Beth barely has time to open her emails when she hears the knock on her office door. She knows that knock very well; that bouncing, rhythmic, manic knocking can only belong to little Talula Ryder, the "Queen of Summer" (student volunteer with the most hours) for three years running.
Beth sighs. Talula is ... she's a sweet kid, hard worker, good at what she does ... but she's a lot. During the summer, she put in more hours at the zoo as a volunteer than many of the paid staff, and she always has plans, plans, plans to organize things, boost morale, "raise awareness," and always remembers someone's birthday, favorite food, favorite movie, favorite everything. It's exhausting trying to keep pace with and match the energy that girl is putting out.
Plus, Talula's constant presence and boundless enthusiasm for the zoo have almost gotten Beth caught squashing people or leading them to get squashed by animals dozens of times. Sometimes she's even had to stuff people completely up her ass to hide them from Talula, and she can't always get them back out. It's only because Talula is so obviously head-over-heels in love with Beth that she's gotten away with it at all.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," Beth bellows at the door. "Keep your panties on." She mumbles a "for now anyway" and smirks at her own "joke."
It was only a matter of time before Talula finally found out. Honestly, it's amazing Beth made it three whole summers. But last week Talula walked in on Beth filming herself squashing adorable little Mary Chastain (daughter of one of the zoo's Board members and an amazingly resilient seat), and there was no more hiding it. Thankfully, Talula got hearts in her eyes and rather than alert the Board or call the cops, she begged Beth for her own squashing appointment.
And now, here they both are.
Beth opens the door and looks down at Talula's smiling face. She's not wearing her volunteer's uniform for once; she's dressed in a pink-and-white patterned tennis skirt, a striped crop-top with long sleeves that can't be comfortable in this heat, a pair of sneakers that have seen better days, and some white knee socks. She's positively beaming and trembling with excitement, and jumps into Beth's office for an embrace. Beth returns it, awkwardly, and shuts the door behind them.
"Oh my gosh, this is really happening!" Talula squeals. "Oh my gosh, this is really real! Beth, thank you, thank you so much! I, I, I ... I ... when I saw you ... I ..."
Beth pushes back from Talula, putting a hand on the manic girl's shoulder. "Easy, Lula," she says. "Easy."
Giggling with nervous energy and embarrassment, Talula relents, takes a step back. Beth and the girl take deep breaths to calm down.
"Okay," Beth says. "You wanted a squashing safari, and you're going to get one. You know this place, we've got lions and tigers and bears oh my, we've got some particularly hefty specimens of elephant and hippo who could pancake you, we've some anacondas who would love to get some, and we've got ..."
"You!" Talula says, before covering her mouth and shrinking back like she's said a faux pas.
Beth laughs. "Yeah, and we've got me. I'm warning you, it's early in the day and I've only had two cups of coffee, so I might be a little grumpy if you want to spend time under my butt, but I'm game if you are. Or, we could start you off slow with some of the beasties. How would you like to get started?"
Talula actually takes a few moments to think before she answers ...
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