When Pigs and Parrots Fly (13 page)

Sarah lowered her head and pressed her thumb and index finger to the bridge of her nose. “I was supposed to help judge that children's drawing contest. That was supposed to help draw people to the garden club. What am I going to do?”

Josh couldn't imagine going after Murray without Sarah. The bird didn't outright scare him, but still, Murray made him nervous. Most importantly, the only person he'd ever seen Murray listen to besides Andy was Sarah.

A female voice behind him caused him to spin around. “Sarah? If I can be of any help, Stan and I can help judge the contest for you.”

Josh's heart pounded as he turned to see Amber and Stan behind him. Sarah's eyes widened as they stepped around him to stand in front of her. Josh hadn't seen them arrive, but he was certainly glad they were there now.

Sarah sighed, and he could see the relief coursing through her as she visibly relaxed. Not only could Amber draw flowers, she made them out of everything imaginable, and then sold them for money. Amber was the one who would recognize talent and creativity in children. “That would help a lot. Besides, you're the artistic one in the crowd. I don't know why they didn't ask you in the first place.”

Amber shrugged her shoulders. “You're the local celebrity. I'm just a semi-reclusive artist.”

Sarah turned her head into Murray's general direction. “There's nothing reclusive about you. But yes, if you wouldn't mind, that would be a great relief. I don't know anything about art. Thanks so much. I have to find Murray before something happens to him.”

For the duration of their conversation, Stan continued standing beside Amber. “We don't mind at all,” he said. “Come on, honey, let's go and tell Pamela what happened.” Stan glanced around them at the multitudes of people, all on their cell phones. “Just in case she doesn't already know.”

Stan and Amber headed toward the tent that had been set up for the children's art contest, hand in hand.

Watching them, Josh swallowed hard and pressed his hand to his back pocket to get his phone. He needed to put his concentration on finding Murray, not being jealous of his friend.

“Excuse me!” a female voice called out through the crowd, breaking his thoughts and bringing him back to the urgency of the situation. “He's at the library, splashing in the fountain.”

Without waiting for a response, Josh grabbed Sarah around the wrist. “I knew it wouldn't be long before someone saw him. Let's go get him.”

Chapter 10

S
arah thought her sides would explode by the time they finally made it to the car. Josh ran so much faster with his longer legs. She could tell he had slowed somewhat for her, but urgency insisted they go as fast as possible.

Fortunately, more traffic entered the fairground than exited, so they got out of the area much quicker than they'd gotten in.

They made record time getting from the fairgrounds to downtown.

“Have you been driving with Tucker?” Sarah ground out between her teeth as they rounded the last corner before the library.

Josh gave her a quick grin and returned his attention to the road. “Before he got his badge, who do you think taught him to drive like that?”

Sarah had a feeling she didn't want to know the answer. For a brief second, she wondered how fast a parrot Murray's size could fly. But of course, Murray would never have to worry about traffic.

Thankfully, they arrived at the library without hitting anything or getting a speeding ticket. Usually the old stone building awed her, except for the carved stone gargoyles guarding the doorway. She'd always thought they were repulsive and looked evil. However, nothing could be done since the library, along with the hideous gargoyles, had been declared a heritage site, and the only changes that could be made were to preserve them to keep them in their original condition.

As they pulled into the parking lot, she could see a crowd of people surrounding the fountain. “Let me out. I have to get there before someone does something to frighten him away.”

“I don't think much can scare Murray,” Josh muttered as he slammed on the brakes hard enough to cause a screech of rubber. The car hadn't come to a full stop, and she had the seat belt unfastened, the door unlocked and part of the way open.

Sarah took off in a run toward the fountain. She wanted to scream at everyone surrounding Murray that they were too close, that so many strangers were bound to spook him.

Veterinary college never covered stuff like this.

Sarah stopped running and forced a quick walk, so as not to frighten or intimidate Murray. Just as she spotted the blob of brilliant blue in the fountain, a horrendous squawk echoed through the pathway between the stately buildings. The blue dot rose in the air, circled the fountain once, turned to the left, and disappeared.

Her feet skidded to a halt, and she bit her bottom lip to keep from muttering a nasty word as she watched Murray fly off into the blue sky. She ground out a sigh and resumed her trajectory to the fountain and the crowd.

Half the crowd chattered excitedly on their cell phones while the other half used the cameras in their phones to compare pictures of Murray splashing in the fountain.

Sarah waved her hands in the air. “Everyone! Please!”

The buzz of the crowd dimmed to a silence. Even those speaking on their phones quieted.

“I've got to catch him. Please call everyone you know and have them keep an eye out for Murray. We've got to get him home. He's not safe.”

A teenage boy snorted. “What? Is a sparrow going to pick a fight with him?”

His friend snickered. “Like anything could hurt Murray. He could beat up my neighbor's cat.”

Another of the young boys joined in. “He could beat up my neighbor's dog. And my neighbor.”

All the boys in the crowd started laughing and tossing out more and more ideas about what other animals Murray could intimidate. It didn't take long for the conversation to degenerate to the point where the boys theatrically enacted how Murray could take on larger and larger animals, including grizzly bears.

She wondered when she'd lost control of the conversation, if she'd ever even had it.

Sarah stuck two fingers in her mouth and made a sharp whistle. “Please! I need everyone to call everyone you know, especially people who are now in the direction Murray went. I've got to find him before it gets dark.” She didn't want to think about Murray getting too cold as the night dragged on. Or worse, that he'd fly out of the city limits, where they'd never find him again.

