BEGINNINGS
9 – Not the Best of Work
The growling of the game warden's Jeep engine came to a stop just outside the doorway and cut off. Two doors were heard opening and closing moments before uncle and nephew entered the shack.
"If I'm not doing something elsewhere, this is where I'll mostly be." Muldoon motioned to the office 's only two occupants. "That gentleman in the corner is Jophrey. You do what he tells you, got it?" Derek gave a single wave to the other man. "And this," Muldoon continued, resting a hand on Pet's shoulder where she sat at the round break table, "is Pet." The hybrid didn't bother looking away from her cleaning a tranquilizer gun to acknowledge the teenager in any way.
Derek carefully analyzed the girl not much younger than him. Aside from the disassembled tranquilizer gun in front of her were two M1911 pistols and a rifle he could only guess was for hunting. He wasn't too familiar with rifles but hoped to own one, one day. Derek sat down at the table and almost wished he hadn't. Golden yellow animalistic eyes shot upwards and locked onto his bewildered brown ones. Pet snorted a hiss in warning and returned to what she was doing.
Derek shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "What are you?"
Pet hastily answered. "Your end if you try anything stupid with me."
Jophrey choked out a laugh. "Better watch yourself, boy. That little girl, there, isn't as butterflies and rainbows as she looks."
Muldoon slapping the stapled chore list on the table startled his nephew. "Once Pet is done cleaning the tranq gun, you and her will start on this list. She knows what to do and will tell you and show you everything you need to know about your new daily chores. Isn't that right, Pet?" The hybrid gave a mock salute and continued cleaning the gun.
Derek's dark eyes widened at the list in his hands. "What? Cleaning the animal pens? As in-"
"Cleaning the animal pens," Pet curtly replied. "As in, you use your two God given hands to pick up piles of animal poop and put it in a trash bag so the enclosures don't smell so bad to the guests."
Derek didn't blink off the questionable looking girl. "You're shitting me, right?"
Pet finished cleaning the tranquilizer gun and smirked at the punk teen. "I'm not, no, but the animals will be. I hope you brought your work clothes because things are about to get messy."
Derek cut his eyes down on the hybrid in question.
When it came time to start the chores, Derek went straight for the Jeep. "Nah ah," stated Pet. "We're not going to be using the Jeep. It really isn't driven except to respond to job calls and other official business."
That didn't set well with the teen. The first place they went after leaving the warden office was a white metal building on the other side of the zoo. It was damn near a twenty-minute walk that Pet was surprised Derek made it through. She expected him to be panting for air or at least complaining of the long walk. He wasn't even breaking much of a sweat other than a glisten on his brow.
The two people went inside the building and to a metal and wood crafted desk where an African man sat. His white bearded face turned into a smile when he saw the familiar hybrid. Located behind him was a well-organized, vast assortment of cleaning chemicals and supplies such as buckets, rubber gloves, bags of different sized sponges, brooms, mops, rags, spray bottles and other stuff Derek didn't bother visually examining. On the wall to the man's left was a cork board housing many types of keys hanging on hooks.
The man behind the desk spoke to the girl. "Get into trouble again, I see?"
Pet wasn't about to admit she got busted for snooping and shook her head. "I'm not here for me, this time, Mr. Buster. I'm here for this little smartass, here."
The man, Mr. Buster, eyeballed Derek. "And who might you be?"
Pet answered for the teen. "He's Robert's nephew, here for the summer."
Mr. Buster nodded. "Ah, okay." He looked back at Pet. "What will it be, today?"
A scheming smile played at the hybrid's cheeks. "One Busted Box, a Simple Setup and keys to some wheels and a wagon."
Derek cocked a brow at his companion. "What?"
He soon found out what, minutes later, when a plastic bin the size of a storage box was handed to him by Mr. Buster. Inside it was a pair of yellow rubber gloves, a bottle of toilet bowl cleaner, a scrub brush, a roll of black trash bags, window cleaner, a roll of paper towels, a spray bottle of bleach and a putty paddle. Derek had to balance the box on his hip to take a mop and push broom handed to him, next.
Derek looked over at Pet to see her only getting a metal pail with a bottle of window cleaner, rubber gloves, a face mask, a roll of paper towels and some trash bags. She set the pail down to sign for two sets of keys removed off the wall board and dropped into the pail.
Pet gave the teen a toothy smile that clearly unnerved him. "Follow me."
Derek looked from his handfuls of supplies to the girl's pail. "Why did I end up with more stuff?"
"It's called the Busted Box. You got busted for doing something stupid so now you have to deal with the punishment of being the zoo's cleaning bitch." Pet walked around to the back of the building to where a locked gate was to a covered parking garage of sorts.
Inside it and along the right wall were three golf carts and two tan four-wheelers. There was an empty space Derek could only guess was where another four-wheeler should be judging by the tire marks in the dirt. On the left side were three five-foot-long trailers with yet another empty space where a fourth should be.
Pet got the keys out of her pail and checked the number on the hard plastic tag. "ATV two and," she fumbled with the second set of keys, "wagon one." She pointed a clawed finger at the trailer against the far wall. "Un-chock that trailer, there, and haul it outside." Derek just stared at her like she was crazy. "Did I stutter, homeboy?"
"Who says you're in charge of me? You can't tell me what to do."
Pet reached for a walkie talkie clipped to her short's belt and was about to cue it when Derek scoffed and stomped away to the trailer. She rolled her eyes and set her pail down on the ground beside the utility vehicle's shed door. While Derek fought with navigating the trailer out of the shed, Pet did a pre-use inspection of the four-wheeler by checking the tires, fuel level, and that the lights worked. She unlocked it from its chain and cranked it up.
