Arranging the move

The next morning I was awoken abruptly. I hadn’t set an alarm and so I was surprised to be awoken so abruptly. The alarm read 09:28. It took me a few seconds to realize that the sound I was hearing was from my phone. I quickly grabbed my phone, and looked who it was. It was the same number that had called me yesterday when the director had called me. Quickly I answered, hoping I was not too late.

“Hello Bridget? This is mister Petersson, the zoo’s CEO, I hope it’s not too early for you?”, I grunted a little, my vocal cords clearly not fully awake yet, “so as we discussed I would get back to you with a proposal to sell your condo.”

I was fully awake now. Although all I could say was “uhu”, hoping for him to continue quickly.

“Well, “ he luckily continued quickly, “I have a friend who is a real estate agent and he’s willing to sell the apartment on your behalf. He thinks he can get an even better price than what you paid for it. And because I trust him, I’m willing to personally guarantee it to you that if you allow us to sell the place, we won’t sell it for less than you bought it for. And if we do sell it for less, then I will make up the difference to make you whole.”

“Okay, so what do you need me to do?”, I asked. Not sure if I fully understand what he was expecting of me.

“Not all that much, Bridget. If you’re okay with it, you could maybe give us a spare key, so we can make some photos etc to prepare the listing, but the viewings and sale will be after you’ve moved into the zoo.”

“But what about my stuff? Everyone I’ve spoken to suggested to leave all things in place until the sale was final. I can’t move all the stuff after I’ve moved into the zoo, right?”, I thought for a moment that maybe I had found a hole in his plan.

“You’re right Bridget, I’ve thought about that. Most moving companies offer to box up all your belongings as well. And at the zoo we have some empty storage space where we could store your belongings. So we could hire a moving company to box everything up and move it to the zoo. That’s where we could store it, free of charge, of course. And you wouldn’t have to pack anything, because basically the moving company would do that for you. The zoo will pick up the bill for the moving company as well, obviously”.

“That’s great!”, I didn’t know what else to say.

“Great, is it okay if me and my lawyer come to your place later this morning for you to sign the authorization that we can take care of selling your apartment, and we can move forward. Are you available later this morning?”

“Sure!”, it wasn’t as if I had anything scheduled for the next year or so. So later this morning was absolutely fine.

I quickly gave him my address and we ended the conversation shortly after. To me, this was a huge relief, and now there appeared to be a really easy solution. I closed my eyes, and quickly fell back asleep.

When I woke up again, I realized it was the buzzer of my front door that had awoken me this time. I noticed it was 11:00 according to my alarm. Apparently, the past few days had been more tiring than I had realized.

I quickly put on a bathrobe and ran to the front door. After opening the door I could see two businessman wearing suits.

“Hello Bridget, I’m Jack Petersson, and this is my attorney, Michael Miller.”, he said as he extended his arm.

I shook their hands and welcomed them inside. We sat down around my kitchen table.

“So Bridget, I understand that you’re the culprit who’s responsible for the weeks worth of work that Mr. Petersson asked me to do for him in just a couple of days. Let’s say you’re embarking on a very special journey. Not in the least when you look at it from a legal perspective.”

I tried to guess what kind of person this attorney was. It was a man at the end of his forties, maybe early fifties, a few gray hairs, but his hair was well groomed. He was dressed immaculately, and he spoke on a serious tone. My impression was that he was very competent and was able to get things done. That he considered being serious to be part of his job, but that when he was off work maybe his friends could also have a beer with him – or perhaps something stronger. He also looked like an honest man. My guess was that whenever he said something, it was something that you could trust without having to second-guess any of it.

As I was observing this man, I also realized that I was wearing my bathrobe. **** of habit, I guess. After so many people had seen me naked, and I was about to go nude full-time, why should I still bother putting on any clothes? Going without clothing provides just so much more freedom. Should I take it off?

I decided to keep it on, only so not to interrupt our little meeting.

“Speaking of which, “ the lawyer said, “we’re working on a contract to make your, uhm, confined residence at the zoo a legal one. Is there anything you’d like us to include or consider when drawing up the contract?”

“No sir”, was all I could say. He’s the lawyer after all, what kind of input could I possibly provide him with that would help?

