NO ORDINARY OWL

by Lauraine Snelling

  Drastic measures. It was something her mother said when they were trying to get Siddy to stop repeating phrases.

  The right front wheel of the truck slipped off the edge of a hole, and everyone fell toward the right again. Esther reached over Sunny, jerked up the lock, shoved open the door, and rolled over her friend out the door. Sunny leaped behind her and hit her behind the knees.

  “Ow!” Esther yelped, momentarily pinned by the sturdy Sunny. In a flash, Sunny was off her and pulling her up.

  “Run! Run!”

  The two girls pelted down the muddy road toward the gate. Looking back, they saw the brake lights of the truck blaze on, and then it kept going.

  “This is Big Trouble.” Sunny moved to a sprint. “He’s so evil he wouldn’t stop. We have to get help.”

  “Our bikes are under the tree!” Esther panted, trying to keep up with Sunny who played soccer with C.P., an eleven-year-old boy who lived across the fence from Aneta and was a good friend of the S.A.V.E. Squad. Esther avoided running. In fact, the only time she ran was when she was with the S.A.V.E. Squad. “We’ll go to Uncle Dave’s.”

  “I—I…” Even Sunny was puffing in the rain. She skidded momentarily on a slippery spot in the road and waved her arms wildly to keep her balance. “There’s a farm before Uncle Dave’s. On this side of the road. I’ve seen it before.”

  Even closer help. Good.

  The gate loomed in the gray light. Now that it was getting closer to late afternoon than early afternoon, the gloom had increased.

  “Oh, hurry!” Esther panted. What if her legs wouldn’t pedal when they got to the bikes? What if the fence had locked behind the truck? What if Vee and Aneta tried to save themselves and the wounded owls and Masked Man—? She wouldn’t go there. She and Sunny would save the day.

  They reached the gate at the same moment a Volkswagen Bug, windshield wipers slapping furiously, turned off the county road and pulled in front of the gate. The headlights speared the girls into paralysis.

  Was this help or worse—Big Trouble?

  “Do we run?” Sunny looked miserable with her coat gleaming in the headlights. “It’s all woods. We could get lost and never get help for Vee and Aneta.”

  Esther thought about all the books she’d read about kids who beat the bad guys. “Well, there’s two of us. One of—”

  The door opened, and a tall, skinny figure swathed in an orange fluorescent poncho stepped out. “Sunny? Is that you?”

  It was the Bird Lady from the community center! Esther looked at Sunny, eyes wide. It had gotten worse. The Bird Lady was in cahoots with Masked Man.

  “What do we do, what do we do?” Sunny wasn’t asking a question. She was simply panicking, and Esther joined her. If they ran, the car could run them down. If they stayed to fight, they might have a better chance.

  There was only one problem.

  Esther had never fought anybody. Sure, she’d wrestled with her brothers, but that was never life and death. She was pretty sure Sunny hadn’t beaten anyone up either.

  The woman fished under the poncho and withdrew something that she pointed at them. The girls hit the mud face-first. Immediately, the gate began to creak open.

  Chapter 5

  Meeting Bird Man

  B ut he said you two had to ‘take care of something,’ and in the movies that always means bad stuff for the heroes.” Esther pulled off her soaking coat in the now-steamy Bug. In the backseat, Sunny leaned forward, resting her arms on the two front seats so she wouldn’t miss a word.

  Bird Lady’s thin shoulders shook, and her voice held a tremble. “He meant he had injured birds to care for. That’s what Byron always says when he calls me. He tries to stay very calm, even though he’s worried for the birds.” She steered slowly around a full puddle smack in the middle of the driveway. They were headed to, it turned out, her twin brother’s house. “But he didn’t have time to say that he also had four girls who had taken over the truck and were threatening him.”

  “We didn’t threaten him.” Esther felt it important to be accurate here.

  “Apparently one of you said that your mother was a solicitor—or what you Americans call a lawyer—and that he’d better let them go.”

  The two girls smiled big. “That’s our Aneta.”

  “My brother was quite concerned that one of you would chunder all over him from the backseat. He said the impending doom was quite terrifying.”

