Aoife Gallagher, the park worker who'd been talking to his mate, made a sympathetic sound before the tourists actually got to his enclosure. She'd been introduced as one of the handful of employees who knew about shifters, and was clearly on his side. "You could go into the back and I could let you out," she offered quietly.
As she said it, the first of the children arrived with shrieks of excitement. Little kids were soloud, Mick thought. But they were also soexcitedto see a gorilla. He sighed dramatically and climbed to his knuckles and feet, shaking his head heavily. The kids squealed, and Aoife raised her eyebrows in question. Mick waved her off, and she chuckled. "All right. If you say so."
We say so,his gorilla said calmly.Our mate will be at her dance show tonight. We can meet her then, without making these small primates sad by hiding from them.
The kids shrieked, waving back at Mick, even if he'd been waving at Aoife, not them. He settled down to stare at them, which made them laugh and hide behind each other.
"It's like he knows exactly what he's doing," one of the adults said.
Aoife immediately spoke up, giving her talk about the intelligence, social awareness, and endangered status of the great apes that Mick was currently representing. The kids started asking questions, and Mick put on a little show, getting up to pace back and forth, putting his big hands against the glass again so the kids could measure theirs against his, grooming, and generally being accessible.
He'd been coming to the Shamrock Safari Wildlife Park since he was a kid, himself. When he'd beensmall, he'd actually been allowed to roam free in the African Plains part of the park.Technically he could have gone anywhere in the park, but even a kid-sized gorilla was incredibly strong, and staying inside the fences kept true human adults from worrying too much. These days, as a full-grown adult male, even just the visual risk of him being outside a proper enclosure was too much, so he was stuck in the much smaller space when he visited the park.
On the other hand, the glass-fronted enclosure meant he could beright there, sharing space with humans, and they didn't feel threatened, which was grand craic, as the Irish said. Good fun, in other words. He spent the afternoon pacing the enclosure, interacting with kids and a few equally delighted adults, but Mick was glad when the bells rang, announcing the park's closure.
Aoife opened the back door of the enclosure once the tourists were gone, and Mick-the-man emerged, brushing a bit of straw off his knees. "Thanks, love. Will you be coming to the gig tonight?"
The park employee made a face. "I'm trying to get Elliot to agree, but you know Americans. They go to bed so early."
Mick laughed. "Hasn't he been in Ireland long enough to get over that?"
Aoife leaned in like she was imparting a terrible secret. "He still gets up at five-thirty to go to the gym. Do you know how long it took him to evenfinda gym here that was open at six in the morning?"
Mick, who went to 24/7 gyms whenever possible, which basically meant 'never when at home in Ireland,' gave a solemn nod. "I've an idea of it, yes. But you've free tickets," he reminded her. "So show up. I need the audience."
"I doubt that! Sure and we'll see though," Aoife promised. "I might just come without him if he won't go."
"That'll teach him." Mick waved and headed for the main exit, driving out the two-lane road back toward Cork City.Everything was green, even the shadows from branches that bent over the twisty road, making a tunnel to drive through. Traffic was slow, too many cars on the small country road, but it left Mick free to think. Not about the gig he had this evening, but the dance competition that his mate was participating in. He'd never been to one.
Tonight is a good time for a first,his gorilla said placidly.Our mate will be magnificent.
"I'm sure she will," Mick agreed. "I think I'm parking at the Marquee and walking over to the opera house, though. There's no way I'm finding parking there with a show going on."
His gorilla gazed at him with an overwhelming lack of interest in the day-to-day details of how humans moved around cities. Mick laughed, said, "Yeah, okay, fair enough," and drove into town, amused at himself for running plans by his gorilla.
The plaza outside of the opera house wasn't exactly heaving with people, but the crowd was thicker than he'd anticipated. He muttered,You should have told me to buy a ticket in advance,as if it could possibly be his gorilla's fault that he might not make it in.
His gorilla lifted its eyebrows at him, an expression that worked just as well on a gorilla face as on a human one.There will be a way to see our mate,it promised, but Mick was shaking his head dubiously as he went up to the ticket booth.
"Sorry, mate," the guy in the booth said. "The only tickets left are up high. You still want one?"
Mick didn't particularly like heights. Gorillas, despite being apes, were not renowned tree-climbers, and Mick had such a clear idea of how hard he wouldthudif he fell from somewhere high. Still, he nodded. "I'll take one, yes."
"Grand." The guy rang up his ticket, handed it over, and sent Mick into the already-moving queue of people being seated. He went up, and up, and then up some more, gritting his teeth withevery staircase, and handed his ticket over to a slender man in a tux who glanced at it, started to direct Mick to his seat, then suddenly grinned in a flash of teeth.
"Here now, you're never Mick the Mouse?"
The absolute last professional name Mick had ever wanted wasMick the Mouse.The fact that he'd been saddled with it was testimony to how sticky names granted in school were, in Ireland. His so-called best friend had given him the name in sixth class and Mick would take it to his grave.
On the other hand, the usher looked thrilled to have identified him, and Mick couldn't help a rueful grin. "I am so."
"Come on then," the guy said, delighted. "I know heights aren't your thing. Let me get you a better seat down on the floor."
"I wouldn't want to put anybody out," Mick said, although a terrible part of him wouldn't mind it all that much, either. His gorilla said,We will not put anybody out,with great finality, just as the usher was saying very much the same thing.
"Not at all. There are seats available for the friends and families of the competitors, but not everybody, especially those coming from overseas, have people to fill those seats. Come on with me so." The usher led him back downstairs, all the way to the main floor and said something to one of the other ushers. She looked at Mick with absolutely no recognition at all, but shrugged and checked her seating chart before pointing out a seat he could take.
"Sorry about that, Maeve wouldn't know a DJ if he bit her on the arse," Mick's usher said, clearly embarrassed by Maeve's lack of recognition. "But we've got you a fine seat now, so we have."
