Short Story: The Bird Girl

Note: It seems Word documents don't seem to copy well into blogger, so some of the spacing got messed up. Just remember: the only breaks that count are when I put in three asterics (***). Otherwise it's just blogger and Word not getting along.

The most exciting thing about Daniel’s day wasn’t the moving truck backing up in front of the house next door. It wasn’t that he was finally getting new neighbors after a year without any. It was the possibility that he would have someone to hang out with that was his age.
There were a few men moving things into the house. Basic things; boxes, a couch, TV, bed frame. Nothing exciting. They just looked like a normal family. The men looked alike. Brothers? Half an hour later a car parked on the curb and a young woman got out and walked over to the men unloading the truck. Keys in hand, she walked to one of the men, reached on her toes and kissed him. Their conversation carried over to Daniel.
“She won’t get out of the car,” the woman said.
“Why not?”
“She says she hates the neighborhood and that it’s not fair that she had to move.”
“We’re only trying to protect her,” the man said. “Besides, it was her own fault. If she’d be more careful.”
“She’s sixteen; she doesn’t want to be careful. But it doesn’t matter, we’re here. Can you talk to her?”
“Sure.”
What was this about? Who were these people? Daniel had put together that this was a couple with a daughter who didn’t want to live here. The father’s brother was helping them. They moved to protect the daughter, who was in some sort of danger because she wasn’t careful enough.
Daniel’s parents had planted hedges a year ago and they had reached a decent height around their porch. He crouched down and peered between the branches. The father walked to the car and opened the passenger side door to talk to the occupant. Daniel still couldn’t see her.
“You’re going to have to come out sometime,” the father said.
She didn’t answer.
“Abie, I’m just trying to protect you. If we had stayed, you might be dead.”
Dead? Daniel swallowed. This must be some sort of witness protection thing.
“You could have picked a cooler neighborhood,” the daughter said. “This place is so cookie-cutter. Every house is the same. I bet every family is the same too. A Beaver Cleaver mom and dad, two boys and a girl, a cat, a dog, and a few fish. They probably don’t even know how to dance.”
“Maybe you could teach them.”
“Whatever.”
“Why don’t you give it a try? At least go inside and see the house. I don’t want you in the car all day. It’ll be nicer to have your company in the house.”
“You mean it will be easier to watch me in the house.”

