His bed had never seemed warmer, nor was his alarm clock louder. Link pushed his pillow over his head, wrapping it around his ears, but to no avail. The steady beep of his alarm clock continued on, and he knew if he let it hang on much longer that he would probably end up waking someone else. Getting an earful from his neighbor would be hell.

With as much energy as he could possibly muster, Link forced himself out of bed. He turned his alarm clock off, silence filling his small room. He stretched out his arms and legs, his eyes absently looking over the posters taped up on his walls. Most of them showed either superheroes or drawings of legendary heroes.

I bet they never sleep in late, Link thought, checking the clock's time. But then again, they probably don't have time to realize how great sleep is when they're always out saving the world.

He walked downstairs to his kitchen, skipping the last step as usual. It was an odd routine, but something that he did to make walking just a bit faster. Time definitely wasn't on his side that morning.

He opened the package of bread; he'd have to stop by the grocery store later. Once again, he only had a few slices left (not counting the ends), and they definitely weren't going to last long. As he popped his two pieces in the toaster, his stomach rumbled. He grabbed a banana to get himself a little extra.

It was only when he finally turned on his cell phone to see if anyone had texted him the night before that his heart actually skipped a beat.

Shit, he thought. Shit, shit, shit!

His toast popped up, but he hardly noticed it.

It had to start off bad on shovel day, he thought. He turned off his phone and then went over to the toaster. Even though he added butter and strawberry jelly, Link could hardly taste the food in his mouth.

A miracle ocurred that morning and Link actually made it to work on time with minutes to spare.

"Woah, Link," one of the guys there said. "Is that really you?"

Link rolled his eyes. There was no point in sticking around; if he was going to be shoveling cow, horse, and goat crap all day then he might as well get started early. Maybe his half asleep mind wouldn't notice the awful stench.

Unluckily for him, the barn smelled even worse than the days before. He had a few days to do other things; feeding the animals and giving them more water was nothing compared to this. The stench forced him awake, and did more than any cup of expensive coffee ever could.

Shit, he thought for the thousandth time that day. Shit, shit, shit.

He was literally surrounded by it.

A half an hour later, the kids actually started to arrive. They were mostly just random kids walking around with their parents, and nearly all of them were younger than five. They cried out for their parents and tended to hold recently bought overpriced stuffed animals from the petting zoo's small store. He just continued to work, doing his best to block out the noise.

The clouds parted and the sun came out. By nine forty-five, he was sweating from both the heat and the sun. The smell certainly didn't improve. The problem with animal droppings was that there was always more coming. He went from one area to the next and cleaning it.

The other workers, Link knew, were just glad that they weren't in his shoes.

Damn bastards, he thought.

"Hey, Link!"

The words broke his concentration, and he jolted. Slowly, he looked up.

"Hey, Link, is something wrong?"

The troublesome two had arrived it seemed, though it took a moment for Link to realize just why they were there. His eyes looked past them and their classmates, stopping once they reached the sight of the familiar pretty blond girl. Her eyes met his, and she beamed at him; all that he was able to give to her in return was a weak smile.

Ilia just had to see him at its worst it seemed.

She waved to him. "How is your day going?"

He gave her a quick thumbs up, a lie, but he wasn't about to sign to her about how terrible his day was. He wasn't even on his break yet.

He looked back down to the intimidating pile of horse droppings.

"The class was so excited to get to come to the zoo today." Ilia walked up to him. She wore a simple white shirt and khaki pants; she had started wearing that and similar clothing often, seeing no reason to dress fancy. "After all," she would remark, "I'm only a student teacher."

Link forced another smile.

"Miss Ilia!" Beth said. She walked over to both of them; the girl seemed far too intimidating for a girl of her short height. "Is that your boyfriend?"

Link looked down to the ground, surveying the dirt, grass, and scattered bits of hey. His cheeks flamed.

"Now, Beth," Ilia responded. Link quickly looked up to her, and she was just as red in the face as he was. "We are here to see the animals."

"Is he?" Talo asked. He pointed to Link. "Hey, Link, are the rumors true?"

Link remained still; the smell of animal poop hardly bothered him.

"Look," Ilia said.

"But-" Beth said.

"No," Ilia said.

"Please-"

Ilia stamped her foot. "Children, please stop! We're going to look at the animals, and I'm sure that they are much more exciting than my private life."

"But," Malo spoke, holding up his hand.

"No buts," Ilia responded. "Now let's look here and then we'll drop by the gift shop."

The children walked over to the animals, making various remarks about how much money their parents had given them and what toys that they would buy.

"Sorry about that," Ilia whispered to him. They stood only a few inches apart; if the children bothered to look over to them, then surely that would be an answer to their questions enough.

Link shrugged.

"Want to do something tonight?"

Link nodded.

"Cool!" Ilia beamed. "We can find out later."

Link nodded, and picked his shovel back up.

Ilia turned back to the children.

Link again began to shovel poop, though the smell had lessened. He didn't know what exactly he would be doing that night, but that made him all the more excited; the opportunities were endless!

Maybe there really was a bright side to everything.