Animals
Chapter Four
Shit.
What the hell was I thinking? Was the only thing that seemed to cross Penelope´s mind as she leaned against the island of the kitchen with her eyes on the small chimpanzee that was sitting in her living room couch still shaking and looking around with fear in his huge brown eyes. There was absolutely no reason for her to take the animal, whatever reason she had thought of for doing it in the past minutes was immediately shut down by the fact that the zoo was right beside her and she could´ve just taken the animal back.
But no, she´d decided to take the chimp home with her and now she had no idea why that was. More than that, she had no idea what she was going to do after that. The smart thing would be to take it back in that exact moment to avoid getting in trouble, but for some reason she couldn’t bring herself to do that. The police was probably there and would be for a few more hours until they sort out what had happened and was probably still happening, she was worried the police would say she stole him, and though she knew Rob would have her back, she also knew that he wouldn´t be able to say anything to stop them if that´s what they believed.
There were noises on the doorknob of the front door and Penelope turned to look just in time as it opened and Craig appeared behind it. He grinned at her as he closed the door. “Hey, what´s up?” She wasn’t able to answer him as his eyes landed on the chimpanzee and he furrowed his brows deeply. “What… why is there a monkey in our couch?”
“It´s kind of a long story,” the girl replied biting her lower lip nervously.
“Did you steal a monkey from the zoo?” he asked raising his eyebrows.
She rolled her eyes. “Of course not, don’t be ridiculous.”
He chuckled without much humor. He might pass her almost everything she did, but there was no way he was going to be okay with this. “Then why is there a monkey in our house?”
She pushed herself of the counter and walked over to the couch where the chimp was still swaying in; she sat in the arm of the couch and looked at Craig. “First, it´s not a monkey, it´s a chimpanzee, Craig. Second, I don´t know, I just panicked and I took him!”
“What do you mean ‘you panicked and took him’?” he asked raising his voice slightly. “Why would you ever think of taking an animal from the zoo?”
She knew then he had not heard what had happened, there was no way he knew the animals escaped and was acting all normal right now. But how could he not know, she hadn’t turned on the television, but she was sure every news channel was talking about it. How could they not?
“Where were you?” she asked as she stood up. “You don’t know what happened?”
He frowned. “What happened?”
Penelope walked towards the table in front of the couch and grabbed the TV remote. “Half the animals of the zoo escaped.”
Craig´s head snapped towards her with widened eyes. “What?”
The girl nodded as she turned on the TV. “Someone, I don´t know who or why, opened all the doors of the animals and they all got out, some stayed in the zoo, but many of them are out in the city,” she replied as she surfed through the channels of the TV trying to find the first news channel.
“Shit,” he said running a hand through his hair. “Are you serious?”
The girl nodded as she finally found a news channel and turned the volume up as she sat in the couch and leaned forward resting her elbows on her knees. The news lady was speaking of the problem at the zoo, not saying much about how it happened or why but telling of all the animals that had escaped and were still in the city. The images that accompanied the information were not what Penelope was expecting; she covered her mouth with both hands not being able to believe what she was seeing.
“‘Apparently, the animals that escaped the San Diego Zoo were too difficult to handle and too wild for the police to get close to them to try to get them back to the zoo,’” the news lady was saying as the image of a tiger, Megan in particular, lying down in the middle of a street was showing and Penelope could only guess she was not sleeping. “‘The police men were forced to shoot the animals to avoid putting civilians in danger.’”
“Oh, my God,” the girl said as she shook her head unconsciously lowering her hands. “I can´t believe they´re killing the animals.”
“How many animals got out?” Craig asked.
The girl shook her head. “I don’t know, it was all very strange. Lo and I were walking to the office to sign out for the day, but then an alarm went off and we didn’t know what was happening, until we saw the lions out of their cages right in front of us. We freaked out and locked ourselves inside the aviary as soon as we realized the rest of the animals were most likely out as well.”
“So you were right there in the middle of it all?” he asked looking at her concerned. “Are you okay? Something could´ve happened to you.”
She shrugged. “I´m fine, I guess I wasn’t really thinking about that. I was just too confused to have time worry about that.”
The images started to change to show other animals lying on the ground just as Megan. “‘We have not yet received information about how many animals are dead,” the woman continued. “‘But we do know now why the animals managed to escape the zoo. It seems to be as though the responsible for this situation is an employee of the San Diego Zoo, his name is Lance Waters, he had been reportedly showing strange behaviors and tonight, just after the zoo closed, he opened all the animal´s doors before committing suicide.’”
