Lilly bolted out the window and jumped on her bike. She pedaled so fast she nearly flew there. Tobias, of course, did fly.
Chapter 12
At the park entrance, Tobias landed on the handlebars of Lilly’s bike. “The stream?” he squawked gently. Lilly nodded and pushed her bike along the trail until they reached a rock wall that ran parallel to a nearly empty streambed. Tobias sighed, “A stream sucked dry becomes a creek, a brook, a rivulet and now this…”
Filled to the brim with her own thoughts, Lilly paid no attention to her parched surroundings. “How did my father really die?” asked Lilly quietly, after leaning her bike on the wall and finding herself a stony seat.
“A tiger did kill him, Lilly, but it was in a forest in the Himalayan Mountains. Hunting wasn’t allowed there but people poached. That means hunted illegally. While your father was staying in the forest, a poacher tried to kill a tiger but injured it instead. The injured tiger wasn’t able to run after its usual prey.”
“Prey?” asked Lilly. “Is that the animals he usually eats?”
Tobias sighed yes. “So the tiger killed a slower animal, your father. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, my dear, but I want you to understand the truth.” He flew to her shoulder and brushed a feathery wing across her cheek.
Lilly sat kicking the wall with the heel of her foot. “What was he doing there?”
“Your father was a scientist. He worked very hard to save tigers from becoming extinct, disappearing from our world. That’s how I met him all those years ago.”
“In the Himalayas?” asked Lilly.
“Yayaya!” laughed Tobias. “Not the Himalayas! Too cold.” Tobias quieted. He stared at the horizon, but his thoughts went further. “We met on an island in the Indonesian Archipelago. Your father was a science professor up here in North America. He came to my island to study claw markings.”
“Claw markings?” asked Lilly.
“Scratches,” said Tobias. He hopped down from Lilly’s shoulder to the stone wall. “Tigers mark their territory by standing on their hind legs and scratching trees.”
Tobias twirled on one leg and paced toward Lilly. “Tigers don’t like to be seen. They hide in the dense forests where they live. That’s the reason tiger scratches are so important. Sometimes they are the only sign a tiger exists.”
Tobias stopped pacing and looked up. “When your father came to the island of Bali, the Bali tiger was believed to have been extinct for over thirty years.”
Hearing Tobias speak about her father was like nothing Lilly had experienced before. “How did you meet him?” asked Lilly, hungry for more.
“Snooping!” laughed Tobias. “Eavesdropping is a favorite pastime of birds. I overheard a group of men tell your father that they’d seen a Bali tiger. I knew the story was poppycock! Balderdash! Piffle!”
“They promised to help him find this tiger. Of course they wanted money from your father. Your father was young, and he was so naïve he was nearly as green as I am!” Tobias chuckled at the memory. “When I found your father alone, I told him I’d seen the men scratch the trees to fool him, and I knew for a fact there were absolutely no Bali tigers remaining.”
“You talked to him, Tobias? How?”
“Same way I talk to you, dear -- Bowku seeds. There were many Bowku trees in the jungle then. A few of us knew their power. Although I was able to speak to humans, I spoke to very few.”
Lilly wanted to know more about the seeds but first she wanted to hear about her father. “What did my father say when you started talking, Tobias?”
Tobias laughed. “Nothing! He reacted as you did, Lilly. His mouth dropped open. Timma… You remind me of your father, Lilly! After he recovered from the shock, your father asked how I knew there were no Bali tigers.”
Tobias grew solemn. “My own eyes I told him. On September 27th, 1937, I witnessed the execution of a beautiful Bali tigress and the extinction of the entire Bali tiger species.” Tobias turned away to compose himself.
“Worse than witnessing the extinction was hearing it, Lilly. I will remember forever her thunderous last roar ringing over the forest. With her last breath went her spirit. After she fell and breathed no more, her roar echoed on and on until all was still, and the Bali tiger disappeared from our world.”
