The booths were set up, the trainers were out in force and Birdapalooza had officially begun.
The biggest even of the season at Wild Kingdom had finally arrived, and it was a spectacle to behold for Robin, who'd never really witnessed anything like it before. As she, Fletcher and Sophie walked through the crowd on their break, sharing a large bag of popcorn, Robin couldn't believe her eyes. So many birds, so many people here to see birds, it just felt surreal. Fletcher reached back into the bag and scooped a handful of popcorn into his mouth, chewing absentmindedly.
"Ya know," Robin said, "despite being named after a bird, I never knew there were so many birds."
"It might just be the most robust animal out there in terms of variety," Fletcher said while chewing, "I mean, think about it...how many different types of moose are there? Not many, right. You think of moose, you think of one animal, more or less. But you think of bird? Suddenly a billion spring to your brain. Parrot, Parakeet, Swan, Goose, Hummingbird, Pigeon, Stork, Flamingo, Ostrich, Cockatoo, Crow, Seagull, Peacock, the list is just never ending."
The group stopped to watch a young woman who was performing, albeit somewhat nervously, with a small dove. It was perched gracefully on her arm, atop the glove, as she gave a little presentation about it.
"This is Princess," she said brightly, but anxiously, her eyes darting around the group that had begun to crowd her, "um, Princess is a Dove, as you can see. The Dove is closely related to the Pigeon, and are very monogamous, often opting to nest with one partner only throughout life."
"Dove, see, there's another one I forgot," Fletcher said, taking a sip of his soda.
"Now if you'll watch closely, Princess and I have something very special together, because I will let her fly to the nearest tree, but she will return to me within seconds," the young woman said, as she lifted her arm up into the air and Princess did, indeed, take flight to the nearest tree, landing on a single skinny branch. The group applauded lightly, politely, and made the young woman blush. This must've been her first show, because nobody acted like this usually. Just then, a commotion break out in the trees, as an enormous Hawk grabbed Princess with its talons and began tearing her into pieces, at the delight of the children and the terror of everyone else, especially her trainer.
"Hawk," Sophie said, putting popcorn in her mouth.
"Yeah Hawk, that's another one!" Fletcher said giddily, popping Sophie gently on the arm with his fist.
***
"This is a goddamned disaster," Nelly said as she paced back and forth in her office, Harvey sitting behind her desk, drinking some tea; Nelly tossed some papers on her desk and grabbed her hair, groaning, "this is...I don't even know how to deal with this."
"It's survival of the fittest, Nell, it's just nature. People come to see animals right? They come to see animals behave like animals, and sometimes, a lot of time, actually, animals kill one another. It's just part of nature. Spin it like that and you're golden."
"...oh, just spin it like that, huh? Okay, let me play you some of the messages I've received," Nelly said, walking to her desk and tapping on her phones answering machine. Harvey suddenly felt nervous as the first one came on, a woman with a soft spoken but firm voice.
"Hello, my name is Mrs. Gardener, and I don't like to complain about things that are good for the community, good for children, because we don't have much of that these days, but what happened at your zoo during Birdapalooza was an outright disgrace. Whoever placed those trainers near eachother should've known the Hawk ate smaller birds. Until something is done that can guarantee my children won't be traumatized at the horrors of the zoo, I don't think we'll be coming back, and we'll be relinquishing our seasonal passes. I hope you understand."
"Traumatized at the horrors? Did these people never read Zoobooks or watch Nature on PBS?" Harvey asked, sounding indignant.
"Oh, there's more," Nelly said, as the next message came on.
"This is Mr. Parker, and I've been a longtime supporter of your zoo. It puts on fantastic events, it is a very safe and family friendly environment, and it has never once been - unlike other zoos - subject to investigation for claims of animal abuse. I always thought you ran a fantastic facility...until the other day. What happened at Birdapalooza, an event my children and I go nuts waiting for every year by the way, was completely unacceptable. I know that these things happen, I'm not an irrational person getting upset at nature taking its course and everyone has an accident now and then, but until I can be certain this sort of thing won't happen again, I don't think we'll be returning. Thank you for your time."
"Okay, well, he didn't sound as upset as the previous caller, so that's good," Harvey said as another message came on.
"You people are an absolute fucking disgrace and I am going to report you not only to the better business bureau but also any and all animal rights groups I can so hopefully you get investigated! That was a sick display of incompetence and cluelessness, led by a woman who should never be allowed to handle animals as she clearly didn't know what the fuck she was doing! Fuck you and your zoo!"
