The weeks blurred together in the best way: morning feedings, enrichment setups, educational talks for school groups, late-night check-ins where the elephants dozed peacefully under the barn lights. Maria went home tired, but it was a kind of tired she welcomed.
It meant she was doing exactly what she had always hoped to do. On her eighteenth day, the evening routine passed smoothly. The zoo quieted as guests drifted out, leaving behind the soft hum of pumps and the murmur of distant animals settling in for the night.