Before the father could answer, the daughter pushed her way out of the car. The hedge blocked his view of her head, but she seemed normal enough. She wasn’t too tall and she was slender. She wore Capri jeans and a striped shirt with long sleeves. In her right hand was a music player with headsets that must have reached to her ears.
Daniel moved around, trying to get a better look at her. He moved a branch slightly and saw her. He’d never seen anyone quite like her. He’d like to say she was a red head, but that wasn’t really true because just her bangs were red. The crown of her head was silver and the back was black. It was the weirdest thing, but a little cool. His heart sank as he realized that this girl would be too cool to hang out with someone like him.
His legs were getting sore from crouching and he shifted slightly to get more comfortable. As soon as he did she saw her neck snap towards him. Her head jerked and bobbed a little like she was trying to get a look at him. He tried not to move. He didn’t want to have to explain why he was spying on his new neighbors.
He tried to let go of the branch he was holding in case she could see him. When his finger moved the girl’s head stopped and she ducked a little, her eyes meeting his. There was no way she could see him through the dark hedge, but somehow she knew he was looking at her.
They stayed there for a moment before she was startled by her mother’s voice.
“Are you coming in, Abie?”
She looked at her mother and nodded. She walked towards the house but kept looking back as she did. Once she was inside Daniel fell back, feeling like his heart was going to explode. How had she seen him? And what was with the way she moved her head? It was a little freaky.
Before anyone came back outside he got into his own house. He just hoped that he was imagining things and the girl hadn’t really seen him.
***
An alarm blared next to Daniel’s ear. He flopped his arm out, hitting his bedside table and knocking over an empty cup before finding the alarm clock. He hit the snooze button again, not sure how many times he had hit it previously. He leaned over and tried to focus on the red numbers. He saw the time, 7:25. He wasn’t really sure what that meant. He blinked several times and tried to clear the haze from his head. Almost seven thirty in the morning. What did that mean? The bus! He was supposed to catch the bus at seven thirty!
He jumped out of bed, no time to shower. He pulled on jeans and a t-shirt, grabbed his backpack, and rushed for the door. By the time he hit the porch he saw the bus flying by. He’d missed it. Wonderful.
He turned to go back in the house when he saw his neighbor’s door open. The new neighbor girl, Abie, with the wonderfully freakish hair, stepped onto the porch. Daniel backed to his own door to avoid being seen. Maybe he should offer her a ride to school. With his mom as the driver. Wouldn’t that be the coolest thing ever. But it would give him a chance to talk to her.
He was about to call out to her when he saw her look both ways quickly before jumping in the air. Before his brain could process the fact that it was weird for someone to just randomly jump, it was sidetracked by the fact that she was nowhere in sight. He blinked. A bird flew off from where Abie had been standing and Daniel had the dangerous idea that the bird had a red brow, grey body, and black tail.
No, that wasn’t it. Abie had fallen. The hedge on his porch had blocked the view. She was probably laying there in pain. He should help her.
Daniel left his porch and walked to the neighbor’s house. No one was there. Where was she? He was reminded of the old Sherlock Holmes adage his father had taught him. If you remove the impossible, whatever remains, however unlikely, must be true.
So, what was impossible? It was impossible that Abie was a bird. He had paid enough attention in science to know that people didn’t turn into birds and visa versa. He also knew that there was some law that said something about matter changing. If it did change, it had to keep its mass, or something like that. So even if this girl could turn into a bird, it would have to be an Abie-sized bird. The bird he’d seen, or thought he’d seen, he wasn’t sure anymore, wasn’t Abie. It was just a strange coincidence.
Now that he knew what was impossible, what remained? Abie had come outside, jumped, then disappeared. He looked up. A tree was overhead, but surely she hadn’t jumped into the branches. They were low enough, but not strong enough to hold someone’s weight. He filed that idea under ‘impossible’. The other possibility was that she had jumped, fallen, known she was being watched, and crawled back to the house. That was more likely. Daniel didn’t know if she’d had the time to do all that, but it was much more likely. If he’d fallen on his porch and realized a cute girl was watching him, he certainly wouldn’t stay to be seen. He’d get away as fast as possible and hope no one would notice.
“Can I help you?”
Daniel’s head whipped around. It was Abie’s father. He realized he was still standing in his neighbor’s front yard. He wondered how long he had been there. This guy must think he was an idiot.
“I…think I missed the bus.”
“Sorry to hear that. Do you need a ride?”
“No. My mom is home. She can give me a ride.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Daniel turned and walked away quickly, hoping the man wouldn’t call him back. He also hoped Abie wasn’t inside, laughing at him. He wasn’t paying attention to his feet and tripped on something. He fell onto the hard ground, his hands bracing his fall. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a large cat running into the backyard. He kept his head down. What an idiot he was. He had been caught standing in his new neighbor’s yard, now he had fallen in full view of anyone watching. Now he really wished Abie was a bird, so at least she hadn’t seen him fall.
He heard hurried steps then saw her father kneel down next to him.
“Are you all right?”
Daniel forced himself onto his knees.
“I’m fine,” he said.
“What happened?”
“I tripped over a cat. I didn’t see it.”
“A cat?” the man said, a little anxiety in his voice. “What kind of cat? What did it look like?”
Daniel looked at the man. He seemed upset. Great, he had fallen on this man’s cat too.
“I don’t know. I didn’t get a good look at it. Is it yours? I don’t think I hurt it. It ran into the backyard.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, maybe you should get going. You don’t want to be too late for school.”
The man helped Daniel up. He didn’t need to be told twice to go. He went into the house to get his mom to take him to school. As he stepped into his house, he thought he saw Abie’s father hurrying to the backyard. He really hoped he hadn’t hurt their cat.
***
Daniel noticed that Abie was in his first class. English. He liked the subject quite a bit, and his teacher was cute, so that didn’t hurt. But he did genuinely like the subject. They were studying Edgar Allen Poe at the moment. The last class they had read Fall of the House of Someone or Somesuch. He hadn’t really followed it. But then his teacher always dressed up on Fridays and he was distracted easily. He hoped today he’d be able to pay greater attention.
He almost jumped when the bell rang and the bird girl, no Abie, her name was Abie. She was not a bird. Anyway, he had a hard time staying in his seat when Abie sat next to him. He supposed it made sense; it was the only empty seat.
With her hair she seemed the type to slouch in her seat, a smirk plastered to her face, while she didn’t attention. Instead, she was sitting bolt upright, not leaning even the least bit against her chair. Her eyes were locked on the teacher. He wondered, with a little apprehension, if that was how people though he looked at their teacher. He pushed these thoughts away before he died of embarrassment.
“Can anyone tell me,” the teacher began, “the Edgar Allen Poe story where a bird says, ‘Never More’?”
Daniel sank in his seat. Don’t answer, don’t answer. Next to him, Abie raised her hand, high in the air, her fingers together and perfectly straight.
“Yes?” the teacher said.
“It was The Raven,” Abie answered.
“Very good.”
Daniel didn’t really hear the rest of what was said. This was pretty typical of this class, but for a completely different reason. His eyes kept sliding to his side to look at Abie. She was engaged in the discussion and didn’t seem to notice his attention. In his mind, he kept comparing her to the bird he saw. The red bangs could have been the bird’s brow. The silver of her crown matched the body. The black length definitely resembled the bird’s tail. The colors matched perfectly.
The bell rang and the class was on their feet. Daniel hadn’t paid attention and sat, still casting a side-long glance at Abie. She got up and shifted her eyes to him. They were the same dark color, and though he was sure it was just a fleeting look, it also seemed the quick look took in every detail about him. He shivered and looked away. In a moment she was out the door.
“Do you need something else, Daniel?”