Nelly reached forward, stopped the machine and then folded her arms, watching Harvey.
"No witty comeback for that one?" she asked.
"No, no that one was pretty bad," Harvey replied, "but so what, it isn't like these people are funding us or are our financial backers. Sure, the loss of their passes might hurt a tad, but they aren't the ones we really have to worry about. So long as what happened doesn't spook any investors, everything will be just fine."
A moment passed as the two looked at one another, and then Nelly reached back to the answering machine.
"Oh. Oh no," Harvey mumbled.
***
The trainer who'd been working with the dove, Kacie, was feeling worse than anyone involved. This had been her first show, and she'd been training for two years to get to this level. It was something she'd always dreamt of doing, ever since she herself had been a little girl and coming to this zoo. Now she didn't know what to make of her dreams, because it felt like the hawk had ripped those to shreds as well. Sitting on a bench outside the dove habitat as she ate lunch, each passerby seemed to give her the dirtiest look, making her feel even more self-conscious than she already did. She bit into her sandwich and chewed, trying to hide best she could when she felt the bench shift a little and looked to her side to see a man sitting down.
"You don't mind, do you?" Fletcher asked, and Kacie shook her head slowly as he lit up a cigarette; he took a long drag then said, "don't worry about the glares, I get 'em and I've never done anything like what happened to you, so."
"...you were there?" she asked meekly.
"Oh yeah," Fletcher said, "yep, front row center. It was like being in the Roman Colosseum, honestly, that brutal. But also you know it wasn't your fault, right? That these things just happen?"
"Not with better trainers they do," Kacie whispered, taking another bite of her sandwich as Fletcher took another puff and then crossed his legs.
"You'd think that, but have you ever heard of Stacy Keebler?" he asked, and she shook her head; Fletcher continued, "well, Stacy was about ten years or so older than you, and she was our reptile guide. Specifically focused on lizards, large lizards. She also used to do their feedings. She'd been doing this for like 7 years by this point, so one would assume she's a consummate professional, can do no wrong, and she was overly careful. So one day, she's taking these kids on a guided tour through the reptile house, and she opens this cage and takes out this ball python. Just a little guy, right? Nothing to be scared of at all. She's handling him, showing him off, and he just takes off and slithers down her and onto the ground and into the crowd."
"Oh no, did he hurt anyone?" Kacie asked, chewing.
"No, HE didn't," Fletcher said, "but the kids start screaming, most excitedly, and start chasing it. This ball python slithers right over a nearby wall that leads into a little oasis kind of habitat, and Stacy, doing what she thought was best, climbs over it to get him. What she didn't expect was the Komodo Dragon in the habitat saw this little guy as a snack. So Stacy grabs him, she actually manages to catch him, and he's clenched in her fist, but not, like, in a dangerous way, right, and then this fuckin' giant lizard decides to latch over her fist and onto her arm. By the time the whole ordeal was over, she'd lost her hand, and by the following week, she'd retired. You might notice the Komodo habitat is now not only enclosed but also halfway across the Zoo from the reptile area."
"Oh my god," Kacie said, snickering, which made Fletcher smirk.
"Jeez, taking pleasure in her pain?" he asked, "you're a sick little weirdo."
"It's just, that's WAY worse than what happened to me," Kacie said, and Fletcher nodded.
"That's exactly my point. Someone far more experienced and she went through something so much more horrible. All you did was witness a bird get killed, and frankly, it wasn't even your fault. So don't be sad or sorry or feel judged. These things happen. Stacy was behaving like an idiot, you were just unlucky."
Kacie set her sandwich down and put her hands in her lap, smiling, nodding.
"Thank you," she said.
"No problem," Fletcher said, "that's what I'm here for, to judge others and make people feel better."
Nobody, not a single person, had come up to Kacie and told her anything that had made her change her view on what had happened, but Fletcher had presented her with something she couldn't ignore, and she appreciated that. It was the first time since the incident that she'd managed to smile again, and she couldn't help but be grateful.
"Do you want some of my lunch?" she asked quietly.
"...yeah, I could eat," Fletcher said.
***
"It was a one time incident," Nelly said as her office door opened and Robin stepped inside; Nelly motioned for her to sit down, then continued with her phone call, scribbling something down on a pad of paper with a pen, "no, you don't...I know, but...dammit Jeff, just listen to me for two goddamn minutes please!"
