Page 3 of Lucius

Art was Sidney’s passion and her escape. Since she was a kid and given her first drawing set by her parents for Christmas, she’d dreamed of becoming a professional artist. She’d filled sketchbooks with drawings of animals that she’d never had a chance to see in real life. In her bedroom upstairs, above the salon, she had a shelf full of filled sketchbooks of wild animals, from lounging leopards with soft spots and sleek muscles to soaring eagles amidst fluffy clouds.

Life, however, had other plans.

When her father passed away when she was a teenager, her hopes of going to art school had gone up in smoke. Her part-time job at the salon for art supply money had become a full-time job that her mom insisted was more important than anything. More important than art school or finding a job in the art field that would help Sidney explore her craft.

Instead of spending her days with her pencil and sketchbook, she was mostly trapped at the front desk, checking in clients and managing appointments, ordering supplies, and helping as her mother and the other stylists needed.

Trapped was definitely a good word for how she felt: a prisoner to the obligations of a family-owned business. Her parents had run the salon together and Sidney had been simply a part-timer, but when her dad died, Sidney had felt pressured to fill in the gaps. Her mom had promised to hire help so Sidney could focus on her art, but that day had never come. Now, six years later, Sidney felt like her life was passing her by. She’d taken free drawing courses from the library and some online art classes from the local community college, and she knew she was talented enough to make a career of it if she could only work on it more.

If only she wasn’t proverbially chained to the front desk.

“Oh, what’s that?” Delia, one of the stylists, asked as she peered over Sidney’s shoulder. Sidney gave Delia an arched brow, and Delia grinned. “I know it’s an elephant.”

“Good, for a second there I was wondering if my drawing sucked.”

“Heck no, you’re amazing.”

“Aw, thanks.”

“It’s cute,” she said with an approving smile. “Hey, if I gave you a picture of Clyde, could you draw him for me? Something I can hang up? I’d pay you for it.”

Sidney smiled. “I’d love to do that. I have an online store on a craft site, and for an eight-by-ten pencil drawing, I charge thirty dollars. For you, it’ll be twenty.”

“Perfect. I’ll text you some pics of him.”

Clyde was Delia’s great dane who had no idea he was a very large dog and still considered himself a puppy who could sit on anyone’s lap.

She checked out Delia’s client and made an appointment for her next visit, then greeted the next client and took her to Delia’s station.

She sat back heavily in the desk chair and stared out the window for a few moments. Her phone buzzed, drawing her from her thoughts of freedom and fresh air that wasn’t tainted with hair spray. She saw that Delia had sent her pictures of Clyde by text.

Opening her phone to look at the pictures, she noticed she had a new email.

Opening the app, her eyes widened as she saw the subject line of the message:Enjoy a complimentary VIP Safari Tour at Amazing Adventures Safari Park.

It had to be a joke or spam.

Right?

She opened the email, wondering if she was about to get her account hacked, and realized it was legit. As part of a summer promotion, the safari park was sending out coupons for free VIP tours as well as a free parking pass and a voucher for a burger of the day combo.

She’d never been to the safari park. Because they owned their own business, her family hadn’t done much in the way of vacations over the years, just the occasional beach day when the salon was closed or visiting family over the holidays.

Sidney’s heart raced.

This could be her chance to see exotic animals up close and sketch them in person!

She opened the web browser and looked up the park. Not only did they have the safari tour with elephants, bears, lions, wolves, and a whole paddock of non-predator animals like deer and a grumpy moose named Tank, but there was also a petting zoo and a bird sanctuary with daily shows.

This had to be fate or some kind of sign from the universe that her art was going to go somewhere someday.

She leaned back in her chair and watched her mom talk animatedly to Mildred while she cut her hair. Her mom wouldnot be thrilled that Sidney would want to take time off for a safari tour, but wasn’t it about time that Sidney put herself first for a change?

Returning to the website, she saw there was a place to enter in a code to redeem an email coupon or voucher to claim a spot during the tour times.

After entering the code, she looked through the available times and saw the VIP tours were only on Fridays and Saturdays, when the salon was the busiest.

With tomorrow being Friday, she knew it was too much to ask to be gone for half the day, but Saturday? That was doable. And she deserved some time away from the desk and a chance to see wild animals up close.

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