
“They’re dinosaur bones?”
“From a velociraptor. Can you believe this was once part of a dinosaur? One that stomped over the world and ruled like the awesome beast it was?”
Hannah thought it was the coolest thing ever, too. She’d never seen a dinosaur part up close before. It looked like it could be a bone from any animal – even a human – but for its massive size. The bone was longer than Hannah’s entire arm and was only part of the animal’s limb.
Logan carefully put the bone back and then moved on to show Hannah some of the other drawers. The way he knew where everything was, and what it all was, told her he’d been there many times before. It wasn’t a coincidence that he was so familiar with everything.
She saw things in the drawers she never thought she would have the opportunity to see. Logan told her stories of all kinds of dinosaurs, regaling her as time flew past.
Before she knew it, lunchtime had rolled around and her stomach grumbled with its emptiness. They headed to the cafeteria to eat, standing in the line with the other museum-goers. Logan didn’t have a special pass for the lunch line.
He paid for their sandwiches and chocolate milk, finding a table in the middle of the crowded and noisy cafeteria. The place was filled with kids and their parents, all excited to be at the museum and seeing all the cool things the large building held.
For some, going to the Natural History Museum and having lunch at the cafeteria for a second date would have been appalling. It would have guaranteed there would be no third date. Yet for Hannah, she reveled in every minute of it. Her natural curiosity made the whole place one big mystery she had to solve.
“So tell me the real reason you know this place so well,” Hannah said as she enjoyed her chicken salad sandwich.
Logan squinted. “Can I trust you, Hannah Banana?”
“Of course.”
“I interned here when I was fourteen. Well, I volunteered anyway. They couldn’t get me to leave so they allowed me to follow around one of the curators and I learned everything he did. I volunteered for four years before I had to go to college and then that took up all my time.”
“Four years; no wonder you know your way around so well. You could probably run the place.”
“I thought about it. But the lure of the zoo animals was too much. I would rather work with live animals than the bones of the ones that have passed. I want to keep them alive for as long as possible.” Logan gave a genuine smile and Hannah knew he was telling the truth. He might joke around a lot, but he was being honest now.
“You must have an incredible amount of knowledge in your brain,” Hannah said with admiration. She’d never met anyone like Logan Barry before. He seemed completely unique in a world where everybody was trying to be the same.
“Not really, I have a terrible memory. Knowledge goes in and then it goes out.” Now he was just joking. “Thanks for letting me share some of that knowledge with you today.”
Hannah closed her hand over his. “I’m having so much fun. I should be thanking you. So thank you.”
“You haven’t seen the best parts yet. I’ve saved them for the end.”
With those tantalizing words, they finished lunch and left the crowds behind. Instead of heading toward the dinosaurs, they went to the more modern areas of the museum. Logan knew exactly what he was looking for and didn’t stop until he reached the Room of the Unknown.
“Nobody knows about this room,” Logan started. “So you have to promise not to tell anyone about anything you are about to see. If the wrong person heard about it, they would demand to film these items for countless documentaries. Okay?”
“I promise,” Hannah declared.
In the Room of the Unknown lay drawers full of items that had been unable to be identified. Odd shaped bones, weird footprints found in muddy ground, disfigured animals, and a plethora of other bizarre items awaited them.
Like the other rooms, Logan knew all the items well. Drawer after drawer contained items weirder than the one before it. Hannah couldn’t believe what she was seeing, but had to trust her eyes. These items really existed in front of her, they weren’t hoaxes or jokes. The odd items were real.
It was also clear why Logan had issued her the warning before entering. These bizarre items were dangerous if viewed by the wrong people. All kinds of weird theories and plots could spring from just the idea of these things. How does somebody explain the existence of a skull shaped like an alien’s head that was over three hundred years old? Or a footprint taken from a property, the print shaped like a human’s foot but over two feet long?
&nbs
p; “Why does the museum have all these things?” she asked.
“Because people – like the government – want these items identified. So they send them here and the experts can examine them. Everybody wants them classified so they can rest assured nothing weird is going on. Unfortunately, they are too bizarre to be identified so they end up in the Room of the Unknown.”
“This room is pretty cool.”
“Just like you.”
Hannah blushed with the compliment. But the moment was broken when Logan’s cell phone rang. He glanced at the screen, gave an apologetic look, and then answered it. For privacy, he slipped out into the corridor.
She hadn’t intended on listening in on his conversation, but it was so quiet in the room that she had little choice. With no other sound, Logan’s voice was unable to be blocked out.
“Yes, of course… six months would be perfect… yes, I understand it’s voluntary work… elephants are my specialty… I need to tell the zoo… notice period… I look forward to it… thank you.”
The conversation was short and sweet but it left Hannah reeling. Logan was talking about doing the volunteer work he’d wanted to do for a long time. He’d said he couldn’t afford to do it before and never mentioned it to Hannah since.
She felt like she’d been punched in the stomach. She didn’t want Logan to go anywhere, let alone for six months. If she had understood the conversation correctly, he would be leaving soon to work with elephants. It had to be an overseas posting or he would have been employed.
When Logan returned to the room, she pretended she hadn’t heard a word because she didn’t want to admit she had been eavesdropping. She hoped he would tell her about it in his own words, let her in on his personal life as a boyfriend should.
“Have you seen the bat that looks like it has human hands yet?” Logan said happily. He opened a drawer and pulled out the delicate remains of the bat. It did look like it had small human hands, but Hannah didn’t find it as interesting anymore. Her heart was lodged in her throat and she didn’t know what she should do.
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