He looked around for the voice. When he found it he knew that he must not seem itself. It was his teacher. She was standing at the head of the row of desks he was sitting at, wearing a smile that would make him melt most days.
“No, I didn’t notice the bell.”
“I see that. Do you know our new student well?”
“Um, she’s my neighbor, she just moved in.”
“Well that explains it.”
“What’s that?”
“You didn’t take your eyes off her all class,” his teacher said. “I had a hard time with her hair at first, but she seems nice enough.”
“She’s just…a little different.”
“Maybe. But aren’t we all?”
“I guess.”
“You’d better be on your way,” she said. “You’ll be late.”
“Sure.”
Daniel grabbed his things and was out the door. Had be been that obvious? Of course he had. But then he always paid that much attention to his teacher. Crap. She must have noticed that too. His heart sank to his stomach.
It jumped up to his throat when he rounded the corner and found himself face to face with Abie. She didn’t say anything at first. She stood there, blocking his way, her dark eyes locked on his. Her body didn’t follow suit, though. Her arms were bent at the elbow, and she seemed to dance from foot to foot a little, like she was deciding whether she should stay or run.
“Hi,” he started.
“What’s with you?”
“I don’t understand.”
“Why do you keep staring at me?”
“I…uh…you’re,” don’t say different, don’t say different, “a little unusual.” Yes, that was much better than different.
“Oh?”
His brain raced for something to say. But then he realized the answer was right in front of him. He didn’t need to conceal the fact that her hair was so wild. She must know it was different. He just needed to avoid the subject of birds.
“It’s just your hair, really,” he said. “I mean, it’s not bad, it’s just different.”
“It’s different, but not bad.” Her expression didn’t soften one bit.
“No, it’s good. I mean, the way the red falls across your brow, I mean bangs! Your bangs, I like that shade. And the silver flowing into the black tail, er, I mean the, um, what do you call the hair at the back?”
“The back,” she said, ice now filling her voice. “Most people just call it the back. But you like the silver?”
“Oh yeah, I love it!”
“What would you call that part of my hair? The wings?”
Crap.
“Were you watching me this morning?” she asked. “I thought that hedge of yours was a good hiding place. I had hoped it was a squirrel or something watching me.”
“I didn’t mean to, really.” Now that he was caught, Daniel somehow felt a little less nervous.
“So what was the story this morning?”
“I missed the bus. I was going to offer you a ride.”
“Why didn’t you? Trying to take a good peek at me?”
“No, I was just out the door when you, er, flew off.”
“Shush!” She clapped a hand to his mouth. For a moment he didn’t mind.
“I’m sorry about your cat,” he said when she lowered her hand.
She had been looking around to see if anyone was listening to them. They weren’t, they were all to their next class. Her eyes snapped back to him.
“I should go,” he said, turning. “I’m already late to second period.”
Abie grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
“What cat?”
“Your cat, I tripped over it going back to my house this morning. I think it was okay. Your dad went after it. I guess I should have helped.”
“We don’t have a cat, we wouldn’t have a cat.” She looked left and right down the hall. “Okay, come with me.” She grabbed his wrist and started pulling him down the hall.
“No, I’ll get in trouble. My math teacher is strict.”
“What? She’s not as cute as our English teacher?”
Daniel blushed.
“Come on,” she said, pulling him again. “You’ve seen more than you were supposed to. We need to talk. Where can we go that no one will see us?”
Daniel thought. There was the library, it was usually pretty empty. But the librarian would want a note. What was the deal with librarians?
“The press box. We could go there.”
“What’s the press box?”
“It’s where the announcers sit at the football games so they can see what’s going on.”
“Won’t it be locked?”
“The new one is, but there’s an old one they don’t use anymore. They don’t keep it locked. We can climb up; the ladder is behind the bleachers. No one will see it.” He didn’t mention that it was a favorite make out spot. Kissing this girl was last on his list of things to do right now. Well, maybe not last, but certainly not first.
“Let’s go.”
They ducked out the back door and headed across the football field. Luckily the gym class was doing laps on the other side of the school and they went unnoticed. Abie climbed up the ladder, followed closely by Daniel. Once they were inside they sat against the plywood walls, keeping their heads down.
“How much do you know?” Abie asked.
“You can turn into a bird, and your family seems to get freaked out by cats.”
“Good start. Tell me about the cat.”
“I don’t know, I didn’t see it, that’s why I tripped. After that I only saw it as it was running away.”
“This is important, Daniel. Anything you remember will help.”
“It was big,” he started. “Bigger than most house cats. But not fat. It was a darker color, but not black. Maybe some kind of grey.”
“Go on.”
“That’s it. No, its paws were different. Darker, maybe.”
“Was it a clean cat, like one someone looked after?”
“No, it wasn’t, come to think of it. It was mangy. It looked wild, like it lived in the woods.”
“I bet it was the cat man. He must have followed us.”
“Cat man? What do you mean? Like you?”
“Yeah, he’s a man. Where we used to live there was this guy my dad worked with. He came over after work one night to hang out with my parents. I didn’t know about it, I wasn’t home yet. So I had been out past curfew and wanted to sneak in. I’m sure you can imagine how that happened.”
“You flew in your bedroom window. I bet that’s pretty neat.”

