Chapter 2

 

 

“An iguana,” Harry replied casually, like it wasn’t weird to have an exotic lizard in the shelter.

“What’s it doing here?”

“Someone found it on the road with an injured foot. They dropped it off here and the vet tended to it.”

Hannah slowly approached the cage like the lizard might jump out and attack her at any moment. She expected it to, with its beady eyes and flickering tongue.

She made it to the cage, a piece of plastic lining the wire mesh. So far, it hadn’t eaten her. So far, so good. She got a little closer. Close enough to touch it if she wanted to. And Hannah really didn’t want to.

“Do you think he’s someone’s pet or did he come from the wild?” She asked, happy to have something else to focus on.

“Cory thinks he’s tame so she suspects he’s a pet,” Harry explained, joining her at the cage. He was standing so close she could feel his breath on her shoulder. She moved a step away.

“How do you lose a pet iguana?”

“I guess he just walks out the door.”

Somehow, Hannah thought there would be more to it. It took a special kind of person to have a pet iguana and she figured they wouldn’t let it go so easily. “Aren’t these things expensive?”

“They can be.” Harry wrinkled his brow as he stared at the creature. For the lizard’s part, he just stared into space and slid his tongue in and out. “Do you want to touch it?”

“I really don’t.”

“He’s not slimy or anything.”

“I’m good,” Hannah said, taking another step back to reinforce her words. Touching a lizard was definitely not in her job description – if one existed anyway. “I think I’ll go say hi to the dogs or something.”

Before she could leave, Harry gently touched her on the arm. “Can we talk… privately, somewhere? Maybe after my shift?”

“I don’t think there’s any point in that,” Hannah said, needing to use all her resolve. “I think we should just both move on.”

Disappointment crossed Harry’s face. It saddened her like nothing else. Over the summer she had grown used to seeing all the sad looks on the lost animals. Seeing it on the boy she still cared for was most difficult of them all.

He turned his eyes up to meet hers, staring with intensity. “That’s fine. But I’m going to win you back, Hannah. I still have two weeks left of summer and I am going to use every one of those days to make you mine again.”

With his words lingering in the air, Harry left in the opposite direction and closed the door behind him. Hannah was left alone, her mouth hanging open in surprise.

As she processed what he said, her lips curled into a smile. Perhaps everything wasn’t lost after all. She doubted Harry would be able to do anything to convince her to take him back. That door was closed. Yet it didn’t mean he couldn’t have some fun trying.

Just as she was about to leave, the door opened again. Harry poked his head back in. “And the iguana needs feeding. It’s your turn.” The door closed just as abruptly.

Hannah stared at the lizard, her smile now gone. What was she going to do with the thing? She was going to need to do some serious research.

The office was a good distance away from the googly-eyed creature. She fired up the computer and did a web search on ‘iguanas’. If she was going to be a veterinarian one day, she was going to have to get used to dealing with more exotic animals.

According to Love of Lizards, the online superstore of everything lizard related, Iguanas ate crickets. Hannah imagined feeding him those jumpy little things and almost gagged right then and there.

Surely Cory would have been feeding him something else? Hannah went on a mission in the animal room, searching through all the cupboards to find the iguana’s food. It would have been easier to ask Harry, but that was going to be the very last resort. It was also exactly what he expected her to do. She wouldn’t make it so easy for him.

The cupboards had lots of supplies, thanks to the fundraising concert. However it didn’t appear to have anything for a hungry iguana. At least, nothing was labeled iguana food, anyway.

As she was still searching, the door swung open and both Cory and Harry hurried in. She stood up, wondering what all the fuss was about.

Then she saw it. The most horrible, slimy thing that was a hundred times worse than the lizard. Hanging between their arms was a giant green snake.

“Oh my God,” Jessie screamed, standing at the back door. “What’s that doing here?” If Hannah wasn’t frozen in fear, she would probably have screeched the same thing.

“It’s just a snake,” Harry said calmly. “Someone found it on the road, it’s been attacked by something.”

Hannah saw the gash on its tail, red and angry. Which probably meant the snake was also angry. As they came further into the room, Hannah retreated backwards until her back was firmly against the wall.

Jessie wasn’t sticking around to learn more. All of a sudden she ran across the room, squealing as she hurried toward the office. Hannah couldn’t take it any longer, she followed, running as fast as her legs could take her.

“It’s just a snake, it’s not going to hurt you,” Harry called out after them. They were too hysterical to reply. The girls barricaded themselves in the office, locking the door behind them.

“Since when do snakes come in here?” Jessie asked, still shaking with fear.

“That’s the first I’ve seen,” Hannah replied. She was trying to calm down, make her heart stop racing in her chest. “First a lizard and now a snake? It’s like a madhouse in here. Give me a hundred kittens any day.”

“Those things would eat a kitten.”

Hannah wasn’t going to argue. She had heard stories of giant snakes being able to unlock their jaws and swallow whole animals with one bite. Just the thought of it made her shudder and her skin crawl. The pets she liked were definitely of the hairy variety.

Jessie pulled her cell phone from her pocket. “I’m going to call my mom, I think we’re having a family emergency so I can go home early.”

While Hannah didn’t exactly agree with lying, she wanted to get out of there just as much. “Make sure your mom needs me too.”