A loud gasp escaped Penelope´s lips as she took her hands back to her mouth and tears blurred her eyes. She´d never had a close relationship with Lance, in fact she had not talked much to him since she started working at the zoo, but that had been mostly because he was always on his own. Lance was a very private person and liked to keep to himself, and though he was sometimes weird, she had never had an aversion against him.
“Holy shit,” Craig said as he sat besides Penny on the arm of the couch, wanted to stay clear from the chimpanzee, which had been momentarily forgotten by Penelope. He looked towards his best friend and noticed her hands were shaking slightly against her mouth as her eyes pooled with unshed tears. He placed a hand on her knee and she turned to him, breaking out of the trance she´d been in.
The girl shook her head still in shock. “I knew Lance was having problems with Rob and the zoo, but I never thought it was this serious.”
Craig pursed his lips. “There´s no way you could´ve known.”
“But I don’t understand, why are the police killing the animals? Why aren’t they tranquilizing them?” Penelope asked not really expecting Craig to give her an answer, but not being able to keep her thoughts quiet.
“Maybe that´s the protocol they have for these situations.”
She made a face. “That cannot be protocol, it is not completely necessary to kill the animals, it is perfectly possible to calm them down so they can´t take them back.”
Craig sighed but stayed quiet, the images of the animals and the zoo were still showing on the TV screen and Penelope seemed unable to take her eyes off of it. Craig stood up and walked to the kitchen to get a glass of water and another one for Penny as he thought of what had happened and how close his friend had been to be hurt without him knowing it. It made him uneasy; he had never been too comfortable about her being so close with wild animals, but it had never posed a danger to her. Until tonight.
As he walked back to the couch, his hazel eyes fell on the chimp, wondering again what the hell he was doing at his house. He placed a glass of water in Penny´s hands and took a sip of the other one with his eyes still on the animal, while his friend seemed to be thinking about everything but that.
“So everything we saw in the TV was very informative, but you still haven’t answered my initial question,” he said. “Why is there a freaking chimp on our couch?”
Penelope looked up at him. “I don´t know, I was getting into the car and I saw him in some bushes.”
Craig raised both eyebrows. “So you just took him?”
“Yeah,” the girl replied. “I wasn’t thinking, I was still too freaked out about what happened and the police was close and for some reason I just took him. And I´m glad.”
“You´re glad?” he asked. “How can you be glad? What the hell are we supposed to do with a chimpanzee in our house?”
Penelope stood up and placed the glass of water in the table in front of her, she looked from her best friend to the animal in the couch before speaking, “Yeah, I´m glad I took him. If I´d left him there the police would´ve probably killed him like they did with the other animals.”
Craig shook his head. “You can´t know that.”
“Not for certain, but after what we saw I´m pretty sure that´s what would´ve happened,” she retorted.
“But what the hell is he going to do here? It´s not a pet, Penny, it´s a wild animal.”
Penelope ran her hands through her long hair with frustration. “I don’t know, I didn’t exactly think about that when I took him.”
His friend couldn’t help but let out a laugh. “What were you thinking about?”
The girl tried to hold back a laugh but it was impossible, she shook her head as a defeated smile spread across her lips and the chuckled continued to escape her. “I don’t know.”
“He can´t stay here, Penny.” The look in Craig´s face was one of understanding but determination.
“I know,” she replied, “but I can´t take him back now. We´ll keep him for the night and tomorrow first thing I´ll talk to Rob about it at work and I´ll come back for him.”
Craig nodded and showed her a small smile, opening his arms slightly for her to step in. She did and he wrapped his arms around her gently as she let out a sigh. “Try to sleep,” he said. “He´ll stay in the living room tonight and we´ll fix this tomorrow.
&&
And that was honestly Penelope´s intention for that day; at least it was the moment she woke up and saw the chimpanzee still in the couch, also through the morning as she got ready for work and all the way along the long drive from her house to the zoo. It was her intention until the moment she actually got to the zoo and saw it was completely empty, a strange atmosphere making the day heavier.
The girl made her way to the employees office and saw that everyone was there, all walking towards the already full conference room. She could hear everyone talking in not so low voice, they were discussing what had happened and no one seemed able to keep their mouths shut.
“What´s going on?” Penelope asked someone near her.
The man was one of the staff that worked with getting the animals their food. He looked at her and with a serious expression and a strange fire in his eyes. “We´re suing the police department.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“Because they killed every single animal that escaped.”
Penelope had had the intention to fix the problem she had created, but things were more chaotic than she had expected.
