Flip the Bird

by Kym Brunner

  “Too bad.” Dad let out a heavy sigh. “At least you had the sense not to clean up in there, so when the police get here, they can take pictures to use as evidence.”

  The word “evidence” hit my already crumpled insides like a bowling ball.

  Dad looked at his watch. “I want to do another quick check on the birds. I saw you did a nice job of wrapping Liberty’s wound. Excellent falconer instinct on your part to sock her. I think that may have saved her life. Now both of you go inside and get cleaned up, and then, Mercer, I want you to meet me in the rehab center in ten minutes. The police will be here soon.”

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  I TOOK A QUICK, SCALDING-HOT SHOWER TO WIPE OFF the day’s grime, debating what to say when the police questioned me about what I knew. I certainly didn’t want to get myself in even more trouble by lying to them. This whole thing sucked. All this deception had given me a bad headache to rival the sick feeling in my gut. After wrapping a towel around my waist, I stepped out of the shower stall into the steamy bathroom. I grabbed a few tissues and wiped a circle on the bathroom mirror, hoping to have a nick-free but fast shave.

  The bathroom door suddenly creaked open. “Hey, someone’s in here!” I called out, glancing over my shoulder.

  “I know,” Lincoln said, bursting in. Before I knew what was happening, I got a close-up of his fist as it skidded across my right eye, sending me backwards against the sink. Intense pain clouded my vision as I leaned back on the counter, clutching my eye. He punched me two more times, once in my shoulder and the second time, my thigh.

  “Stop it, you maggot!” I shouted, sitting on the counter and kicking at him. I know kicking isn’t the manliest thing to do, but my legs were a lot longer than my arms. “You told on me first!”

  “Payback sucks, doesn’t it?” He stormed out of the bathroom with a duffel bag slung over his shoulder.

  I ran after him. He was halfway down the stairs when I yelled, “You’re right, payback does suck. Better hope nothing happens to your tires!” I clutched my throbbing eye, which now made my headache seem like nothing.

  He stopped. “If something happens to my tires, you’re dead.” He pointed at me for a second to let the message sink in before descending the final few stairs.

  Lincoln was always getting mad about something, but this was the first time he had ever packed a bag. He’d probably hang out at his buddy Jeff’s house and come crawling back tomorrow, expecting everyone to bow down to him. But not me, never again. Not after this. He could rot out there and I wouldn’t care.

  My eye thudded painfully, so I threw on some jeans, along with a red NEVER TRUST AN ATOM—​THEY MAKE UP EVERYTHING T-shirt, and hurried downstairs. I tossed a handful of ice cubes into a Baggie and headed to the rehab center.

  When I walked in and saw Dad looking around as if he was lost, my heart dropped. He scratched his head and scanned the room. Without looking up, he said, “Don’t touch anything. The police said to leave everything exactly where it was.”

  “Dad, Lincoln left.”

  “He’ll be back. He just needs time to cool off.” He finally glanced at me, and then did a double take. “What’s wrong with your eye?”

  “Lincoln’s way of saying goodbye.” I removed the Baggie so he could see underneath.

  “What? He hit you?” Dad’s mouth dropped open as he hurried to me, tilting my injured eye toward the light.

  “Yeah. So when the police get here, can I report a hit and run?”

  Dad must not have caught my joke. “Geez! When’s he going to grow up? I’m sick of his tirades, solving all his problems with his fists. Why can’t he be more easygoing like you?”

  Despite the pain in my eye, I laughed. I couldn’t help myself. “You want Lincoln to be more like me? Good one, Dad.”

  He visibly bristled. “Why would you say that?”

  “Nothing. Never mind.”

  “No, tell me. Why did you say that?”

  Awkwardness simmered in my throat. “C’mon, Dad. We both know you admire Lincoln. Ever since I was little, you’ve wanted me to be more like him—​confident, cocky, strong as a truck.” I tightened my muscles and put my arms in front of me like a bodybuilder.

  Dad squinted as though he had no idea what I was talking about. “That’s nonsense! I want you to be you.”

