Within the viewing log, Zia adjusted her glasses. There was a bit of a crowd, but not enough to take up the whole window. From her end Zia looked up through the glass ceiling to look at the tower where the handlers would toss the flare, operate the goat cage controls, that sort of thing. Sometimes they would narrate facts about the old girl over the intercoms. She guessed the boy wouldn't be doing any of that, but there he was wearing a white and navy plaid shirt under his jacket, demeanor oddly calm for someone in the same space as the queen of the island that effortlessly rustled the trees and shook the earth.
A flicker of reddish-pink sparks went off in his hands and he made a good throw. Rexy was now in view coming out of the woods. Zia saw the kid smile, she swore the rex made eye contact with him. The 9 ton killing machine turned her attention to where the flare landed, bellowing and crushing the poor goat in her jaws.
After the bloody show of goat bits and roaring, the crowd's morbid fascination subsided. Zia was the only one who stood behind to watch the Tyrannosaurus disappear into the redwoods, she was always a sight to behold. The messy haired kid was nowhere to be found, she had no idea if he saw her. She had no idea what she was even doing here. She headed toward the exit.
She began to think, what exactly was her plan? She was going to what, talk to him, interrogate him right after this?
Zia didn't have time to dwell on it because she turned a corner and there he was now standing right in front of her, managing to catch her off guard. Eric Kirby, according to the name tag on his jacket.
Not wanting to this to be a total train wreck with them staring like two deer in headlights, she made the first move.
"Hey there!" she said.
"Hi!" Eric greeted back.
She slipped back at ease, this boy radiated kindness. But he was a stealthy little shit, how did he sneak up on her in boots?
"Is Eric your real name? You didn't steal that jacket off a worker did you?" Zia said in an obviously joking way.
"Yes Eric's my name." He replied.
"I'm Zia."
"It's nice to finally meet you, Zia!"
"I was just about to ask if you recognized me. I feel like we've crossed paths so many times."
"I know, sorry if you got annoyed."
"No no, you're good!"
"Well I felt kind of bad cause i worried I might've looked like I was ignoring you. I thought about saying hi but I'd get nervous." Eric explained.
Zia stifled laughter, "You're silly!"
"Why?" he asked glancing at her hand touching his arm.
"You can look a 40 ft long carnivore in the eyes but you got too nervous to say hi!"
Eric laughed with her at the realization until Zia spoke again, "To be fair I kind of am the same way, I didn't say hi either. Are you busy right now? I'm not making you late for anything am I?"
"Nope I'm done for today here. Do you want to get lunch?" Eric asked.
Zia caught the shy tone of the question.
"I'd like to. You feel like having chicken sandwiches?"
After finding the Chik-fil-A in the fast food area, they got their orders and began to head to the innovation center. Zia did not think this was how her lunch was going to go. She looked to Eric at her side, who looked back up at her. The kid reminded her of a puppy.
"So where are you from? I used to live in Enid, Oklahoma." He asked.
"Born and raised in Seattle."
"That's cool, I always wanted to visit the west coast. The cities look nice, and so do the rainforests and redwoods in the northern parts."
"You must love it in Rexy's paddock, this island in general since I take it you're an outdoorsy type?"
Eric nodded, "Yeah I love camping and hiking, and… I used to go fishing too. You ever have any pets?"
"You have no idea, I took care of so many animals when I was a kid."
"How many?"
Zia thought for a moment, "Lets see if I can remember them all, there were two parrots, a lot of parakeets, a corn snake, a tortoise, a red knee tarantula, stick bugs, tree frogs, an aquarium full of fish, snails and a shrimp, my parents had three dogs, and then there's my cat Kizzy."
"Man, that is a lot. I've never even had one. There were cats in my neighborhood I got to see at least, but I wanted to get a bearded dragon before I moved here."
"Not anymore now that they've got you working with a T. rex, eh?"
"I'd still like one, not like I can take home any dinosaurs with me. But I'm away from home a lot anyway."
The two made it to the Innovation Center and sat down on steps near the palm trees and fountains in front of the building.
"Why are they letting you be a handler for Rexy anyway? I understand the babies, the little ones, because you're little, but how old are you again, twelve? Nine?"
Eric stopped sipping his soda, "Twelve!"
"I'm messing around! But what's the idea behind allowing you to do this at this age? I know this has Simon Masrani written all over it but he usually has a method to his madness."
"He felt I was qualified."
Zia squinted, "What kind of insane qualifications do you have at twelve years old?"
"Idunno." Eric mumbled while he took a bite from his sandwich.
"What do you mean 'I don't know'?"
Eric's eyes glanced away, she followed his brief gaze to their right.
Where the Spinosaurus skeleton stood close by.
"It's a long story."
"You're so cryptic!"
"Well because of my experiences… I have qualifications…" Eric started.
She playfully sighed, "Come on."