Josh appeared beside her, panting slightly, telling her that he'd run all the way from where he'd left his car.

He extended one hand. “Your phone rang. I took it out of your purse and answered it. It was Tucker. He said he's asked everyone he knows to keep an eye out for Murray, and he'll call if anyone sees him.” Josh glanced around the crowd, all of whom were talking on their cell phones. “Although it seems like you've got that covered.”

Nodding, she reached for her phone. She, too, could make phone calls.

Just as she hit the button to show her speed dial list, a lady from the crowd called out. “He's at the beauty salon. Hurry!”

“Go get Murray!” one of the boys called out.

“Hurry! Hurry!”

In mere seconds, the crowd chanted and cheered.

“Let's get out of here,” she barely heard Josh say.

Just like the Red Sea, the crowd parted, allowing them to exit and run all the way back to Josh's car. Just like the first time, they took off with a squeal of rubber.

As they rushed toward Blooming Beautiful, which Sarah had always thought a ridiculous name for a beauty salon, she fished through her purse. “I don't have anything good for birds, but I do have some candy I could use to tempt him.”

Josh shook his head. “I doubt that Murray likes mints. I can run to the market across the street from the salon and grab an apple or something to tempt him while you try to talk to him and calm him down.”

He left the car double-parked and they ran to the salon. But when they arrived, Murray was already calm. Four ladies, two with plastic bags covering their heads to keep in the perm solution, one with curlers on half her head, and another with one side of her hair short and the other long, plus Melissa, the stylist, were outside, tossing fruit slices at Murray, who stood in the middle of the sidewalk, happily accepting the treats.

“Murray wants candy . . .
squawk
. . . Murray wants candy!” he hollered between mouthfuls.

As they watched him gobble down the food, Josh leaned down to whisper in Sarah's ear. As if Murray would care what he said. “How exactly do you plan on catching him?”

Her brain froze. “I don't know. I thought I would just talk to him and he'd fly up and land on my arm, like he does for Andy. That's probably not very realistic.”

“I have no idea what's realistic. I thought we could bribe him with food, but I don't think he's very hungry anymore.”

Maybe her imagination had run amok, but she was almost sure that Murray burped.

Sarah stepped forward, the movement causing everyone in the ever-enlarging crowd to become silent. The ladies in the varying processes of beautification stopped throwing food.

“Hi, Murray,” Sarah said in what she hoped was a calm and soothing tone, extending one arm in invitation. “Would you like to come here and . . .” Words failed her. The only thing she could think of was to bribe him with food, except she didn't have anything to give him. If she told him she had a snack for him, and didn't, that would be lying. To a bird. She squeezed her eyes shut for a second, tried to relax, and smiled at him. “. . . let's go home.”

“Home is where the hearth is . . .
squawk
. . . Home is where the hearth is.”

“No, Murray,” one of the ladies piped up. “That's heart. Home is where the heart is.”

“Avast me hearty . . .
squawk
. . . Avast me hearty!” he called out, crouched, jumped, launched himself, and disappeared into the wild blue yonder.

Everyone stood, frozen, watching as Murray once again flew away.

Josh planted his fists on his hips. “There goes our swarthy pirate again.”

Sarah turned to the crowd. “Please, call everyone you know who's in that direction,” she said, pointing east. “We need to find him.” She turned to Josh. “We need food that Murray likes. Can you go to the market and buy a few apples, like you said earlier?”

“What else does he like? I've seen Andy give him carrots.”

Just as Josh turned to go to the market, his cell phone rang. He didn't even have time to answer, and the caller started talking, and hung up as quickly as he'd called.

Josh flipped the phone shut. “I have no idea who just called me, but Murray is a few blocks from here, at the mall parking lot. Some teens are hanging around in the lot, with their music loud, and Murray landed on one of the shopping buggies. Right now, he's dancing for them. He seems to be having the time of his life entertaining them, but no one is feeding him to keep him there. We'd better get going.”

As they both turned to look at the store, trying to decide if they had time to run in to buy something to tempt Murray, one of the ladies tapped her on the arm and held out a bag of fruit. “We put everything we had in a bag for you. Take this and go, and I hope you catch him this time.”

Again, the crowd parted to allow them to run to Josh's car. But this time, many of the people who had been watching Murray perform ran to their cars and followed them to the mall.

It wasn't difficult to see where he was. More people surrounded him there than had at the fair.

This time, the crowd didn't part so easily for Sarah and Josh as they squeezed between the bystanders. Rather than make a fuss or cause a disturbance that would make Murray fly away, they slowly made their way to the front, excusing themselves one person at a time, until they reached the front row.

In the middle of the huge parking lot, people surrounded a shopping cart beside a car that had seen better days. With the hatchback wide open, music blared for everyone to hear.

Just like he had at the fair, Murray scooted back and forth on the handle, bobbing his head to the music and having the time of his life.

Sarah poked Josh in the ribs. “Look at the buggy. If we could somehow get Murray to hop down inside the buggy, we could cover it and use it like a birdcage to take him home.”

“You're kidding, right? Are you suggesting we just wheel him home?”

“No. Not exactly. Someone here has to own a van. We could lift the buggy into the van, and the buggy would be a safe way to keep him contained.”

“I'm not so sure of that, but even if all we do is keep him secure until Andy gets here, that would work.”

Sarah checked her watch. “How long does it take to put out a fire? Of course we don't know how bad the fire is.”