  I gave him a wry smile. “No offense, but you brag about him constantly—​what a wonderful apprentice he was, what good techniques he uses in hunting, how great his instinct is. I know that deep down you’re even proud about how many girlfriends he’s had.”

  “That’s not true!” Dad said indignantly. “Not about the girls, anyway. I’m very disappointed about the choices Lincoln has made, but that’s between him and me. But you’re not making good choices either, not about what’s important in life.” Dad picked a glove off the floor and then dropped it back down, realizing his mistake. “Today was a perfect example. You chose to continue to associate with Lucy, and this is the result.” He swept his hand across the room, stopping at his smashed laptop on the floor. “I can’t believe how cruel some people are.”

  I swallowed hard, wishing I could have the last forty-eight hours back as a do-over. “I’m sorry—​for everything. Lucy didn’t do this, Dad. I’m sure of it. But yeah, with all the pamphlets, HALT was obviously behind this.” I clenched my fists, pissed that my dad, who had spent so much money to turn this place into a hawk rehabilitation masterpiece, saw it destroyed in one fell swoop.

  “The damage they did to the equipment is tremendous, but what has me the most concerned is how the stress of the attack may affect the health of our birds.” Dad grimaced as he surveyed the area. It didn’t escape my notice that he said “our” birds, giving me a glimmer of hope that there might be a slim chance he could change his mind about my apprenticeship.

  He continued, “Not to mention what the DNR will do when I report this incident. They could put major restrictions on my rehabilitation efforts.” He shook his head, frowning. “Or, God forbid, blacklist me.”

  My chest hurt as a huge ball of guilt settled there. “They won’t blacklist you, Dad—​it wasn’t your fault. I’ll testify to that too—​even if they never let me be a falconer for the rest of my life. You’re the best rehabber in the Midwest, maybe even the whole country, and everyone knows it. They’d be stupid to lose you.”

  He smiled. “Thanks, Mercer. That was nice. But the fault lies with me, no one else. If you kids weren’t ready to take on the responsibility of the birds, I shouldn’t have left them in your care. If we could figure out who did this and prosecute them, it might make my case stronger.”

  A shriek, as jarring as Troy’s when he was in stoop mode, ripped through my skull. Dad’s belief in me made me feel ashamed. Listening to him helped me conclude that my allegiance had to be to my family, not to Lucy, amazing though she was. I couldn’t let this incident jeopardize Dad’s career, his lifelong dream. His happiness.

  “Dad?” I took a deep breath. “What if I told you I’m pretty sure I know who did this?”

  His eyes met mine. “Were you involved?”

  “Me? No! God, no. Lucy told me a few things, but I was afraid to tell you earlier.”

  Instead of launching into a tirade about keeping this from him, he simply sighed. “I understand. I was pretty cranky earlier. Can you start at the beginning?”

  “Sure.”

  He pulled up another stool from across the room, and we both sat at the worktable. For the next twenty minutes, I told him the whole story, from what I knew from hanging out at lunch with Lucy and the Veggie Girls to what had happened at the movies, even letting it slip how Reed had gotten mad because he was jealous that I’d kissed Lucy.

  Dad smiled a little, nodding, so I went on to tell him how that caused Reed to blab the truth about me being a hunter. He listened the whole time without interrupting. He shook his head when I got to the part about Lucy overhearing her parents talk about his falconry business, and how her dad brought his t
oolbox into the garage before he and his wife uncharacteristically decided to attend the late show. “Lucy figures that’s when they broke in,” I added as a final note.

  He blew out a heavy sigh. “Whoa. That’s quite a story. It appears that I misjudged your friend Lucy. She knew her parents were wrong, yet she showed courage in defying them.”

  “How about me, Dad?” I asked quietly, concentrating on a small nick on the wooden table. “Can I have the same consideration?”

  He looked confused. “About what?”

  “Having the courage to defy you when you were wrong.” I swallowed hard, waiting for him to erupt in a fit of anger.

  “When was I wrong? About what?” He eyed me skeptically, but his voice didn’t rise.