“Yeah, but this guy was on the back porch smoking. He must have looked up and seen the bird. Then when he looks in my window he sees me, same hair color as the bird. Neither of us said anything, but I knew he knew. He started coming around a lot after that. When he didn’t say anything to my parents I figured we were safe. I couldn’t blame him. If I had seen something impossible happen, I’d keep it to myself.”
“He kept coming around once he saw you were a bird?”
“I’m not a bird.”
“Okay, once he saw you could change into a bird.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s creepy.”

“I know, but what could I say? My parents are pretty protective.”
“Then what happened?”
“My parents went to visit my grandmother. I didn’t want to go, so they left me at home. Dad wasn’t happy about it, but I refused to go and grandma was sick. So as soon as they’re gone, cat man breaks into the house.”
“Why do you call him the cat man?”
“Just wait, okay? I’m getting to it. He broke into my house. I was freaked. I turned into a bird without realizing it. I think a part of me knew what he was and that it was his job to play predator and my job to play prey. As soon as I changed, he turned into a cat. Came at me real fast. I was fluttering all around the house with him leaping at me. See this?”
Abie pulled the shoulder of her shirt down and Daniel could see three big scars on her shoulder and down her arm.
“That came from a cat? They’re huge?”
“They were normal size on my bird body. When I got away and changed back into this shape they were bigger. I thought I was going to die.”

“How’d you get away?”
“My parents came back home. Dad said he was worried and didn’t want to leave me alone. As soon as the door opened I flew out. Later dad said the cat man changed back. He was irate.”
“Yeah, finding a naked guy in his house. I bet he was upset.”
“Naked? Do you think I end up naked everywhere I go?”
“Well, clothes don’t just absorb into your body. Science…”
“Yeah, science. If science was right, even if I could change, I’d be a human-sized bird. But I’m not.”
“Then how does it work?”
“Magic.”
“Magic?”
“Yeah, magic,” Abie said. “That’s the only thing I’ve come up with that makes sense. But that’s not the point. I don’t lose my clothes, so don’t get excited, you won’t get to see me naked.”

“Okay, I’m sorry. So your dad found his coworker in his house?”

“Yeah, and he had seen him as the cat. He threw him out and that night we were packing. We knew I was in danger. This guy had known I could turn into a bird and his cat side told him to kill me. He’d spent all this time trying to get me alone so he could do it, too. So we knew we had to go, and here I am.”
“But he followed you.”
“Yeah. My dad will want to move again. But I don’t want to. I hate moving.”

“But he saw the cat man. You’ll have to go.”
“No,” Abie said. “We have to come up with an idea to get rid of the cat man.”

“We?”

“Yeah, you know what I am, so you have to help.”
“Fine, what do I do?”
“Help me come up with an idea.”
Daniel thought about this. “What do cats fear?”
“I don’t know, dogs?”
“Do you know a dog man?”
Abie smirked. “No. I only know the cat man. And this isn’t a cartoon where you can set the dog on the cat whenever he bothers the bird.”
“It was an idea.”
They sat in silence a while longer.
“It’s too bad we can’t have him arrested,” Daniel said.
“Wait, that’s not a bad idea.”
“Yeah it is. He hasn’t done anything wrong. Well, I mean he broke into your house, but he’d be in jail if you could prove it.”
“We could have him arrested.”

“I don’t follow.”
“I’m not talking about the police. What do you do when there’s a wild animal running around?”

“Call animal control?”
“Exactly!” Abie said. “We can catch him as a cat, call animal control, and they’ll take him away.”
“Yeah, until he turns back into a man and they let him go.”
“Hmm, you’re right. He’ll just change back.”