“Okay. So moving on to the reason why we’re here today, I have prepared a limited Power of Attorney. It’s basically a document that, if you agree to it, you agree that your apartment gets sold by a real estate agent of Mr. Peterssons’s choosing, and that you authorize me to sign the bill of sale on your behalf. Additionally, I have a written statement from Mr. Petersson here that he will make you whole, just in case the condo sells for less than what you paid for it originally.”

I just nodded, and was hoping that he wouldn’t ask too many too difficult questions. But thus far, it appeared I simply had to sit down and listen. That, I could do.

“You must understand, “ the attorney continued, “that a Power of Attorney is a very powerful document. Basically you’re signing over a part of your authority to someone else. Now in this case it’s a limited Power of Attorney, but still it does allow me to sell your house, albeit on your behalf. So I need to be very sure that you fully understand the consequences of signing this document, and that you’re signing it fully voluntarily”

I looked at the attorney, he looked back at me with piercing eyes. Trying to read my mind and ensuring I both understood and was also doing this out of my own free will.

“Yes, “, I answered, “no one has tried to pressure me into this, and I’m really doing this out of my own free will. Also, I understand that by signing this you can sell my condo and as a result I will no longer be the owner of it, if Mr. Petersson finds a buyer, and that I will get the price of the sale in return. Right?”

“Right”, both the attorney and the director said.

“Okay, great, “, the attorney said. “then I need you to write your full legal name here, your address there, and your bank account number over here. Then sign at the bottom of the document.”

I filled out the document, and signed it. After that, the attorney signed it as well.

“Great, and now I have a copy here for which you must do the same”

I filled it out and signed the second document as well. The attorney put one document in his briefcase, and slid the other one to me so that I had a copy of it as well.

“By the way, Bridget, do you have a spare key that we could use?”, Mr. Petersson asked.

I stood up from the table and looked around, not sure where I had my spare key. I ended up finding it in a kitchen drawer and handed it over to him.

“Would you like us to call in advance when we want to visit your place?”, Mr. Petersson asked

“Nope. No need to. I hate to be a bother, and understand you and your associates are busy people, and I’d simply like for things to go as smoothly as possible so I can move into the zoo asap. Feel free to barge in whenever you like!”

“We’ll do our best getting you into the zoo as fast as we can, Bridget”, Mr. Petersson said.

Apparently our meeting was over, because the two men stood up and were preparing to leave my apartment again. All of a sudden it hit me that I did have one special request for the contract that the attorney was drawing up. I briefly debated internally if it was a weird request to make and what these men would think of me. But given that this may be my one shot, I simply had to do it…

“Sirs?“ I said with way less confidence than I had had during the rest of our appointment.

“Yes, Bridget?” Mr. Petersson said.

“I just realized that I have one special request for the contract that Mr. Miller is preparing.” I said. They looked at me intently, curious to hear what was coming next. So I simply proceeded; “Well, you see, “ I wasn’t sure how to say it. But it was now or never! “uhm, part of what I really enjoyed during my stay in the zoo was entertaining all those people. But it was also the feeling that I really was an animal while I was inside of the enclosure. Everything was taken care of for me, and there was nothing really that I needed to think of myself.” I heard myself stammering, “So if it’s possible, I would like for the contract to also include that. That basically I really become one of the animals of the zoo, not just some special employee who plays pretend from 9 to 5 in an enclosure.”

I looked at both men to see how they would respond. A little afraid they would burst out in laughter, thinking that I had just made some joke. Or that maybe they would think I was nuts, and would call the whole thing off.

However, none of that happened. Instead I saw a small grin appear on Mr. Petersson’s face.

“I think we can do that. Don’t you think so, Michael?”, he said while looking at the lawyer.

“It’s certainly a special request. One I haven’t heard in my career, and of which I’m not sure that I’ll ever hear it again during my career. However, this whole project is riddled with such requests, so it’s certainly something that we can incorporate at least somewhat, I think”

That was it! They didn’t think I was nuts (or maybe they did, but in that case apparently it wasn’t that important), they also didn’t think it was funny. I wasn’t sure up to what extent they could incorporate this request in a legal contract, but the fact that they would at least try was already huge for me. And even if they couldn’t put it fully in the contract, at least I had maybe managed some expectations with Mr. Petersson, hoping that he could facilitate my deepest - and perhaps darkest - desires.

And with that the men left. It was only after that, that I realized that I totally forgot to offer them something to drink.