  The two were silent for a breath, then Esther said, “Is chunder British for puke?”

  Bird Lady nodded.

  “That’s our Vee! She was good. I thought she really would yak,” Sunny put in. “We only would have hurt him if he’d started hurting the birds.”

  “Or us,” Esther agreed.

  The shoulders shook again. “You girls must be very good friends with very good imaginations.”

  “The Squaders are my best friends on the planet,” Esther said. Shivers shook her from deep inside. It had been pretty scary when the gate creaked open until Bird Lady’s voice bellowed out Esther’s name. Even then, it took Sunny and Esther a few minutes in the mud before the woman convinced them that Vee and Aneta were safe and the man with the mask was Bird Lady’s brother, Byron Beake, who was actually a hero. Esther didn’t get all of it since Bird Lady was speaking so quickly with her British accent, but it had something to do with animals and a fire and Byron being a hero. The mask had something to do with his face being burned.

  Moments later, they made a final turn on the driveway, which had turned to muddy mush, and there it was. Not just a house. Tall, three stories, with a big porch and a rounded left side. A couple of shutters sagged crazily away from windows. Paint peeled off the area around the door. Lights glowed inside, yet it still looked like a place that would have a creepy butler.

  “Wow.” Sunny leaned forward to get a better look. “That looks like some house in a scary movie.”

  Beverly Beake put the Bug in PARK, nodding. “Byron has a lot to do to fix it up. But he likes it because it’s—” She hesitated and then shook her head. “No matter. Let’s go see these wee owls.”

  Shooting a glance at each other, Sunny and Esther trooped in behind Beverly, Esther sniggering to herself that they were following the Bird Lady, Beverly Beake. It seemed easier to call her Bird Lady than Beverly. At the extra-tall front door, Bird Lady turned the doorknob, the head of a snarling lion. She pushed open the heavy door.

  Inside was a wide foyer with a room off to the left and firelight coming from the right. What a place, thought Esther as she and Sunny ran to meet Vee and Aneta who leaped up from enormous wing chairs by a fireplace that looked big enough to sleep in. The fire was piled high with large logs, sending out welcome heat. Esther couldn’t wait to stand in front of it. The chills were twitching her shoulders all by themselves.

  Byron Beake, standing by the fire, muttered something that sounded like “hullo.”

  “You’re here!” Aneta threw her arms around Sunny, squeezed her, and then did the same to Esther. “You are safe. We are safe. Mr. Beake says the owls need lots of help. He put them in his bird hospital.”

  He had a bird hospital? She regarded the tall, spare man standing in the shadows at the edge of the fireplace, arms folded. He wasn’t smiling. Beverly laid her wet coat over a chair near the fire and watched her brother on the other side. She was smiling, like she knew a secret he didn’t.

  So they had actually jumped in the truck of someone who could help? Another great S.A.V.E. Squad rescue. They were good. Living the yayness, as Sunny would say.

  “Uncle Dave knows we’re here now, and he says, well—I guess we kind of got it wrong about Mr. Beake.” Vee was trying not to laugh. “We’re not in danger.”

  Esther couldn’t blame her. I mean really…Beake? Were Vee and Aneta wondering about the mask? How could they not be?

  “Now that we’re here, what do we do to help the owls?” She’d made it to the fireplace. Oh, it was toasty. She wondered briefly if Mr. Beake had
supplies for s’mores.

  The Bird Man’s long nose twitched as his lip curled.

  “Byron.” Beverly’s voice held a warning. She moved to stand next to Esther by the fire. “I’ve heard about these girls in town. They—”

  “They aren’t getting within ten miles of my owls.” While the girls filled each other in, he hadn’t said a word; now this single sentence was icy clear.

  “Your owls?” Vee’s dark brows slammed together…the look Aneta had dubbed the Vee Stare gathering on her face.

  “But…” Aneta’s voice trailed off. She looked at the other girls, her expression asking, Did I hear what I think I heard?

  His owls? Those two bitty owls were their owls. Esther frowned and placed her hands on her hips. Before she could correct him, however, Byron had risen and was moving toward a door at the back of the room.