What the hell was I thinking? Was the only thing that seemed to cross Penelope´s mind as she leaned against the island of the kitchen with her eyes on the small chimpanzee that was sitting in her living room couch still shaking and looking around with fear in his huge brown eyes. There was absolutely no reason for her to take the animal, whatever reason she had thought of for doing it in the past minutes was immediately shut down by the fact that the zoo was right beside her and she could´ve just taken the animal back.
But no, she´d decided to take the chimp home with her and now she had no idea why that was. More than that, she had no idea what she was going to do after that. The smart thing would be to take it back in that exact moment to avoid getting in trouble, but for some reason she couldn’t bring herself to do that. The police was probably there and would be for a few more hours until they sort out what had happened and was probably still happening, she was worried the police would say she stole him, and though she knew Rob would have her back, she also knew that he wouldn´t be able to say anything to stop them if that´s what they believed.
There were noises on the doorknob of the front door and Penelope turned to look just in time as it opened and Craig appeared behind it. He grinned at her as he closed the door. “Hey, what´s up?” She wasn’t able to answer him as his eyes landed on the chimpanzee and he furrowed his brows deeply. “What… why is there a monkey in our couch?”
“It´s kind of a long story,” the girl replied biting her lower lip nervously.
“Did you steal a monkey from the zoo?” he asked raising his eyebrows.
She rolled her eyes. “Of course not, don’t be ridiculous.”
He chuckled without much humor. He might pass her almost everything she did, but there was no way he was going to be okay with this. “Then why is there a monkey in our house?”
She pushed herself of the counter and walked over to the couch where the chimp was still swaying in; she sat in the arm of the couch and looked at Craig. “First, it´s not a monkey, it´s a chimpanzee, Craig. Second, I don´t know, I just panicked and I took him!”
“What do you mean ‘you panicked and took him’?” he asked raising his voice slightly. “Why would you ever think of taking an animal from the zoo?”
She knew then he had not heard what had happened, there was no way he knew the animals escaped and was acting all normal right now. But how could he not know, she hadn’t turned on the television, but she was sure every news channel was talking about it. How could they not?
“Where were you?” she asked as she stood up. “You don’t know what happened?”
He frowned. “What happened?”
Penelope walked towards the table in front of the couch and grabbed the TV remote. “Half the animals of the zoo escaped.”
Craig´s head snapped towards her with widened eyes. “What?”
The girl nodded as she turned on the TV. “Someone, I don´t know who or why, opened all the doors of the animals and they all got out, some stayed in the zoo, but many of them are out in the city,” she replied as she surfed through the channels of the TV trying to find the first news channel.
“Shit,” he said running a hand through his hair. “Are you serious?”
The girl nodded as she finally found a news channel and turned the volume up as she sat in the couch and leaned forward resting her elbows on her knees. The news lady was speaking of the problem at the zoo, not saying much about how it happened or why but telling of all the animals that had escaped and were still in the city. The images that accompanied the information were not what Penelope was expecting; she covered her mouth with both hands not being able to believe what she was seeing.
“‘Apparently, the animals that escaped the San Diego Zoo were too difficult to handle and too wild for the police to get close to them to try to get them back to the zoo,’” the news lady was saying as the image of a tiger, Megan in particular, lying down in the middle of a street was showing and Penelope could only guess she was not sleeping. “‘The police men were forced to shoot the animals to avoid putting civilians in danger.’”
“Oh, my God,” the girl said as she shook her head unconsciously lowering her hands. “I can´t believe they´re killing the animals.”
“How many animals got out?” Craig asked.
The girl shook her head. “I don’t know, it was all very strange. Lo and I were walking to the office to sign out for the day, but then an alarm went off and we didn’t know what was happening, until we saw the lions out of their cages right in front of us. We freaked out and locked ourselves inside the aviary as soon as we realized the rest of the animals were most likely out as well.”
“So you were right there in the middle of it all?” he asked looking at her concerned. “Are you okay? Something could´ve happened to you.”
She shrugged. “I´m fine, I guess I wasn’t really thinking about that. I was just too confused to have time worry about that.”
The images started to change to show other animals lying on the ground just as Megan. “‘We have not yet received information about how many animals are dead,” the woman continued. “‘But we do know now why the animals managed to escape the zoo. It seems to be as though the responsible for this situation is an employee of the San Diego Zoo, his name is Lance Waters, he had been reportedly showing strange behaviors and tonight, just after the zoo closed, he opened all the animal´s doors before committing suicide.’”