In a few short minutes, the trailer was secured to the back of the four-wheeler and the two riding along the outskirts of the zoo.
Pet began explaining. "The first thing to do is patrol the parking lot and pick up any trash you see." They pulled up to the large parking lot and came to a stop. "Always park the 'wagon and wheels' outside the zoo guest parking area. That way you're not obstructing traffic. Never leave the keys in the ignition. Always keep them with you." Pet put the keys in her back pocket and got off the four-wheeler as Derek did the same. "As per Hammond's order, the wagon and wheels will always be chocked when not in use." She took one set of yellow blocks of wood and nestled them around a trailer's wheel while the second set was used on the four-wheeler. "Unless you don't mind picking up all sorts of trash like empty cups and dirty diapers, I'd suggest you put your gloves on."
Derek looked from the hybrid, to the parking lot and to the gloves in his Busted Box sitting in the trailer. "Dirty diapers? Really?"
"Oh yeah. Other people have even found used condoms and some other disgusting stuff, too."
"Yeah, fuck that." Derek slid on the rubber gloves and tore a clean trash bag off the roll. "Let's get this done so I can go back to the office."
Pet had her own gloves on and a trash bag in hand. "Not so fast. There's still other stuff to do. This is just the start of it. You won't be done doing your 'chores' until around six tonight." She began roaming the parking lot for discarded trash. "Unless you move with a sense of urgency and manage to get everything done fast and right. In which case, five-thirty. The zoo opens at eight AM and closes at five PM, Monday through Saturday. We're closed on Sundays."
Derek groaned. "Great."
After the parking lot was picked up, came patrolling the rest of the zoo grounds to pick up any trash they found. From there was going to the zoo's three public restrooms to clean up any messes there. If there was a clogged toilet then a plunger was retrieved from a closet secured by a combination lock in the restroom where extra rolls of paper towels, toilet paper and trash bags were also kept. Pet smiled at the teenager's dismay when realizing the scrub brush in his box was to be used to hand scrub the toilet. While he was on his hands and knees and cleaning the toilets, she was cleaning the mirrors and sinks. Then came sweeping the floors of bits of toilet paper and used paper towels that people refused to pick up after dropping it.
By now it was past noon and the lunch crowd diminished. This allowed Pet and Derek to empty the two damn near overflowing trash cans positioned around the picnic area and put new bags in. Pet left the emptying to him and didn't pity him when he ended up wearing something that smelled the worst ever. As for her, she wore a cheeky smile when putting new bags in the trash cans. Derek resented her for this. The full trash bags were put into the trailer and the next chore started; scraping old gum out from under the tables.
That was what the putty paddle was for. Pet showed him how to do it and left him to do the rest. Derek swore to never chew gum after that. Afterwards, they got back on the four-wheeler and drove on. There were a total of sixteen trash cans around the zoo grounds, some more full than others that they changed out.
There were three trash cans located at the petting zoo, all almost full to the top with empty feeding cups guests used to give to the animals and dirty wet wipes people used to scrub their hands off with. There were also smaller tied off bags consisting of small animal waste, too. Derek almost gagged at the stench and held the bags as far from his person as he could when he took them to the trailer.
Three fifteen in the afternoon rolled around, the two back at the parking lot to empty those trash cans and pick up the trash laying around. The cycle started all over again from there.
By five-o-clock Derek watched the last of the zoo visitors drive out of the parking lot and the main gate locked behind them. Pet leaned in to giggle into his ear. "Now comes the fun part."
Derek stared at the chimpanzee cages and felt his stomach lurch into his mouth in disgust. Pet was uncoiling a water hose and dragging it to him. This brightened up his hopes, a bit. "Thank God I get to wash those shitholes out. Here I thought I was going to have to pick up those piles by hand."
Pet laughed. "You are! I get to rinse out the cages when you're done picking up the piles." Derek was not amused. "You'll be cleaning the monkey's pens, the aviary, the canines, feral cats and large reptiles' enclosures daily. Don't worry, though. The animals will not be in their primary enclosures when it comes cleaning time."
Derek pointed to the chimpanzees. "Looks like they're still in their cages!"
"The gorillas and orangutan aren't though. The specialized keepers are working on getting the baboons into their night pens. By the time we're done with the gorillas and orangutan then the baboons will be good to go. After the baboons will be the chimpanzees. I'm just laying out the water house, now, because trust me…once you get to this area, you'll definitely be wanting it to wash your shoes off with. You'll get the hang of the routine before too long."
The teen sighed. "Looking forward to it, already."
Since it was Derek's first day and was having to learn the ropes of the cleaning jobs, it took almost an hour longer to finish. At the end of the day, the wagon and wheels were returned to their parking spots and the supplies turned back in to Mr. Buster.
Derek couldn't wait to get back to the trailer and get a very much needed shower. He took off his dirty clothes and threw them into the washing machine at the far end of the trailer near the kitchen. Muldoon made him leave his soiled shoes outside with the promise that no stray animals would want anything to do with them.
Pet timed Derek. It took him almost twenty minutes in the shower versus the ten it normally took her and less than that for Muldoon. The two game wardens were thoroughly pleased with themselves having put the smartass little shit in his place for the day. Pet planned to make him do more of the chores tomorrow now that he had an idea of what to do. She wasn't the one in trouble for stealing money, a car, and doing other juvenile criminal offenses so why should she have to endure an equal share in the dirty work? She didn't include having to take the trash out of the cans as part of that equal share. He had it coming.
