And Then the Gray Heaven by RE Katz

Author:RE Katz
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: And Then The Gray Heaven
Publisher: Dzanc Books
Published: 2021-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Because B was trying to get closer to the animals and plants native to Florida, working at the Wonder Gardens seemed like a good way to do that while still maintaining the ironic detachment of an art student. At first they had to perform a rotation of low-level roles at the Gardens, including cleaning up after the animals, which for the two weeks they did it around the clock, threw them into a full existential panic. Nothing like standing around waiting to catch animal shit to really put you in your place. I comforted them, and then gently reminded them that some people do this work all their lives, at which point they looked at me with full-blown middle-class horror. Then the guilt would bubble up and they’d reassure me that I wouldn’t have to do home care forever, and I would say for the millionth time, I actually don’t mind it. Even now, when I think back: I’ve had some of the best conversations of my life while cleaning up shit.

After scrubbing tanks and picking up soggy gator pellets for their last training rotation, B had racked up a few ideas about how to improve the animal habitats. They thought, given their extensive construction experience under Mr. Nguyen, the Wonder Gardens might be open to their renovations. Occasionally the owner of the Everglades Wonder Gardens would run a staff meeting for that family farm feeling, and B kept plans in their locker in preparation for that moment. When there was a special staff meeting to address the gator incident with a tour group that had to run for the exits, B was ready. Following the meeting, they pitched a construction project in the parrot house that could be replicated for the other bird habitats. B’s plan was to build swinging, tiered perches that allowed for better visibility for Gardens visitors while also creating more space for the parrots to actually fly in between resting periods. B also proposed replacing the lower section of the roof with a hanging lattice that acted more like a forest canopy, which shimmered with the fake fan winds that guided the parrots’ coasting movements.

B used old reptile habitat materials the Gardens already had in a storage shed, and many of the parrots were more active and healthy than they’d been in a long while. Crowds began to gather in front of the bird habitats again. B and their supervisor gave a presentation on the success of the project, and B remembers the Wonder Gardens owner, a particularly entrepreneurial descendent in the Wonder Gardens dynasty, smirking at them in a way that they swear they saw little cartoon dollar signs pop up in her eyes. B was promoted to habitat restoration. Within a year, they were heading up the department.

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