Robin seated herself as Nelly groaned, sounding exhausted, setting her pen down and running her hand over her face.
"Yeah, I got it, yeah well, thanks for being such a big help," Nelly said sarcastically and hung up the phone before looking at Robin.
"You wanted to see me?" Robin asked.
"I did," Nelly said, "don't worry, you're not in any trouble. I need you and someone else, whoever you want, to go and get something for me. First I need you to drop off a check to somebody, and then I need you to go and gather up all the remaining doves in the zoo in multiple crates. I don't care how long it takes, just do it please. I have an idea that I think will restore some faith in the public for us."
"Am I getting paid extra for this?" Robin asked.
"Yes," Nelly said, grinning, "and don't feel bad about asking that, it is extra work, so I will pay you extra."
"I can pick anyone?" Robin asked, already knowing who she had in mind.
A few minutes later, Nelly, Casper and Sophie were in the cart, riding over to the bird sanctuary, Casper in the drivers seat and Sophie in Robin's lap, seeing as there were only two seats in the cart. As Casper pulled up, he noticed the crates had already been placed there for them, and saw the trainer, Kacie, and Fletcher also already there, which surprised him.
"Why's he here?" Casper asked as he parked and climbed out, shouting, "Fletcher, why are you here?"
"Cause she asked me to be," Fletcher said, motioning to Kacie, who started pulling the keyring from the back of her shorts. Together, the five of them headed into the bird dome and preparing to collect the doves. Kacie handed everyone a thick pair of gloves to handle them so they didn't get bit or scratched, and gave them detailed instructions on just how to manage this. As Robin pulled out a dove and looked at it, Sophie grabbing one as well, they looked at one another and smiled.
"There was a pair of mourning doves that built a nest every year on my parents back porch," Robin said, "and I remember seeing them every single year, and it was like...the sweetest tradition. They always came back, same two doves, built a new nest in the same spot, had more children. The perfect little bird family."
"Sounds like a kids storybook," Sophie said, the both of them giggling.
"I could hear their coos if I left my window open, cause my bedroom was right over the backyard, so I used to keep my bedroom window open and listen to them while I did my homework cause it was so soothing. I used to wonder what it would be like to be a bird that mated for life. To find one other bird to share my life with, and love forever," Robin said, "my parents fought, so I knew human marriages didn't exactly work out great, but...maybe bird love was different. after all, these birds always seemed so happy and were still together."
Robin looked at the dove in her hands as Sophie crated her dove and blushed, getting closer and whispering.
"I'm not a bird," Sophie said, "but maybe we could find out what it's like together."
Robin giggled and, holding the bird gently but firmly between them, leaned in and kissed her. After the kiss broke, Robin went to crate her dove and they continued going on, gathering and crating others. A little ways down the line, Casper, Fletcher and Kacie were doing the same. Casper pulled a dove out and shook his head.
"Did Nelly tell you at all what her intentions are?" Casper asked, and Fletcher shrugged.
"Dude, I didn't talk to her, Robin did. Like I said, only reason I'm here is cause Kacie has the keys and asked me to be," Fletcher said, gathering a dove in each hand and crating them as Casper shook his head in disbelief, looking towards Kacie.
"Why would you want Fletcher anywhere?" Casper asked, half joking.
"...he feels safe," Kacie said, shrugging, surprising Casper.
Kacie gathered some birds and crated them, then started moving some of the crates to the nearby truck as Fletcher returned for more birds. As he did, Casper was still trying to grasp what he'd just been told.
"She thinks you're safe?" Casper asked.
"You know," Fletcher said, "everyone just automatically assumes I'm an asshole because I act like an asshole, but haven't you ever heard of the concept of a persona? A persona isn't a personality, Casper. I act different with different people. Maybe you just don't see that because you're not a cute girl."
"But...but I wanna be a cute girl," Casper said, the both of them laughing. But Fletcher had a point, all joking aside, because Casper never had seen him interact with anyone outside their little group, and so maybe in private, with the right people, he was a different person. A person that girls found safe. Casper just found it hard to believe, but hey, people were always surprising him.
As Fletcher headed back to the truck, Casper grasped another dove and turned to follow when he saw Robin pushing Sophie up against the now empty wall of the bird dome, kissing Sophie, and he smiled. Yep, he thought. People were always surprising him. Once the task was finished, Fletcher and Kacie got in the truck and Kacie started it up. As she prepared to drive back to the front of the zoo, she reached over and put her hand on Fletcher's thigh, squeezing, catching him off guard.
