GOING CUCKOO: A BiRDIE BRYNES MYSTERY #3

Excerpt:

Chapter One

The rooster was at it again. I thought I’d become immune to his crowing, but because it was Sunday and I intended to sleep in, he woke me early. Fantastic. I’d been living with Mimi for less than two months, but her house had always felt more like home than anywhere else I’d lived. If it wasn’t for her rooster, it would be close to perfect.  

I stumbled downstairs with Clover, my enormous Newfoundland, padding behind me and headed straight to the pantry to find coffee.

Coffee, coffee, coffee. I scanned each shelf—no coffee. How is that even possible? Mimi could probably make it magically appear, but the rooster didn’t wake her.

I turned and saw the can already sitting next to the coffee maker, a note taped to the cover.

Birdie,

I hope the rooster woke you this morning. We have a big project in front of us today. So big that I decided to attend the Sunrise Service. We’ll be emptying the barn, deciding what to keep, donate, and throw away, because it sits on the parcel of property I sold to Just Like Home. They plan to demo the barn and lay the foundation for the ALF at the end of June. It’s probably more than a one-day project, but I think we can make a big dent today. Have plenty of caffeine, and I’ll see you soon.

Mimi

Filter, coffee, water, brew, and now I waited. Hmmm…it sounded like Mimi prayed for the rooster to wake me during her Sunrise Service. I was incapable of thinking beyond that until I had my first cup. I poured some half and half into my favorite mug and used the auto stop to get my lifeline before it had even finished brewing. With just one sip, I immediately felt better and tried to recall if I’d made any plans for the day. Callie was spending the day with Bron, and Luca had said he might stop by later at the end of his shift. My lack of a plan for today was why I’d decided to sleep in, but it looked as though Mimi had already created one for me.

After two cups of coffee, I hit the shower and dressed in my raggedy-est clothes, then pulled my hair into a loose top knot to keep it off my neck. The last time I’d been in the barn Mrs. Moo was still alive, and I was in elementary school. I slipped on an old pair of Vans, so beat up I wouldn’t care if they were trashed. Downstairs, Mimi was waiting for me in her usual uniform of yoga capris and an oversized tee. She wasn’t wearing her Sunday best either. Her Romaine Calm tee had seen better days. Before it had a hole near the hem and five different colors of paint randomly splotched onto it, Mimi used to wear it to garden.

Mimi held two pairs of garden gloves. She handed the denim ones to me.

“Let’s get to it.”

We headed out the kitchen door and walked around to the back of the house to walk past the garden and through her fruit trees. The parcel of land that she’d sold to a developer was on the north side of her property. That piece sat along Krome Avenue, a busy stretch of road that ran at the edge of the Everglades and along the piece of the Miccosukee Reservation where they’d built their casino.

 Clover followed at my heels enjoying the adventure, bounding through tall grass that hadn’t been mowed in a long time, maybe even in her lifetime. Finally, the barn came into view. It was a lot smaller and more dilapidated than I remembered. The metal roof was rusted and the side we approached had a few missing boards.

As we passed by the hole in the wall, Mrs. Moo’s perfume wafted out, a mix of hay and cow that brought me back to my childhood. “It still smells like Mrs. Moo,” I said.

“Of course it does,” Mimi replied.

Although it was not yet the hottest part of the day, the thrum of cicadas made it difficult to hear Mimi. “She lived there for fifteen years, long after she’d stopped giving us milk. Did you know that originally her name was Annabelle, but you couldn’t pronounce that—at least not very well—and that you renamed her Mrs. Moo.”

I laughed. “I’d forgotten that.”

“It was a fine choice for a name. It took Pop-pop a while to get on board with it, but eventually he came around.”

“What do you think we’ll find in there?”

“Oh, probably some tools, maybe fishing gear that belonged to your Pop-Pop. I started using that barn the way some people use their garages after Mrs. Moo died. Then, after Pop-Pop went, I couldn’t bear to get rid of some of his belongings, so I stashed them in there.”   

The door to the barn was partially open. As we approached it, Mimi pointed to a hornets’ nest built under the eave, with a few of its residents flitting around.

