Heart of Man

“Let’s see the lions, Anna!” I chuckled as Tereza attempted to run forward ahead of me, failing due to our attached hands. Due to Vinny and Carol wanting to spend together time with Victoria, I couldn’t take the infant to the zoo. Plus, she would have been too young to enjoy it.

“We have to get our tickets first, silly. Want a piggy back ride?” I grinned, as she turned to me, her yellow sun dress flowing around her in the soft breeze, brown curls swaying. I was glad Pavel gave me chance to take the Kubina child. He wanted to spend some along time with his wife, Andrea, and I was extremely happy I had the chance to take at least one of my teammate’s children to the zoo. I happened to love zoos myself, but that was completely beside the fact. Plus, it was nice to just walk around in shorts and a t-shirt.

“Yes! Daddy gives me them all the time!” I kneeled down, giving her ample time to situate herself comfortably, as we stepped up to the ticket booth. I was kind of glad that I took her to breakfast beforehand, as otherwise, we would have to have waited for the 9:30 AM opening of the zoo, rather than our actual arrival time of 10.

After a few moments, the petite dark-blonde girl noticed us, before jumping into her swivel chair, sending papers flying, and scooting up to the window. “Welcome to Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo. How many tickets do you need?” She asked in a rushed breath, a cute smile on her face. Definitely no more than 17, tops.

“I need an adult ticket, and a child’s ticket, pl-..” I was cut off my Tereza’s hand extending past my face, with four fingers held up, and her cry of “I just turned four before Christmas!” ringing loudly in my ear. It didn’t dim my smile, however. I loved her to death. I giggled at the child’s antics, before repeating the ticket order. Pavel certainly spoiled her rotten, and I loved that it was finally my chance to do so.

“Your total is going to be $45.90, which includes the $3.00 tax.” I nodded absentmindedly, as little Kubina kept swatting my pony tail back and forth across my shoulders. I pulled my wallet out of the front pocket of my jeans, and opened it up, sliding out my American express card, and pushing it under the glass opening. “May I see your ID for verification? It’s a new policy that we have recently put into effect.” I smiled to her, as she took a gulp out of a nearby water bottle, my new driver’s license soon next to my card.

She compared the two, did her thing, scanned my credit card, and handed the items back to me. Slipping the pieces of plastic back into my wallet securely, I signed the receipt, and traded it to her for the tickets. “Oh my gosh, Anna! We HAVE to go see the Meerkats! I bet you anything Timon is in there! Can we go, PLEASE?”

I agreed with her, as she slid down my back and onto the cement. She grabbed my hand, pulling me to the entrance. “Have a nice time!” I looked back at the girl, nodding my thanks as Tereza began jumping up and down on the spot in her excitement. “Thank you, Kelsey. Enjoy your day.”

Double-checking to make sure her sandals were still secure around her soft feet, and that my own were the same, she led me to the ticket man who held his ticket scanner poised and ready to go for the long day ahead.