Whispering Birds

By Jordan Foster

My stomach churned when I saw the cabbie that’d driven me to last night’s ball. The paunchy man hadn’t noticed me yet as he took off his cap, revealing the horrid bald spot that his dark, shoulder-length hair surrounded. I took a deep breath.

A bird landed on a mailbox nearby and squawked rather clearly, “Run before he sees you.”

My guilt must be making me delirious. Come on, Daphne, it’s now or never.

I forced my feet over to the horse and carriage along the edge of the cobbled road. The cabbie jerked his head with a disgruntled shake and slapped on his cap with hands which I could have sworn were glowing an unearthly shade of purple. “You again?”

I blinked a few times. His grubby hands were definitely not glowing. Pull yourself together!

He glared rather strange, deep purple eyes at me. When I merely stared at him for a few moments, he cleared his throat. “Would you like a ride or just to gawk?”

I nodded, wishing there was less reason to have ridiculed him with my friends yesterday. Even if I hadn’t returned to ransack his carriage like the others had, there was no excuse for insulting him. I winced at the roughly mended crack in one of his wheels and then at the bruise barely hidden by his coat collar. Why didn’t you warn him? You knew he hadn’t stolen anything.

“Yes, sir.” I pulled out my coin purse from the pea coat covering my simple muslin dress, so different from the glittering gown I’d worn last night.

My fist dove into the golden coins, dragging out a generous fistful and holding it up to him. He seemed apprehensive at first, but I stretched my hand farther toward him, begging him to take the payment. To fix the wheel.

He took the coins and put them in his own bag with a rather slow blink. “Very well then, miss. Where to?”

Uh-oh, I hadn’t thought that far. “I–uh–where do you want to go, sir?”

He turned from me a second, muttering, “She certainly doesn’t seem like one of them anymore.”

I didn’t get the chance to ask before he was speaking again. “Where I want to go, ay? Just looking to ride around town and stuff, then?”

I nodded again. Just long enough to apologize. “Yes.”

“I hope you’ll find my dingy carriage satisfactory for a college lady such as yourself.” His recall of my words the night before stung but was warranted.

“I-If you don’t mind, I’d like to ride on the box with you,” I said. If I sat in the carriage, I’d never complete my self-imposed mission to apologize.

“Of course, miss, but I thought nothing could make you descend to sit with a grubby cabbie whose only friend is his horse.” His one-sided smirk plagued me.

Had I really said that in the hopes of joining that rich clique? How desperate was I?

I climbed up beside him and wrung my hands while he clucked for the horse to start.

Come on, Daphne. Out with it already. “Mr–”

“Enza,” he replied with a slight bob of his head.

“Yes, Mr. Enza, I would like to apologize for my horrendous behavior last night. I would understand if you never forgave me.” I met his purplish eyes. “But I do hope that you could find it in your heart to do so.” I laughed nervously.

Mr. Enza’s smirk turned to a smile. “I think I could forgive you, miss.”

“Daphne. Please call me Daphne, sir. You are so very kind.” Now, he’ll be sure I didn’t attack him last night. Tears of relief welled up in my eyes.

His brows furrowed a bit. “Now, now, Ms. Daphne, there’s no need for that.”

Mr. Enza tensed as a bird swooped down at his hat, drawing my eyes to the black, winged hoard that gathered overhead. He swatted at it and shook his head. “Not them again…”

“Again?”

The swooping bird relocated to the top of the carriage, screeching, “Change me back!”

At that moment, the cawing of the crows overhead all seemed to echo the first bird’s cry. What in the world…?

“You chose your fate. Now off with you!” His free hand began to glow the same purple I swore I’d seen earlier. A purple blast shot from his fingers and struck the bird whose caws morphed into squeaks as it shrunk into a dark mouse. It fell from its perch on the carriage and skittered across the cobbles. “The rest of you could also be mice instead, if you’d like!” The swarm rapidly dispersed at the threat. He chuckled. “That’s what I thought.”

I blinked with wide eyes. “D-Did you just…?”

“There’s no need to be alarmed. I only turn naughty people into crows, and it’d be rude of me to do so after you’d apologized so thoroughly. Your friends on the other hand…” He averted his eyes for a moment.

I stared up at the now-clear sky that had once been filled with birds. “You mean some of them might be my classmates?”

He nodded with a shrug. “Could be… if they’re the ones that did a lot more than insult me. I was keeping an eye out for them and stuff, then seized my opportunity. Glad you’re not truly one of them, miss.”

“Who were they?” I asked. And what had they done before?

He merely flashed his crooked smile as he pulled his horse to a stop right back where we’d started. “Never you mind. There’s no need to put you in harm’s way.”

I carefully stepped down from the stoop with a slow, wide-eyed nod.

Mr. Enza tipped his hat at me. “‘Til we meet again, Ms. Daphne. If the birds give you any trouble, just give me a shout.”

And with that he, his horse, and his carriage vanished in a faint purple cloud of smoke.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jordan Foster is a young writer with a love for the Lord and random facts about His world. She seeks to bring glory to the Lord through her words. When she’s not writing, you can find her watching nerdy YouTube videos, spending time with friends and family, playing her clarinet, and with any luck, baking her famous cookies.

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