Stacey’s final chance to back out

Stacey walked downstairs and could smell that her dad had cooked a delicious meal. Her little brother and sister were already seated at the table.

Her father had basically **** her yesterday during dinner to explain that she’d be no longer taking care of the animals in the zoo, but that instead she was the one who was going to be taken care of.

She had straight up told them; “I’m going to be part of the permanent human exhibit in the zoo. I will also live there and be naked”. Her father had told her quite clearly that she should straight up tell them, without trying to sugar coat it. She wasn’t sure if this was easier, but at least it had been faster.

Her siblings thought it was some practical joke at first, but the stern and disappointed look of her parents had convinced them swiftly that it was for real. They had asked her plenty of questions, but few that she’d been able to answer few of them.

Would she still keep access to her phone? She didn’t know.

Would she still be able to leave the zoo and visit them occasionally? She didn’t know either.

How long would the ‘permanent’ exhibit last for? She had no idea.

What if she was done with being part of the exhibit and wanted to move out of the zoo? No clue.

Surely the zoo would pay her a lot of money for going around naked 24/7? She hadn’t even thought about it.

“Will you have sex?”, her sister had asked.

The only response Stacey had been able to give was “that’s none of your damn business!”

“Oh, so you think you will have a lot of privacy in your sweet little cage”, her sister had retorted, sounding very sarcastic.

Her father had ended the conversation at that point. The discussion wasn’t going anywhere and he didn’t like his children quibbling, especially not during dinner. However, it did cause Stacey to realize that there were a lot of unknowns still. Those unknowns were not irrelevant to her. On the contrary, except for the money thing, they could have a huge influence on what her life was going to look like in the next few days or weeks.

Today, her brother and sister stayed quiet, as she walked towards the table. Stacey wasn’t sure, but she felt like they were looking differently at her somehow. Her parents joined them at the table soon after and dinner was served. Her parents and her siblings made some small talk, but Stacey wasn’t in the mood to talk. She also felt somewhat excluded from the conversation, as if they were ignoring her. But she wasn’t sure that really was the case, it could also simply be that it was her mind playing tricks on her.

When everyone was done eating, her father indicated that everyone should be quiet because he wanted to bring up something important.

“So Stacey, as I said I would, I have contacted the zoo today. I ended up talking with the zoo’s CEO, Mr. Petersson”.

Stacey looked at her dad, not sure where this was going. Yesterday her dad had felt like the zoo was almost abusing her or something. Now, his tone was more mellow, as if her dad had not just accepted the situation, but also learned a new piece of information that made him totally change his look at things.

“Your boss is a very good man, we had a great conversation”, her dad said, “I can see why the zoo wants to have a human zoo exhibit. And I understand it’s really unique world wide, so you should be proud that you can be a part of it”.

Wow! Her father had really made a 180-degree turn. She had hated that she had to disappoint her parents yesterday, but it was what needed to be done. However, now he sounded almost excited about it and she was afraid there even might be a bit of a conspiratorial undertone. Slowly, Stacey began to feel that she was one of the main actors in a play that everyone else appeared to know key information about that no one told her.

Unbeknownst to Stacey, the conversation between Mr. Petersson and her father had started off a bit sour, the two clearly had very different objectives. Even so, her father had appreciated the way Mr. Petersson spoke. He guessed that the CEO was a man of his word, who was very clear in what he wanted to achieve, even if someone didn’t agree with him. The conversation had taken a turn for the better, however, when Mr. Petersson had realized that the process of getting Stacey into the zoo would be a lot easier if her parents were cooperating. In order to accomplish that, he offered them quite a bit of money if she would end up in the zoo. From that point forward, Stacey’s father and Mr. Petersson had had a very enjoyable conversation.

“However, I wanted to check in with you. To make sure you’re not getting cold feet. That you don’t want to pull out at the very last second. It’s important, because this other girl that you’ll be with, uhm”

“Bridget, dad. She’s called Bridget”, Stacey said.

“Right. Bridget. She is selling her condo and is going forward with this thing on the sole premise that you’ll be part of this endeavor as well, and this whole thing cannot happen if you decide to back out of it. However, your mom and I also understand how this may have been a spur of the moment thing, and it’s only fair to give you time to reconsider.”

Stacey shifted her focus from her dad to her mom. She noticed her mom was looking hopeful, as if her mom still wasn’t as excited about it as her dad appeared to be, and that her mom was hoping that Stacey would actually reconsider.

“I’ve spoken with Mr. Petersson, ” her father continued while Stacey shifted her view back to her father, “ and he as well understands that you might want to reconsider.”

She thought about what it would mean to reconsider. This whole saga would be over, that would be the good thing. But it would also mean that her master plan to finally move out of her parents’ house wouldn’t go through. Presumably she would upset and disappoint Bridget a lot, and she wasn’t exactly sure if she’d still have a job to go back to. Those were all great reasons not to pull out, Stacey thought.

“So I have discussed this with both your mom and Mr. Petersson. “ her dad said, “We’ve decided to give you 72 hours to reconsider, from the moment that you said that you accepted your new ‘role’”, he said, clearly unhappy that he didn’t have a better word for it.

“Thanks da…”, Stacey said, but was interrupted by her father.

“I wasn’t done talking yet!”, he hollered. “There is a counter side to this that you should also be aware of; in this family we have certain family values. One of them is that your word is your bond. That means that once you agree to do something, you also should do it as agreed upon. In this case, that means that if you do not reconsider within 72 hours, that you will take on your new role no matter what. Do you understand?”

Stacey waited a few seconds to be sure that it really was her turn to speak now; “Yes dad, and mom. Thank you for giving me the time to reconsider”, she said in an almost formal manner. Not wanting to upset either one of them.

“Good, “ her father said. “I understand that you told Mr. Petersson around 8 AM this Tuesday that you would do it, so that means that you have until 8 AM this Friday to reconsider. That’s about 36 hours from now. If you weren’t sure about any of this, now would be a very good time to think about what step you want to take.”

Stacey didn’t know if this was a good thing, or not. She appreciated the fact that her parents had organized this time window during which she could come back to her earlier commitment. But it didn’t help with setting her mind to it as if it’d been a done deal.

“Also, “ her father continued, seemingly coming to no end, “is it true that you said out of your own free will that you wanted to be treated exactly the same as this girl, uhm, Bridget?”

“Yes?”, she said uncertainly, having no idea what her answer would lead to.

“Okay, “ her father continued questioning her, “and is it also true that you agreed that you would sign any deal that Bridget had negotiated, without getting the opportunity to negotiate any part of it yourself?”

“Yes,” Stacey answered rather quietly, “I did”

“Okay then. Mr. Petersson had mentioned such a thing, but I wanted to be certain that that part was true. It sounds quite foolish to me, but as you said, you’re an adult woman now. And sometimes the best way to learn from your mistakes is to simply own up to them and face the consequences. Be aware, if you do not reconsider your commitment during the next 36 hours, your mother and I will hold you to it. We will make sure that you are treated exactly the same as this other girl, and that you sign whatever contract that she signed. Is that understood?”, her father said.

“Yes dad, I understand”, Stacey said. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever heard her dad sound so serious.

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