Another Kind Of Hurricane Part 14

"What am I going to do with you?" he said.

Osprey scooped Green into her lap and rocked the shoe. Osprey reminded Zavion of Mama all of a sudden. He didnt want to remember Mama right now. Right here. For the second time that day, sadness washed over him like a wave.

The wave must have gotten Osprey wet too because she said, "I love Green, but I loved Crow just a little bit more." She turned to Zavion, her eyes wide. "Is that okay to say?"

"Oh, yes," said Zavion. "That makes sense." He reached out and patted Green. "Green is great, but Crow-I bet he was amazing."

Osprey nodded. "He was. Uncle Skeet gave him to me. When Mama was just getting sick. He was a puppy when I got him, but a big puppy! And he would sit on my lap! Uncle Skeet hauled him off me the first time he plopped down, but I kind of liked it. I kind of liked it a lot."

"You did?"

"Uh-huh."

"He didnt knock the breath out of you?"

Osprey giggled again. "A little. But I liked it. I told Uncle Skeet I liked it. He told me Crow must have thought his job was to make sure I didnt float away."

"I bet you didnt, under all that dog," he said.

"Nope." Osprey leaned in toward Zavion. "But you want to know a secret?"

Zavion nodded.

"Dogs are a magic. Sometimes Crow would sit next to me, and only his tail was on my lap. And I still didnt float away." Ospreys face looked so serious. "Uncle Skeet told me that anyone whose Mama floated up into heaven needed a dog to keep her from floating up too." Osprey hugged Green to her chest. "But Uncle Skeet and me-we forgot that Crow needed a cat-"

Zavion was puzzled. "A cat?"

Osprey nodded. "To keep him from floating away."

- Another wave, and another and another. Zavion stood up so he wouldnt get so wet and took Ospreys hand and pulled her up too. As they walked down the block, Zavion thought about how he wanted a dog now. He wanted Mama to have a dog. He wanted every single person in New Orleans to have a dog, and their dog a cat, and the cat a rat, so that they all could stop floating away- Zavion wondered if a mountain could keep a person from floating away too.

He believed it could.

A van was parked in the driveway of a blue house in the middle of the street. Birdcages were littered all around it. They were all empty. He walked down the driveway.

"This must be it. 'Dianas Parrot Rescue," he read off the side of the van. He stood still for a moment, not sure what he should do.

"Look at what I taught Green!" Osprey sang out.

"Shhhhhhhhh," said Zavion, rus.h.i.+ng back to her.

"Watch!" She ran down the driveway, dropped her leash, and then ran back to Zavion. She pulled a peanut out of her pocket and threw it at the sneaker. "Fetch, Green!" The peanut landed next to Green, on the driveway. "Hes still learning," she said.

Zavion walked tentatively toward Osprey and then continued inside the garage. "Wow-its like a bird arcade in here." More cages were stacked inside, all of them filled with birds. Parrots, macaws, c.o.c.katoos, c.o.c.katiels, parakeets-there must have been fifty birds altogether. Zavion knelt in front of a cage and put out his finger. A green bird snapped at it. "Okay, boy. Easy does it. I wont bother you, okay?"

Zavion walked out of the garage and straight up to an open window around the side of the house. He cupped his hands around his eyes and peered in. "Wow," he whispered. "There are birds everywhere."

Besides the birds, a person was sleeping on a couch. Two other people were awake. A woman was sitting in a chair, and a man was on a sleeping bag on the floor.

"When are we going back in?" said the man. He rubbed his eyes with his fingers.

"Two hours," said the woman.

A parrot squawked from inside the garage. The sound was low and gravelly, like it was clearing something from his throat.

And there was another sound.

Also gravelly. Truly gravelly. Like something was actually being dragged across a gravel driveway. Like a green sneaker. He had forgotten for a moment that Osprey was with him. He ran to join her.

"You know what we should do, Osprey?" He put his hand on her shoulder to guide her down the driveway. He didnt want her stopping to throw a peanut.

"What?"

"We should get Green a sock so that he has something to keep him from floating away."

Osprey started running down the street. "Floating like this?" she called over her shoulder.

"Thats more like running," Zavion said to himself before taking off after her. He hadnt done it in a long time but his leg muscles remembered how. "Yes, like that," he yelled.

And then he followed Osprey and her running, floating dog.

- When they got back to the house, Ms. Cyn was sitting in the living room knitting her endless scarf.

"Zavion, honey," she said. She pulled a five-dollar bill out of her pocket. "Here." Zavion said no, but Ms. Cyn insisted. "You did Enzo a big favor," she said. "And I can tell Osprey had a good time. Good times are worth a lot these days. More than this. But its what Ive got and I want you to have it." She pressed the crisp bill into Zavions hand.

And like that, Zavion had not only figured out how he was going to get to New Orleans, but how he was going to pay back Luna Market for the chocolate bars too.