"Thank you for coming," she said softly, and he blushed, nodding.
"Y-yeah, yeah, it was no problem, my pleasure," he stammered.
"Maybe sometime we could do something together outside of the zoo, if, you know, you'd like that," she said, and Fletcher nodded, smiling.
"I really would," he said.
***
"Thank you all for coming," Nelly said into the microphone on the podium, the crowd in front of her clapping politely, shifting uncomfortably; she cleared her throat and continued, "um, as you might be aware, last week at Birdapalooza, the biggest event of the season for Wild Kingdom, we had a very unfortunate incident occur in which a dove was killed by a hawk in front of families, to the horror and, for some warped reason, delight, of some children. Today we aim to rectify that. I have gathered every remaining dove in the zoo, and we will be releasing them into the wild, as a show of solidarity to the species."
A louder round of applause came through, this time sounding genuine. Nelly smiled weakly. This seemed to be working, which is exactly what she needed right now. She glanced to her crew and then back at the crowd, continuing as she walked across the stage and towards the large cage that housed almost every dove they had.
"I'm hoping that, by giving these animals back their freedom, I can somehow make up for the tragedy of the loss of one of their own. This is the only way I can kind of make up for it all, and I just hope that it suffices," Nelly said, unlocking the cage door and allowing them all to fly out over the crowd and into the sky above to loud applause and some whistling. Watching this sight, Sophie slipped her hand into Robin's and squeezed gently, as Kacie cried a little, watching all her doves fly away as Fletcher leaned in and hugged her close to comfort her. Harvey came up on the stage with Nelly and put his hands in his pants pockets, looking up at the sky with her.
"There they go," he said, "you did the right thing."
"I hope so," Nelly replied.
And then, without warning, a dozen of the doves flew directly into a set of live power lines being worked on, immediately being fried and falling to the ground. The crowd looked on in stunned silence, some children started screaming and crying and Nelly stared ahead in shock, her eyes wide. Harvey looked towards her as she dug her hands into her hair.
"What the fuck is wrong with these birds!?" she screamed.
The biggest even of the season at Wild Kingdom had finally arrived, and it was a spectacle to behold for Robin, who'd never really witnessed anything like it before. As she, Fletcher and Sophie walked through the crowd on their break, sharing a large bag of popcorn, Robin couldn't believe her eyes. So many birds, so many people here to see birds, it just felt surreal. Fletcher reached back into the bag and scooped a handful of popcorn into his mouth, chewing absentmindedly.
"Ya know," Robin said, "despite being named after a bird, I never knew there were so many birds."
"It might just be the most robust animal out there in terms of variety," Fletcher said while chewing, "I mean, think about it...how many different types of moose are there? Not many, right. You think of moose, you think of one animal, more or less. But you think of bird? Suddenly a billion spring to your brain. Parrot, Parakeet, Swan, Goose, Hummingbird, Pigeon, Stork, Flamingo, Ostrich, Cockatoo, Crow, Seagull, Peacock, the list is just never ending."
The group stopped to watch a young woman who was performing, albeit somewhat nervously, with a small dove. It was perched gracefully on her arm, atop the glove, as she gave a little presentation about it.
"This is Princess," she said brightly, but anxiously, her eyes darting around the group that had begun to crowd her, "um, Princess is a Dove, as you can see. The Dove is closely related to the Pigeon, and are very monogamous, often opting to nest with one partner only throughout life."
"Dove, see, there's another one I forgot," Fletcher said, taking a sip of his soda.
"Now if you'll watch closely, Princess and I have something very special together, because I will let her fly to the nearest tree, but she will return to me within seconds," the young woman said, as she lifted her arm up into the air and Princess did, indeed, take flight to the nearest tree, landing on a single skinny branch. The group applauded lightly, politely, and made the young woman blush. This must've been her first show, because nobody acted like this usually. Just then, a commotion break out in the trees, as an enormous Hawk grabbed Princess with its talons and began tearing her into pieces, at the delight of the children and the terror of everyone else, especially her trainer.
"Hawk," Sophie said, putting popcorn in her mouth.
"Yeah Hawk, that's another one!" Fletcher said giddily, popping Sophie gently on the arm with his fist.