When he faced her again, Tobias spoke quietly as if to himself. “You might think a parrot would be used to extinction. After all it happens every day.”
Lilly reached out and touched Tobias on the tip of his clawed foot. “I’m so sorry, Tobias. How can you stand knowing you’re the last of your kind?”
“I simply try not to think about it. When your father invited me to accompany him home, I said, ‘yes.’ Leaving my island was a sad day. But I knew if I stayed someone would hunt me down to kill the last Roufus-tailed Tuft.”
There was so much more Lilly wanted to know but Tobias began to droop. “I’m as parched as this sorry stream, Lilly. Home please! I wish to go home,” he said with a yawn. Lilly offered to let Tobias nap in her bicycle basket. “Timmaa-timmaa-timmaa,” he sighed. He leaned against the wicker and closed his eyes.
Chapter 13
Lilly turned her bike into the driveway. Her feet pumped so fast they flew off the pedals. It wasn’t a considerate way to ride with a sleeping passenger, but Lilly was feeling the need for speed. Her conversation with Tobias about her father made her feel excited and nervous at the same time.
With a jerk, she steered her bike onto the walkway alongside the house. As Lilly and her alarmed passenger zoomed through the open gate and into the backyard an unexpected obstacle appeared dead center. It happened so quickly no one reacted logically. Dorian stood stock-still instead of diving out of the way. Lilly zoomed instead of hitting the brakes. And Tobias shrieked, “Steer clear!”
Lilly hit Dorian head-on. “Steer clear?” Dorian repeated. He lay in the dirt more shocked than hurt. “Tobias can talk!”
As Lilly’s face bumped along the dirt walkway, she felt panic instead of pain. She slid to a stop, rolled over and fearfully opened her eyes. “I’ve killed Tobias!” she screamed. Tobias pressed his beak against her nose and stared.
“All right?” he whispered hoarsely.
Lilly smiled with relief but moving her face hurt. “Owwch,” she moaned, touching her cheek.
“You’ll live, but you’re pretty banged up,” said Dorian as he reached her.
Tobias, looking at Lilly with great concern, was silent except for a feeble, “Squawk.”
“You can’t fool me,” said Dorian. “I heard you, Tobias! I heard you talk, and it wasn’t ‘Polly-wants-a-cracker’ talk!”
Lilly sat up. She suppressed a moan and said, “Maybe you imagined hearing Tobias talk. Did you hit your head? You could have a concussion.”
Dorian smiled. “I didn’t hit my head, Lilly. You hit your head” Lilly moaned.
Dorian turned to Tobias. “Do you know first aid, Tobias? I think Lilly needs it.”
Tobias stared into Dorian’s black, shining eyes. In one moment, Tobias saw all that he needed to see in Dorian. “You are an exception, Dorian. I believe I can trust you.”
“You can, Tobias. I won’t tell anyone you can talk,” promised Dorian.
As Lilly hobbled to her bedroom window with Dorian’s help, “To answer your question about first aid,” said Tobias. “While visiting Australia, I learned about the natural antiseptic properties of the Melaluca plant. Even the common Marigold has cleansing properties.” He looked around the backyard, dirt except for the giant, green topiaries. “But we won’t find any here. Soap will have to do it.”
Dorian helped Lilly over the windowsill then followed her into her room. If he thought her bedroom or the way they entered was strange, Dorian didn’t show it. He stood looking around and smiling. Tobias was busy translating. Lady clucked her concern and Zelda and Janie, in their quiet ways, offered to lick Lilly’s wounds clean. “Tell them thanks anyway,” said Lilly.
She went into
the bathroom and found a sliver of soap so thin she could see through it. The soap at home came from the girls’ locker room. But Lilly didn’t take it from school until the soap was ready for the waste bin. After she washed her scrapes, Lilly sat on her bed. Her eyes rested on a pile of dirty clothes on the floor. Dorian’s sweatshirt was on top. “Oh, Dorian, I forgot to give you back your sweatshirt.”