“Too bad there’s no way to keep him a cat. I’d love to see him stuck in that shape forever.”
“I got stuck once,” Abie said slowly.
“You did? As a bird?”
“Yeah. It was pretty freaky.”
“What happened?”
“My neighbors kept chickens. One day I was flying back and I saw them feeding. They had all this seed spread out, so I thought I’d grab a bite.”
Daniel gave her and incredulous look.
“Hey, when you’re a bird, you have the appetite of a bird. It’s really good on diets. Anyway, they had this chicken wire up, only I didn’t see it. I flew straight in and got my head stuck. I put up such a fit that my neighbor came over and cut me out.”
“But that just means you were stuck. That doesn’t mean you couldn’t change back.”

“Actually I tried. I was so afraid the chickens would peck my eyes out that I tried to change back. I thought maybe the sudden shift would break the wire.”
“But you couldn’t change?”
“No, I couldn’t. I was stuck as a bird.”
“We could trap him,” Daniel said. “We could fix him as a cat.”

“We should fix him. Do you spay or neuter a male cat?”
“That’s gross.”
“Okay. It’ll be bad enough to be stuck as a cat. How do we do it?”
“I have metal shop next period,” Daniel said. “I can make a metal collar for him.”

“Yeah, won’t animal control take it off?”
“I can make it look really nice, maybe inscribe it with some nice message and flowers and stuff. I’ll borrow a rivet gun and when we catch Mr. Cat Man, we’ll fix the collar on real good.”
“What’s a rivet?”

“You know those metal things on your jeans pockets that never come off?”
“Yeah?”
“We fix the collar on him with that and he’ll never get it off.”

“What will animal control do with a stray?”
“Well,” Daniel thought. “They’ll give it its shots. Then they’ll probably neuter it.” Abie actually giggled. “Then they’ll put it out for adoption.”

“The new family might take the collar off.”
“Maybe. But once he’s had to get all those shots, get neutered, and looked at all day as a cat, he may figure he’d better leave you alone. He may even like being a pet.”
“It’s not the best plan,” Abie said.
“But it’s a plan. Even if it works we’ll have to keep an eye out for old cat man from now on.”
“We?”
“Yeah, like you said, we’re in this together.”
Abie leaned on Daniel’s shoulder and put her arm around him. Their cheeks touched for a moment, and had the bell not rung, he thought they might have kissed. She let him go.
“Better get to metal shop,” she said.
“Yeah. I’ll see you after school?”
“Sure. I’ll have to convince my dad that the cat he saw wasn’t the cat man. If he asks, you saw a white Persian or something.”

