Chapter Five #3
Rather than trying to manoeuver her way through the crowd, she walked to the reptile building, and then along the narrow passageway to the back of the row of buildings.
This was the route she always took to get to Mr Andrews’s office, where she recorded her regular donations, along with those of many others, as well as expenditures in the zoo’s ledger books.
Mr Andrews was a wonderful man, but his handwriting was notorious.
Walking past his office allowed her to arrive on the back side of the elephant enclosure.
Besides the tall fence made of large pipes, there was a brick building to give Hugo shelter, and though a significant crowd was gathered on the other side of the fenced enclosure, there was no sign of the elephant. Or of Drake.
That thought had no sooner crossed her mind when the side door on the building opened and Drake appeared. Her heart practically leaped inside her chest at the sight of him, and at that moment, her thoughts of being excited to see him returned, but this time, she was fully able to justify it.
Since she had returned from school, her siblings had all insisted that she needed friends, people she could attend events and activities with, and there was no reason why Drake couldn’t be her friend. They certainly had a lot in common.
With a smile, he walked towards her, and she couldn’t stop a sigh from escaping. It would be wonderful to be his friend. He was just so, well, perfect. She enjoyed being in his company.
‘Took the shortcut, did you?’ he asked.
She nodded and glanced over his shoulder towards the crowd. ‘Yes.’ Then, recalling why she’d deemed the shortcut to be necessary, she asked, ‘Is Hugo all right?’
‘Yes, he’s perfectly fine.’
Relieved, she nodded, ‘Quite a crowd has gathered.’
Drake didn’t glance behind him as he said, ‘I noticed that. Evidently, word spread during the ball last night that Adam and Thomas were going to receive rides today and others are hoping for the same. Did you bring any of your nieces or nephews with you?’
‘No, I did not.’ She felt a touch of chagrin, yet chose to admit, ‘I’m not allowed to bring them to the zoo.’
‘Why is that?’
She huffed out a breath. ‘Something about spending too much time with the children and not enough on looking for a suitable husband.’
‘Oh?’
Something in his eyes said that he knew there was more that she wasn’t saying. Which there was. Letting out a sigh, she admitted, ‘My sisters claimed that I was using the children as an excuse to be unavailable to accept invitations to other things.’
‘From gentlemen callers?’
‘Yes,’ she said.
‘And were you using the children as an excuse?’ he asked.
For whatever reason, she wasn’t embarrassed that he knew the entire truth. ‘Yes, I was, with good reason.’
‘Because you are particular,’ he said.
His smile made her smile increase. ‘Precisely.’
Holding out a hand, he said, ‘Well, Miss Particular, give me your hand, and I’ll help you climb through the rails.’
She lifted her hand, but hesitated. There was enough room for her to climb through the piped fence, but she wasn’t sure that she should. ‘Why do I need to climb through?’
‘The only gate is on the other side of the building, where the crowd has gathered, and you’re here to help me, aren’t you?’
She was, but climbing into the elephant enclosure might not only be unsafe, she wasn’t authorized to do such a thing.
However, she trusted that Drake wouldn’t let any harm come to her, and he was authorized.
Having convinced herself, she grasped a hold of the bottom pipe with both hands and ducked down to climb between solid pieces of iron built to keep the elephant from escaping.
The pen and building had been built years before to house an elephant for a short time when it was merely on loan to the zoo.
She didn’t know the name of that elephant, but had seen it as a child and had been disappointed that it had only been at the zoo for a while.
Others had been disappointed, too. Hence the reason that Hugo had quickly become so popular.
Once she was on the other side of the fence, Drake took a hold of her elbow and helped her stand.
‘Thank you,’ she said, while smoothing the blue material of her skirt over her stomach with both hands, hoping it would calm the chaos of flutters erupting inside her.
It was doubtful, considering they’d been present even when Drake wasn’t.
Just thinking about him had made them take off.
They hadn’t really calmed down since she’d met him.
‘Ready?’ he asked.
‘Yes.’
‘Hugo is excited to meet you.’
She twisted her head to look at him. ‘He’s an elephant.’
‘I know. One of my many abilities is to speak elephant.’
Holding back a grin, she asked, ‘Oh, really?’
He winked at her. ‘Yes.’
There was no holding in her giggle. He was simply too much fun.
‘I’ll prove it to you,’ he said as they arrived at the door.
‘I’m all ears,’ she clipped in reply.
He laughed as he opened the door and waved a hand for her to enter first. ‘I know there’s a lot more to you than ears.’
Still enjoying the back-and-forth between them, she asked, ‘Oh? Such as?’
‘Eyes,’ he said, while opening the door for her to peer inside.
Surprised to see that the door led to a small room, she took a step inside. There was another door on the opposite wall, a split one, and the top half was open, allowing her to see into Hugo’s much larger area.
She was about to take another step when a noise suddenly filled the building, startling her, and she jumped backwards, colliding with Drake.
His hands grasped her shoulders from behind as she spun about, ducked her head into his chest as the noise continued.
By the time the sound faded away, she was fully aware that it had been Hugo and lifted her face to apologize, but her heart leaped into her throat, making speaking impossible.
Drake was looking at her, and she couldn’t remember a time when someone had looked at her with such tenderness.
‘Haven’t you ever heard an elephant trumpet?’ he asked.
Stepping backwards, she took a deep breath, hoping it would force the whirlwind of emotions swirling inside her to settle down. ‘Y-yes. Just never this close, nor inside a building.’
‘I told you he was excited to meet you.’
Meridith pivoted about, as though she was looking towards the door that led to Hugo’s area. In reality, she couldn’t see anything because she had squeezed her eyes closed. She was hoping that would help her get her wits about her.
She had simply overreacted to the sound, she decided, and the way she’d thought Drake had been looking at her.
Opening her eyes, she said, ‘That’s impossible.’
‘No, it’s not.’ Drake stepped up beside her. ‘Here, take this.’
She took the large squash that he held out to her.
‘Now follow me,’ he said.
Clutching the squash against her stomach, she found the ability to follow him to the split door, all the while telling herself it was time to get her head out of the clouds and remember why she was here today. In the elephant enclosure. With Drake.
He opened the split door and stepped into Hugo’s room. She’d been near the elephant before, so his size didn’t scare her, but not having a fence between her and him was rather intimidating.
The elephant moved closer and used its long trunk to rub Drake’s head and then his shoulder. ‘I told you I had a surprise for you,’ he told Hugo, while running a hand on the elephant’s trunk.
Looking at her, he said, ‘Come closer and hold out the squash.’
A bout of nervousness made her question her rationality, yet she didn’t let it stop her and stepped forward, holding the squash out in front of her. Hugo’s trunk sniffed the squash, and he let out a low blowing sound.
‘Now set it on the floor,’ Drake said.
She carefully lowered the squash onto the ground and took a step back, then another as Hugo moved closer to her offering.
He then lifted one of his huge feet and set it atop the gourd.
It wasn’t a stomp, but he pressed hard enough on the squash that it split open.
Using his trunk, he then picked up pieces, one at a time, and shoved them into his mouth, taking time to chew and swallow between each piece.