He had a plan.

He had money.

He had two hours.

- Zavion walked to the end of the block and turned the corner. He hitched Taviuss backpack higher on his shoulder. Tavius had been nice to let Zavion borrow it.

For a long walk, Zavion had said. Papa had been busy painting his slate roof s.h.i.+ngles and barely looked up when Zavion told him he was going out.

Zavion had paused for a moment, his backpack slung over his shoulder. He had stared at Papa, his fingers gripping the small paintbrush, so intent on making such small lines. Papas hand shook as he painted a green vertical stripe, maybe a stalk of gra.s.s, maybe a stem of a flower. He put the paintbrush down, ma.s.saged his hand, and picked it right up again.

Papa was determined.

Zavion was determined too.

- Clouds hung in the sky, but just lazy and lounging, no threat of rain. The bread he had packed for his snack jostled inside and clunked him on his back. He put his hand in his pocket and felt the marble. He put his other hand in his other pocket and felt the five-dollar bill. He had left a note for Papa, he had food, he had money, he had a magic marble.

He was ready.

The van was still parked in the driveway. Good. That was good. He could hear the chatter of the birds in the garage all the way from the street. Zavion strained his ears to hear.

Go, go, go, go.

Did Zavion really want to go through with this? He could turn around. He could walk back to Skeets house. He could try to forget about the chocolate bars.

But he knew he couldnt forget.

The rows of rooftops sticking out of the water like alligator heads. People stuck, stranded on those monstrous heads. Screaming for help.

Zavion couldnt forget any of it.

A breeze blew in and Zavion glanced at the sky. Please no wind, please no rain. He wasnt sure, but he didnt think he had much time to spare. Diana would come outside soon. He had to walk down the driveway now or never. The breeze got bored and left just as quickly as it came.

A bird squawked louder than the others, from somewhere in the garage.

Go!

"Okay, then," Zavion said to the birds.

He snuck a look back up at the sky. Did it look a darker shade of blue? A gray shade of blue? If I get to New Orleans, he thought, the words ricocheting against the inside of his skull then the sky will brighten up, it will turn back to blue- A door slammed.

"No! No no no no no-" Zavion spit the pinball words out loud.

He could not get caught.

He could not go back.

Zavion switched gears. He stopped thinking and began to move. Someone had put two birdcages just outside the door to the house and gone back inside.

Zavion ran to the van. He tried the handle. The door slid open. Piles of blankets were on the floor. A cardboard box filled with flashlights sat in one corner. There were feathers everywhere. Zavion buried himself under a green blanket, and slid the door shut.

He poked his head back out. He could feel the static electricity in his hair.

"Not bad. I could pa.s.s for junk," he said to himself. The same bird from the garage squawked and set off a chorus of beaked chatter. "The birds agree."

The door to the house slammed again.

A woman was walking toward his side of the van. Zavion wedged himself between a cage and the sidewall. He breathed in. The banket smelled like a wet dog.

The drivers side door opened, and he heard someone put something on the pa.s.senger seat. Then the door closed again.

Zavion flattened his body against the floor. Something metal was digging into his rib. He reached his hand under the blanket and pulled out an ax. Oh, what was he doing? He took a deep breath and tried to settle himself more comfortably on his side. His nose caught a whiff of something different than the wet dog smell. Chocolate? Caramel? He hoped his stomach wouldnt rumble and give him away. He sneezed.

Oh boy oh boy oh boy- Voices came close and then closer. The back door to the van opened.

Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy- "Do we have enough cages?"

"Its all we can fit."

The pinging sound of metal hitting metal rang in Zavions ears. He felt a cage hit the bottom of his sneaker.

"Do you think the guards will let us through the checkpoint this time?"

Oh boy.

They were going to New Orleans. Zavion was going to New Orleans.

Now.

"Probably. And if they dont, I already put the rest of the brownies in the front seat."

"Good thinking."

"None of them are getting any home cooking right about now. Come to think of it, I should have made a whole meal."

"Uh, Ma-your cooking isnt all that good-"

"Oh hush." And then the door slammed.

Zavions plan was unfolding. The opposite of kneading bread, it was unfolding, turning and unfolding some more. He fought an urge to yank the blanket off his body. He wanted to stack the cages, throw the blanket over them, and sit on the very top. He thought he would be braver about going back to New Orleans if he could travel by mountain, not by van.

The two front doors opened, and the woman and her son got inside.

"We shouldnt wake Dr. Burke?" the son asked.

"No, let her sleep. She was up all night tending to the birds. And sh.e.l.l have more to take care of when we come home." The woman started the van. "Are you ready?" she said to her son. The tires crunched down the driveway.

Im ready, thought Zavion.

chapter 28.

HENRY.

"Are you ready?" said Jake.

"Im ready," Henry said.

But he wasnt so sure.