***
"This is a goddamned disaster," Nelly said as she paced back and forth in her office, Harvey sitting behind her desk, drinking some tea; Nelly tossed some papers on her desk and grabbed her hair, groaning, "this is...I don't even know how to deal with this."
"It's survival of the fittest, Nell, it's just nature. People come to see animals right? They come to see animals behave like animals, and sometimes, a lot of time, actually, animals kill one another. It's just part of nature. Spin it like that and you're golden."
"...oh, just spin it like that, huh? Okay, let me play you some of the messages I've received," Nelly said, walking to her desk and tapping on her phones answering machine. Harvey suddenly felt nervous as the first one came on, a woman with a soft spoken but firm voice.
"Hello, my name is Mrs. Gardener, and I don't like to complain about things that are good for the community, good for children, because we don't have much of that these days, but what happened at your zoo during Birdapalooza was an outright disgrace. Whoever placed those trainers near eachother should've known the Hawk ate smaller birds. Until something is done that can guarantee my children won't be traumatized at the horrors of the zoo, I don't think we'll be coming back, and we'll be relinquishing our seasonal passes. I hope you understand."
"Traumatized at the horrors? Did these people never read Zoobooks or watch Nature on PBS?" Harvey asked, sounding indignant.
"Oh, there's more," Nelly said, as the next message came on.
"This is Mr. Parker, and I've been a longtime supporter of your zoo. It puts on fantastic events, it is a very safe and family friendly environment, and it has never once been - unlike other zoos - subject to investigation for claims of animal abuse. I always thought you ran a fantastic facility...until the other day. What happened at Birdapalooza, an event my children and I go nuts waiting for every year by the way, was completely unacceptable. I know that these things happen, I'm not an irrational person getting upset at nature taking its course and everyone has an accident now and then, but until I can be certain this sort of thing won't happen again, I don't think we'll be returning. Thank you for your time."
"Okay, well, he didn't sound as upset as the previous caller, so that's good," Harvey said as another message came on.
"You people are an absolute fucking disgrace and I am going to report you not only to the better business bureau but also any and all animal rights groups I can so hopefully you get investigated! That was a sick display of incompetence and cluelessness, led by a woman who should never be allowed to handle animals as she clearly didn't know what the fuck she was doing! Fuck you and your zoo!"
Nelly reached forward, stopped the machine and then folded her arms, watching Harvey.
"No witty comeback for that one?" she asked.
"No, no that one was pretty bad," Harvey replied, "but so what, it isn't like these people are funding us or are our financial backers. Sure, the loss of their passes might hurt a tad, but they aren't the ones we really have to worry about. So long as what happened doesn't spook any investors, everything will be just fine."
A moment passed as the two looked at one another, and then Nelly reached back to the answering machine.
"Oh. Oh no," Harvey mumbled.
***
The trainer who'd been working with the dove, Kacie, was feeling worse than anyone involved. This had been her first show, and she'd been training for two years to get to this level. It was something she'd always dreamt of doing, ever since she herself had been a little girl and coming to this zoo. Now she didn't know what to make of her dreams, because it felt like the hawk had ripped those to shreds as well. Sitting on a bench outside the dove habitat as she ate lunch, each passerby seemed to give her the dirtiest look, making her feel even more self-conscious than she already did. She bit into her sandwich and chewed, trying to hide best she could when she felt the bench shift a little and looked to her side to see a man sitting down.
"You don't mind, do you?" Fletcher asked, and Kacie shook her head slowly as he lit up a cigarette; he took a long drag then said, "don't worry about the glares, I get 'em and I've never done anything like what happened to you, so."
"...you were there?" she asked meekly.
"Oh yeah," Fletcher said, "yep, front row center. It was like being in the Roman Colosseum, honestly, that brutal. But also you know it wasn't your fault, right? That these things just happen?"
"Not with better trainers they do," Kacie whispered, taking another bite of her sandwich as Fletcher took another puff and then crossed his legs.
"You'd think that, but have you ever heard of Stacy Keebler?" he asked, and she shook her head; Fletcher continued, "well, Stacy was about ten years or so older than you, and she was our reptile guide. Specifically focused on lizards, large lizards. She also used to do their feedings. She'd been doing this for like 7 years by this point, so one would assume she's a consummate professional, can do no wrong, and she was overly careful. So one day, she's taking these kids on a guided tour through the reptile house, and she opens this cage and takes out this ball python. Just a little guy, right? Nothing to be scared of at all. She's handling him, showing him off, and he just takes off and slithers down her and onto the ground and into the crowd."