A loud gasp escaped Penelope´s lips as she took her hands back to her mouth and tears blurred her eyes. She´d never had a close relationship with Lance, in fact she had not talked much to him since she started working at the zoo, but that had been mostly because he was always on his own. Lance was a very private person and liked to keep to himself, and though he was sometimes weird, she had never had an aversion against him.
“Holy shit,” Craig said as he sat besides Penny on the arm of the couch, wanted to stay clear from the chimpanzee, which had been momentarily forgotten by Penelope. He looked towards his best friend and noticed her hands were shaking slightly against her mouth as her eyes pooled with unshed tears. He placed a hand on her knee and she turned to him, breaking out of the trance she´d been in.
The girl shook her head still in shock. “I knew Lance was having problems with Rob and the zoo, but I never thought it was this serious.”
Craig pursed his lips. “There´s no way you could´ve known.”
“But I don’t understand, why are the police killing the animals? Why aren’t they tranquilizing them?” Penelope asked not really expecting Craig to give her an answer, but not being able to keep her thoughts quiet.
“Maybe that´s the protocol they have for these situations.”
She made a face. “That cannot be protocol, it is not completely necessary to kill the animals, it is perfectly possible to calm them down so they can´t take them back.”
Craig sighed but stayed quiet, the images of the animals and the zoo were still showing on the TV screen and Penelope seemed unable to take her eyes off of it. Craig stood up and walked to the kitchen to get a glass of water and another one for Penny as he thought of what had happened and how close his friend had been to be hurt without him knowing it. It made him uneasy; he had never been too comfortable about her being so close with wild animals, but it had never posed a danger to her. Until tonight.
As he walked back to the couch, his hazel eyes fell on the chimp, wondering again what the hell he was doing at his house. He placed a glass of water in Penny´s hands and took a sip of the other one with his eyes still on the animal, while his friend seemed to be thinking about everything but that.
“So everything we saw in the TV was very informative, but you still haven’t answered my initial question,” he said. “Why is there a freaking chimp on our couch?”
Penelope looked up at him. “I don´t know, I was getting into the car and I saw him in some bushes.”
Craig raised both eyebrows. “So you just took him?”
“Yeah,” the girl replied. “I wasn’t thinking, I was still too freaked out about what happened and the police was close and for some reason I just took him. And I´m glad.”
“You´re glad?” he asked. “How can you be glad? What the hell are we supposed to do with a chimpanzee in our house?”
Penelope stood up and placed the glass of water in the table in front of her, she looked from her best friend to the animal in the couch before speaking, “Yeah, I´m glad I took him. If I´d left him there the police would´ve probably killed him like they did with the other animals.”
Craig shook his head. “You can´t know that.”
“Not for certain, but after what we saw I´m pretty sure that´s what would´ve happened,” she retorted.
“But what the hell is he going to do here? It´s not a pet, Penny, it´s a wild animal.”
Penelope ran her hands through her long hair with frustration. “I don’t know, I didn’t exactly think about that when I took him.”
His friend couldn’t help but let out a laugh. “What were you thinking about?”
The girl tried to hold back a laugh but it was impossible, she shook her head as a defeated smile spread across her lips and the chuckled continued to escape her. “I don’t know.”
“He can´t stay here, Penny.” The look in Craig´s face was one of understanding but determination.
“I know,” she replied, “but I can´t take him back now. We´ll keep him for the night and tomorrow first thing I´ll talk to Rob about it at work and I´ll come back for him.”
Craig nodded and showed her a small smile, opening his arms slightly for her to step in. She did and he wrapped his arms around her gently as she let out a sigh. “Try to sleep,” he said. “He´ll stay in the living room tonight and we´ll fix this tomorrow.
&&
And that was honestly Penelope´s intention for that day; at least it was the moment she woke up and saw the chimpanzee still in the couch, also through the morning as she got ready for work and all the way along the long drive from her house to the zoo. It was her intention until the moment she actually got to the zoo and saw it was completely empty, a strange atmosphere making the day heavier.
The girl made her way to the employees office and saw that everyone was there, all walking towards the already full conference room. She could hear everyone talking in not so low voice, they were discussing what had happened and no one seemed able to keep their mouths shut.
“What´s going on?” Penelope asked someone near her.
The man was one of the staff that worked with getting the animals their food. He looked at her and with a serious expression and a strange fire in his eyes. “We´re suing the police department.”
She frowned. “Why?”
“Because they killed every single animal that escaped.”
Penelope had had the intention to fix the problem she had created, but things were more chaotic than she had expected.