Page 45 of Saving Veronica
Mid-morning Saturday, Ronnie drove her scooter out of the barn, heading toward her house. She had been working with the horses, surprised on how receptive they were to her training. She couldn’t wait until her casts came off so she could break them in. Out of the new ones, her favorite was the buckskin. She still hadn’t come up with names for them, but she would soon.
Entering her house, she grinned when Captain, her McCaw, greeted her loudly from his perch in the living room.
“Awk! Ronnie’s home! Awk!”
“Yep.” Ronnie laughed. “I’m home.” She grinned as she wheeled through the house, then down to her bedroom. After taking her time to use the bathroom, she was out of breath when she returned. Back in the kitchen, she opened her junk drawer and dug around, until she found what she needed.
“Gotcha!” she yelled, and held up the ball of jute she had been hunting for.
“Captain, want to go outside?” Ronnie asked, as she unrolled some of the twine and approached the bird. She didn’t make any startling moves and it wasn’t long before the animal climbed onto her right shoulder. Going easy and steadily, she was able to quickly tie one end of the jute to the bird’s leg. Satisfied she unwound several lengths from the ball, leaving the excess to lie in her lap. She took the ball and shoved it beneath her leg, so she wouldn’t lose it.
“Let’s go outside,” Ronnie said, and made her way outdoors. As soon as she was halfway down the ramp, she turned her head to the side, because Captain started flapping his wings, and when he launched himself off her shoulder, Ronnie laughed. She let him go so far, before she wound the string around the handlebars of her scooter. She laughed when the bird stopped short. She swore when he looked back at her, he gave her the evil eye.
“Sorry, but your wings aren’t clipped. Until you know your boundaries, that’s the limit.” She shrugged as she talked to the bird. Instead of staying there watching Captain fly back and forth, she headed toward the barn. She didn’t know if she was surprised or not when the bird began circling, then landed on her shoulder.
“We’re going to the barn. You can meet everyone.” Ronnie giggled when she saw the bird looked all around from his perch on her shoulder. They entered the barn, and Ronnie slowly wheeled her scooter over to Sarge’s stall.
“Sarge, say hello to Captain. Captain, this is Sarge.” She shortened the tether for the bird and held out her good arm. After she told Captain to step up, and he obeyed her, she gave him his treat. Then she held her arm higher so the horse and bird could meet. When Captain squawked, Sarge blew a raspberry at him, causing Ronnie to laugh. Just then one of her many barn cats jumped up onto the ledge of Sarge’s stall and took a swipe at the bird.
Ronnie immediately moved the bird and said firmly, “Don’t eat the bird. Nice birdy.” But she transferred Captain to the handlebars and backed away from the cat, saying again. “Don’t eat the bird.”
“Awk! Don’t eat the bird! Awk!”
Ronnie threw her head back and laughed. “That’s right, you tell him.” Shaking her head she went down the line to introduce Captain to all the horses. It didn’t surprise her when they were going back through that he flew over to Sarge’s stall. Ronnie watched the two animals and swore they were having a conversation. She pulled her phone and took a picture when she saw Captain lay his forehead against Sarge’s. It was touching. Sighing, she gently tugged on the string saying, “Time to go, Captain.”
The bird flapped its wings, and started to fly out of the barn. Because of the grip Ronnie had on his tether, he didn’t go very high. But once they were both free of the barn and any wires she let the string out and let him fly. She stayed where she was and looked over when Hector approached.
“How did it go?”
“Good, except that Clyde tried to eat him.”
Hector laughed and Ronnie quickly joined him. Shaking his head, he asked. “Do you think you have another Kip on your hands?”
“I’d like to think so,” Ronnie said, as she watched the bird in flight. “I have to work with him every day, but I’m confident that eventually he can be.”
“I’m glad.” Hector nodded. “Was there anything else you wanted done today?”
“No, I know I probably should have asked this last week when I got home from the hospital, but I didn’t think about it until now. With eight extra mouths to feed, how are we doing on winter grain and hay?”
“I’ve got a call into the feed store. I’m leaving to go pick it up now. That should keep us for a few months. Hay, not so good. We’re going to have to call around and see if anyone has any extra.”
“Why don’t I do that while you go pick up the feed?”
“Sounds like a plan. Do you need anything from town?”
“I have a grocery list on the refrigerator, let me get you that, along with some money.”
“Okay,” Hector said. “I’ll come in with you, if you don’t mind?”
“Not at all.” Together the two of them went into the house, the first thing Ronnie did was remove the tether from Captain and watched as he flew into his atrium and began drinking water. In under three minutes, he was perched high on a branch, cleaning his feathers. The two humans looked at each other with a grin.
“Here it is,” Ronnie said, as she wheeled over to the refrigerator and removed the list. Her purse sat there so she grabbed her wallet and handed him some cash. “Do you have the card for the feed store?”
“I do.”
“Good. I’m going to stay inside here until nighttime chores, so come on in when you get back.”
“Do you need anything before I go?”