  “Take them home, Beverly,” he said, tossing the words over his shoulder. When Vee began to speak, he spun around and stabbed a long, bony finger at each girl, punctuating his words. “Don’t. Ever. Come. Back.”

  Chapter 6

  Something’s Up

  I know you’re going to say life’s not fair, Dad, but it was really really not fair that Masked Man kicked us out and we had to leave those hurt baby owls with him!” Anger choked Esther’s throat so she couldn’t swallow the mouthful of chicken rice casserole. As soon as she’d gotten home, her mother made her take a long hot shower and pull on fleece pj’s. No more shivering.

  Her father, who called himself “Mr. Medium with a Big God,” regarded her with his medium brown eyes. They matched his medium brown hair. Taking another forkful of the peas that accompanied the casserole, a smile hovered over his lips before he inserted what Toby called “the usual” Saturday dinner.

  “Now how did you know I would say that?” he murmured to no one in particular.

  “Because you always do!” Esther and Toby chorused.

  All eyes were on him—Esther’s mom, whose eyes looked more tired than usual, Toby, Esther’s younger brother by two years, and Sidney, the youngest at just over three.

  “Masked Man!” Sidney shouted, and Esther sighed. She never should have called Mr. Beake that. Now Sidney would shout “Masked Man” for days until another phrase caught his attention. It would be majorly embarrassing if Byron Beake ever heard it. Of course, “Byron Beake” might set Siddy off as well. Sidney loved sounds, although at more than three years old, he didn’t talk correctly. Mom and Dad had been taking him to a lot of doctors the last few months. Esther had noted more than one set of looks traded back and forth between them when Siddy shouted the same thing endlessly. Never in a whisper. Ever.

  “Dad! We need to help the owls. We found them.” Maybe if she raised her voice like Sidney, they would listen to her.

  “Esther!” Her mother’s voice cut sharply into Esther’s volume.

  Her face flushing, she shot a glance at her father and muttered, “Sorry for yelling, Dad.”

  He winked at her.

  “Why do you call him Masked Man?” Toby, who always finished first, was done. He reached for the last spoonful of chicken, rice, and chicken soup. His mom slapped his hand away.

  “Not until your father’s done.”

  Always that. It didn’t matter how hungry they were, Mom never let them have seconds until Dad had what he wanted. Usually there wasn’t enough to go around a full second time. Toby and Esther ate a lot of bread with peanut butter and honey right after dinner.

  “We never even got to ask him how he was going to help them.” Important questions like, “What animals have you helped before?” Mr. Beake had simply told them to never come back and left the room. Miss Beake had sighed and, looking like a sad turkey buzzard wearing a poncho, herded the girls back into the Bug and driven them to Uncle Dave’s. There, phone calls with parents followed, and the S.A.V.E. Squad girls found themselves each back at home with no sleepover and lots of questions from parents. “He sure was grouchy.”

  “Masked Man!” Sidney shouted, attempting to stand in his booster seat set in the dining room chair.

  “Down boy,” Esther’s dad said, patting the seat. “Cheeks in the seat, please.”

  “Cheeks in the seat!” Sidney bellowed.

  Esther’s mom sighed and picked at her dinner.

  “Does it look like a robber mask?” Toby persisted.

  “No.” She frowned, trying to describe it. “It was clear and, like, squished right against his face.” Now that she thought about it—now that she wasn’t sopping wet and her teeth weren’t chattering—parts of his scalp held only wispy hairs. No wonder he’d looked like a monster when he looked in the window. It had been the mask she’d seen and not him pressing his face against the window. He wasn’t trying to scare us.

  Esther’s mom nodded. “A burn mask.” She looked at her husband. “I’ve seen people wearing those when we do hospital visits.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I love those visits.”

  “Jessica.” Dad’s voice was gentle.

  What was with everyone tonight? She and the girls had nearly been killed by the storm, kidnapped, and had their owls stolen. Nobody seemed to care. Now, if it had been Sidney in trouble…Trouble reminded her that she hadn’t told the Squad the Melissa news.

  Toby and Esther fell quiet. Although Toby could be a spectacular pain sometimes, Esther knew he was a softie about people being hurt.

