What Janie Saw(123)

                Mondays at BAA weren’t the busiest, and right now there were no baby animals to advertise, no students doing documentaries or even a field trip scheduled. Janie parked her car and then headed for Luke’s office. She plugged her phone into the wall to charge before checking BAA’s phone for messages.

                “I’ve already done it.” Meredith Stone, who was head keeper, stood in the doorway.

                “Anything important?”

                “No.”

                “What do you want me to do, since you’re short-handed.”

                Meredith, always a taskmaster, easily answered, “If you could do the cleanup checklist, that would be awesome. Then, Jasper could use some help at his three-o’clock show. He’s done a show already today with the orangutan. He’s not got the strength that he used to.”

                “But—” As a rule, Janie didn’t get up close and comfortable with the animals. She loved them, painted them, championed them, but her gift wasn’t working with them. They sensed her hesitancy, her fear.

                “Just act as a barker while he does the show with George and Crisco.”

                That Janie could do. She’d known George forever. He’d been her dad’s favorite trained bear. He was a personal favorite of Katie’s, too. As for Crisco, Janie had been there when Crisco was found, tied to a fence by a remote farm that fell in the no-man’s-land between Scorpion Ridge and Gesippi. She’d held Crisco when he was a baby, helped nurse him and was now creating the wall mural that showed his path from rags to riches.

                Jasper didn’t go into the bear enclosure any longer, as George was getting old and crotchety and Crisco was Katie and Ruth’s baby. He responded well to them. Jasper hadn’t put in the hours with the bear.

                Grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge in Luke’s office, Janie first checked her mail slot. A wrinkled manila envelope was the only offering. Her breath caught. She seldom got mail, but when she did, it usually had to do with art.

                Fingers shaking, she opened it and pulled out a letter.





                Dear Miss Vincent,





                We are pleased to invite you to be one of our artists in residence for this coming summer.





                She sat, squealed, and then stood to jump up and down. She’d be leaving. In just six weeks. She sat back down. This would open doors for her. She could see the world, apply for other opportunities.

                Who should she call first?

                The joy slipped away as quickly as it arrived.

                For the first time, getting the residency in South Africa wasn’t her top priority, the only dream she had. She put the letter back in the envelope and stuffed it in her mail slot. She needed to think. Her longing for adventure had changed. Her focus and love of drawing animals wasn’t her only calling.

                All those years, drawing animals had been an escape for her; it was a place she could go, a world she could create, that represented safety.

                But now, for the first time, it was people that made her feel safe and needed. She was about to be an aunt. And there was Rafe. Who’d kissed her just thirty minutes ago.

                Whom she wanted to kiss her again.

                She made her way outside, wishing she’d worn her other BAA shirt, the summer one. It was unusually hot for April.