“That’s all right,” Dorian said as he picked up his sweatshirt and turned it right side-out. “I wasn’t worried you’d keep it. Besides I have a few more. My mother bought one in every color when she saw they were extra-long.”
To hide his tail, thought Lilly. Lilly remembered the moment Dorian gave her his sweatshirt. “Mr. Stinchfield was there when you took off your sweatshirt!” she said, suddenly realizing the risk he’d taken. “Did he see your tail?” Dorian nodded.
“What did Mr. Stenchpile do, Dorian?” asked Tobias. “He must have been surprised.”
“Everyone is surprised when they see my tail,” explained Dorian. “But he looked a little excited, too.” Dorian sat in a corner of the room with Janie who had crawled into his lap. He stroked the guinea pig’s soft fur until she fell asleep. “He asked all kinds of questions. He wanted to know if my tail had vertebrae and was part of my spinal column. He said vertebrae would make it a real tail.”
“What did you tell him, Dorian?” asked Lilly.
“I told him to ask my mother. I know she’ll never tell him anything. I don’t think she’s afraid of anyone, including Mr. Stinchfield.”
“I wish I had a mother like yours.”
“To deal with Mr. Stinchfield?” asked Dorian.
“Yes, but Mr. Stinchfield isn’t my biggest problem anymore, Dorian. Paying the taxes is. We owe thousands of dollars.”
“Thousands?!” exclaimed Dorian. Janie jumped in her sleep.
“My mother hasn’t paid the taxes for years. If I don’t give the town the money, they’re going to sell our house. We don’t have anywhere else to go. And I only have ninety days, Dorian.”
Dorian thought for a while. “Do you have anything you can sell?”
Lilly shook her head. “I don’t think so. I’ve tried to think of something.”
“Where do you keep your most valuable possessions, Lilly?” asked Dorian.
“Right here.” Lilly jumped down and reached under her bed. She held up the first thing she touched.
“A broken tennis racket?” said Dorian.
“I took it from the neighbor’s trash last year. I thought I could fix the strings but it was harder than I thought.” She set it aside and held up a plastic frog habitat without the frogs.
“I don’t think you’ll get much for that,” said Dorian politely.
“Here’s an umbrella,” said Lilly hopefully.
“This is pitiful!” screeched Tobias. “Where are the diamonds?”
“That’s funny, Tobias. I didn’t know parrots had a sense of humor,” commented Dorian.
“What about these?” asked Lilly, shuffling through a pile of sheriff’s MOST WANTED posters.
“Who would buy those, Lilly?” asked Tobias. “And for what, target practice?”
“I don’t mean buy the posters,” said Lilly. “We could find the criminals.”
Dorian smiled. “And collect the reward money?”
“Brrrill-iant!” shrieked Tobias. “Let’s spread the posters out and see who’s here.”
Lilly’s room was crowded. Besides dirty clothes, a broken tennis racket, a useless umbrella and a frog habitat cluttering Lilly’s floor, there were a great many other objects, too. Dining room chairs with elegantly embroidered seats now ripped and losing their stuffing made a perfect roost for Razz and Lady. Lilly wondered if the chairs had ever been as comfortable for humans’ bottoms.
In a corner were piles of newspapers collected from the neighbors on recycling days and used to line Zelda’s litter box. There were lamps that didn’t work, and lamps that did, a record player with no needle and a stack of scratched records missing covers. In another corner were fancy toys. A baby doll dressed in lace had a coating of dust so thick it resembled gray fur. A miniature piano stood with broken keys from Zelda hopping on it to make music. And all the animals, except Tobias, had chewed on or done worse to the stuffed tiger with the red tag in its ear that was almost as long as Lilly was tall. Lilly knew the toys belonged to her when she was very small but she didn’t remember playing with them and didn’t know how she knew they were hers.
