"Dr. Lightman?"
"One moment," came the hurried reply.
After a few seconds - and lots of shuffling - Lightman's voice came back on the line, "Yup? What's going on, Heidi?"
There was a moment's hesitation before she spoke. "Umm...there's a crate out here for you...it says Live Animal and..er...it's making a lot of noise."
"Be down in a sec." The line went dead.
Heidi stared at the crate with a suspicious eye. The delivery guys seemed relieved to get the box off their backs, figuratively speaking. There came a scuffling sound from within....did it just yowl?
True to his world, Lightman appeared at the front desk in under a minute. Heidi looked up at her boss and gaped, trying to keep her reaction of surprise in check, but Lightman caught it any way. His tone was light and relaxed.
"Cat got your tongue?"
"No, sir, you're just..."
"Presentable?" he cracked. A few years seemed to fall away from his face whenever he was clean-shaven with shorter hair. It was quite a difference, even with the subtle changes. It must either be a big day or someone heckled him ... but something had to have happened to elicit such a .... dare Heidi say, bubbly Lightman.
"So whatcha have for me?" queried he.
Heidi snapped out of her daze and cleared her throat. She pointed her pen at the wooden shipping crate on the floor. It had already caught the gaze of the entire flow of morning traffic. Everyone was curious but no one asked because well ... oh forget it.
Lightman crouched down near the crate and peered in through the crack. He reared his head back slightly when he saw what was within, at least he thought it was what he thought he saw, unless it wasn't. One way to find out the object in question.
"Oi! Anyone 'ave a crowbar?"
Loker walked past with a bundle of tied letters. "Uhh...I think there's one in the back room."
Turning to Loker, Lightman raised his eyebrows and flashed a look that said, good, get it for me will you? The 'intern' walked away shaking his head, only to return soon after with the curved metal tool.
"You going to use the little muscle you have? We don't want you to exhaust yourself," joked Loker.
Lightman quickly scowled and snatched the crowbar from Loker's hands. "Go deliver the mail."
"Aye, aye Captain. Don't get hurt," as Loker walked away with an odd bounce in his step.
Another noise came from the crate and Lightman arched a brow. This is certainly interesting. He approached the crate and jammed the end of the crowbar into a crack and pushed. Applying more pressure, levering the wood, finally there was a loud crack and one end of the crate fell to the floor.
Foot traffic all around them stopped. Curiosity had finally gotten ahold of all of them.
Lightman leaned the crowbar against the front desk and peered into the crate. He squinted his eyes to see the little figure in the corner. Lightman cocked his head and mumbled some incoherent words. He shook his head and let out a laugh. "Seriously," he finally said.
Right at that moment, Gillian Foster walked into the throng, already speculating and murmuring, of people, holding a folio folder of files. She looked around at all the people, to Lightman and then to the crate. "What's that," she asked, while pointing.
Lightman's lips curled into that freakishly adorable, yet frightening, smirk. His hand tapped the edge. "Take a look inside and find out yourself."
"Cal?" asked Gillian cautiously.
"It's not dangerous." Gillian stared at him with that oh so damnful reprimanding gaze. "I promise!" exclaimed Lightman, holding up his hands innocently.
Gillian let out a sigh and walked over. Placing the folio folder on top of the crate, she peered in carefully.
Under a second, things exploded - Gillian's head pulled back so quickly, she missed the wooden edge by centimeters, the folio was swiped to the floor and somehow Gillian's body ended ended ten feet away from the wooden box.
Her eyes were wide with surprise, quickly morphing to another look that spoke volumes. Thank god the crowbar was not in her hands...otherwise Lightman might of ended with a concussion.
Gillian's words came out in fragments. "It's...it's...a TIGER?!"
Lightman casually leaned against the crate and winked. "Only a cub."
There was that devilish grin again.