Of Freedom Born (the remainder of what I had written and never posted)
Harriet sat down on her favourite bench, the one with the plaque that read 'Dedicated in the memory of Dale Horvath', which was next to a weeping willow and the small, clear pond in the Peacock Park. The park was one of several spread around the zoo, a nice place to relax in some shade and maybe enjoy a snack or some lunch. Even though it was named after the lovely, lively coloured peacocks that roamed around, there were also duck, geese, squirrels, and even a few swans. Most were tame and would come around anyone that sat on the benches or grass looking for hand-outs. The concessions near the parks sold some seed as well as bread crumbs. Harriet looked hungrily at her sandwich, her eyes bloodshot and her hunger picking up, as she had stopped at her car before heading to the park to eat. Despite being determined, she still felt nervous about what her and J.J. would be doing lately, and the pot eased her nerves. She looked at the time on her phone and frowned slightly to herself, the ham and cheese sandwich laying untouched beside her as she waited for J.J. It was almost thirty past noon. Finally she reached down, pulled back the wax paper, and bit into the sandwich, keeping an eye out for J.J. and his son. About half-way through her sandwich she finally saw J.J. and his son walking toward her. She took a drink of water and waved, as though she hadn't expected to see them there. She could hear J.J. talking to John Junior as they walked up. "You remember Harriet, don't you, Junior? She runs the Rainforest Adventure." "Yes, I remember dad. Hello, Ms. Harriet." The young boy held out his smooth, caramel-coloured hand to her, and she smiled and shook it. "Now go play, Junior. I'm going to talk to Harriet about the party tonight. Here, go feed the birds." J.J. handed his son a small bag of bread crumbs and watched as he moved off to try and entice a goose with his bread. He turned back to Harriet, who took another another drink of water. "May I sit, Harriet?" "But of course, J.J. Would you like a chip?" She offers him the open bag of baked pita chips as she continues. "Skeller wants to meet by the East Gate around 10:30. That should be plenty of time for people to have had a few drinks. The cubs should be ready to move. They will be drugged. All you have to do load them in their cages and take them to the gate. I will have it unlocked before the party starts." J.J. motioned at her with his hands. "Whoa, whoa, slow down. How will I get into the habitat and..." Harriet patted his hand and talked over him. "Everything has been thought of. I made you copies of the keys you need and marked them for you. Now, when I give my toast, that will be the signal. I also took these for you." She hands him a small, cheap, digital camera that she had bought the week before. "It has photos of each key and what door they go to, as well as a picture of Skeller and his men. Remember, he will give you the money AFTER you give him the tigers." Harriet looked at her phone as it vibrated on the bench, then sighed. "My lunch break is over, so I have to go. Do you have the plan down?" J.J. nodded. "Yeah, we have gone over most of this before. Can I trust this Skeller?" Harriet had stood, and now looked down at J.J., resting a hand on his shoulder. "If you want that money, you have no choice." With that she walked off toward the offices and her car beyond that in the parking lot, where she felt she needed to have another hit off her pipe.
"Hey, Harriet, how was lunch?" J.J. looked up as he heard Lenny talking to Harriet. They exchanged a few more words, then Lenny once again started heading toward the bench J.J. sat on. By this time the camera had disappeared into his pocket and Junior had exhausted his supply of stale bread. His son and his friend arrived at the bench at almost the same moment. "Uncle Lenny!" his son exclaimed as Lenny sat beside J.J. and, reaching out, picked the boy up into his lap. "Hey, little Johnny. How's life?" The boy beamed. "I am out of school for the Summer!" Lenny chuckled and patted the boy on the back after he had slipped back to the ground. "That sounds fun. I hope to see you here every day!" At this it was J.J.'s turn to chuckle. "Well, I don't know about that, Lenny, but you will be seeing him a lot. How are you?" They both watched as the boy saw some peacocks and took off after them. "Don't tease the peacocks, Junior!" Lenny unwrapped the hamburger he had pulled from a brown, paper bag and took a bite. "Oh, I'm fine." he said around a mouthful of food. "Have you heard from Dani yet? Any word on the interview?" J.J. shook his head and looked at the clock on his phone. "No, but she should be finished any time now. How are the cubs doing?" Lenny shrugged irritably. "The boy started puking this morning and his sister and mother started going crazy." Lenny took another bit of his burger, washing it back with a swig of bottled tea. "So, we had to sedate all three. We are running blood tests and checking the vomit and all that stuff, but it takes a bit to narrow these things down." J.J. watched him, nodding to himself as he listened to everything Lenny was saying. "Did you see Harriet, J.J.?" "Yeah, she was here when me and Junior..." J.J. was cut off by a delicate hand smelling like lavender lotion slipped over his eyes from behind. A sweetly feminine voice spoke up from behind the bench. "Got you, boys! If I were an assassin, you'd both be dead!" Her laugh, Dani's laugh, rang clear as J.J. slipped his fingers around hers, pulling the hand away. He saw that she had covered Lenny's eyes with her other hand, almost knocking his glasses off. He was in the process of straightening them when Dani moved around the bench and urged her husband to scoot over so that she could sit down. She smiled past him at Lenny a moment, then looked J.J. square in the eyes as he asked her how the lunch meeting went. He saw the disappointment before she even opened her mouth. "Viacom said that, while I was plenty qualified, that in fact they wanted to hire me, they had just recently had to make...cut-backs." J.J. leaned in to kiss her as Lenny reached behind J.J. to pat Dani's hand that rested on the back of the bench. J.J. and Dani's lip pressed together and he felt her relax a little as they pulled apart. Lenny was back to his burger and the onion rings he also had in the sack. "How was lunch, at least? I fed Junior