The old rickety table and two chairs were serviceable but just barely. It was in her plans to update them, when she had money, whenever that was. Pulling one chair back, she went to sit on it, when the leg buckled. She cried out and just managed to stop herself from falling.
A closer inspection showed the other chair was in a similar state. The table didn’t look much better. Stacking the three pieces against the side of the house, so she didn’t forget and try to sit again, she slowly walked the edge of the deck, her hands instinctively going to the railing to give her some support, as she looked out at the beautiful stamped concrete path and edging. Although the edging itself was a little bit on the blurry side along the grass, she was so delighted to have it.
She moved cautiously onto the cobblestones and headed toward the river. She really should put a bench down here, where she could just sit and relax. As it was, she managed to slowly lower herself to the grass and looked at the water. It was still amazingly high and flowed with a ferocity that surprised her. The odd branch went by; a lone duck swam past, and she wondered what the devil he was doing out there in the strong current. There must have been a heck of a storm up on the mountain to have this much water down here.
Doreen hadn’t seen much in the way of wildfowl, like the ducks, since the river had risen. Which made sense to her, as fighting the current had to be exhausting. But then, maybe like her, that solo duck was trying to buck the system.
She smiled at that, thinking she could certainly relate. She knew that Mack wouldn’t give up on her seeing his brother. And she had no business giving up on Mack either, as he’d been there for her every step of the way, even if she hadn’t been terribly welcoming. Mugs walked over and nudged her gently. She scratched his long silky ears. “Hey, buddy,” she said. “Any idea where Thaddeus is?”
They sat in a morose silence, as she waited, enjoying the peace and quiet, though her heart was heavy as she thought about her missing pet. Who would have thought Thaddeus would be the one to go missing? But then, talking parrots were something else to begin with and probably not all that common. Just as she sat here, considering that she should make her way back up to the house because the coffee would be ready, she heard a shout upriver.
She saw two teens chasing something in the river or across the pathway. She leaned forward, trying to see what they were up to. As they got a little bit closer on the far side, they pointed at her. She looked at them and called out, “Hello?”
They shouted at her across the river, but she couldn’t hear for the roar of the water. She slowly stood, as they pointed frantically at something coming toward her. She looked up, and there was Thaddeus, riding on the back of a branch down the river.
Just like a homing pigeon, Thaddeus was on his way right to her. Or, as she judged the speed of the water, right past her. She instinctively stepped out into the water to catch his branch as he raced past. She caught it but fell into the tumbling icy water herself.
Gasping and crying out, she fought the current and only managed to get herself pulled several houses downriver, where the waterway took a slight bend in the angle it flowed. Gasping in the cold water, she stood. Shakily, she struggled onto the riverbank, hung on to the side of the fence, realizing she was almost to the corner where they headed down to Nan’s. Thaddeus and Goliath raced toward her, and Mugs led the charge. They all barked, meowed, and cawed terribly at her. She stood here for a long moment, feeling icy cold, but then her gaze landed on Thaddeus, and her face lit up.
“Thaddeus,” she cried out and held out her arm. Perfectly dry, Thaddeus hopped off the back of Mugs, where he’d been perched, and landed on her arm. Quickly he raced up her arm to her shoulder and gently stroked her cheek.
“Thaddeus, oh, Thaddeus, you’re here.” Laughing and crying, she stroked his head and his body. “Oh, sweetie, what happened to you?”
Somebody else called out, “What happened to you?”
And, sure enough, there was Mack, glaring at her.
She stared at him in surprise. “Look!” she cried out. “Look who’s here!”
He looked at Thaddeus, at her, and shook his head. “Where did he come from?”
She gave him a lopsided grin. “You won’t believe me.”
He gave a long-suffering sigh that she had come to recognize. “Nope, I probably won’t, but try me anyway.”
She glared at him. “You could at least keep an open mind.”
“Ahem,” he said, with a quick nod at Thaddeus. “Do you want to get to the point?”
She explained about the boys drawing her attention, the branch coming downriver with Thaddeus, and how she ended up in the cold water. He stared at her, looked at Thaddeus, then at the various debris flowing by, and said, “You realize he could have flown off the branch at any time, right?”
She considered Thaddeus for a moment, then turned toward Mack. “Oh.” But then she added, “He doesn’t fly well, and there’s no telling what he has been through.”
“Maybe not,” he said, “but, if he got onto a branch, I’m sure he could have gotten off.”
“He was scared,” she said defensively.
“So you jumped into a raging river at high water levels to save the bird?”
“Yes!” she said determinedly. “And I would do it again too.”
He groaned. “Well, at least you’re safe, although that head wasn’t supposed to get wet for a couple days, was it?”
She shrugged, then grinned. “If you don’t tell the doc, I won’t tell him either.”
Rolling his eyes, Mack reached out a hand and said, “Come on. Let’s get you back home again.”
“It’s only around the corner,” she said, as she walked with him, but her clothes were soaking wet, and she felt the chill, even though it was a hot summerlike day.
“As soon as we get home,” he said, “you need to get into dry clothes.”
“I will,” she muttered. But she was overjoyed at having Thaddeus back. “What do you think happened to him?” Then she noticed something around his ankle. “Mack, look,” she said. “Something’s on his ankle.” She reached up to check his leg, but Thaddeus flapped his wings at her.
“Thaddeus is here. Thaddeus is here,” he cawed out.
“I know, Thaddeus,” she said. “Let me see what’s on your ankle.”
But he shook his head and afterward shook his leg, as if something were irritating him. Which something was of course—that band on his leg. She looked at Mack. “Do you think you can get it off?”
He reached up with one hand and gently stroked Thaddeus, then said, “Let me check your leg, big guy.”
“Big guy,” Thaddeus crowed, and then he stood tall, flapped his wings. “Big guy, big guy, big guy.”
She laughed. “Oh, I’m so happy to have him back again,” she said to Mack, who quickly unclipped what was on his tiny leg.
“I am too,” he said. “He’s quite the character, and I’m glad somebody didn’t try to keep him.”
She looked at Mack, fear in her eyes. “Do you think Thaddeus was kidnapped? Bird-napped?”
Mack stopped, looked at the band in his fingers and the folded piece of paper, and said, “I don’t know about bird napping to keep him, but it’s obvious that somebody had him. Otherwise how did he get this?”