Chapter five

The next morning passed quickly. We did the morning routine and had a hell of a breakfast. After a shower, Eliza finally convinced me to get on Badger. I'm not gonna lie when I said I was afraid. He was huge and unpredictable. But she assured that he had never bucked her off or been nasty like that. But she did comment on his nipping. I was not prepared to be bitten by the monster of a horse. She geared him up and he followed her out into the pasture. I was pretty sure I was supposed to follow too, but I found myself slinking away from the barn.

"Dan? Oh come on, don't tell me you're chickening out." She came out of the barn and grabbed hold of my arm.

"Maybe it's not a good idea," I whispered. My throat had dried up. But she disregarded my fear and scoffed before pulling me out into the pasture. She shoved me toward his side and directed me on how to mount him. In the end, she had to help me up. Once seated on top of him, the fear only got worse. The ground was too far from me. I could feel his movement beneath me, I only hoped I wasn't too heavy.

"You look like you saw a ghost." She mocked.

"I'd rather." I spat back. She only laughed. She told me what to hold and slowly we started walking. I squealed in terror and went rigid in the saddle. My body rocked with him and he took each step.

"Sit comfortably. Not like you have a stick up your ass." She instructed with a chuckle. As if to mock me more Badger let out what sounded like a laugh. We continued for another hour or so. I finally had calmed down a reasonable amount. But I was still anticipating getting thrown off and him stepping all over my fragile body. She taught me how to hold the reins, how to sit the best, and how to make him go the direction I desired. Even though I doubt I'll ever try to control him. When I finally got off of him -after some struggling- I wanted to kiss the earth. I had never been so happy to have both feet on dry land.

"Don't be too excited. By the time I'm done with you, you'll never wanna get off him." I highly doubted that. We made our way back up to the house. The dogs were lounging around in the shade, taking the day slowly. Daisy-the Burmese- stood up from her comfy-looking spot under a tree. She had a good stretch followed by a yawn before walking over to us. I squatted to her level and roughly played with the fur on her chest, talking in a high-pitched voice. She smiled and licked my face.

"God! Let go you little crap!" I looked back at the distressed Eliza to find a pup yanking on her pant leg. He looked like a German Shorthaired Pointer. I guessed that because I did an essay on them once back in school.

"Hey, little guy." He looked up quickly, his ears flopping around his face. He tackled me at lightning speed. He covered my face in saliva and even left a few bites. Now, these nibbles I could handle.

"Bear! Get off her," Eliza lifted him off me and he jerked in her arms. "Sorry, he's only three months old." I shrugged her off and watched in amusement while she struggled to keep him contained. He left a gnarly bite to her nose, resulting in getting dropped. He ran over to bother an old-looking bloodhound, tearing on the senior's ears. I pet Daisy on the head before walking past her and into the house. She of course followed. I could see a beautiful friendship forming between us two.

Inside the house, Frank was in his recliner watching some old TV show on the small box TV. I swear, everything here was frozen in time. Eliza and I stole the couch and pretended to be interested in the show. Daisy must be convinced she was a lap dog or something. I'm not gonna lie, she was heavy. But I didn't complain. It didn't take long for Eliza and me to become bored with the show.

"Ugh," I rolled my eyes at Eliza. "I'm so bored." I could see the annoyance on Franks's face.

"Hey girls," We looked up as Penny came down the stairs. "How's your day so far?"

"Fine, we're bored though." She chuckled and sat in the chair opposite Frank.

"Well, what time is your interview Danny?" I looked back at the clock.

"In two hours." She nodded and got lost in the TV.

"We can go into town early, I'm sure we'll find something to do." I offered. Eliza looked relieved and jumped up.

"Yes please." Penny looked offended but I don't think Eliza caught it. It took me a minute to get Daisy off of me, but when I did we made our way outside. We took my car this time around. We drove into town, the trip in this time seemed shorter. We grabbed some lunch then went downtown to a small dog park. Granted we had no dog, it was just the first place we were both interested in.