He continued, "..and some researchers and scientists thought this was an opportunity to see if Rexy would form a bond with someone young like me, maybe view me as her hatchling like some animals adopt from other species sometimes. She was a tiny bit attached to a few humans before apparently."
Zia took the chance to eat while she thought about what he'd told her, she guessed that was as good of an explanation for anything she was getting for now. It made sense in a way, if they were trying everything to establish bonds with the raptors then Rexy wasn't off the table. Tyrannosaurs were more intelligent than they're given credit. Regardless the handlers are lucky the old girl has some kind of response to flares, and there's that story of how she miraculously saved the remaining survivors of Jurassic Park.
"Did your parents really approve of you doing this?"
Eric took his time to chew his food before answering, "My guardians work here too, they understand."
Guardians, not parents, and he hesitated. Zia decided to not push that further. But she slightly panicked trying to think of something to break the awkward silence, and then she caught him staring at her.
"Sorry, I like your hair! It helped me recognize you all the time, and also the glasses."
Zia appreciated the compliment, "Thank you! I like yours too, it fits you!"
They got up to throw away their trash. The sky was getting dark already.
"Wanna go to the lagoon?" Zia suggested.
"Okay!"
They walked down Main Street, and Eric asked, "What do you like to do when you're not working?"
"I like watching movies, I work out, and I'm sure you already knew that I like hiking too."
"Yeah when I saw you from across the river." Eric recalled.
They made it to the center of the pier, leaning against the railing as the sun was getting lower, the rays reflecting in the lagoon.
"Do you remember when I passed by you working with the baby Apatosaurs in the petting zoo?" Zia grinned.
Eric knew what she was talking about, "I think that was the first time we made eye contact."
"Yeah because you got distracted while feeding them, and then one of them was so impatient she went and swallowed up your whole hand! The look on your face!"
"I've never felt an herbivore try to do that before! Well not even a carnivore either!"
"It was Sally right? She's the impatient one, did you freak out thinking she might take off your fingers? I didn't see the aftermath, I kind of took off right after."
"Yes it was her! It was startling but nah, she let go without chewing on me. She was probably just as weirded out as me, like she froze for a few seconds."
Zia chuckled, "That's so funny. Oh look dude there goes Nima."
In the now dark waters, the shadowy form of the Mosasaurus swam slowly right underneath the surface. She passed right by the pair's line of sight, making waves and causing the water to ripple on her final patrol of the day.
"Good thing she only jumps out for food. Imagine if she was like a whale and jumped for fun?"
"That'd be pretty scary." Eric replied.
Zia asked "Have you worked with any other carnivores?" she asked.
"No, most of them already have their handlers for now. I heard they're thinking of hatching more Baryonyx though."
"I heard about that too. There must be more kids on internship or apprenticeship here right? Do you see them?"
"Yeah there's a few them, they're all older than me though like sixteen year olds mainly."
It occurred to Zia just now that he probably doesn't know how old she is.
"Shit wait, what time is it? Are you going to need a ride home?"
"Oh no it's okay I've got an ATV."
"Alright, let's head to the parking lot."
Along the way there, she noticed Eric seemed quieter.
"You okay there Kirby?"
"No, I mean yes! I just… thank you for having lunch with me." Eric said shyly.
"It was my pleasure. I take it we'll be seeing each other again soon then?"
She saw him actually brighten up a bit, "Y-yeah? I'd love to! It was nice hanging out and talking with you, Zia."
"You're so sweet." she told him before petting his hair. "Don't get yourself eaten by Rexy, okay?"
"Heh, I promise." Eric said. He stepped away from the truck while Zia got in, giving her space so she can pull out of the parking space, waving goodbye as she took off.
On the drive home, Zia looked up at the night sky's stars among the scattered clouds. She thought about how great everything went.
First Owen surprised her. She knew he genuinely wanted to befriend her, he's trustworthy. Either way there was no chance he was going to hit on her, it's not much of a secret he only has eyes for Claire Dearing. Of course it's the raptor wrangler who's crazy enough to try his luck with the park operations manager.
Then Eric, the boy who'd been driving her crazy. She got her answers even if he dodged some questions, but that didn't matter to her when she ended up having a good time getting to know him better. She couldn't remember when she last had lunch with someone she enjoyed. Such a nice kid, cheeky for sure but he had his shy moments. She really… wanted to hug him, but it felt like it might've not been appropriate.
Zia pulled into her garage.
Maybe that's why he was kind of glum at the end? Maybe he was hoping for more?
"Shit."
She realized they didn't get each other's phone numbers. She shouldn't feel too bad, they'd barely just spoken to each other. She did assure him they'd meet again and meant it.
The ignition was turned off and she began to get out of the truck.
She really does look forward to spending time with him. She couldn't help her warm feelings at the thought of his smiling face looking up at her from his messy bangs.
"He's a cutie."
It wasn't wrong to think he's cute. She didn't mean it in any other way, right?"
Zia slammed the door.