“If you don’t startle them, they’ll leave you alone,” Mimi warned.

And that’s when the two of us were startled—the sound of a baby crying came from inside the barn. Peeking inside, I realized the barn was much like I remembered—one high story with a loft for hay and feed, Mrs. Moo’s stall, and an area that I used for imaginative games. The biggest change was a young woman and her baby. Not one that I knew. I side-eyed Mimi. Her expression told me she was just as shocked as me.

When Mimi envisioned what we might find, I was certain it didn’t include squatters.

The young woman looked to be about my age. She was stunning if you could overlook the pair of grimy white shorts that looked like they hadn’t been washed in a month and a lightweight denim shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. The shirt didn’t look as dirty as the shorts, but it didn’t exactly look clean either. Her dark chestnut hair was pulled back into a ponytail and a small widow’s peak gave her a glamourous, albeit dirty, look. Her legs had been ravaged by mosquitos. She cradled a screaming baby in her left arm. Clover snuck her gigantic head around the corner of the barn to see what was making all the ruckus.

“What is that?” the woman asked.

“The sweetest dog you’ll ever meet. Her name is Clover, this is Birdie and I’m Miriam, but please call me Mimi.” She acted as though we found strangers in this barn on a regular basis. I, on the other hand, thought about firing a text off to Luca for some suggestions on the best way to handle this.

“My name is Athena. Is this your barn?”

“It is.” Mimi replied.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize it belonged to anyone. I thought it had been abandoned. I’ll just pack up and get out of here.”

She opened a backpack and picked up a few belongings off the floor, stuffing them into the backpack while continuing to cradle the baby, holding it like a football.

“Let me take the baby off your hands,” Mimi said, holding her arms out in front of her.

Athena glanced at Mimi. “This is Asterisk. She’s a girl.”

I misheard the baby’s name, because it sounded like she’d named her after punctuation.

Mimi held her arms out, palms up. “Please let me help you.”

Athena laid the baby in Mimi’s arms, and Mimi tucked her close.

“Well, of course you’re a girl. I don’t know how I missed it with those beautiful lashes.”

Athena rested her fingertips over her mouth. One tear ran down her dirt-streaked cheek, leaving a winding freshly cleaned trail. She went back to collecting their things and stashed the last of the belongings into the backpack.

Through all of this, I stood behind Mimi, frozen, watching everything that was transpiring around me as though I was watching a scene from a movie. I’d never spent any time around babies, so couldn’t help with that. Athena’s hurried packing left no time for me to help, and anyway, it felt as though offering to pitch-in would’ve been rude, as though Mimi and I wanted to help her out the door.

“I’ll take Asterisk back now,” Athena said.

“You’ll do no such thing,” Mimi’s face was stony stubborn. I’d only seen her like this a couple times in my life, like the time Pop-pop wanted to sell this place so they could move to a condo on the beach, retire and relax.

“We’ll die of boredom,” Mimi had said.

“You love to fall asleep to the sound of the ocean.”

“That’s true. I’m going to book us a hotel room for this coming weekend so we can do that. And whenever I get a whim to do that, we’ll book a room. But I’m not going to sell this place. My parents bought it, and it’s meant to stay in the family. Someday it will be Birdie’s.”  And Mimi’s solution was the final word on that discussion. So, when she told Athena she was going to hang on to Asterisk, I knew she wasn’t going to back down.   

“I haven’t had one this size in my arms since she was a little one.” Mimi threw her elbow and chin in my direction.

“How old is she?” I asked.

“Six months and changing every single day.”

Mimi rocked the baby and said, “Six months is such a great age.” She rocked her again. “Her eyes are getting droopy. I think she wants a nap. Both of you will come back to my house where you can clean up and we’ll help you figure out where to go from here.”

 Athena shook her head as she hooked her backpack over one shoulder.

“I won’t take no for an answer,” Mimi said in her stubborn-old-lady voice and left the barn, baby in her arms, to make the trek back to her house.

I shrugged and said to Athena, “The upstairs shower has great water pressure, and it looks like we wear the same size.”

Athena smiled. “That sounds like heaven. Lead the way.”