Since we are going to the Fort Worth Zoo today, I felt a little compelled to give you an idea of my ideal type of day to go. Our zoo really is breathtaking, and while my YA/SF novel is a little more fiction than my experience would be, I still think you can get the idea.
Mercury is the first novel I wrote, wrote it in 3 weeks. Julia is the main character, and Michael is the one taking her to the zoo. Enjoy.
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The Fort Worth Zoo, open three hundred and sixty-five days a year, displays more than five thousand animals on sixty-four acres of well maintained vegetation. Every exhibit well managed, every creature handled with the highest care, every worker and volunteer truly happy about what they do and what their job stands for. Ranked as one of the best zoos in the nation on many reliable lists, the Fort Worth Zoo is spectacular, and I wished I could see it more often. I am very picky about the days I choose to go. Being in Texas, a perfect zoo day for me is either the spring or fall, on a day like today; clear and seventy degrees. Absolutely the most perfect day to go.
And to make it more enjoyable, I am with Michael and I’m supposed to be in school. Awesome.
We step through the rugged entrance gates after Michael paid our way in, and I was hit with the usual zoo smells. A sweet yet pungent mixture of flora, dirt, and animal droppings. Trees canopying paved and dirt paths, exhibits clean and inviting, animals going about their business and in their own little worlds. I also loved the sounds; water trickling in ponds and waterfalls, strollers and wagons carrying young and picnic baskets, children misidentifying animals, birds chirping, animals crying, a train horn blaring. Just a sensation overload that’s gloriously magnificent.
I stopped, took a deep breath, and when a gentle breeze kissed my cheek I closed my eyes. I love the zoo.
I stood there a few seconds before I felt warm fingers intertwine with mine. “Are you ready?” Michael asked.
I took another deep breath, and let his hand surge heat through my entire body. I opened my eyes and smiled at him. “Yeah.”
We strolled, hand in hand, through the maze that was the zoo. Every now and then, when we stopped to appreciate an animal in a replica of its natural habitat, Michael would drape an arm around my shoulders. Throughout the place, I noticed I was really letting my guard down around him, I was reciprocating his affections. Michael noticed this and was taking advantage of it. Not in a deceptive sort of way, just as an invitation to close the gap that was between us. It felt good. It felt really good to be this close to him. All of my insides were beaming and I couldn’t help but smile being around him.
After we were about halfway through, Michael excused himself to make a call. I waited patiently, and he strolled back up to me. “Did you know there was a new exhibit? It is temporary, but breathtaking.” He smiled. “I think you will really like it.”
My eyes got bright. “Really? I hadn’t heard of anything new.”
We walked a few minutes, and he guided me to within twenty yards of a set of pine doors that entered into what looked like an aviary. Netting draped high into the trees, I could tell there were exotic flowers behind the two sets of screen doors.
Michael stopped me. “Stay right here, don’t move.” He gave me his signature grin.
He went and talked to a man in a forest green polo shirt and khaki shorts, which was usual Fort Worth Zoo uniform. Michael spoke a few words to the man, the man nodded, and they shook hands.
Michael walked back toward me, and offered an arm for me to take, just like a gentleman would. “Shall we?”
I looped my arm in his. “We shall.”
As we walked closer to the double doors, the man Michael was talking to was putting a large sign just outside the door that read ‘This Exhibit is Temporarily Closed’. When we approached, the man opened the door for us, and after we walked through the first set, the man stood guard at the entrance.
“I arranged to have the entire exhibit to ourselves for a while. I hope you don’t mind.” He said, winking at me.
Michael slowly opened a second door to go through, and at first glance I saw vibrant colors of many different varieties of flowers and rich bushes. I could smell the sweet nectar secreting from everything surrounding the path, the lush greens of the bushes and small trees that were blotched in random places.
I padded my right foot on the gravel path, and although it was a slight movement and quiet sound to my ears, it rustled everything on the path immediately in front of me.
I froze and gasped.
