Moments That Change Lives

His chest filled with air and Mira was positive that he was going to yell at her. However, he let out a deep breath and spoke a bit irritated, “What?”

“I want a raise. In every company in the western world when you do something extremely important for the image, the name and the credibility of the company, you get a raise. It’s the logical thing. You promised me a day off and now this happens. I shouldn’t have come here in the first place. And besides when I ask you about a small raise, you always tell me that it’s not the right time. Well, now’s the right time, don’t you think, boss?”

Her boss’s hand was pressed on his temples as his look was fixed on the floor. Mira was giving him a headache making her chuckle to herself. “How much?”

“Well, five percent. I’m not asking for much, because I have respect for you and this company. For me, five percent will be enough to fill in the gaps my salary leaves open.” Mira crossed her hands under her bre*sts.

“Fine, fine,” he said as a smile popped on his face. “Great! You deserve the raise anyway.” He put a hand in the air and she accepted it smiling.

A job well done, she thought to herself nodding. Undeniably, a job well done.

Mira got the keys of the jeep, put her black shades on and slung a pair of binoculars on her neck. She met the eager tourists in the parking lot and greeted them with her best smile asking them how they liked the place so far and their expectations for the trip.

“I’m here to see a Hollywood hottie, perhaps bathing naked in a pond,” one of the women said provoking everyone present into a booming laughter.

“Well, ma’am,” Mira answered, “I promise you many birds, tall trees and a plethora of other flora and fauna, but I don’t reckon seeing a naked Hollywood hottie. If I did, I wouldn’t be here in the first place.”

They all laughed again.

“Hop on,” she instructed and once everyone was seated in the jeep, she started the engine and headed toward her very familiar route. She knew those parts as well as the lines on her palm and it wasn’t a rarity for her to be driving relying on her strong gut feeling which resulted in extremely happy tourists who were shown something that wasn’t planned in the original agenda.

As if by a swish of a wand, Mira turned herself into the pro tour guide that she was. She was endlessly describing the trees they were seeing – their age, height, form of leaves, life expectancy, fruit (if any), their purpose and stuff like that – while her passengers in the back were clicking the buttons of cameras and phones to capture a unique picture and show it to their circle of friends. She continued on as if her cable was put in a jack and electricity began flowing through her.

All of a sudden, she stopped.

“What’s happened?” One of the men behind her asked.

“You’ll see very shortly.” Mira chuckled wickedly as her tourists followed her out of the jeep and onto the hard ground path. Their faces held wonder and amazement and some, she noticed, fear. “No worries, people. All I will tell you is that nothing you’ve seen before can prepare you for what is coming next.”

The crowd turned their mouths into Os. Mira confidently pushed her way across low-hanging branches. She went a bit left and then found her path and smiled. One of the things that made her love her job was just that. The thrill and the excitement buzzing between the tourists that eventually transferred onto her as well.

“We’re here!” She said, breaking the silence. All of them took their breaths. “You can close your eyes if you want.”

A low hum ruined her surprise, but to a regular ear that probably resembled the sound of the rain forest. She couldn’t contain the anticipation much longer and turned a few branches, revealing her surprise.

“Whoa!” All of them said in unison and it was truly a whoa moment. They were standing on the edge of a tall hill from where the whole rain forest could be observed. But that wasn’t everything. There were a thousand species of birds flying all around them.

“This is what we’re calling the most exciting segment of the trek. Bird watching!”

She pointed out some of the most popular kinds and some unique ones. The cameras were snapping like crazy and that made Mira feel like a celebrity. She owned the rain forest, no one could say otherwise. She knew every corner, every bush, every root.

Her eyes couldn’t help themselves but dart toward the marvelous beauty lying before them. The trees that looked like the Empire State Building from up close were just tall home plants from here and she smiled at that. This scene made her feel as if she was the queen of the world, holding everything in her palm as the world of the rain forest vibrated and thrived beneath her.

“Wow, Mrs. Glass, this is truly spectacular. Thank you a billion times for showing this to us,” the woman, who said she was in for the Hollywood hottie, said and hugged Mira.

“Aww, you’re welcome, dear. You see that the expedition went great even without the actor with the perfect bod.” The both of them laughed.

After a while Mira led them back to the jeep accompanied by a lot of grumbling and hopes for seeing a magical place such as that one again. The rest of the road they drove in silence, except for Mira who occasionally dropped an interesting or a you-would-not-believe-it-but fact.

“Sorry for blabbering, but this is something I get to tell you,” she began, “a few months back I was doing the tours just like now when this toucan lands on the hood of the jeep and… holy cow!” She was watching in the rearview mirror as an obviously pregnant woman made gagging gestures.

She took her foot away from the gas pedal in an instant and shut down the engine. In seconds she was beside the woman taking her from the seat and bringing her to a bush.

“You okay, hon? Everything’s going to be okay,” Mira whispered, placing a lost lock of hair behind the woman’s ear.

“Yeah, it’s probably all of the going up and down… Mike doesn’t like it.” She chuckled nervously.

“It’s a boy?” Mira asked.

“Yes. I’m in the fifth month and I wanted to go so bad on a holiday and look what happened to it. I should’ve listened to my mother and not date that son of a bi*ch anyway. I can’t have a freaking great time on a holiday.”

“You’re blessed, you know,” Mira said as the woman’s words hit her right in the chest. “You’re lucky that you’re able to have children and when they come you’ll see that you’ve been wrong the whole time saying this.”

“You think so? How many kids d’you have?”

Mira flashed her best smile. “I know so… Sadly, I’m not able to conceive a child. I’m sterile and that’s it. It’s how The Above One made me and I learned to accept it with time.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” the woman said as a tear trickled down her cheek. “You’d make a wonderful mother.”

“Thank you.” Mira hugged her tightly. “You okay now?”

“Much better,” the woman sobbed quietly, pressing her hands on Mira’s back.

Mira had never been a crying woman. There were certainly times when she should break down, get on her knees and bawl her eyes out from crying. When crying was required of her. But no. She was wondering when the last time she let a tear spill over the corner of her eye and slide down in parallel to her nose until it was hanging on her chin was. She also wondered when she had stopped crying at all.