  “Cheeks in the seat!” Sidney shouted.

  Esther sighed. She bet the S.A.V.E. Squad girls never had meals like the Martins.

  Chapter 7

  No More Rescues?

  On Monday, the first day of Spring Break, Nadine, the Squad’s friend and children’s librarian, swiveled in her big leather chair to face the four girls who sprawled behind the oversized wooden desk. It was a Squad thing to do, Esther thought, rolling over onto her stomach and dropping her head onto her two fists. Meet with Nadine at the library. Solve a mystery. Get ideas. It was kind of like their clubhouse. Especially when they were fresh out of ideas. Maybe whatever was puttering around at the back of Esther’s mind would come out and say, “Hey!” Like something she was supposed to tell the girls.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you four be so quiet. What’s up?” Nadine pushed long, dark bangs out of her eyes.

  “Not what so much as a ‘whoooooo’ from Beake Man.” Sunny let out a snort and then explained the whole sorry owl mess to Nadine. “He hasn’t called any of us back.”

  Nadine nodded, her head tipped to the side. “Hmm. I know Beverly a little. She’s been coming to the Arts Council meetings.” The library, the senior center, and the community center all shared different sides of the big community center building by the lake. “She’s quite a bird expert. So is her brother.”

  “Byron Beake.” Vee sniffed when Sunny let out another snort. “Can you believe that’s his real name?”

  Esther hoped Sidney never heard it. She had been pretty careful keeping the Squad away from her house, giving one excuse after another why they should meet at Aneta’s (“…but we can swim and play with Wink!”), or Vee’s (“…but your little kitty is so much fun to play with”), or Sunny’s Uncle Dave’s ranch (“…but the animals! We can play with the animals!”). There’d be no telling what Sidney would think he’d heard and then start yelling. It wasn’t that she didn’t love her little brother, she simply didn’t know how to explain him.

  Sunny, never one to sit still for long, shifted to her back and began to pedal her legs in the air. “My parents said it was better that we didn’t get attached to the owls like we always do to the animals we save.”

  With a familiar move, Vee pulled the small notebook out of her back jeans pocket. “My mom and stepmom both said they’d heard about the Beakes”—another chortle from Sunny and a smothered one from Aneta—“and that Byron is like an important person in the bird world. He has a license to help wild raptors.” She fished around her hair band that held back the shiny hair and pulled out the tiny pen. She bega
n to doodle.

  Aneta chimed in with her story that Sunny’s Uncle Dave said he’d met Byron soon after he’d moved in. “He likes him. He says he’s different, but in a good way.”

  “Different, but in a good way,” Esther repeated under her breath. Hmm.

  “So we do not have a rescue anymore. That was much faster than the last one.” Aneta looked like she regretted it.

  “Well, I guess we go back to our other projects.” Esther knew they had to do something to help animals. It wasn’t like the Squad to sit around.

  “You girls did such a good job with your projects that other people now want to help.” Nadine swung back around and began sifting through books, checking each one off on a list in front of her.

  “What?” A general cry sprang from four outraged throats.

  Nadine ticked off each project on three fingers as she explained. The pickleball ladies and the senior center wanted to do the Basset Waddle in August. Two older citizens the girls had befriended were working with the community cats after the girls had completed their Great Cat Caper.

  “That brings us to Major the mini horse and the zoo.” Sunny stopped pedaling and let her legs flop to the floor. “Whew! My family does that as a family outreach.”

  A long silence followed Sunny’s statement. Esther felt a little sad. No rescues.

  Then Aneta spoke up. “I have an idea.” She unfolded her long legs and stood, stretching her arms over her head—first one side then the other.

  Esther waited on her stomach, waving her legs, holding her head in her fists. When Aneta didn’t continue, Esther flopped to the side and peered up at her taller friend.

  Aneta had frozen like a statue in a park, arms still high. Her mouth hung open, and then, ever so slowly as though the statue were melting, she pointed. Esther scrambled to her feet, following the finger. Vee and Sunny were standing as well.

  Their blond friend’s mouth closed then opened, trying to form words. “Melissa!” It was a single word of panic.