“Um… nothing like that. I’m just looking at everyone.” I said. Still, I wanted information about this man, and Enzo was my best bet. “There are probably a lot of people who know my family here. So who is everyone?”
“You have family here,” Enzo said, and his face lit up. He pointed to another balcony across the theater to an ancient woman dressed in pink with a huge pink hat adorned with flowers and feathers. “That is Lady Poppy Merric. She is your great-great-great aunt. Don’t let her appearance confuse you. The poor dear is next to death, she’s so old. One hundred eighty-three and some odd months. I don’t even see why she bothered to come tonight. She’s completely deaf.”
“183? You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“No, why would I?”
Enzo pointed to the floor seats. “Dryden, General and Commander of Libratiers defense, is sitting third row, fifth seat. Third box over is—”
“That’s right,” I mumbled to myself. “The Libratiers are real.”
Doc nodded.
Enzo continued, “The American Armed Forces are real. My goodness, they kept you in the dark. Anyway, Amenity is in the third box over there. Now, that’s an interesting woman. She can tell you anything you’d want to know about magnetics,” he said.
The lights in the house dimmed. Obscured by the darkness, the ordinary man disappeared into the crowd.
But he was down there. I knew he was, and it still made me feel better.
The curtains parted.
Rows of birds, all different types, filled the stage. Robins, nightingales, sparrows, cardinals, wrens, even crows. All their heads faced down, frozen in position. Suddenly, the center bird, a warbler, lifted its beak and sang one solitary note. Then the two birds that flanked it turned their beaks to the rafters and sang the same tune. Soon all the birds joined in with the same haunting harmony.
A beautiful woman lowered from above the stage. The lights illuminated her red sequined dress and danced off her chestnut brown hair. Suspended, she sang out the same note as the birds, and the perfect pitch and tone made my eyes water.
Enzo whispered. “The Lark.”
When she landed on the stage, the birds lowered their heads. Then half of their little beaks raised, and the woman sang. The birds rotated and changed like Christmas lights in a sporadic and yet deliberate pattern. There wasn’t a band. It wasn’t necessary; the birds did all the work. There was a point where I could have sworn that the birds sang the words, but they couldn’t. All that ever came out were the notes. Never had I seen anything like it, and I doubted there was anything to compare in my entire world.
At the end, the singer bowed, as did the birds. The crowd rose to its feet.
Enzo whispered in my ear. “Did you know all those birds are real?”
I clapped along with everyone. “No way,” I said, and I noticed people filing out. My eyes scanned the crowd for the man. He’d already left his seat, and I frantically searched for him.
Doc stood next to me and looked down at the crowd. “Is everything all right, Waverly?”
I nodded my head. “Oh, yeah.” I searched, my anxiety growing. I wanted to see the man one more time. After several frantic scans, I found him. He walked down the aisle with his date. Several women stopped their exit to stare at him. Another pushed past his date and gave him a hug from behind.
“Oh,” Doc said, and I focused on him in time to see a massive smile erupt across Doc’s face, and he couldn’t stop his laughter. I then followed Doc’s gaze and found he was locked on the same man. I felt myself blush.
Enzo turned from Doc and then to me. “What did I miss?”
“Nothing, sorry. Simply a beautiful and welcomed complication,” Doc replied.
“Complication?” I asked. I wasn’t following.
Doc smiled and whispered, “You’ll see. It’s one of life’s greatest surprises.”
“Right,” Enzo said. “Anyway, I was saying the birds are all real, not animatronics. No one knows how The Lark trained them. She may tell you or she may not, but if she does, let me know the trick.”
Doc donned his hat, growing a foot taller, and backed up the balcony. “I see my son is here tonight. I must excuse myself.”
Enzo nodded to Doc. “And will your son be joining us for dinner? You know he never sent his RSVP; otherwise, he would have been sitting up here with us.”
“I’m afraid not,” Doc declined politely. “It required some cajoling to get him to make an appearance tonight. He has many affairs to attend. I will see you tomorrow.” The curtain swung behind him.
“Affairs? Interesting way of putting it,” Enzo said with a knowing smile.
“What do you mean?” Apples don’t fall far from their trees. Doc was so pleasant, I couldn’t see him having a horrible kid.
“His son’s very important to the Merrics. You’ll meet him, but I suggest you not form any attachments. He’s... oh, how do I put it... he’s handsome but not the type to settle down.”
My father had warned me to steer clear of serial daters and players. “Oh, a man of ill repute,” I said.
“Man of ill repute?” Enzo laughed. “If only it were that simple. No, he’s more than that; he’s a major somebody in the country. You’ve heard of Cloverfield Foods, correct?”
“No, never heard of it.”
“How do you not know Cloverfield?” Enzo’s eyes were wide in shock. “Cloverfield is only one of the biggest food production companies in the country. Next thing you’ll tell you don’t know who won the National Flounce Match last year.”
“Sorry, no.”
Enzo put his hand to his mouth. “Flounce is our national pastime.”
I shrugged my shoulders and I looked over the railing to the audience. The ordinary head was gone.
