“Looks like that’s our stop,” a somewhat tall woman in the seat next to him said.
“Yep,” he said distantly, still feeling a bit of apprehension welling up in his gut. Trevor hoped his nervousness about the fact that he’d be changing into an animal soon didn’t show too much, but the woman still picked up on it.
“I guess this is your first time out here?” she asked gently.
A thin smile crept across Trevor’s lips. “Yeah. You?”
The woman smiled back and bit her lips for a second as she slowly shook her head, making a few strands of her soft brown hair dip across her forehead. “Not exactly. This is actually my sixth time to the island, but the first time I’ve ever come to The Ocean World.”
A shocked look jolted over Trevor’s face. “Whoa! Six times?” he exclaimed. He glanced off to the side before he asked, “So, um, what all have you been?”
The woman let out a soft laugh and looked back at Trevor as if he should know better. “Don’t worry. It’s not that big of a deal around here. I mean, it’s not like you’re asking me what kind of tampons I wear or anything.”
Trevor could already feel his face getting warm and tried not to look too uncomfortable even though he could almost bet his face was turning as red as his hair right now. He prayed no one else in the bus was paying attention.
“But, yeah,” the woman continued, “I’ve been a couple of different things here. I was a swan the first time, then a horse – which is a blast, by the way – and a chicken at Down on the Farm.”
“A chicken?” Trevor interjected without thinking.
“Yeah,” the woman said with a roll of her eyes. “I kind of lost a race to another horse – when I was horse, too, that is – and we’d made a bet that the loser had to become a chicken for a day. Trust me, I don’t recommend that one.
“Anyway, after that I was a deer in the Forest district, I think, or maybe I was a dog at In The City. I did those back to back, so they kind of get mixed around. But last time I was a polar bear in the arctic district. That wasn’t too bad.”
Trevor still couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Man, you must really like being animals.”
The woman simply shrugged and didn’t lose her smile. “I guess so. I’ve always been interested in them. I work for the Department of the Interior as a wildlife consultant, you see. So, when this place came along, I figured I might as well see the world from the perspective of my clientele – and my pets, as far as the horse and dog experiences are concerned.
“So what brings you here?”
A twinge raced down Trevor’s spine. It’d been weird enough listening to the woman talk about her previous experiences as animals without having to talk about it himself.
“I don’t know,” he sighed shakily. “I guess I’ve always just liked the water and marine life, so I thought I’d check it out.”
“That’s cool,” the woman said. “And if you’re feeling nervous about it, you don’t have anything to worry about. I mean, yeah, it’s a bit weird at first, but it’s usually a lot of fun.”
“Unless you’re a chicken,” Trevor added.
The woman smiled back at him pointed her finger at Trevor. The bus was starting to slow down as it entered the island. “Okay, you got me on that one. But, since there’s no chickens here, it should be okay. I’m betting being a dolphin’s a safe bet. That’s actually what I’m planning on spending my time here as. Are you going to be joining me?”