My movement fluttered dozens of butterflies from their original position. I watched for a almost an entire minute as the butterflies of many different colors, shapes and sizes, settled into a new pose, gently flapping their delicate wings on their new vegetation.
Michael slowly appeared at my side, careful not to disturb them too much, and gently laid a hand on the small of my back. “Do you like it?” he whispered.
My hands reached my face, in awe of what I was witnessing. “Oh Michael…it’s beautiful,” I said, trying to whisper too.
He guided me, with his hand still on the small of my back, deeper into the exhibit. I crouched in front of a lovely bunch of yellow aster, and found my favorite species of butterfly; the Blue Morpho.
This Blue Morpho in particular was a magnificent shade of sapphire blue, my favorite color, and I was close enough to see the veins branching out into perfectly symmetrical wings, the deep black velvet lining, and the flecks of white dotting the tips. I put my fingers to within inches, wanting to touch it, but held back not wanting to disrupt its feeding.
I stood up slowly and turned to Michael. “This is absolutely amazing.” I was shaking my head and I smiled at him. “You are something else, you know that?”
He smiled at me, and it lit up his eyes. “I am quite aware of that actually.”
Before I knew it, he had his toned arms around my waist, held me close, and his molten chocolate eyes looked deep into mine. My heartbeat started picking up pace, and my breathing became erratic. I was trying very hard to control it, but I don’t think I was succeeding. He stared at me for what I thought was an eternity, and next thing I knew, his lips were on mine.
At first, I was stiff, like I had totally forgotten how to do this. But the heat radiating from his mouth surged warmth into my entire body, and I melted in his arms. My hands found the back of his neck, my fingers finally got to touch his thick soft locks. His hands clutched at my shirt, pressing me against his body. Before I knew it, we both stopped, breathing rapidly, still locked in each others arms.
He closed his eyes, and leaned his forehead against mine, “Julia…”
I closed my eyes.
He brought his hands to my cheeks and held them there, staring into my eyes. “Julia?”
“Yes?”
“Do you trust me?”
I furrowed my brows at him. “Yes.” And I could feel I really meant that.
He paused for a few beats, and his face became serious before he started again. “I need to tell you something.”
Panic suddenly crept in. Does he already have a girlfriend? Is he moving? Does he have an incurable disease? You know what, now that I think about it, lately when people told they needed to tell me something, it got way too weird for comfort levels. “Okay…”
“Actually it’s probably easier if I show you.”
He completely let go of me, his movements fluttering dozens more butterflies from their perches. He stood about a foot away from me, and held his hands up, elbows down and palms toward me.
He waited, and it took me a few seconds to realize what he wanted me to do. I looked at my hands, and held them up to his, and paused an inch away. Michael didn’t flinch, no facial expression, just waited. I gently leaned my hands against his, and the surge of warmth ran through my body again. Every time he touched me this happens, and it always calmed me, and I don’t think I could ever get tired of it. When we made skin contact, it was like we were the only two people on the planet. Right at this very moment, it was like nothing else existed, no other breaths of life, no other sounds of nature, nothing else mattered but me and him.
Wait a minute…
I jerked my hand away and looked around, cautious. Nope, still in the same place I was sixty seconds ago.
My eyes caught his again, and he hadn’t budged, still no emotion on his face, still palms held out to me. I narrowed my eyes at him, and even slower this time, I pressed my palms against his. More aware this time, more conscience of what was around me.
He intertwined his fingers with mine, to keep them there.
I stared in his eyes, afraid to look away. There were no other breaths of life; there were no other sounds of nature. No bubbling brooks, no children whining, no wagon wheels hitting pot holes in the pavement, no rustling of leaves, no wildlife chatter behind gated enclosures, no gentle breeze on my cheek.
My breathing got heavy, and the hundreds of butterflies that were in my stomach were churning uncontrollably. I finally got the nerve to break our eye contact, and once again I froze. Once again, I gasped.
Not more than two feet away from my face, was the Blue Morpho butterfly that I was admiring minutes ago.
That Blue Morpho butterfly was suspended in mid flight.
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