“No problem.
***
Daniel felt like the next period went way to fast. First he had to convince his teacher to let him make the collar. The teacher was of the opinion that putting a metal collar on a cat and attaching it with a rivet was animal cruelty. Daniel explained that the collar wasn’t for a real cat, but for a statue his mother had. It was supposed to be a gift. His teacher agreed to let him do the project, and reluctantly let him take the rivet gun.
He was pretty proud of his project when it was finished, just minutes before the bell rung. It was silver in color with floral patterns going all around. In the middle he had inscribed the words, “A loving cat for a loving home”. He thought that might do the trick. His teacher was impressed with it too. He mentioned that Daniel might consider becoming a jeweler as he had seen bracelets for sale that weren’t as nice. This complement only distracted him from his concern for a moment. He knew that every passing moment brought Abie closer to danger. He knew that eventually someone would take the collar off, and the cat man might just be angry enough to come after her. If he had spent too much time as a cat, could he be taking on more feline characteristics? Might his human side be slipping away?
He had noticed the way Abie behaved. The way she jerked around and bobbed her head like a bird, the piercing glare, and above all, her hair. Why would she leave it like that? Wouldn’t it be like a beacon to anyone looking for her? He would have to ask her.
Daniel hid the new collar along with the rivet gun in his bag and got on the bus heading home. A moment later Abie got on, sitting next to him. The seats weren’t very wide and her hips rested against his. He noticed her scent, now. He hadn’t paid attention before, but she smelled just like a spring day. Clean, crisp, and refreshing. He tried to sit still. He didn’t want to embarrass himself. It was nice, though, having a friend. A friend that lived next door at that. He was used to sitting alone on the bus, staying at home all evening, reading or watching TV. He didn’t have friends to go hang out with. He had never been cool. Now, probably the coolest girl at school was sitting next to him. He tried not to smile.
But he remembered he wanted to talk to her too. It took a few moments to get his lips going. It was amazing. He had talked to her all day and now she was sitting next to him of her own will, and for some reason he was having trouble talking to her. Maybe this was why he didn’t have friends.
“Hey Abie, I wanted to ask you something?”
“Yeah?”
“About your hair. Why do you keep it like that? Isn’t it obvious to anyone looking for you?”
“Shh!”
“I’m sorry,” Daniel said. “I think it’s really cool. It’s just very noticeable too. The cat ma-“
“I said shut up!”
Abie elbowed him and gave him a warning look with her eyes. Now he felt stupid. She wasn’t his friend. She just needed him, and he had seen what she could do. It was a relationship of convenience. Daniel dropped his eyes to the floor of the bus and kept quiet. Fine, he’d help her out with the cat man and then never speak to her again. It was better that way. He just wasn’t cool enough to be friends with someone like her.
He lost track of where they were when Abie elbowed him again and stood up. He looked around in confusion. They weren’t home yet, were they? Abie bent down and grabbed his elbow, pulling him up.
“We’re home, let’s go.”
He followed her off the bus and was about to go to his own house when Abie called after him.
“Daniel. Where are you going?”
He turned to look at her and motioned to his house. “Home.”
“We need to figure out how we’re going to catch this guy,” Abie said. “Come inside with me, okay?”
“Sure.”
She led him to her front door and stopped.
“Let me make sure no one is home, okay? After this morning my dad is probably a little on edge.”
“Sure.”
Abie disappeared into the house and returned a few minutes later.
“We’re clear, come on.”
Daniel followed her in and up the stairs. Her room was on the right with a window facing his. He took a look around the room, curious about how a girl as cool as her would decorate. He saw a few posters for bands he hadn’t heard of. There was a dresser, a little chair in the corner next to a bookshelf, a television sitting opposite the bed, and a hamper with dirty clothes in it. But then he noticed the pictures. They were quite a collection. Apart from the posters, most of the wall space was covered in pictures. Some were framed, but a lot were just pinned to the wall. Some were painted and others were photographs. The painted ones seemed to come in two varieties; framed and unframed. The framed ones looked professional. He wasn’t sure if they were prints or originals. The unframed ones looked like Abie had done them. They were all in the same style and all were signed, on closer inspection, by “Abie”. The startling thing was that they were all birds.
“You like them?” she asked.
“You did some of these yourself.”
“Yeah, before we moved we had one of the bedrooms set up as a studio. My dad didn’t let me go out much, so I’d paint.”
“Only birds?”
“I’ve tried other things, but birds are my favorite. You can probably see why.”
In spite of himself, Daniel was interested. This was an amazing collection.
“You got all this set up overnight? You’ve barely moved in.”
“I know.” Abie blushed a little. “The pictures help me calm down. My parents move me around a lot. Since they found out that I could turn into a bird they’ve been protective. The last city we lived in we stayed too long. Dad thinks that’s why the cat man came after me. If we had moved earlier, it wouldn’t have happened.”
“That must be rough, having to run all the time.”
“It is. I never stay anywhere long enough to really make friends. I put the pictures up as soon as I get somewhere so I can at least have something that’s familiar. It’s almost like my shrine.”
“I wanted to ask,” Daniel began.
“The hair,” Abie said, cutting him off. “Why do I keep it like this?”
“Yeah.”

“I’m sorry I was rude to you on the bus. It’s just that I never know who I can trust. I didn’t want everyone to hear.”
“Oh. So, why do you keep it like that?”
“I don’t have any choice. I’ve tried to dye it. The color never sticks. I’ve cut it short so it won’t be as noticeable, but it grows back overnight. It’s just the way I am, I guess, the way I was meant to be.”
“What happens now?”
“We put the collar on the cat man, call animal control, and let what else happens, happen.”
“But how do we find him? He ran away.”

“He’ll be back,” Abie said. “If he found me this fast, he’ll come back. What we need to do is bait him. Get him to come to us when we want him to.”
“If he sees me again, he’ll just run away.”
“I know, so you’ll have to hide.”
“And you’ll just sit in plain sight?”
“Yep.”
“I guess that’s okay,” Daniel said. “If attacks you when you’re in your human shape, he won’t be able to hurt you.”
“That won’t work. He doesn’t want the girl, he wants the bird. I have to be a bird.”
“No, I don’t like that. You won’t be safe. I saw what he did to your shoulder. He could kill you.”
“If I do nothing, he’ll kill me eventually,” Abie said. “You’ll just have to rescue me in time.”
Daniel sighed. He didn’t like this, but he didn’t have much choice in the matter.
***
Daniel and Abie spent the next hour or so planning what they would do. Eventually they came up with a plan they thought just might work. First, they had to get rid of Abie’s parents, and if they could, Daniel’s as well. If the cat man came by when her parents were home, they’d just chase him off.
It was Abie that remembered that their school was having a parent-teacher open house the next night. It was a chance for parents to be able to meet their children’s teachers, without the children being present. It would get both sets of parents out of the house for a few hours. But they had to convince Abie’s parents to go.
Daniel stayed until her parents got home so they could convince them to go.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Abie’s father said. “We just moved in.”
“But Daniel and I could hang out,” Abie said. “We’d be okay together.”
“I don’t know. I don’t mean to be rude, but I just met your friend this morning.”
“But I know him. He’s safe. He even found that poor old woman’s cat this afternoon.”
“Cat? What cat?”

