As she sat patiently in her jar and waited for her next owner to arrive, time seemed to slow almost to a standstill for Christina. She just had so little agency to do anything in her current situation, and while communicating with humans as a cat or monkey had been highly challenging, doing so as a frog was virtually impossible. This was going to be a long day.
Eventually, Christina was able to make out muffled voices above her from somewhere in the now gigantic office. The one that didn't belong to Jenkins was also male and had a younger, more energetic tone to it. Christina was pleasantly surprised when it's owner walked over to Jenkins desk where her jar had been placed and leaned down to greet her. She found herself facing a handsome, bohemian but well dressed looking man of around her age with a warm and disarming smile. In different circumstances this could have been someone she might have dated.
"Hello Christina, it's great to meet you, I'm Graham! Thanks so much for doing this. Your going to help spark the imagination of a whole class of inquisitive young minds!" He told her with obvious enthusiasm.
So Graham was a teacher and Christina's assignment would be at a school. Her associations about what happened to frogs in that environment weren't positive, but she felt sure a regular frog would be used for disection if that kind of thing was even allowed these days. Besides, she already had a good feeling about Graham and could sense he was a kind soul. She would be in good hands.
Once in Graham's car Christina was let out of her jar and jumped onto the dashboard where she sat opposite Graham as he drove.
"I have to say, I think your line of work is incredibly cool, Christina" Graham told the frog as it stared back at him "It's a shame we aren't able to converse properly. I have so many questions I'd love to ask you."
Christina croaked in agreement. Once again she found herself dissapointed with the rule about not meeting her owners while she was in human form. She would have been very happy to have gone for a drink with Graham and discuss her experiences this week with him. Her job was so bizarre and unbelievable that she hadn't spoken to anyone about it yet in case they thought she was insane.
"We need some kind of code to communicate with each other today, so how about you croak once for yes and twice for no?" Graham suggested.
Christina croaked once.
"That was you agreeing to the code, right?" Graham checked.
Christina croaked once more.
"I don't know why, but I've got a good feeling about you, Christina" Graham smiled "This is probably going to sound super weird under the circumstances, and feel free to say no if you aren't interested, but would you let me buy you a drink once you finish work this evening? I'd love to meet you properly."
Christina croaked once. Screw the rules, Jenkins couldn't control who she spent her free time with. If he didn't like it he could sack her, she didn't really want the job anyway. Although today was going much better than expected.