“Not to mention that grandma Hazel would be devastated.”
A scream interrupted our conversation.
It came from across the street. Several people ran from Slicker Image, all of them looking as though they were being chased by a bear.
A sizable crowd gathered in the parking lot. Some peeked into the store through the windows, eager to see what was going on inside. I, too, was curious.
Lana sighed. “What trouble has he gotten himself into now?”
“I'm going to go check. Watch the register for me?”
“Sure.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Hey, Sarah. There's... nothing going on between you and Asher, is there?”
“Going on? I don't know what you mean.” I knocked over a gumball machine as I hurried to put on my coat. “Uh, anyway, the windows look great. Really. Maybe do Santa on the other one.”
She smirked. “You're the most obvious liar I've ever met.”
I fumbled with my hat and gloves, not sure what to say. Lana looked down on Asher's playboy ways just as much as I did.
“You watch out around him,” she shouted before the door closed behind me. “You know how he is. He'll say anything to get what he wants.”
Wasn't that the truth?
I shivered and hugged myself for warmth as I crossed the road. At Slicker Image, there were so many people blocking the windows that I couldn't see what was going on inside.
“Someone needs to stop that animal,” cried a woman, “before people get hurt.”
A man tumbled through the sliding doors with a crying baby in his arms, followed by several others. More concerned for Asher than worried about myself, I moved around them and went in.
What greeted me was a scene ripped straight out of a circus.
A large bird flapped madly overhead, screeching in anger and diving at people's heads. It was no ordinary pigeon or crow. No, this thing had talons so sharp, they could tear a man apart, no problem.
“My poor baby!” A man with long, gray hair and a tangled mess of a beard waved his arms in the air. “Sophie, sweetie, come back to your daddy. I won't let these mean people hurt you.”
“Sarah, what are you doing?”
Asher and his employees huddled for safety behind the customer-service desk. He called me over. Though he was trying to maintain composure, he looked ready to have a panic attack.
I hurried to the desk before I became the bird's next victim. That's when I spotted the wounds on some of the workers, Asher included.
Several had long, nasty scratches down their arms. Asher's long-sleeve shirt was torn to shreds and stained with blood around his shoulder.
“You shouldn't have come here,” he said, wincing as he dabbed the wound with paper towels. “As you can see, we're having a bit of a problem.”
The raggedy man howled for the bird to come back. He opened a pouch on his waist, took something out, and held it up for “Sophie” to take.
My stomach heaved when I saw a dead mouse dangling from his fingers.
“What the hell happened?” I blurted, then tore off a clean towel for him. “Here. Move. I can reach it better than you.”
The panic in his eyes faded a little as I pressed the towel over the gash. Luckily, the wound didn't seem deep enough to need stitches, but it sure did look painful.
“Thanks,” he said, smiling a little. “Not even I'm completely sure. I got a panicked call from my assistant manager. Rushed over here to find this thing flying around, dive-bombing people and destroying my goods.”
Sophie was not interested in the mouse. She flew into a display of expensive computer parts, shattering the glass case into a million pieces. That terrified her even more, and she zipped off, shrieking loudly.
“I'm sure dad will be thrilled to know 'his' store was destroyed by a psychotic feather duster,” he said with a roll of his eyes.
The bird landed on a sign and groomed her ruffled feathers, her golden eyes darting rapidly in search of threats.
“It's a falcon,” I said after getting a good look. “My grandpa kept some in his aviary when I was a child.”
Asher gaped. “Your grandfather had a zoo full of killer birds? You've gotta be kidding.”
“He rescued and rehabbed injured ones. Taught me a bit about it before he passed on.”
An employee adjusted his bent and cracked glasses as he pointed at the man, who continued begging Sophie to eat her dinner.
“That's the guy who brought it in here. He had this bulky brown bag, and at first we thought he was going to shoplift something – until we saw it wriggling. But who would have guessed...”
The bird's owner seemed rather unhinged; what sane person would decide to bring a bird of prey into an electronics store?
That meant the chances of him recapturing Sophie weren't too good. Maybe, though, there was something I could do.
Grandpa had been a good teacher. He taught me to respect the birds, to read their body language and understand their calls. When I was old enough, he allowed me to hold hawks and falcons on my arm.
But those ones knew me and trusted me. Sophie was panicking and attacking everyone in sight. If I tried to nab her, one or both of us could end up seriously hurt.
“Bad girl,” the man shouted. “I told you to behave in the store, didn't I, or we are not going to McDonald's after. Get down here right this instant, missy. We are going home.”
“You'd better hide before that thing tries to impale you too,” Asher muttered. “Someone called the cops. They should be here to take care of it soon.”
“Are you kidding? The cops aren't trained to deal with wild animals.
