String of Fate

Chapter Seventeen

Sometimes, I hated my job and sometimes I loved it. Most of the time, I loved it. Today was a day I loved my job. I was the member of staff at the zoo assigned to feed the big cats and do the shows for the afternoon feeds. I loved all the big cats but the lions were the best animals in the zoo, in my personal opinion. I'd worked in the local zoo since I was eighteen years old, and that had been six years ago.

"Morning, Jessica!" My boss called. When I heard my name, I turned to see my boss walking over to me with a guy I had never seen before. I straightened up from the cupboard and put the tea towel on the worktop next to the travel mug that I had just washed. "This is my nephew, George. He's here for the day. He loves lions so I said that he could work with the boss of the big cats for a little birthday present. That would be you today. I hope you don't mind if he sticks with you for the day."

"Not at all, sir." I replied, brightly smiling. How could I say no to my boss? He could fire me on the spot if I said no and I didn't want to lose my job. I loved my job too much. Besides, George didn't seem like a bad kid, and he was tall, so, I could make him pass me all the stuff from the top shelf that I would need.

My boss smiled and patted George on the shoulder before he left the staff kitchen, leaving me alone with his nephew. I smiled at him, too, holding my hand out to him to shake. He took it and shook it, giving me a firm handshake. "Hi, I'm Jess. I guess I'll be your boss today."

"It's nice to meet you. I'm looking forward to working with you." He responded, smiling at me. Then, he glanced down at the travel mug that was next to my hand, still dripping a little with water. "Um, are you going to dry that?"

"Oh, yes. Do you want a drink to take with you? There's coffee, tea or hot chocolate." I offered, drying my travel mug and putting the kettle on. He moved closer and leaned against the worktop, folding his arms across his chest.

"Nah. I'm not going to nick your travel mug. You'll probably need the drink more than I do." George answered as I grabbed the spare one from the cupboard. I always left a spare in work in case I was running late and forgot to bring a drink for on the way to work. "Oh, you have a spare. In that case, I'll take a hot chocolate, then, please."

"Sure thing." I said, putting the powder and sugar in the travel mugs. The kettle clicked and I made the hot chocolates for each of us, not really in the mood for either tea or coffee. I handed him the spare travel mug and headed from the kitchen, turning to make sure that he was following me. "Come on, kid."

"Please, don't call me 'kid'. I'm sixteen tomorrow not six." George replied, following me from the kitchen with a hand in his pocket. He easily caught up to me and then slowed down to match my pace as we both walked. He was actually really tall, I only reached his shoulder.

"Looking forward to your string?" I made the statement into a question as we headed in the direction of the Lion enclosure that was half way across the park. I could easily have driven one of the Land Rovers across the park, but the exercise always did me good and I liked to see the other animals as I headed across the park.

"I hope it appears. It's highly unlikely that it will unless I am the youngest in the relationship, but I don't mind waiting a bit for the string to appear. At least, when it does, I know that it will be to the right person." George explained.

Later on that day, we finished all our tasks and were starting to head home. During the day, George had been like a kid at Christmas. He really liked lions, and he'd actually liked watching them ripping apart the chunks of meat. He'd asked a bunch of questions about the lions while he was there. George was really interested in the lions and what they were like. I was just happy that he was interested in what he was doing and he was enjoying himself.