Page 61 of Look on the Bright Side

Lark felt a wonderful, horrible bubble of inappropriate laughter welling up in her. Robbie would love this story. Otto looked around, regal and pleased, then shifted, causing Noni’s wig to slide a little farther. He ripped off another piece of pigeon and gobbled it up.

“Gross!” cried a teenager, stepping in closer with her phone. Plenty of people had their phones out. After all, how often did you get to see a falcon eating a pigeon, and on an old lady’s head, no less?

Lark crept up behind Dante, not wanting to scare the bird and have it, oh, take out Noni’s eye or something.

“Off you go, buddy,” Dante said, approaching.

Otto considered the request and ignored it. Another chunk of pigeon, another “Ew!” from the crowd.

“That’s my grandma, pal. Off you go,” Dante said.

“Let’s just remember you abandoned her under this tree,” Izzy said, grabbing Lark’s hand, tears of laughter bright in her eyes. Lark bit her lip shut to stifle her own laughter. “I’m so telling Lorenzo.”

“You’re not helping, Izzy,” Dante said.

“It’s killing the old lady!” said a little kid.

“From your lips to God’s ears, kid,” Dante muttered, and Izzy bent double. “Come on, bird.”

Otto fluttered his wings, swallowing another chunk of his lunch.

Then Dante offered his arm—that was a good arm, all tanned and muscled, blond hair gleaming against his skin. Otto regarded it, looked at Dante and then, apparently full, dropped the pigeon into Noni’s lap—more shrieks, more pictures—and stepped delicately from her head to Dante’s outstretched arm.

“Check on Noni?” Dante asked, looking at Lark. She nodded, trying not to notice how smokin’ hot he looked, completely at ease with the falcon.

“I’ll take care of this, Lark,” Izzy said, reaching toward her grandmother’s head. “She’s my relative, after all.”

“No, no, I’ve got gloves and stuff in my bag.”

“Excellent point, and since I’m so grossed out, I’ll be happy to let you do it. Does anyone have a plastic bag? Oh, thanks, sir.”

Noni’s bloodstained wig slanted down almost to her eyes, but the old lady was still snoring. The crowd shifted, some going off to watch Otto up front, some staying for the cleanup. Lark could hear Jocelyn talking, welcoming Otto back.

Lark always carried alcohol wipes and latex gloves, just in case. Since starting in the ER, she had upped her game to include butterfly closures, a rawhide shoelace for an emergency tourniquet, an inhaler, an EpiPen, baby aspirin and a window-breaker with seat belt cutting tool. Always prepared, just like the Scouts. She pulled on the gloves and took Noni’s wig off. A nearby toddler burst into screams, which made the giggles wriggle and leap again. Izzy wasn’t even trying not to laugh now.

Lark put the wig in the plastic bag, then the dead bird, trying not to look at it, the suppressed laughter making tears stream from her eyes. Predator and prey, she could almost hear Sir David Attenborough saying. One must lose the eternal game.

Noni’s head was free from scrapes or cuts. Seemed like the only casualty was the pigeon. And the wig.

Lark ran an alcohol wipe over Noni’s scalp and ears, and Izzy pulled out a comb and fluffed her grandmother’s thinning hair, then shook Noni’s skirt to rid it of leftover feathers. Behind them, Jocelyn continued to discuss the wildness of raptors, their unpredictability, the reason they had bells on their talons. The show must go on, after all.

Then the old woman jerked awake, causing Lark to leap back a little. “You!” she rasped, glaring. “What you do to me, hey? You, stranger? Step back, eh?”

“Noni,” Izzy said, tears of laughter bright in her brown eyes, “this is Lark, remember? Lorenzo’s girlfriend? We’re just, um, checking on you. Do you want a drink?”

“Where Lorenzo?”

“He’s not here. But the rest of us are.”

“Eh.”

Izzy looked at Lark. “Isn’t she delightful?”

“Lorenzo, he’s a good boy,” Noni rasped.

“Debatable,” Izzy said. She looked at Lark. “You’re awesome, by the way. Thank you.”

There was clapping from the audience—the show had wrapped up—and a second later, Sofia, Dante and their parents joined Izzy and Lark.

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