“The one I tripped over,” Daniel supplied. “I didn’t realize it at the time, but it belongs to a woman down the street. It was still around when I got home from school, so I took it to her.”
“What kind of cat was it?”
“A Persian,” Daniel said. “A white one.”
“Oh,” Abie’s father said. “Well, I suppose the two of you can hang out this evening. Just stay in doors, okay? I don’t want you going out alone.”

“Sure,” Abie said. “We’ll have a good time.”
***
As soon as Abie’s parents were on their way to the school they put their plan into action. Abie turned into her bird shape and sat on the windowsill. Daniel went back to his house and hid behind the bushes around his porch. It was, after all, a great hiding place. As soon as he was in place, Abie flew from the window and did some circles around the yard. She made sure not to go too far.
After a few minutes she started to sing. It was odd for Daniel to hear her. It wasn’t really the sound of any bird he had heard before, but then Abie wasn’t like any girl he knew either. She continued her song a moment longer, then landed. It was the signal.
Daniel peered through the branches of the bush, pulling one aside to get a better view. The sun was low in the sky, but there was enough light to see by. He saw the cat at the edge of the lawn. It was crouched down, watching Abie.
Abie was doing her part right. She was poking around the yard with her beak, not paying any attention to the cat. It started to creep forward, inch by inch, in grass that hadn’t been mowed in a few weeks. Daniel started to move. He crept around the bushes and went around the other side of his house, the part not facing Abie. Once out of view, he ran as fast as he could to get to the other side. The cat was halfway across the yard and Abie seemed oblivious to the fact that a great cat was bearing down on her. All part of the plan, of course.
Daniel was behind the cat, now. He started to move in behind it, moving as quietly as he could. Abie chirped twice to indicate that she saw the cat. She kept poking about in the dirt, not making any move to escape. The cat was only a few feet away from her. It stopped moving and crouched lower. It was getting ready to pounce. What happened next, no one could have anticipated. Abie’s job was to play the bait, but she had done it too well.
From the other side of Abie, a black cat jumped at her and struck. It latched its teeth onto her back. Daniel felt a thrill of terror wash over him.
“No!”
He jumped from where he was and came at the black cat. It scattered immediately, but the cat man was off too. In its panic it actually ran towards Daniel. He had only a moment to decide. Grab the cat or help Abie. He went for the cat. He knew he might not have another chance. He just hoped Abie was okay.
He grabbed the cat man across the neck, knowing that if he held on the cat wouldn’t be able to switch back to a man. The cat twisted and clawed and bit but Daniel held on. His hand and arms bled slightly from the cuts inflicted by the cat, but he knew he could handle it. He was better off than Abie.
For a moment the cat slipped free. Instead of trying to escape, though, it launched itself at Abie. That wasn’t rational. The cat man must have spent too much time as a cat and was starting to think like one, instead of thinking like a human.
Daniel grabbed the cat again, but couldn’t get a good grip on it this time. He knew that if the cat switched back to his human shape, he’d get away. Daniel couldn’t stop a full grown adult and the police would never believe their story.
With the cat laying the way it was, Daniel couldn’t grab him and every second that ticked by, the cat could change. Finally he just reached back and punched the cat in the face. He couldn’t believe he’d done it. It was a cat after all. How could you punch a cat? The cat seemed to be thinking the same thing because it stopped struggling and stared stupidly into space. Daniel took advantage, grabbed the cat by the neck again, and positioned his legs on either side to keep it from running away. He pulled the metal collar from his pocket and put it around the cat’s neck. It struggled, but not enough to get away. From his other pocket he pulled the rivet gun and fastened the collar on. That was it, the cat was stuck.
Daniel fell to his side, taking deep breaths to steady himself. He realized, then, what he had forgot. Abie. He searched through the grass for her, hoping he hadn’t crushed her in the struggle to get the collar on the cat man. While searching, the now stuck cat man ran off.
Daniel found Abie sitting a few feet away, blood trickling down her back. He reached out to her and touched her feathers where the black cat had struck. As soon he touched her, she changed back to human form. She arched her back and screamed out in pain.
“Help me, Daniel,” she said. “Get me inside.”

“We need to call an ambulance.”

