“ESTELLE! ESTELLE, WE GOTTA PROBLEM!”

Estelle rolled her eyes. This new guy really was the most dramatic custodian the zoo had ever hired.

“Whaddya want, Jiz?” she called back.

“I said—“ he panted as he ran over to the customer service desk where Estelle worked. “I said we gotta problem.”

Estelle flipped a page in the magazine she was reading. “Is it a real problem, or er’ you just flirtin’ with me like last week?”

“It’s a real problem!”

Estelle sighed. “And someone spillin’ all their caramel frappa-whatchamacallit doesn’t count as no problem. That’s your job to be cleanin’ up, you hear?”

“Yeh!” The new guy cried. He slapped his hand down on the customer service desk, making Estelle jump. “But listen to me, Estelle. This time, we gotta big problem.”

“You mean ‘you’ got a big problem?”

“No! I mean ‘we.’ Listen,” he leaned over the counter so he could whisper to Estelle. “It’s…”

“What? What’s up, Jiz?”

He lowered his voice. “It’s those damn giraffes.”

“Giraffes?” Estelle whispered back. “What’s up with the giraffes, Jiz?”

He shook his head. “I don’t wanna tell ya’.”

“Well, you gotta tell me now!” Estelle cried. She was too curious. She threw her magazine aside.

A few of the zoo-goers paused, glancing at the scene unfolding at the customer service desk. They only left once Estelle gave all of them respective death glares.

“As I was sayin’,” she said, agitated. “I wanna know about the damn giraffes. Cmon, tell me!!”

“Fine! Fine, I’ll tell ya. I came over here to tell ya anyways.” He blew out a breath, then lowered his voice to a whisper. “They… they escaped.”

“They ESCAPED?!”

“Shhh! Not so loud now. But yeh. Them giraffes escaped, and I’m the only one that saw em’ go. They just jumped right over the fence we put up— right over, if you can believe it, like gazelles or somethin’ — and now, poof!” He waved his hands. “Gone.”

“Good God,” Estelle said. She wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead. “Oi, I can see the story now. ‘Damn giraffes escape from New York zoo.’”

“So you believe me?”

“‘Course I believe ya’! I mean, yer a new guy and all, but I don’t think you’d lie to me. Would ya’?” She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Jiz.

Jiz shook his head vigorously. “No!”

“Good, then. Righty. Well, I suppose we gotta figure out what ta do about those giraffes.” She huffed.

“Should we tell the boss?”

“Tell the boss? Are ya’ crazy?!” Estelle cried. “No, no. We’re supposed to be watchin’ the Savanna enclosures like a hawk. If he finds out about this, we’re dead meat for sure.”

“So what r’ we gonna do?”

Estelle bit her lip. She twisted her baseball cap tighter onto her head. “Alrighty, here’s the plan. We’re gonna lure ‘em back.”

“Lure ‘em? Well what the hell r’ we gonna lure ‘em with?”

“Leaves, obviously! That’s what those giraffes eat, ain’t it?”

Jiz thought for a minute. “Think so. Ain’t that why their tongues are purple n’ all that?”

“Probably. But, ah, I gotta find someone to work the desk while we do this. Shit. Whoddya know who could work the desk?”

“Preeya?” Jiz asked. “She’s over in the gift shop. It’s pretty slow usually. She could do it.”

“Hm. Can we trust her?”

“‘Course we can! It’s Preeya!” Jiz sounded a little frantic. He took a breath. “I’ll go get her.”

“And then we can find some leaves,” Estelle said.

“To lure the damn giraffes.”

“Exactly,” she told him. “And get ‘em back into the enclosure.”

“And then build up the fence.”

“Yeh. But the boss can handle that.”

“Good, okay. Righty then. I’m off!” Jiz slapped his hand on the customer service desk again. He was about to leave, but then he paused. “Oh, and hey. Estelle?”

“Yeh?”

“You don’ think I’m just… you don’ think of me as nothin’ just cause I’m new, right?” he asked. “Like all the rest of ‘em?”

Estelle hesitated. True, she did think that. But maybe she was starting to realize how capable he really was.

“Nah. Nah, I don’ think that.”

“Good,” Jiz said. He gave her a smile. “Right then. To Preeya!” And he ran off.

Estelle shook her head as she went back to her magazine. Maybe he wasn’t such a dramatic new guy after all.

Now all they had to do was lure back those damn giraffes.