Biting his lip, Trevor stepped underneath the electric marquee and found an open booth at the front counter. The clerk behind it, a dainty young woman with dark blonde hair, greeted him with a smile.
“Good afternoon, sir, and welcome to The Flight Dome, where it’s always a great day for flying. Do you have a reservation with us?”
“Um, yeah. Hey, there,” Trevor paused as he read the woman’s nametag, “Cecilia. Actually, I was kind of looking forward to spending my vacation as a raptor and was just wondering why they aren’t allowed in The Flight Dome. I mean, I don’t even remember reading about that anywhere in the brochure.” Even though he tried not to let it show too much, the frustration was still seeping out of his voice and his eyes when he asked Cecilia about it.
“Oh, right,” Cecilia said casually. “Well, I’m afraid we don’t allow our guests to become raptors here for a couple of reasons, actually. The biggest reasons is that the demand for it is just too high. That’s why we have the lotteries.”
“And the other reasons?”
“Well, there’s also the fact that raptors usually need thermals or good updrafts to fly, and The Flight Dome is completely enclosed, so we don’t have that in here. Also, we actually had a few incidents in the past with visitors attacking other guests as raptors because their instincts overpowered their human thinking. After so many attacks, the board had to ban raptors from the flight dome completely.”
“When did that happen?”
“About a month ago,” Cecilia said sadly. “And I’m sorry it wasn’t on the brochure. We’re actually working to get that changed.”
“I see,” Trevor sighed.
Is there anything else I can do for you, sir? Maybe you’d like to take wing as something else. Parrots and hummingbirds are actually pretty popular choices these days.”
Trevor tapped his fingers on the countertop and looked off to the side for a few seconds as he thought about it. “But I can still become a raptor at one of the other districts, right?”
“Only if you win one of the lotteries,” Cecilia cautioned out of the side of her mouth. “And, like I said before, it’s a very popular option here at the Animal Resort.”
Trevor thought about it some more before he asked her, “You don’t happen to have a list of what kind of raptor choices are offered at the different districts, do you?”