“No! Just get me inside.”
***
Getting Abie inside was harder than Daniel thought it would be. He had to half carry, half drag her in the door and up her steps, being careful not to touch her back where she had been injured. He thought about asking her to change back into a bird to make it easier on him, but decided it was best not to. It was quite possible that the change took a lot of energy and would weaken her further.
Once inside Abie’s room he helped her to the bed and she collapsed on her stomach. For the first time Daniel got a good look at her injury. There were four gaping holes in her back. Two in the middle, two at the bottom. Daniel was breathless.
“How…,” he began. “It looks like you were bit by a tiger.”
“I was!” Abie moaned. “To a bird, a cat is just as big.”
“What do I do? We should get your parents.”
“No! We took care of the cat man. If we tell them now, I’ll just have to move again.”
“But you’re really hurt. Besides, you just moved here. It’s not like you’d be losing anything.”
Abie turned her head to face him, gasping with the effort.
“I’d lose you, Daniel. You’ve been a good friend.”
Daniel’s mouth opened and shut. He didn’t realize how close they’d come in just a few days. Okay, she was his friend. How weird was that?
“What do I need to do?” he asked, his voice much calmer this time.
“There’s some alcohol in the bathroom. Get that and some clean towels. There’s also some gauze and medical tape. Bring that too.”
“Alcohol? That’s going to hurt like…”

“I know. But you have to clean the wound. An infection can kill me just as easy as a cat.”
“Okay.”
Daniel rushed into the bathroom and started opening cabinets. He knocked things over trying to find what he needed, but barely noticed. His male instincts had kicked in. Guys weren’t the best when it came to emotions, but they were problem solvers. In a moment he was back in the room. Abie had taken her shirt off and was lying facedown on the bed. Daniel tried not to notice the color of her bra.
“Now what?”
“Pour some of the alcohol on a towel and wash the wounds out. The alcohol will make them bleed a little more, but that’s okay.”
“Got it.”

“Oh and Daniel?” Abie turned her head to look at him again.
“Yeah?”
“Don’t stop cleaning no matter what I say. This is really going to hurt.” He heard a tremble in her voice. “It’s best to get it over with in a hurry. Like pulling off a band aid.”
“Right.”
Daniel readied the towel and pushed it onto the top puncture wound. Abie’s back stiffened and she dug her hands into her sheets. He kept going. He poured more alcohol onto a clean part of the towel and moved to the second wound. He could see that the first one was bleeding again. Obeying Abie’s command, he didn’t stop. By the time he got to the third wound she was writhing on the bed and pulling away from his touch. He didn’t let that stop him. He shoved the alcohol soaked towel onto the wound and massaged it. Abie screamed.
“Stop! Just give me a moment.”
“It’s just one more,” Daniel said, readying the last clean corner of the towel. “It’ll be over in a minute.”
“No more. It hurts too much.”
Daniel ignored her and cleaned the last wound.
“That’s it,” he said. “It’s over.”
Abie, breathing hard, shoved her head into a pillow. In a few moments she calmed down.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Sure.”
Blood from the now clean wounds was trickling down her sides and onto her sheets. Daniel took a second towel and started to mop up the blood so he could put on the gauze.
“I’ve never used this stuff,” Daniel said. “Is there any special way I should put it on?”
“Just fold it so it covers the wound, then tape it on.”
“These holes are kind of big. Maybe you need stitches.”
“No chance. Just tape it on. It’ll heal.”
“Okay.”
After several more minutes Daniel finished patching up Abie’s wounds. It didn’t look pretty, but it was done. Abie stood up and Daniel quickly turned around. He heard her rummaging around in a drawer for a moment.
“You can turn around now, Prince Charming.”
Abie had put on a new shirt and sat back on the bed.
“I just didn’t want to look.”
“Yeah you did,” Abie said, smiling. “Every guy your age wants to look at a girl with her shirt off. Thanks for not doing it though.”
“No problem.”
Abie gave him a considering look.
“What?” he asked.
“You’re pretty strange, you know. Not many people would put themselves on the line for someone else. Why did you?”
“It was the right thing to do.”
“That’s not an answer,” she said. “People don’t just do things because ‘it’s the right thing to do.’ If they did, the world would be much better.”
“Okay, I did it because I like you.”
“You just met me. You couldn’t like me. Besides, I’m not a great person. People like you and people like me don’t get along.”
“We could,” Daniel said. “If we don’t prejudge each other. I think that’s why people like us don’t get along. We look at the other and think, ‘we couldn’t possibly get along, so why bother?’”
“You might be right. Anyway, let’s get these bloody towels and sheets in the wash before my parents come home.”

Daniel picked up the towels while Abie grabbed the sheets from her bed. They took them to the basement and threw them in the washer, adding much more detergent than called for.
“There’s one thing I haven’t sorted out yet,” Abie said.
“Oh?”
“I can’t believe you punched that cat!”

“I know! I felt so bad. I mean, I know it was really a man trying to kill you, but how do you punch a cat? I’m going to feel bad about that for a while.”
Abie put her arm around his shoulders.
“It’s okay,” she said. “Maybe you’re more of a dog person.”
“No,” he said with a smile. “I think I’m more of a bird person.”