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Bleary eyed and barely suppressing a yawn, Birdie slid into the diner seat across from Frankie.

“Well, good morning to you!”  Frankie’s sarcasm was thicker than the syrup caked on the menu.  “Sleep well?”

“No.”  Birdie shook her head.  “Only about three hours.”

“What?  What were you doing all night?”  Frankie’s sour lip uncurled and her snarl melted.

“Reading.”  Birdie smiled up at the waitress.  “OJ, scrambled eggs, bacon, short stack, hashbrowns, sausage and um…”  She scanned the menu.  “Toast please.  With jam.”

Frankie blinked at her, then glanced at the waitress.  “Oh, um, I just wanted the French Toast and scrambled eggs.  With milk.”

“No problem.”  The waitress sighed and looked at Birdie’s tiny figure enviously.  “I used to be able to eat like that.”  She looked down at her thick theighs and scowled.  “Menopause is a….well, it sucks girls.  Remember that.  Hopefully by the time you reach that age you won’t have to deal with that problem.”  Muttering to herself, she took their menus and headed back to the kitchen.

Frankie stared after her, then shook her head.  “Ghost story?”

Birdie raised her bloodshot eyes from their aimless stare at the table’s slick black surface.  “Huh?”

“Were you reading a ghost story?” Frankie drew the words out slowly, her tongue clicking at the end.

“No.”  Birdie reached into her backpack and slapped a pile of papers and a thick manila folder on the table.  “This.”

Frankie stared at it in horror.  “What is that?  Is that for our English project?”

“We have a project in English?”  Birdie cringed.  “When’s it due?”

“Next week.  It’s the one where you choose a book and outline the themes and choose between one of five options”–

“Oh good.”  Birdie exhaled, reaching eagerly for her orange juice as the waitress set it down.  “I’ll do Frankenstien. I know all about that.”

Frankie smiled her thanks up at the waitress as a plate of French Toast slid in front of her.  “My dad wouldn’t tell me anything last night.  You have to tell me what’s going on.”

Between frenzied bites and several glasses of juice, Birdie recounted the events over the past few nights to Frankie, whose eyes grew wider and wider.   “And then, when I got home, I read all these.”  She gulped down her eggs and speared the sausage with her fork.  “Tell your mom her meatloaf sandwich is awesome, by the way.  That dinner was amazing.”

“Who cares?”  Frankie’s chin dangled inches off the table as she raised the syrup bottle, aiming it at Birdie’s head.  “What did the papers say?”

Birdie glanced around, lowering her voice.  “Apparantly, Mr. Pemberely learned more than he let on when he studied that Native American tribe.  Not only did he learn all their legends, he became part of one.”

“What?” Frankie gasped.

Birdie nodded.  “An older woman there, a leader of the village, told him that she was the spirit of a black cat, there to guard the tribe forever in return for some gift a priest had given the gods before.  Mr. Pemberely was so enchanted by the idea of a animal spirits reincarnating in human form he asked her to show him how the secret ceremony was done.  She trusted him, so she did.  And the night before Mr. Pemberely returned to school, he did the ceremony on his own. The next morning, the old woman was gone.  The tribe was furious, and are still looking for him today.”

“And all the papers told you that?”  Frankie whispered, her face pale.

Birdie shook her head.  “There were some letters that told me that.  I researched the rest.  The real important part of the papers was that ever since, Mr. Pemberely believes he has power to save the spirit of animals.  All the papers in here are of him trying to track down mystical or special animals, like dogs that saved little girls or cats that can sense death.  He seems to think he can give them all a normal life, or he can set their spirits free.  And apparently, he’s got a theory that the zoo is on sacred ground.  That’s why he wants to buy it so bad.”

Frankie shuddered.  “That’s creepy.”

“What’s creepy is Max.”  Birdie doused her pancakes in syrup.  “He’s a greedy human living in a bulldog’s body, and he’s using Pemberely like a puppet.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well Mr. Pemberely has this warped delusion that he’s saving all the unloved, unappreciated, freaks or strange animals like him. He’s trying to create this loving human-animal hybrid world.  Max just wants money.  So he’s encouraging Pemberely to go get all these strange mystical animals, and pulling strings to buy a zoo…” Birdie slid her fork in her pancakes.  “But instead of just frolicking behind the zoo gates, old Max has a more profitable idea.”

“You mean…” Frankie shuddered.

“Yup, a paid freak show.”  Birdie stuffed the pancakes in her mouth, the worlds tumbling out around it.  “The Zoo of Horrors and Legends.  And old Max will be the director of it.”

Stay tuned, Invisible Friends!  We have a new recipe tomorrow and a new Butterfly Dress Friday!  Then more Comfort and Whimsy Saturday!  Stay tuned!

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