I Heard Animals' Voices novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: Slide Three

The staff meeting was in the break room, and Dr. Bramhall had brought a projector.

Thirty keepers and vets sat on folding chairs, holding coffee.

The director stood at the back with his handkerchief, looking like a man who had been promised Monday.

"Thank you all for coming on a Saturday," said Dr. Bramhall.

She wore fresh khakis and held a laser pointer.

"This is a safety matter. I have been told to confine myself to facts, so I will show you the facts."

Derrick sat at the end of the second row, in clean coveralls, with his hands on his knees.

I sat next to him.

Under the table, his little finger hooked around mine.

"Slide one," said Dr. Bramhall.

The screen showed a scanned page with a school stamp.

HARGROVE, C. AGE 9.

She read the teacher's notes aloud, and the room listened.

A keeper in the third row snorted.

He turned it into a cough.

"Slide two," said Dr. Bramhall, and she had to wait for the room to settle.

"After two weeks at a children's clinic, the subject reports that a goldfish gave him instructions."

The room went completely silent.

Then the old keeper from the reptile house leaned forward and said, in a hoarse voice, "Which goldfish?"

"I'm sorry?" said Dr. Bramhall.

"In the lobby of a children's clinic. Was it the one with the chipped fin?"

Derrick made a small sound beside me.

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