When Two Feathers Fell from the Sky by Margaret Verble

Author:Margaret Verble [Verble, Margaret]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780358555094
Publisher: HMH Books
Published: 2021-10-12T00:00:00+00:00

Crawford’s Problems

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Crawford had hung around the park since childhood. When the zoo started up, Clive gave him nickel and dime jobs from the change in his pocket and, before going overseas for the war, he put him on salary. Crawford was so good with the horses that if one became sick, he slept in its stall. He was also so clever with machines that he could tell exactly how one was in trouble by listening to its sound before it broke down. He’d slept next to those, too. That kind of work ethic resulted in Clive never supervising Crawford, leaving him free to do what was needed. So Crawford went straight from his conversation with Two to a box of keys in a small office in the main barn. Then he hiked to the south end of the park where the carousel horses were stored in a big red barn that housed not only the remains of the Flying Jenny, but also the roller coaster skeleton and cars. Additionally in there were six boxes of human skeletons from Indian graves that had been dismantled as the zoo had expanded.

The roller coaster cars were heavy metal carriages, so Crawford was interested only in the wooden bench. As the rusty door hinges screeched, he winced, then tried to picture where the bench had been stored. He’d helped with the dismantling and crating. Crawford walked about forty feet down a dim lane stacked high with crates, thinking the Flying Jenny had been stored on his right, near the east corner. He heard something rustle and scratch. He stopped. It didn’t sound like a human being. It could be a ghost. Skeletons were in there. Crawford breathed in deeply. Made fists. Those skeletons had probably turned to dust. Surely ghosts didn’t linger for hundreds of years. That noise was made by an animal. A possum, or rats. Maybe bats. Crawford looked up and saw the outline of the rafters. There was nothing above him but beams. Nothing would attack him from the air, but it still felt creepy in there.

The rafters reminded him of the ropes and pulleys they’d used in stacking the boxes. If the bench was high up, he’d have a hard time getting it down. If it was in a bottom crate, he’d have a hard time freeing it up. He turned around, glad to have a need to leave before he came back with help. He walked toward the door, searching for markings on the crates. Found only numbers. Then he recalled the contents had been logged.

When he got to the door, he listened for sounds. Heard a peacock screech in the distance. Heard the monkeys. Nothing from inside the barn. He breathed out deeply, felt a little relieved, and applied his mind to where that log might be and to the rigging he’d need to extract the bench when he returned with a torch and some help. After solving those problems, his mind turned to the woman he was courting, Bonita Boydstun.

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