  “You were wrong when you decided that all HALT people were lunatics,” I said. “Some people in that group protest things that are legitimately wrong. And you assumed that there couldn’t possibly be any way I would be with a girl with views so different from mine. But if it hadn’t been for me and Lucy getting together, you’d never have found out who broke into your place.”

  He considered this, rubbing his jaw. “On the other hand, they might never have broken in here in the first place if you hadn’t started dating her.”

  “Maybe. Maybe not.” I pulled open the drawer next to me and grabbed the awl, using it to clean under my fingernails. “It’s not like your falconry business was some big secret. You’ve practically got a billboard out in front.”

  He nodded. “Well, you’ve got a point there.”

  I knew it was time to go in for the kill, so to speak. “So do you think you can reconsider my apprenticeship? I really want it, Dad. It means a lot to me. More than anything, actually.”

  He gave me a sideways glance, smoothing his mustache. “You know, I like the way you handled yourself just now. I told you when we started this whole thing that a man is a man when he does what is right, not when he does what he wants.”

  I vaguely remembered making fun of that line. But now I saw it was true.

  He took a deep breath, looking me in the eye. “And I think the right thing for me to do in this situation is to continue sponsoring you.”

  “Yes!” I pounded the tip of the awl into the table with a thud, making it stand on its own.

  He quickly added, “But I hope you realize that it’s also right to report Lucy’s parents.”

  “Yeah, I know,” I agreed, a heaviness settling in my chest. “They broke a lot of expensive equipment that they’ll have to reimburse you for.”

  He tilted his head slightly. “That’s true, but that’s not the main reason I’m reporting them. If I don’t press charges, then HALT members will continue to interfere in people’s lives and do destructive things in the name of animal rights without consequences. Everyone has a right to his or her own opinion, but you can’t break the law, no matter how noble the cause.”

  “What about the good things they do?” I asked.

  He pulled the awl out of the table and put it back in the drawer. “I do support groups in their fight against cruelty to animals. I’ve even heard of an organization that raises money to get expensive surgeries for special needs dogs and cats. But destroying personal property in a quest to win an argument? There are better ways of showing you disagree, don’t you think?”

  I listened, nodding in agreement at the last part. The mostly melted ice in the bag I held swished around noisily with each jerk of my head. I was now as numb on the inside as my eye. It totally sucked that defending our right to be falconers was going to ruin things with the first girl who ever fell for me as much as I did for her.

  Maddie ran in, out of breath. “The police are here!”

  Standing on the sidelines, I watched five police officers swarm the place. Not much happened in the way of crime in Woodley, so this must have been big news. They gathered evidence for over an hour, taking a ton of pictures and dusting for fingerprints. I overheard one detective tell a policeman that they had enough evidence to bring Lucy’s parents in for questioning, along with something about going to a judge to obtain a warrant to search their home.

  My chest constricted and my knees felt weak. I leaned against the counter, looking out the window toward the field beyond the mews, picturing Lucy’s parents being handcuffed and dragged to the police station. Would Lucy cry and call me names for ratting them out? Would she beg to go to the police station along with them, or be forced to stay home? Picturing that whole scene tore me up inside.

  I stumbled up to my bedroom, dizzy and sick. I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling. As sad as it would be to watch her parents get arrested, remembering that Monocle was now gone made me even sadder. No more herking at me when I went to the mews, no more scratching behind her ears while she closed her eye in pleasure, no more personal time with my favorite bird of all time, period. I pounded my fist on the bed. Screw them. I was glad they were being arrested.

  But even if they were wrong and deserved to pay a penalty, how would Lucy react to seeing me at school? And Reed? I was mad at him for opening his big mouth and outing Flip and me, but he had tried to talk Haley out of coming here. And finally, to add more confusion to the bubbling pot of disaster, Lincoln never came home Sunday night. When I finally shut off my lamp around two a.m., I remembered Dad saying I’d done the job of a man.

  Sadly, that news didn’t make me feel any more ready to face the next day.

  TWENTY-NINE

  WHEN CHARLIE SAW ME IN SCHOOL ON MONDAY, he whistled, coming up close to examine my bruised eye. “Does this hurt?” he asked as he pressed his finger into the swollen socket, grinning stupidly. I slapped his hand away. “Seriously, Mercer,” Charlie said in his rare earnest tone. “What happened? Did Reed sock you one during the movie theater showdown when I wasn’t looking?”