All this to say that Tobias’ suggestion of spreading the posters out to look at the wanted criminals was easier said than done. After pushing her treasures back under the bed and piling dirty clothes on her catchall table, there was a bit more space for spreading out. Lilly and Dorian knelt to study the mug shots on the floor while Tobias hovered over them trying to commit each face to memory.
Chapter 14
On Sunday morning, Tobias flew to the train station. He hoped to see a face he recognized from the sheriff’s MOST WANTED posters.
Lilly left to meet Dorian at the Garden Center. Along the way, she stopped at pay phones to pull the coin returns and fish for coins but no luck. There weren’t any. She checked the ground around a wooden bench but no one had dropped any money there. And the newspaper dispensers didn’t give up any quarters this time when Lilly banged on them. Too early, thought Lilly. Maybe I’ll have better luck after church lets out.
When Lilly reached the Garden Center, a CLOSED sign hung from the door and the window shades were drawn. Hearing voices inside, Lilly stood on the wooden porch peering in.
Shadows moved. One moved toward Lilly and opened the door. “Hi,” said Dorian smiling. He called over his shoulder, “It’s Lilly. I told her to come over today.”
Stepping to the shop, Lilly’s gaze flew to a plate of donuts and a pitcher of orange juice near the register. Lilly left home without eating because she was anxious to start looking for criminals.
“How are you this morning, Lilly?” said Mrs. Mynah opening a carton of seeds.
“Fine, thanks.” Lilly tried not to stare at the donuts. The Church Lady had said staring at food was as impolite as staring at people.
“Have some donuts and juice if you like,” said Mrs. Mynah. Lilly hesitated. “Dorian, pour your friend a glass of orange juice. Do you like orange juice?”
“Yes, thanks. And I love donuts. Any kind. Goodie used to say, ‘Hunger is the best seasoning,’ but I think sugar is better.
“I never met a donut I didn’t like,” said Mrs. Mynah. She arranged seed packets in a metal display in the center of the store. Dorian handed Lilly a glass of juice while she helped herself to a chocolate donut.
“What do you and your mother do on Sundays, Lilly? Anything special? Do you go to church?” asked Mrs. Mynah.
“The Church Lady took me to church a lot. The Church Lady took care of me when I was younger,” said Lilly between munches. “Then The Church Lady had a stroke and went to Heaven Help Us Nursing Home.”
“I’m sorry. Do you miss her?” asked Mrs. Mynah.
“I used to,” said Lilly. “But I miss Goodie more.”
“Goodie?” Mrs. Mynah looked up from the seed rack.
“Goodie was the Hot Lunch Lady at school,” said Lilly. “She fed me every day and gave me enough food to take home for my mother and me. Goodie wanted to take me to church but her son took her car on Sundays.”
Lilly leaned against the cool radiator remembering her friend. “Goodie used to say he took her car for ‘his own purposes.’ “Hells bells,” she’d say. Then she’d wait to see if God struck her down for saying that, but He never did. When He didn’t strike her down, Goodie would say, ‘I believe there’s still time.’”
Lilly told Mrs. Mynah about her father dying and her mother and her mother’s cloud. Lilly didn’t know why she was talking so much. She never talked this much but it felt good to talk to Mrs. Mynah. “Do you go to church?” Lilly asked.
“No,” said Mrs. Mynah. �
�But I’m not offended if other people go.”
“Oh,” said Lilly puzzled. “Well, my mother doesn’t do anything special on Sundays. She does the same thing on Sundays she does every day.”
“Which is?” asked Mrs. Mynah.
“She takes care of her topiary pets.”
“Her pets are plants?” asked Mrs. Mynah.
“Yes, but they’re shaped like animals. She talks to them like they’re pets.”
“I’d like to see them,” said Mrs. Mynah.
“They’re in our backyard. Come and see them anytime you want,” said Lilly.
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