Abby pointed to Bobby's photographs showing the vultures they’d seen at Mount Ortiz, so graceful and elegant in the sky.
“But sometimes things go wrong. Updrafts are not necessarily consistent. Sometimes there are downdrafts or other irregularities, which can be disastrous. Bobby was fortunate enough to catch a photo when that happened to one of the vultures we were watching.” Here she pointed to his photo of the tumbling vulture. “The bird, of course, simply flapped its wings and recovered quickly.”
She paused a moment to be sure she had everyone's attention. “But when an updraft changes and a hang glider starts to plummet, it doesn't have wings to flap and save itself. The only control the pilot has in a hang glider is the bar he's holding onto. If the pilot pulls back on the bar, tipping the nose down, the glider speeds up and he may escape the downward pull. But, if the pilot is inexperienced or panics and pushes forward, which is rather an instinctive move to make, like putting on a brake, the nose of the glider tips upward. The glider then slows down and may even stall. In a stall, air stops flowing over the wing and the hang glider sinks. And crashes to the ground.”
The audience was silent, as if they were indeed thinking of what had happened on Mount Ortiz. Al Minsky put it into words.
“That's what happened to that Nelson Van Horn when he crashed here on Sparrow Island, not some curse?”
“Yes, I think that's what happened. It would have happened whether or not he’d ever had any connection with the Blue Moon necklace because it was caused by the shifting updraft and possibly an error in judgment. It could have happened to anyone who made the mistake of trying to hang glide from the mountain that day. The necklace is beautiful and valuable, but it has no power to hurt or destroy lives. Or harm anyone here on our island.”
There were small murmurings in the crowd, some of which sounded approving, some still questioning.
This time it was young Aaron who uneasily brought up the subject of other local people who had been affected by the curse. “But what about the man who had the necklace in his house and then had a heart attack? What about the two guys in jail now? Their luck was really bad. And even you, Abby, you got a broken arm! And Donna Morgan hurt her neck. That's a lot of coincidences.”
It was quite a speech for rather shy, sometimes tongue-tied Aaron, and Abby actually admired him for having the courage to speak up about something that apparently bothered him.
“I don't believe I’d call them coincidences. All these happenings had specific causes. Norbert Washington certainly did die of a heart attack. But his wife told me he’d had heart trouble long before the necklace came to be hidden in the desk in their house. The diamond didn't cause his health problems. James Gamino and Gregory Wakefield never had any close connection with the necklace and have only their own greed to blame for their troubles.”
“I can tell you what caused my injured neck and it wasn't that necklace's being in my store a good year ago,” Donna broke in. “It's taken me a while to see it, but it was my own procrastination about getting that back room in my store cleaned up.” She glanced around and added wryly, “As a couple of people have pointed out to me.”
“And me?” Abby lifted her cast-covered arm and considered it. Not caused by any curse, but how to explain it?
Hugo moved up to her side and put his arm around her shoulders. “Abby's broken arm also had nothing to do with a superstitious curse. That cast is her badge of honor for courage and quick thinking, and doing what had to be done to prevent a bigger tragedy.”
Aaron grinned. “I guess it's better to be a slugger than superstitious.”
Abby decided it was a good time to ignore the slugger reference. “God is always in control, Aaron. Never forget that.” Abby gave that a moment to sink in, then said briskly, “Now a young man from right here on the island has a special demonstration for us. If you’ll all just follow me outside—?”
Abby led the way to where Bobby and his father were waiting outside on the steps. Bobby had the ornithopter in his hands, the one he’d sent for that was much larger than the one in the exhibit. When the crowd was assembled he gave it a toss that sent it skyward.
All eyes followed the machine as it sailed over the parking lot, wings flapping wildly. It rose, it swooped, it wobbled, it turned. Abby glanced at Bobby uncertainly. Was it supposed to do that?
Bobby stood there with open mouth watching his creation. And then suddenly it made a giant U-turn, rose, dipped, zoomed back toward the crowd and crashed. Crashed like a bug smashing into a windshield, right on the museum steps only a few feet from him.
Abby looked at Bobby again. He must be so disappointed, devastated in fact. And he did, in fact, for a moment look quite devastated. But she had underestimated Bobby.
“I guess maybe that's why ornithopters never became a real good way to fly,” Bobby said as he eyed the broken pieces of the crashed machine. He didn't sound devastated, merely young-scientist thoughtful.
As laughter rippled through the crowd, Abby realized something else was happening. A commotion arose in the crowd. Then she saw what it was. Eclipse, the black cat that had been hanging around, had apparently been frightened by the crash. He zigzagged through the crowd, ducked under the ladder Rick had left nearby, streaked directly across Aaron's somewhat oversized feet and then disappeared around the corner of the museum.
Aaron just stood there looking down at his feet as if trying to assess what had happened here.
“Hey, Aaron, you’re in trouble now!” someone yelled. “Not only did a black cat cross your path, it ran under a ladder first! Double bad luck.”
Aaron wiggled his feet, then broke into a grin. “Nah, those are both just more dumb superstitions. I’ll show you!”
He held out his arm to Ida. She looked puzzled for a moment, then smiled and joined him, and together they ducked under the ladder and marched through together.
Hugo looked at Abby questioningly. He crooked his arm. Abby hesitated. It was a bit undignified. But why not? She tucked her hand around his arm and together they, too, slipped under the ladder.
On the far side, she and Hugo stepped back to watch a laughing parade pass under the ladder. Hugo gave her hand a squeeze and they both laughed.
Yes indeed, Abby thought, God was in control here. Just as He always was.
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The Blue Moon Page 24
