Bijou hadn’t surrendered yet. She chased the turkey into the rough and came back, tongue lolling.
Meanwhile, I signaled for Renata to get back into Oliver’s golf cart and hurried over to climb behind the wheel. “Gentlemen, we need to run. I have ornithophobia.”
Oscar didn’t notice, because he was covering his head as a redwing blackbird dive-bombed. The other men were in the same dilemma.
“Just drive,” Renata said, clutching Bijou and Bixby.
“Sorry, Oscar,” I called back as we rolled away. “Tavi would want me to do this.”
His only response was a yelp, perhaps as a beak pierced his toque.
“Tavi would probably want you to do that, too,” Bixby said as we fled.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
When we got back to Whimsy, I pulled down the blinds and started pacing. “Bixby, are you sure? Absolutely sure it was me?”
“What was you?” Sinda asked.
We’d agreed not to discuss the incident during the short drive back, since we’d need to tell Sinda the whole story anyway. That was hard for Mr. Bixby but he’d complied. I knew the turkey had really thrown him off.
“Didn’t the turkey throw you off?” he demanded. “It was monstrous.”
“What turkey? Will someone please fill me in?” Sinda’s brow furrowed. “I wish I’d said yes to golf but someone needed to manage the store. Our best retail days will slip by quickly.”
“You made the right choice,” Mr. Bixby said, heading over to her. “That thing was ferocious.”
“All it did was peck at the grass,” I said. “Same with the waterfowl and pigeons. Even the eagle just circled. Only the redwings caused trouble. And not for us.”
Sinda picked up Bixby and walked to the window seat. “I need to sit down for this story. There shouldn’t be many birds on the course in December.”
“More were likely on the way, but we hightailed it out of there.” My dog huddled in her lap, the picture of misery in his snazzy jacket. “I did my best. Really, I did.” Staring down from Sinda’s lap, he added, “The poodle did, too. I’m not one to lavish praise, but she earned it.”
Bijou offered a gracious bow. “Longer legs. Hard work with so many birds, though. Flutter flutter flutter.”
Sinda eased the coat off my disgruntled dachshund and his posture improved instantly. “Thank you. Now I can tell you all about the freak show on the links.”
When he was done, she shook her head. “This sounds like something those men would do. A prank after they saw how well you played, Janny.”
“That’s what I thought but Oscar said otherwise.”
“And I have the last word,” Bixby said. “Janelle hiccupped and winged things arrived. It got worse with repetition.”
Ren sat down beside Sinda, still in her coat. It would take time to thaw out. “Janny, what about the raven outside the doctor’s office? Maybe you hiccupped that one to life, too.”
“At least it’s not a bad omen,” Bijou said.
We all laughed, even Bijou.
“If it’s really me, hiccupping birds is a very bad omen indeed. I could barely hide the sunflowers.”
“You couldn’t hide them,” Bixby said. “Ask Big Red.” The dog’s ears came forward. “Wait till he sees what’s replaced them. It’s almost worth facing a turkey again. But not quite.”
“But how can we know for sure I did it?” My voice sounded almost tearful, but I refused to cry.
Bijou came over and leaned into my leg. “Witchy, sorry. So sorry. The birds smelled of you. Just like the sunflowers.” She plucked a large feather with a brown and white pattern off my coat. Turkey. After a deep sniff, the apricot dog sank to the floor, confirming the bad news.
“It’s okay, Bijou,” I said. “Thanks for being so kind about it. We can fix this problem.”
“You’re not going back to that quack,” Bixby said. “I refuse. I really will quit. She talked about birds as she worked on you and planted feathers in your diaphragm.”
I continued to pace. “She did talk about birds while putting me in a suggestible state. I’m going to guess it was accidental, since her reputation rides on curing problems, not making them worse.”
“That makes sense,” Sinda said. “With your psychic abilities, you may not have responded like the typical patient.”
“I resisted Dr. Featherburn too hard, I guess. I didn’t like her. Plus, I spent so many years trying to block intrusions by other people that I can’t just let my guard down.”
Mr. Bixby asked to be set on the floor and began to pace in his own loop. “Well, that backfired. Dare I suggest calling your mother?”
“Nope and nope again. She’ll freak out and fly home. After what I saw in the minds of those men, I guarantee Mom would only stir things up worse. Liberty, too.”
Ren caught my wrist on one of my passes. “What did you see?”
I recapped quickly, sparing them the discomfort of the experience. It felt like rolling in a dumpster. I knew what that was like, because I’d done it once, behind this very store.
“Your head is full of magical flatulence,” Mr. Bixby said. “You’re smelling it from the inside.”
“But what are they plotting, exactly?” Ren asked. “They want to take down Ruthann and grab all the spoils of the kingdom, but how?”