  “No, worse. You don’t know the half of it.” As we walked down the hall toward our first class, I filled him in on the horrible and crazy chain of events that had occurred since Friday night—​the break-in, Lucy’s parents’ arrest, Lincoln missing in action.

  Charlie’s mouth dropped open. “No way! That’s crazy. Sorry, man.” When the bell rang, he leaned in close to my ear and said, “But guess what? I’ve got some crazy news of my own.” He smiled, elbowing me. “Jeanette and I went bowling yesterday and I didn’t strike out, if you get my meaning.” He gave me an exaggerated wink and I laughed.

  “That’s awesome, Charlie. Glad you bowled her over with your charm.”

  Between classes, I raced through the halls, hoping to avoid almost everyone—​even Lucy. I knew that meeting her wouldn’t be pretty.

  At lunch, I bought a ham sandwich and chips but then stood five feet from the cashier, in a quandary over where to sit. Obviously I wasn’t welcome at the Veggie Girls’ table, and there was no way I wanted to sit with Reed. When I saw him chowing down at our old table, I walked briskly past him, heading toward the courtyard.

  I was nearly at the door when Reed grabbed my arm. “Look, Mercer. I was pissed off at you on Friday and I did some dumb things. But it was only because Lucy is my friend too, and it bothered me that you kept telling her one lie after another—​nothing more than that. I’d never go after a girl you liked.” He shrugged. “Can’t we just forget about it?”

  “I don’t know. Not right now.” I shook off his grip and kept walking. He’d never steal a girl I liked, but spilling beans that weren’t ready to be spilled was fine, apparently.

  After what he’d done to me, I sensed something had changed between us. Something permanent. Oh, we might ride our ATVs together or hang out at the same party, but our friendship could never go back to the way it was before. It was like trying to glue back the pieces of an expensive vase that had shattered. It might work on the surface, but the vase, like our friendship, would never be as good as the original. You’d always wonder if it was going to leak or somehow fall apart, and because of that, you really couldn’t fully trust it anymore.

  Using my back to p
ush open the courtyard door, I stepped out to a brisk fifty-two-degree day, opting to sit on the same bench Lucy and I had shared the week before. This time, however, the experience was completely the opposite. Instead of friendly conversation and excitement over being with Lucy, I was freezing my butt off and feeling sorry for myself. Since I wasn’t particularly hungry, I tossed bits of my crusts to a handful of sparrows. I was so lost in thought that I didn’t see Lucy until she was right beside me.

  “Mercer? Can we talk?” Her voice was soft, sweet, and the fragrance of lilacs wafted in my direction.

  “Sure.” I breathed in deeply, as if hoping to somehow commit her scent to memory. I quickly wiped a bit of drool from the side of my mouth, realizing I must have been daydreaming.

  She perched on the edge of the bench. “What’s going on? Are you avoiding me?”

  I swallowed hard, allowing myself only a cursory glance in her direction. “Maybe. But only because I figured you didn’t want to see me after last night.”

  Lucy twirled her ring around her finger, as if pausing to collect her thoughts. “It was pretty horrible. When the police came, my mom cried hysterically and my dad shouted that he was merely exercising his right to protect wildlife.” Her voice cracked a bit, so she looked away a moment before continuing. “Then the police reminded him of his right to remain silent, saying that everything he said could be used in a court of law. He basically stopped talking after that.” She let out a sigh.

  Picturing the scene, I nodded in sympathy. I would have loved nothing more than to sit closer and put my arm around her. But the only comfort I could offer was an explanation. “It must have been awful. And I felt really bad ratting out your parents, but I didn’t feel I had a choice. At first I told my dad you didn’t know anything about it, but when he told me the DNR might be less likely to blacklist him if there was a conviction, I couldn’t stay quiet. Just couldn’t do it. I’m sorry, Lucy.” I reached for her then, placing my hand on the bench as if extending an olive branch.