"Oh no, did he hurt anyone?" Kacie asked, chewing.
"No, HE didn't," Fletcher said, "but the kids start screaming, most excitedly, and start chasing it. This ball python slithers right over a nearby wall that leads into a little oasis kind of habitat, and Stacy, doing what she thought was best, climbs over it to get him. What she didn't expect was the Komodo Dragon in the habitat saw this little guy as a snack. So Stacy grabs him, she actually manages to catch him, and he's clenched in her fist, but not, like, in a dangerous way, right, and then this fuckin' giant lizard decides to latch over her fist and onto her arm. By the time the whole ordeal was over, she'd lost her hand, and by the following week, she'd retired. You might notice the Komodo habitat is now not only enclosed but also halfway across the Zoo from the reptile area."
"Oh my god," Kacie said, snickering, which made Fletcher smirk.
"Jeez, taking pleasure in her pain?" he asked, "you're a sick little weirdo."
"It's just, that's WAY worse than what happened to me," Kacie said, and Fletcher nodded.
"That's exactly my point. Someone far more experienced and she went through something so much more horrible. All you did was witness a bird get killed, and frankly, it wasn't even your fault. So don't be sad or sorry or feel judged. These things happen. Stacy was behaving like an idiot, you were just unlucky."
Kacie set her sandwich down and put her hands in her lap, smiling, nodding.
"Thank you," she said.
"No problem," Fletcher said, "that's what I'm here for, to judge others and make people feel better."
Nobody, not a single person, had come up to Kacie and told her anything that had made her change her view on what had happened, but Fletcher had presented her with something she couldn't ignore, and she appreciated that. It was the first time since the incident that she'd managed to smile again, and she couldn't help but be grateful.
"Do you want some of my lunch?" she asked quietly.
"...yeah, I could eat," Fletcher said.
***
"It was a one time incident," Nelly said as her office door opened and Robin stepped inside; Nelly motioned for her to sit down, then continued with her phone call, scribbling something down on a pad of paper with a pen, "no, you don't...I know, but...dammit Jeff, just listen to me for two goddamn minutes please!"
Robin seated herself as Nelly groaned, sounding exhausted, setting her pen down and running her hand over her face.
"Yeah, I got it, yeah well, thanks for being such a big help," Nelly said sarcastically and hung up the phone before looking at Robin.
"You wanted to see me?" Robin asked.
"I did," Nelly said, "don't worry, you're not in any trouble. I need you and someone else, whoever you want, to go and get something for me. First I need you to drop off a check to somebody, and then I need you to go and gather up all the remaining doves in the zoo in multiple crates. I don't care how long it takes, just do it please. I have an idea that I think will restore some faith in the public for us."
"Am I getting paid extra for this?" Robin asked.
"Yes," Nelly said, grinning, "and don't feel bad about asking that, it is extra work, so I will pay you extra."
"I can pick anyone?" Robin asked, already knowing who she had in mind.
A few minutes later, Nelly, Casper and Sophie were in the cart, riding over to the bird sanctuary, Casper in the drivers seat and Sophie in Robin's lap, seeing as there were only two seats in the cart. As Casper pulled up, he noticed the crates had already been placed there for them, and saw the trainer, Kacie, and Fletcher also already there, which surprised him.
"Why's he here?" Casper asked as he parked and climbed out, shouting, "Fletcher, why are you here?"
"Cause she asked me to be," Fletcher said, motioning to Kacie, who started pulling the keyring from the back of her shorts. Together, the five of them headed into the bird dome and preparing to collect the doves. Kacie handed everyone a thick pair of gloves to handle them so they didn't get bit or scratched, and gave them detailed instructions on just how to manage this. As Robin pulled out a dove and looked at it, Sophie grabbing one as well, they looked at one another and smiled.
"There was a pair of mourning doves that built a nest every year on my parents back porch," Robin said, "and I remember seeing them every single year, and it was like...the sweetest tradition. They always came back, same two doves, built a new nest in the same spot, had more children. The perfect little bird family."
"Sounds like a kids storybook," Sophie said, the both of them giggling.
