The Zookeeper 2: The Past and The Present

Ch. 11: Zoo Jobs

Elsewhere, Luz arrived at the zoo, ready to begin.

"Ms. Noceda?" A man asked her, waiting at the employee entrance.

"That's me, sir. Ready for the alligator." Luz said with a smile.

"Well, we need to show you around first, since you'll be here over the next few days." The employee said, "And the boss would like to see you, he's heard great things about you."

"Understood. And I am curious about your zoo. It's rare for me to see another one outside of vacations." Luz said as the employee opened the door for them.

As she walked through, she heard some of the keepers muttering about her, not thinking she was as good as they say she is.

"This is who they sent us?"

"I know, she doesn't look that special. Average at best."

"There's no way she can take that alligator."

Luz looked a little annoyed by the comments but decided to brush them off. She was led to the boss's office and let in.

"You must be Ms. Noceda." He said.

Luz nodded to the boss, a rather big and muscular man with light brown skin, dark brown hair and green eyes.

"Yes, ma'am. And you must be Mr. Hazel Elm, the boss of this zoo, correct?" Luz asked with a smile.

"That I am. It's such a pleasure to meet you." Hazel said with a nod, "Now, I've been told you have a... way with animals."

"You could say that, a lot of keepers here don't seem to think so." Luz said.

"Well, before you deal with the Alligator, we want to see how you can do." He said, "We have a tiger that is a bit aggressive, I'm hoping you can show the keepers here why you have your reputation."

"Lead the way."

Hazel nodded as he got up and lead Luz out of his office, letting her smile a bit as she walked behind him. Her gift had never been more enjoyable than when Luz was using it to prove people wrong or to bond with newborn animals at their cutest. She was led to a holding pen and the door was opened for her.

"You have to the end of the day." He said.

"I only need twenty minutes." Luz said, shutting the door behind her.

In San Diego, Amity reached up and pet one of her giraffe's, one of the ones she helped raise since birth.

"Good morning, Melissa. Glad to see you're full of energy." Amity said.

Emira and Edric hid behind Alador, they've heard stories of these monsters. Even if they were now "domesticated," they still didn't want to take any risks.

"Amity, are you sure these giraffes are harmless?" Alador asked as he tugged his collar.

"Trust me, they're fine. Giraffes are very gentle creatures once you get to know them." Amity said to them, "Come on, just pet one."

Amity gestured for them to come over as Melissa the giraffe looked at them with her pitch black eyes. The giraffe looked very confused and intrigued. She's never seen a witch before, since she didn't really consider Amity one. Emira and Edric looked at her in fear and she sniffed them.

"Yes, they are definitely witches." Melissa said to herself as she gazed at Alador. "And they small similar to Mother Amity."

She reached down and licked their hair, trying to comfort them, but making them even more nervous.

"See? She likes you." Amity said to them.

"More like taste testing us!" Edric said as he put Emira in front of him. "Eat her first. She's older and more aged to perfection."

"Edric!" Emira shouted to her brother!

Amity closed her eyes and rubbed her head. This was going to be harder than she thought.

"I sure hope Luz is doing better than I am right now."

At the other Zoo, all the zookeepers were stunned that in only eight minutes, Luz was giving the single most aggressive tiger at the zoo belly rubs.

"Who's a good kitty? Is it you?" Luz asked, as she rubbed the tiger's underbelly.

The tiger rolled around and got back up. It began to lick Luz, causing her to laugh.

"My god...you're even better than your boss said you were." Hazel said with a dropped jaw.

"Oh, this is nothing. You should see the tiger and her cub from my zoo, Tina and Tyler. Such sweethearts." Luz said.

Luz gave the tiger a kiss to the head and rubbed her nose against the tigers.

"You're so cute." Luz said, "Remember, be nice to your keepers, they're trying to keep you safe and comfortable."

"Okay, Luz but I will miss you. You're the first human to ever truly understand me." The tiger said to Luz.

Luz put her head to the tigers head.

"It was nice meeting you, Mona." Luz said.

Luz gave one last kiss to her head before leaving the room.

"So, where the big sweetie that I'm here to handle?" Luz asked, referring to the female alligator.

"R-Right, right. Follow me but....is there a way you could teach some of our people here what you just did?" Hazel asked Luz as he shut the door to the tiger habitat.

"I just know my stuff about animals." Luz said, "You need to treat them as an equal, you need to understand their habits."

'And you need to have a magical gift that lets you talk to animals like people.' Luz thought.