"There it is!" Raya exclaimed, pointing a finger at the black iron gates up ahead.
"Finally!" Kimber whined. "I was beginning to wonder if this parking lot even had a zoo!"
Jerrica laughed, but shook her head at her younger sister. "Come on, it wasn't that bad," she soothed, referring to the nearly twenty-minute trek from the spot where they'd parked their car to the Columbus Zoo ticket booth.
"Easy for you to say!" Kimber argued back. "You're not the one in heels!"
Aja shrugged without sympathy. "It was your choice to be fashionable instead of wearing a sensible pair of shoes," she retorted.
Kimber glared back at her. "Hey, how was I supposed to know we'd have to walk a mile before we'd even get through the door?"
'It could be worse," Shana chimed in. "Remember the last time we went to the zoo—back in San Diego?"
The girls groaned, but Raya didn't understand. "San Diego?" she repeated questioningly.
The other bandmates exchanged glances.
"A few years ago we took the Starlight girls to the San Diego zoo," Jerrica began.
"Courtesy of one Randy James," Shana named-dropped their celebrity drummer friend with a grin, causing Raya's eyebrows to raise.
Aja took up the story while they waited in line for tickets. "Ba Nee mistook Randy for her father based on his military background, and because he has red hair, like her mother told her her father did."
"And she tried to prove it by making him rescue her, by jumping into the bear pen," Kimber finished.
Raya covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh, God... I never knew!"
"Well, it all worked out okay," Jerrica said, though it still shook her to recall the ordeal. "We were able to get Ba Nee out before...before anything happened," she finished quickly.
"Thanks to you, Jerrica," Aja added quietly.
Kimber put a hand on her sister's shoulder.
They paid for their tickets and walked through the gates soberly. "All right, no more gloom and doom!" Aja said sharply. "We came here to have fun, so let's!"
The screams of people flying high off the ground on a roller coaster ride just left of the entrance got them back into the spirit of things.
"I didn't know there were rides!" Raya said excitedly.
"It's a water park!" Shana laughed. "Now that sounds like fun. Wanna go?"
"Sure!" Raya agreed.
Aja had grabbed a park map on her way in, and was already unfolding it to examine the winding paths through the zoo exhibits. "I think I'll start at the aquarium. I want to see the water—not wear it," she cracked.
"Sounds interesting. I'll go with you," Jerrica decided. 'Kimber, which way are you going?"
But the redhead's attention was already on the gift shop. "I think I'll look around for a souvenir," she said without tearing her gaze away from the display window.
Shana shook her head. "Anything you buy now, you're just going to have to carry around all day."
"Let's stop on the way out," Aja agreed.
"If I find something cute, I'll just buy a new handbag to put it in!" Kimber argued with a flippant smile. "Maybe I can pick up some flip-flops, while I'm at it; my feet are killing me!"
"Suit yourself," Jerrica shrugged, heading along the path with Aja. "You've got my cell phone number, so give us a call when you want to meet up and we can see the rest of the zoo together."
"Okay, have fun!" Kimber called, waving to her friends.
It was the last time they would ever see each other.