Alphabet Allie's Arc

Chapter 12 of 13

Allie left the Manor behind and followed the path until it curved along a low wooden fence. The fence looked freshly painted, the boards still bright in the afternoon sun. A nighthawk sat on the top rail, still as a knot in the wood. His head was tilted down toward the grass. Allie followed his gaze and saw a small spotted newt creeping through the clover below, unaware of the bird above him. Allie's stomach tightened. The nighthawk's eyes were fixed and hungry, and the newt had nowhere to hide. She wanted to shout, but a shout might send the newt darting the wrong way. She looked at the letters on her dress and touched the N near her collar. "N," she whispered. "Nighthawk. Newt. Same letter, same start." That gave her an idea. If both animals belonged to the same letter, maybe she could speak to the bird the way she had spoken to the mouse at the Manor. She stepped closer to the fence and kept her voice low. "You're a nighthawk," she said. "He's a newt. You both start with N. That makes him your neighbor, not your lunch." The bird turned one dark eye on her. Just then a woman in blue scrubs came around the bend of the fence, a red stethoscope swinging at her chest. She carried a small covered dish. "There you are," the nurse said to the bird, ignoring Allie for a moment. "I brought your beetles. You're supposed to be resting that wing, not hunting." She lifted the lid. The nighthawk hopped once, spread his good wing, and dropped down onto her offered arm without a second look at the grass below. The newt scurried under a leaf and vanished. Allie let out the breath she had been holding. The nurse smiled at her. "He's a patient of mine. Won't eat proper food unless someone stalls him first. You did that well." Allie watched the nurse carry the bird back up the path, the beetles rattling in the dish. She had saved the newt, but only halfway on her own. The letter had caught the nighthawk's attention. The nurse had done the rest. Allie touched the N on her dress again and kept walking. Two people had listened to her today. The number was growing.