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The bulldog stared up bitterly at Detective Michaels as Birdie forced herself to close her mouth.  Elbowing Percy, who was gaping at him with his mouth flapping open and shut like a bass on a fishing show, Birdie whirled around and flung her arms in the air.  “Ladies of Pemberely, I give you…Detective Michaels!”

His lips twitching, Detective Micheals bowed, still holding the bulldog. The ladies burst into applause, some more enthusaistically than others.  The woman with the ferret around her neck barely pressed her plump palms together, her lips twisted in a pout.

“Wasn’t that wonderful?” a woman in a purple hat cried.

“It’ll be brilliant for the Zoobilation!”  cried the younger woman who had defended them earlier.  “Espiecially if we get them to muse about the legend before actually revealing the elephant…oh what fun!”

“And we can get that yoga teacher…the weird one.  What’s her name?  Oh right!  Willow Lake!”

Birdie groaned, and Percy looked at her oddly.  “What?”

“Shut up!”  she hissed.  “I’m listening!”

“Well you don’t have to be so rude,” Percy muttered, folding his arms over his chest and glaring at her through his small silver spectacles.  Rolling her eyes, Birdie strained to sort the woman’s voice from the chaos of chatter around her.

“She can hold a seance or do tarot card readings or something before the magic show, calling up the spirit of the elephant!” the woman continued, waving a half eaten cookie.  “I bet we could go up another $50 on ticket prices.”

“Wait until Halston Junior League hears about our Zoobilation!”  a woman with a chignon so tight her cheekbones looked like razors cackled, clapping her hands.

“Mr. Pemberely!” a woman cried, rushing over to him as he tried to make his way over to Detective Michaels, who was still holding the perturbed bulldog.  “Tell me, are all the animals in your shop magical?”

“I went there the other day and there were no animals,” a woman sniffed.  “How can you have a pet shop with no animals?”

“No animals!” an older woman trilled.  “In a pet shop?  How odd!”

Birdie nudged Percy with a small grin.  “Finally, some answers,” she muttered.

“I don’t know how he’s going to get out of this one,” Percy whispered, his thin cheeks pink.

Glancing their way, Mr. Pemberely cleared his throat.  “Ladies, if you’ll excuse me, I must collect my dog.”

“He’s coming over here!” Percy squeaked.  “What do we do?”

Birdie gave him a withering stare.  “Do you want us to go run and hide?”

“Yes!” Percy’s long neck bobbed and he turned to scurry away, only to smack straight into Mrs. Abigail Adam’s enormous bosom.  Stuttering apologies, Percy wrung his hands and ducked his head, scurrying in the opposite direction of Mr. Pemberely.

“How did you do that?” Mrs. Abigail Adams asked breathlessly, holding a hand to her heaving bosom.  “Birdie, I’m amazed!  You have a true gift for magic.  How do you do your tricks?”

“They’re a secret,” Birdie said honestly, not bothering to add they were a secret to even her.

“Well it’s wonderful, just wonderful!  Come back on Wednesday night, when the board is meeting.  We’ll get you set up with a location and signs and posters…oh, how wonderful!  When this Zarina comes, Pemberely shall be as successful as it first was!”  Perspiring heavily and in desperate need of a cookie, Mrs. Adams fluttered into the crowd.  Shaking her head, Birdie looked at Sassy and muttered, “I don’t think these ladies understand what the curse really does.”

“They don’t.”  Birdie glanced up to see Mr. Pemberely standing in front of her, clutching Max in his arms.

“But you do.”  She stared up at him, trying to peer through the layers of make up over his striped furry face and the cheap wig pasted onto his cheeks.  “What do you want, Mr. Pemberely?”

“I suspect the same thing you do.”  He gave her a shy smile, shifting Max in his grasp.  “But I wouldn’t want to talk about it here.  How about my shop?  Say in two hours?”  Before she could agree, he melted into the crowd, Max glaring at her over his shoulder.

“Birdie, you’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?” Detective Michaels mummured, sliding up next to her.

“You heard that?”

He nodded, chewing on his lip thoughtfully.  “Do you really think it was Max talking?”

Birdie paused.  “I don’t know what I think right now.”

“I don’t either,” the detective admitted, plunging his hands in his pockets.  “All I know is this thing gets weirder and weirder every minute.  Isn’t Willow Lake your mother?”

Birdie glared at him, and the detective stifled a laugh.  “Just checking.  I’m going to go get Mr. O’Neil.”

“He’s here?”  Birdie glanced around.  “Where?”

“Interviewing some of the ladies in the front parlor.  They wouldn’t let him in here for fear of revealing Zoobilation secrets.”  Detective Michaels made quotation marks in the air with his fingers.  “I’ll be back in a minute.”

Alone with Sassy, Birdie plopped down in an empty folding chair and rubbed the King Charles Spaniels’ ears.   “What do you think, girl?” she whipsered.  “Do you think that dog is really Max?”

Sassy nudged her hand with her cool nose, then stared over her shoulder.  Birdie turned, half expecting to see Percy sulking behind her.

Instead, she saw the black cat from Mr. Pemberely’s shop.   Licking it’s paw, the cat paused and raised its head, its yellow stare boring into her.  Suddenly, Birdie shivered.

It couldn’t be.  Could it?  Was it possible?

Her mind racing, Birdie leaped to her feet.

She had something she had to know before she met Mr. Pemberely in two hours.

Stay tuned, Invisible Friends!  We have a new delicious recipe, followed by Dallas Jean and more Comfort and Whimsy!  Stay tuned!

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