"I could hear their coos if I left my window open, cause my bedroom was right over the backyard, so I used to keep my bedroom window open and listen to them while I did my homework cause it was so soothing. I used to wonder what it would be like to be a bird that mated for life. To find one other bird to share my life with, and love forever," Robin said, "my parents fought, so I knew human marriages didn't exactly work out great, but...maybe bird love was different. after all, these birds always seemed so happy and were still together."
Robin looked at the dove in her hands as Sophie crated her dove and blushed, getting closer and whispering.
"I'm not a bird," Sophie said, "but maybe we could find out what it's like together."
Robin giggled and, holding the bird gently but firmly between them, leaned in and kissed her. After the kiss broke, Robin went to crate her dove and they continued going on, gathering and crating others. A little ways down the line, Casper, Fletcher and Kacie were doing the same. Casper pulled a dove out and shook his head.
"Did Nelly tell you at all what her intentions are?" Casper asked, and Fletcher shrugged.
"Dude, I didn't talk to her, Robin did. Like I said, only reason I'm here is cause Kacie has the keys and asked me to be," Fletcher said, gathering a dove in each hand and crating them as Casper shook his head in disbelief, looking towards Kacie.
"Why would you want Fletcher anywhere?" Casper asked, half joking.
"...he feels safe," Kacie said, shrugging, surprising Casper.
Kacie gathered some birds and crated them, then started moving some of the crates to the nearby truck as Fletcher returned for more birds. As he did, Casper was still trying to grasp what he'd just been told.
"She thinks you're safe?" Casper asked.
"You know," Fletcher said, "everyone just automatically assumes I'm an asshole because I act like an asshole, but haven't you ever heard of the concept of a persona? A persona isn't a personality, Casper. I act different with different people. Maybe you just don't see that because you're not a cute girl."
"But...but I wanna be a cute girl," Casper said, the both of them laughing. But Fletcher had a point, all joking aside, because Casper never had seen him interact with anyone outside their little group, and so maybe in private, with the right people, he was a different person. A person that girls found safe. Casper just found it hard to believe, but hey, people were always surprising him.
As Fletcher headed back to the truck, Casper grasped another dove and turned to follow when he saw Robin pushing Sophie up against the now empty wall of the bird dome, kissing Sophie, and he smiled. Yep, he thought. People were always surprising him. Once the task was finished, Fletcher and Kacie got in the truck and Kacie started it up. As she prepared to drive back to the front of the zoo, she reached over and put her hand on Fletcher's thigh, squeezing, catching him off guard.
"Thank you for coming," she said softly, and he blushed, nodding.
"Y-yeah, yeah, it was no problem, my pleasure," he stammered.
"Maybe sometime we could do something together outside of the zoo, if, you know, you'd like that," she said, and Fletcher nodded, smiling.
"I really would," he said.
***
"Thank you all for coming," Nelly said into the microphone on the podium, the crowd in front of her clapping politely, shifting uncomfortably; she cleared her throat and continued, "um, as you might be aware, last week at Birdapalooza, the biggest event of the season for Wild Kingdom, we had a very unfortunate incident occur in which a dove was killed by a hawk in front of families, to the horror and, for some warped reason, delight, of some children. Today we aim to rectify that. I have gathered every remaining dove in the zoo, and we will be releasing them into the wild, as a show of solidarity to the species."
A louder round of applause came through, this time sounding genuine. Nelly smiled weakly. This seemed to be working, which is exactly what she needed right now. She glanced to her crew and then back at the crowd, continuing as she walked across the stage and towards the large cage that housed almost every dove they had.
"I'm hoping that, by giving these animals back their freedom, I can somehow make up for the tragedy of the loss of one of their own. This is the only way I can kind of make up for it all, and I just hope that it suffices," Nelly said, unlocking the cage door and allowing them all to fly out over the crowd and into the sky above to loud applause and some whistling. Watching this sight, Sophie slipped her hand into Robin's and squeezed gently, as Kacie cried a little, watching all her doves fly away as Fletcher leaned in and hugged her close to comfort her. Harvey came up on the stage with Nelly and put his hands in his pants pockets, looking up at the sky with her.
"There they go," he said, "you did the right thing."
"I hope so," Nelly replied.
And then, without warning, a dozen of the doves flew directly into a set of live power lines being worked on, immediately being fried and falling to the ground. The crowd looked on in stunned silence, some children started screaming and crying and Nelly stared ahead in shock, her eyes wide. Harvey looked towards her as she dug her hands into her hair.
"What the fuck is wrong with these birds!?" she screamed.