I order two beers from a vendor near the elephant exhibit and pass one off to Angie.
“Yeah. She wanted to be an elephant for the longest time before she discovered how good she was at hockey.”
Angie nearly spits out her beer. “She wanted to be an elephant? She knows that wasn’t possible, right?”
“She does now. But try telling that to a sad little girl who wanted nothing more than to play with them and splash in the water.”
Angie covers her mouth, laughter burbling out of her. “That might be the cutest thing ever. I’d like to meet your sister.”
“Yeah?”
She nods. “Why do you sound so surprised?”
“I don’t know. I figured you wouldn’t want anything to do with my family.”
I guide us under the trees to the stone wall that keeps the elephants in their exhibit. A chain link fence extends a good twelve feet into the air. Rocks and trees are spread out before us as one elephant drinks from the pond in the middle.
“Hey.” Angie takes my chin in hand and turns my focus to hers. “I was wrong, before. About you.”
“You were?”
“Yeah. I mean, I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t. I made a snap judgment based on others and I’m sorry.”
“I appreciate that.” I drop an arm around her shoulders and pull her in close.
“I really like you, Troy.”
“I really like you too, Angie.” I press a kiss onto the top of her head, burying my smile there.
The elephant trumpets out, startling both of us.
“Jesus.”
Angie bursts out laughing, beer spilling over the edge of her cup. “I think he was sad we weren’t paying him any attention.”
“I can’t help it if all I want is you.”
“So cheesy.” Angie laughs and heads to the next exhibit.
Food vendors line the concrete sidewalks as we walk from habitat to habitat. As the night goes on, Angie gets more comfortable around me, mimicking animal poses as we go.
“Is that supposed to be a flamingo?” My gut hurts from laughing so hard. Angie is standing on one leg, the other bent out toward the side.
“Maybe if I was wearing all pink it’d look better.”
“Angie, that is the worst impression of a flamingo I’ve ever seen.”
She sets her foot down and crosses her arms over her chest. “Okay then, let’s see you do it.”
“I’ll do it better than you.”
I mimic her pose, but stick my arms out like chicken wings and stretch my neck as high as I can.
“Oh my God!” Angie starts laughing at me almost immediately. “That’s even worse than me.”
“I’m doing these birds more justice than you are.”
None of them look that interested, skimming the water with their beaks to find food.
