Homer on the Case by Henry Cole

Author:Henry Cole
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Peachtree Publishing Company
Published: 2021-02-22T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

The day was drizzly. Otto bounded up the steps to the loft with the newspaper and a cup of seed in hand. He spread out the paper and scattered some millet and cracked corn, then stopped to point to a small newspaper article in one corner. His expression was somber. “This is about Grandad’s watch.”

I could tell that Otto couldn’t stop thinking about the stolen watch. Grandad had been melancholy, almost despondent since it had been taken. When they were up on the roof the two of them spoke of nothing else. Most of the time they were silent.

“Homer,” he said. “I’ve got some errands to run for Grandad. Have your breakfast and you can come with me.”

Otto carefully made my little spot on top of his cap. “First stop, post office,” he said as we headed off, with him darting and hopping between puddles. “To buy stamps and mail Grandad’s insurance form.”

I heard Otto humming a little tune as he walked. Despite the loss of the watch and the upsetting neighborhood jewel thefts, it was good to be outside, riding on top of Otto’s head. The warm summer drizzle felt refreshing, and I groomed and preened my feathers as I bobbed along.

And there was something to be happy about: my new friend Lulu. I wondered if maybe Otto would ever invite Charlotte and Lulu along when we went on one of my test flights, as observers.

I cooed with anticipation.

Otto bounded around a corner and ran into the back of someone in a pink rain poncho. I almost fell off my perch.

“Hey, watch where you’re going—oh! Otto!” The pink poncho was Charlotte’s, Lulu perched on her shoulder.

I couldn’t see Otto’s face, but I imagine it turned red.

“Sorry. I guess I wasn’t looking.”

“You guessed right.” Charlotte checked to make sure Lulu was all right, and then looked up at me. “Hi, Homer,” she said, stroking my neck feathers.

Otto pointed. “I was just going to get some stamps. The post office is right here.”

Charlotte shook some of the wet off of her poncho. “Oh.” She held up a paper bag. “I just got a toy for Lulu.”

“Cool.”

“Well, you want some company?”

“That’d be great.” Otto opened the door of the post office for Charlotte.

They stood under the bored gaze of the post office clerk, poring over the sheets of stamps under the heavy glass countertop.

“Those are nice,” Charlotte said, pointing to a sheet of garden flower stamps. “Or those, jazz musicians. Or those, the Everglades wildlife ones.”

I watched Otto put his nose to the glass and eye the scenes from the Everglades, full of ibises and egrets and alligators. “That set!” he said to the clerk.

He paid for the sheet of stamps and mailed his grandad’s insurance form, and then we ambled down the street. The drizzle was letting up, and patches of sky were visible between clumps of gray clouds.

Otto and Charlotte stood under a shop awning and examined the sheet of stamps through the tissue paper envelope.

“Hey, Homer,” Lulu clucked.

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