“Hand me my phone. I’ll show you a picture of my new bird.”
Gabriel’s breathing became shallow. He had no idea what horror he was about to see.
The man opened his phone, and the nurse reached for it.
There on the screen was a picture of a room with a window. In the window there was sky and the bark of a maple tree.
There on the bed lay a young girl. She was emaciated. Her stick-thin limbs stuck out in odd angles as she draped over the bed. Greasy hair fell over her face.
“Can you tell if a girl is a bird or not?” he asked. “I can. But I like to study birds.”
“Did you buy your little bird?” she asked, handing the phone back.
Gabriel tapped pause. “Do you have the phone? You can get the location from the data.”
“We do have the phone,” Candace said. “The bill is under someone else’s name, so we need a warrant. We’re trying to track that person down, and we’re waiting on the judge to say we can open it. Since we don’t have the code, even once we have the search warrant in hand, it might take a while.”
Gabriel tapped the video back on.
“No, I found her,” the man said.
“What’s your little bird’s name?” Nurse asked.
“Little Bird,” he said.
“We need to make sure your little bird has food and water while you're in the hospital. Is there someone I can call to have them go over and take care of Little Bird?” she asked.
“I’m not planning on being here that long,” he said.
“Sometimes the doctors have to give you some drugs that make you sleep, and we don’t want to forget your Little Bird. What’s the address just in case?” she asked.
“Just up the street from where I found her. Water’s no trouble. Food might be,” he said.
A doctor came in. “Dr. Brachman. I came to check on you.”
Candace leaned in and whispered, “That’s the psychiatrist.”
“Can you tell me why you came to the hospital today?” Brachman asked.
“My pet dragon magicked himself up my nose and into my heart. I can feel him breathing fire in there.” The man rubbed his chest. “I need a doctor to cut me open so my dragon can get back out.”
“He wouldn’t come out on his own?” Brachman asked.
“Normally, I shake a bag of dragon treats and use a high-pitched girly call, Here, draggy!” he said. “Right now, he’s breathing fire in my chest, and it’s real uncomfortable. I need him out.”
“Yeah, well, that or an antacid,” Gabriel muttered.
“We were talking about his Little Bird,” Nurse said.
“Good for you,” Gabriel exhaled.
“Did you drive yourself here?” Nurse asked.
“Nah.”
“Your bird is around here?” she asked.
“Nah, I’m not dumb.”
