The director's call

I had just sat down on the couch when my phone rang. Still mesmerized by the events of the past few days and the choice I had made this morning, I looked at my phone. It was a local number, similar to that of the zoo. Except the last two digits were different. Quickly I answered the phone, it was the director.

"Bridget? This is mister Petersson speaking. I'm the director of the zoo, and I'm in charge of our newest, and perhaps most exciting, exhibit.", he sounded like you would expect a director to sound. It was a somewhat older and confident man. Someone who was able to get things done. I was wondering if this was an appropriate moment to say something, but he went right on, leaving me no chance to speak.

"First of all, I'd like to thank you for becoming our new exhibit. I realize it may be a big change for you, but please know that we're here to support you and help you in any way we can. You should be able to see my number, right? If you have any questions, you can always call this number, day or night. Having said that, what was it that I could help you with?"

"Well, ", I stammered. I usually never have trouble speaking, but today things were moving so fast and I was finding myself lost for words a whole lot more often... "as you know, I recently bought a really nice apartment. But given that I'm now moving into the zoo, I don't really have much use for it. Besides, I'm not sure how I should maintain it or pay my mortgage when I'm at the zoo. So I need to sell the place, but selling it may take a while. Also, I was hoping to move maybe this week or early next week, but that seems like impossible this way. So I was wondering what time line you had in mind?" - I hoped that he would understand my problem. Given that this man was presumably used to difficult problems, maybe he was able to think of a solution for this as well.

"I understand Bridget. That makes a lot of sense. I was hoping you could join us within one or two weeks as well. We have some things to review on our side as well, that will take a couple of days at least. But I don't expect any problems that would delay the process. It turns out we're the first modern zoo in the world doing this! That is, the London zoo had some students in their exhibit in 2005. But they went home at night, they still wore bathing suits, and it was non-permanent. We're currently reaching out to them what, if any, lessons they learned from that project." So the timeline I had in mind matched pretty much with that of the director, but I wasn't sure yet what to do with this information.

"Okay, that sounds like we have the same timeline in mind. But it's gonna be difficult to sell the apartment from the zoo, right? I mean, it's not like I can make all sorts of phone calls throughout the day, can I?". That last question sounded quite rhetorical, but as the words came out of my mouth I realized that wasn't even such a weird question, and if I didn't get an answer to this now, I for sure was going to have to ask that later.

"I see your point Bridget. I have a solution in mind, but I'm going to have to make a couple of phone calls first. I will get back to you on that tomorrow or so. Is there anything else?"

This didn't feel like an appropriate moment to start talking about something as futile as having a phone in my exhibit. Yet at the same time, it wasn't so weird to think about how I would stay connected with the outside world, was it? No, the question about what's up with Stacey and her being on leave was way more important. I'm not sure if this whole project should go through if Stacey was no longer in the equation.

"Yes, actually. I heard from your receptionist that Stacey was on leave. Is she still going to be my exhibit mate?"

The other end of the line remained silent for a moment, and then the director replied. "But of course she is! She was at least as excited about it as you are! However, she also needs some time to get her things in order and prepare to move in. So we sent her on leave, so she can, just like you, spend some time to get everything sorted out for the move. Speaking of her, I would prefer if you did not try to contact her. We would like the first time you meet her again to be here in the zoo when you move in with us. On that same note, we'd like it if you don't visit the zoo until the day you move in. We can arrange transport for you on that day. If you show up intermittently before the day of the move, our visitors may not understand when you are or when you are not at the zoo. I'm sure you'll understand".

I wasn't sure if I really understood why. But the question itself was simple. Don't go to the zoo, don't contact Stacey. The last bit was a bit disappointing, but given how I didn't have any contact details of Stacey, I might not have been able to contact her in the first place.