Chapter 2 - SNOW’S TERRIBLE SENTENCENathaniel’s face lost all color.
Rebecca stared at the parrot.
Clara slowly climbed down from the ladder.
“What did he say?”
Snow clicked his beak.
“Kill that old woman!”
The cheerful rhythm made the words more disturbing.
Nathaniel lifted Snow from his shoulder and placed him on a nearby chair.
“Stop.”
Snow fluffed his feathers.
“On her birthday!”
Clara looked at her brother.
“Where did he hear that?”
“I don’t know.”
“He was on your shoulder.”
“He lives in Grandmother’s conservatory.”
Rebecca bent to retrieve the gift box.
Her hands were shaking.
I stepped into the golden light.
“Perhaps Snow would like to tell us himself.”
Everyone turned.
Clara’s eyes widened.
“Grandmother.”
I wore my dark-blue velvet dress and pearl necklace.
I had chosen them before dinner.
At ninety, one learns not to wait for other people to decide when an occasion begins.
Nathaniel forced a smile.
“You ruined the surprise.”
“I appear to have interrupted a different one.”
Rebecca stood.
“Mother, it was only something the bird heard on television.”
Snow rarely watched television.
He spent his days in the glass conservatory beside the library.
The nearest screen was two rooms away.
“What program?” I asked.
Rebecca opened her mouth.
No answer came.
Clara looked at the parrot.
“Snow imitates voices.”
“Yes,” I said.
“He used Nathaniel’s voice.”
Nathaniel’s expression tightened.
“He used a sound resembling mine.”
Snow hopped onto the back of the chair.
“Have to kill her,” he said.
Then he made a ringing sound.
Three rising electronic notes.
Nathaniel’s right hand moved toward his jacket pocket.
A small reaction.
Quick.
But I saw it.
His phone used the same ringtone.
I had heard it many times during breakfast.
Clara noticed too.
“That’s your phone.”
“Thousands of people use that sound.”
“Snow hears yours every day.”
Rebecca stepped between them.
“We are not accusing anyone because a bird repeated a phrase.”
“Correct,” I said. “We are asking a question.”
I approached the table.
The birthday cake remained covered.
Crystal glasses formed perfect rows.
One place setting waited at the head.
Mine.
“Who did Snow hear?”
No one answered.
I placed one hand on the dining table.
“Someone said those words near my bird.”
Nathaniel laughed nervously.
“Grandmother, the sentence could be a joke.”
“What was funny?”
He looked toward Rebecca.
She avoided his eyes.
Clara crossed her arms.
“Did either of you hear him say it before tonight?”
Rebecca answered too quickly.
“No.”
Snow turned toward her.
“Blue bottle,” he said.
A crystal glass trembled beneath Rebecca’s hand.
“Blue bottle for the old woman.”
May you like
That was when I uncovered the birthday cake.
And found that one slice had already been marked.
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