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I turned my attention to her and almost squealed. She was holding an Adelie penguin; an actual Adelie penguin!
“Is this the one that you like?” Nolan asked.
I nodded enthusiastically as Morgan sat down on the ground in front of me.
“His name is Pogo. He’s about two years old and he’s quite the character,” she said, cradling the animal in her lap.
“Hi, Pogo,” I said softly, reaching out a hand. She scooted closer so that I would be able to rub his head. I realized I must’ve looked like Liam when he got his first baseball glove; goofy, red, and excited, but I was so happy at that moment that I didn’t care.
“Do you want to hold him?” she asked me.
I looked up at Nolan who was smiling at me with his hands in his pocket. I looked back at Morgan, then at Pogo.
“If he lets me,” I replied hopefully.
“He will. If he didn’t like you he would’ve been crying by now,” she said reassuringly.
Morgan pushed herself to her knees and explained to me not to restrain his wings in any way or he would feel threatened. She also told me that Pogo liked to be best held by letting him stand on your lap and that once he felt comfortable enough, he would lean against you.
I wiped my hands on my shorts before I reached my hands out for Pogo. He opened his little wings slightly while I reached underneath them to put him on my lap. He almost immediately fell against me.
“Wow, I’ve never seen him do that before,” Morgan remarked in surprise. “He must really like you.”
I nuzzled the top of his soft head with my cheek. “I really like him too,” I said softly.
A flash went off, causing me to jump. Pogo shifted in my arms then leaned against me again. I looked up and saw Nolan had his phone out and was taking pictures.
Well, that explains the flash.
“If you want, I can take a picture of you and your girlfriend with Pogo,” Morgan offered, getting off of the floor.
Nolan looked at me with his half-smile and wiggled his eyebrows. I giggled as he handed Morgan his phone and came over to me. He crouched down behind me, put an arm around my shoulder, and pulled me close to him.
“Smile!” she called out as the flash went off again.
She came over to us and gave Nolan his phone back. Then she looked down at me and Pogo, and smiled. “I have to take him back now. Honestly, I wasn’t supposed to do that… let you hold him, but I couldn’t say no to a girl in a wheelchair. Have a great rest of the day, guys!”
I let her take Pogo and watched her walk away. My face had become stony. I knew she wasn’t being mean; because she had been very kind the whole time, but I felt like I had been pitied.
I hated that feeling.
More than being stuck in this damn wheelchair, I hated being pitied.
“What’s wrong, Janey?” Nolan asked, noticing my change in mood.
Of course the wheelchair comment went over his head. He knew Morgan wasn’t being mean and he didn’t know how much I hated being pitied because I hadn’t had the chance to tell him yet.
“Nothing,” I mumbled. “Let’s go to the dolphin show.”
I put my hands on the wheels and began to roll down the wide hallway toward the dolphin exhibit. Nolan caught up to me and grabbed the handles to push me, but I reached back and swatted his hands away.
“I can do this myself, you know,” I snapped.
“Whoa! What’s the matter?” he asked again, stepping around to block my path.
I sighed heavily. I wasn’t sure how I was going to explain this to him without sounding like a brat. So, I just said what I was feeling.
“I don’t want to be treated differently just because I’m in a wheelchair. If she shouldn’t have done it then she shouldn’t have done it. Giving me special treatment because of this damn chair makes me feel pitied, and I hate that feeling.”
