“Of any possible way I thought my day would unfold, the events we just experienced never crossed my mind,” Seth said, drawing Annaliese’s attention as she tried to steer Moe, a contrary donkey if there ever was one, around a rut in the road on Lake Shore Drive. “Frankly, I thought the most excitement I’d see today would be looking over the innovative engine displays at the fair. I have to say, though, that having a man attempt to hold us for ransom, you yanking out a pistol from your, ah, unmentionable, and then watching my little sister toss a percussive smoke grenade into the air, puts the engine excitement to shame.”
After bouncing against the seat when Moe trudged right over the rut instead of avoiding it, Annaliese pushed herself upright, sent a soothing word to Dolly, a donkey she’d recently acquired who was harnessed beside Moe, then turned back to Seth.
To say he was looking as if he’d been through an exciting day was an understatement as his black hair was now peppered with residual soot from the grenade, his jacket sported more than simply oil stains from the engines he’d been tinkering with, and his blue eyes stood out in stark relief against a face that was streaked with dirt, a consequence of the whole Thurman-plowing-them over incident.
“I wasn’t exactly expecting my day to unfold the way it did either since taking five young students to a county fair shouldn’t have turned into a complete and utter disaster,” she admitted, shoving aside a strand of hair that was no longer red but more on the lines of a dirty gray, leaving her looking quite as if she’d aged a few decades over the past few hours.
Truth be told, she felt considerably older than she had when she’d left the house that morning. That rapid aging was obviously a direct result of Norma Jean deciding to play the role of heroine by tossing a smoke grenade—one she’d apparently pilfered from her brother’s stash of unusual inventions—directly into a situation that had already been precarious.
Granted, Norma Jean’s actionshadsaved the day because after they’d managed to crawl their way out of the tent and the smoke dissipated, the dastardly Paulie had been nowhere to be found, clearly having decided to flee from the scene of his foiled skullduggery when police whistles began rending the air after the percussive grenade exploded.
“I wouldn’t call your day acompletedisaster,” Seth argued, drawing Annaliese out of her thoughts as he nodded to the parrot that was perched on her shoulder, one that had its long talons curled into the fabric of her gown. The curling was unquestionably a result of Pippin trying to scare the bird from a perch the ferret considered her personal space, something that had left the parrot digging its talons into Annaliese’s shoulder and refusing to let go. “That parrot has been squawking cheerfully ever since we left the fair. I would think that having a downcast parrot turn cheerful, and in such a remarkably short span of time, suggestsitdoesn’t think the day’s a disaster, and is undoubtedly grateful to you for rescuing it.”
“And while cheerful squawking is lovely to be sure, even though I’m beginning to grow deaf in the ear she’s squawking into, I didn’t rescue her. The poor thing, being almost unable to fly because of the state her feathers are in, simply attachedherself to my shoulder after it fluttered out of the smokey tent since I was the closest perch available.”
“But you didn’t hand her over to Thurman when he whistled for her, nor did she return to him on her own, which means you did, in fact, rescue her.”
“Only because Thurman didn’t want to take the time to pry her off me when the police showed up. Although...” She swatted away a fly. “I suppose, since Thurman tossed a ‘Just keep the bird’ over his shoulder as he was fleeing into the crowd, evidently determined to avoid being questioned by the police, I did, in a roundabout way, remove the parrot from her undesirable situation.”
Seth smiled. “Of course you did, and now you won’t need to worry that the parrot will ever end up in the hands of plume hunters, and better yet, you weren’t required to pay what might have turned out to be an exorbitant price for her.”
“I would have paid an exorbitant price.”
“But you didn’t have to, nor did you end up paying Alfred anything for the monkey.” Seth sent a nod to the back of the wagon where the monkey was curled up in a ball, fast asleep. “I bet she doesn’t think this day is a complete disaster either, especially when she’ll never be forced to ride a bicycle again, nor will she be forced to continue life as a monkey thief.”
Annaliese shot a look to the monkey and couldn’t help but smile. “I imagine Alfred was having some second thoughts about teaching her how to pick pockets after she swiped that billfold from a policeman and got caught in the act.”
“Alfred certainly didn’t hesitate to tell the policeman that you owned the monkey before he turned tail and fled.”
“An unexpected circumstance to be sure, although thank goodness that policeman realized I’d just secured ownership of the monkey and didn’t decide to haul me in for questioning about her pickpocketing ways.”
“Yet another example of why your day isn’t a complete and utter disaster.”
Her lips began to curve. “Are you always this good with cheering a person up?”
For the briefest of moments, Seth’s eyes went rather distant before he tilted his head. “I’m not sure I’ve ever been responsible for cheering a person up before.”
“Of course you have,” she countered. “You certainly lifted Norma Jean’s spirits when she realized her new hat was ruined after the smoke percussive grenade incident and you told her not to fret as you’d foot the bill for a new hat, as long as it wasn’t one that would attract flies.”
“But her cheerfulness didn’t last long once I told her it was unacceptable for her to help herself to any of my inventions, let alone a grenade, without asking my permission first.”
“To which she replied that shedidask your permission, and that youdid, in fact, grant it.”
“I think I would remember if I told Norma Jean she could have a percussive grenade.”
“Unless you were preoccupied when she broached the matter, quite as it seemed you were preoccupied when she asked to borrow your pistol.”
Seth’s brows drew together. “Do you imagine she makes it a habit to ask me for permission about questionable things when she realizes I’m preoccupied?”
“Since it appears it’s a successful tactic, and allows Norma Jean to cover her bases, I’m afraid so.”
“I’m now left wondering what else I may have inadvertently granted her permission to do,” Seth muttered before he gave his nose a scratch. “I suppose I’m going to have to make a point to avoid becoming preoccupied whenever Norma Jean’s around, even if I’m working on something that seems in the process of blowing up.”
“Sound advice to give yourself.”
“Indeed.” Seth blew out a breath. “I can’t help but think that, as you said earlier, my day has now also turned into a bit of a disaster because I have no choice but to conclude, after what transpired and the part my preoccupation played in that transpiring, that I’m the biggest failure of a big brother in all of Chicago.”
“And to that I must respectively disagree.” Annaliese countered. “But before you argue the point, allow me to remind you that you’ve raced to your sister’s rescue time and again, something a failure of a brother would have neglected to do.”