The dog park was full of different breeds. Some were young and spunky, while others were old and just tried their best to avoid the rambunctious pups. Eliza and I found a picnic table under a huge oak tree. We finished our lunch and goofed around for a bit. But the laughing came to an abrupt end when a Frisbee crashed into Eliza's head. She fumed and spun around in anger, only to freeze. There was Cooper and his brother Carter, and Lucas. Cooper started apologizing to Eliza and she repeatedly reassured him he was fine. Carter picked up the Frisbee that a small brindle Frenchie and a lanky Jack Russel were fighting for. Lucas scooped up the Frenchie and Carter did the same to the Jack Russel. Lucas walked over to me with his signature smirk.

"Hey stranger," I chuckled and pet the Frenchie in his arms. "Archie is his name." I smiled while he panted at me.

"Do you just have a sixth sense to know where I am at all times?" I quirked sarcastically. I glanced my eyes over to Eliza to find her deep in conversation with Cooper. Carter awkwardly sitting in the grass with his dog.

"Hmm, maybe it's just intuition?" He questioned with a curious brow raised. I rolled my eyes at him. We stayed and talked for a while, but soon enough we had to make our way down to the zoo. The ticket lady knew of my arrival and lead me to the same office as yesterday, Eliza, on the other hand, had to buy a ticket. The manager welcomed me back and we went over my resume and a bunch of other boring stuff.

"How soon can you get started?" I was startled.

"Wait really? I got the job?!" He nodded and gasped when I hugged him.

"Thank you!" He chuckled and hugged me in return.

"I can start today if you want me to!" He smiled and motioned for someone to come to his side. It was the tour guide from yesterday.

"This is Hill, she'll show you the ropes and tell you what all you have to do. You start officially tomorrow, be here at 7 sharp. Welcome aboard kid." I couldn't wipe the smile from my face as Hill walked me down some stairs.

"What's your name?" She asked while we walked up to some buckets.

"Danny James," I answered, looking over her shoulder at the paper she was reading.

"I'm Kari, and these here are the feeding sheets." She explained to me that each row was a different animal, that each one ate different portions, and some needed medicine and such. She then explained to me cleaning routines and showed me around the infirmary. We entered the nursery and I fell in love with all the baby animals. She explained some more stuff then gave me a list of things I needed to remember by tomorrow. Just some interesting facts about each of the animals. She gave me my uniform and sent me on my way.

We were underground, most of the habitats were accessibly from under here. Each one had one-sided glass so we could see them but they couldn't see us. Some of the other enclosures had to be accessed from above ground. The ones down here were the big cats, bears, alligators, hippos, and the wolves. I was walking by the wolf enclosure, looking at the pups playing with each other. I stared with a smile on my face. I stared until I saw Alastor. He was sited under a tree, glaring at the glass. I knew he couldn't see me through the glass. But the way this wolf's eyes filled with anger, and what looked like sadness, I felt like he could. I looked down quickly and made my way up. I walked around the zoo for a bit until I found Eliza in the Avery. She had a huge macaw on her shoulder and one of the trainers lifted it off her shoulder when I walked up to her.

"Hey, girl! Did you get the job?" She asked while looking at the uniform in my arm. I nodded and she hugged me harshly. The trainer holding the macaw said a quick congrats before helping the next person put the huge bird on their shoulder. Eliza insisted we grab a celebratory ice cream and ordered me to drive us there immediately. Surprisingly, there was no Lucas, Carter, or Cooper insight. After Eliza covered herself in ice cream and she cleaned herself up, we drove home. Dinner was ready and the small talk was just the same as the night before. Penny and Frank, we're excited for me and my new job. I could feel how excited I was for my new job. Because of this new excitement, I got no sleep. I had thought about calling mom but remembered the different time zones and decided against it.

Daisy had decided to sleep with me tonight. She was sprawled across me and was snoring softly. If only I could sleep as quick as this dog could. I was going to go get some air, but I didn't want to wake her. So instead I grabbed my phone and headphones and put on some soft music. Before I knew it, I was out.