It was a beautiful, balmy summer evening. Hilary and Troll sat on the patio in the garden near the fountain. Hilary wore a ruffly turquoise flowered summer frock borrowed from Maple. Troll’s gray cotton trousers and linen shirt still painfully hung off his thin shoulders. He seemed to be enjoying himself, even laughing as she told him about her encounter with Bear and Betty in the pond earlier.
“No wonder Bear came into the house dripping.” Troll chuckled. “You should have seen Mrs. Fox lay into him.” He waved his claws, perfectly imitating her fox’s screech. “‘Use a towel, you silly walking rug, and don’t track mud in my clean kitchen!’ It took her and Mr. Cat three towels to dry him off after that.” He dug into his fish and summer squash as best he could with the claws. “But all the mess was worth it. This trout is excellent.”
Hilary laughed. “You know, you’re a rather good actor, for a troll.” She smirked and patted her auburn curls under the wide-brimmed organdy hat. “Not quite at my caliber, of course, but not bad. Maybe you should do monster movies, or at least horror plays.”
Troll raised his eye where an eyebrow should have been. “Thank you, Miss Booth. I did act, before…well, let’s say I'm not unfamiliar with stages and plays and voice projection.”
“What were you, before?” Hilary asked as she dug into the potatoes roasted over coals and seasoned with herbs from the garden. “You’ve mentioned your wives. Who were they? Maybe I knew your first wife. I do have friends who have been divorced.”
He coughed so hard, he reached for his glass of iced tea and lemon. “I can’t…really can’t say.” His claw snuck over the wrought-iron table and took hers, rubbing her thumb in that familiar way. “Hilary, I still want you to marry me. Certainly, everyone in the household is fond of you, and Bear and Eagle won’t leave your sisters now. I could provide for them, for you, for your father and brother.”
Her breath caught at the familiar gesture. “Troll…I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. No. I can’t marry you. Not now.”
“Well then,” he breathed softly, “when? I only have…” He coughed again, grabbing a linen napkin to cover his mouth. “Well, I don’t have much time.”
“Maybe…” She gasped as his claw rubbed further up her hand, around her knuckle. “Maybe someday. I am growing very fond of you. I don’t know how you know where to rub…my husband was the only person who ever did this…”
Their heads were mere inches from touching when Hilary thought she saw a shadow in the air. It was far too large to be an ordinary bird, or even an owl who had just gotten up and was searching for its breakfast. “What on earth…” She gasped.
That was when she heard Maple’s delighted Brooklyn bray. “Woohoo! Eagle, this is great! It’s so nice up here. Feel that breeze, an’ smell that clean air! I ain’t never been flyin’ before. Wait until I tell Hilary an’ Betty this!”
It was, indeed, Eagle in the air. She’d never seen him looking more majestic. His enormous brown wings were twice the size of an ordinary eagle’s. They spread so wide, they nearly blocked the emerging moonlight. Maple, her white day dress fluttering behind her, her red curls flying in all directions, wrapped her arms around his neck. Her pretty porcelain face nestled gently amid the downy white and brown feathers on his head.
“Hey Eagle, can ya do tricks?” She giggled into his ear as she stroked his neck. “Maybe we can race the nightingales or somethin’.” Eagle seemed hesitant at first…but then, he swooped down like one of those new double-motor planes, passing several very startled screech owls as he turned a loop in the air.
Maple’s shrieks of delight could be clearly heard, even from below. “You’re amazin’! This is the most fun I’ve had in ages! See, I told you this was better n’ hanging around in a dusty old office on a beautiful night.” Eagle’s noisy squawk was a bit reproachful. “Ok, ok, I know that information is important. I know you wanna get it out to the world. I just wish you’d tell me who it’s about. I know what you’re sayin,’ but I can’t translate all those codes you keep talkin’ about.”
There was another squawk and two waved wings as he swooped down again. She roared with glee, laughing and happily clutching his neck and back for dear life, before she could almost hear the thoughts in her younger sister’s scatterbrained head click. “Wait…you said a while ago that Troll n’ Bear helped ya. Are they the one who helped ya with the codes?” Her voice softened a bit. “And if Bear did it…well, he sure as heck can’t now. Betty says she just mentioned patterns, an’ he went blank.”
Eagle’s squawk was infinitely sadder. “When that bad person who hurt ya laid into Bear, you tried to stop her, but she threw dark at you, too. You pushed books an’ papers at Bear after he woke up…but he couldn’t read them. Didn’t know what they were, who you were. All he did was cry and keep talkin’ about the darkness in his head.”
She gently stroked the back of his head. “I’m so sorry. It must have been rough for a close friend to suddenly not know you. An’ you were hurtin’ too. Your tongue an’ wings hurt like hell for weeks after…she…attacked, you say?” His deeper, softer squawk managed to sound completely heartbroken. “Golly, I don’t know what I’d do if my siblings didn’t know me. Sure, Hilary n’ Betty n’ C.J n’ me fight, but we love each other.”
As she gave him a hug in mid-air, he turned around, letting her climb onto his belly. “Oooh, it’s softer down here,” she squealed. “Like sleepin’ on an extra-big feather pillow. Too bad we can’t do this all night. I think I might get to likin’ this.” Hilary frowned as he closed one wing around her, stroking her flowing curls briefly before he caught the drafts again.
Troll didn’t look any happier than her. “What are they doing up there?” he muttered. “Eagle told me they’d be in his office all night.”
Hilary sighed. “Maple gets bored easily. I suspect she probably got tired of sitting around and talked him into showing off his wings for her.”
“Yes, but he has his work.” He made a face. “He’s never had any trouble with focusing on that before.”
She gave him a smirk Bear would have envied. “I doubt he’s ever met anyone like my Maple.”
They finally landed just a few feet from them on the patio. “Thanks for the ride, Eagle. I haven’t had so much fun in ages. Same time tomorrow?” He nodded, his squawk affirmative, and took her hand in his wing. She stroked it gently. “Hey there, want me to walk you inside?”
“Eagle,” Troll scolded, “what are you two doing? You’re supposed to be working!”
Eagle could only shrug, but Maple’s smile was ten times brighter than the moon. “We were workin’! We talked about his work in the air. You can work n’ play at the same time, ya know!” She scratched over his wing. He ended up nuzzling her neck with his sharp beak. “Hey there, fella, that tickles!”
Hilary rolled her eyes. “Ok, you two. Why don’t you take all of that inside?”
“Yeah.” She took his wing in her long, tapered fingers and squeezed it gently. “Wanna walk me to my room? I’m sure you’ll be nothin’ but a gentle-bird.” He turned red under his white feathers as, hand in wing, they returned to the main house together.
“I really wish he’d focus on his work,” Troll muttered darkly. “We don’t have much time left.”
“Time until what?” Hilary frowned as she finished the last of her fish. “I wish you’d talk more about this curse of yours.” She patted her lips. “You know I don’t want my sisters marrying animals, but they are terribly in love with them…”
“And I don’t want them marrying distracting harridans who could never appreciate them the way they are now.” Troll stood so abruptly, he nearly upset the table. “Excuse me, Miss Booth. I have things I must do inside. I need to speak to Eagle.” He knocked over two glasses and a bowl of sorbet hurrying out, leaving Hilary sputtering as Mr. Rabbit cleaned up the mess.
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