WHAT IT IS
She felt just like the migrating Canada goose flying overhead; Margaret Brookside was heading to the fine state of Louisiana. She couldn’t believe her luck when Davey Doucet offered her an all expense paid trip to the Pelican state in exchange for some detective work. Doucet warned her it would be monotonous, needle-in-a haystack work but if she was up for it…UP FOR IT…Louisiana AND detective work…what is not to be up for?
Margaret spent five days in New Orleans poking around the French quarter but with no luck and then, as instructed, rented a car to traverse the rest of the state. The man at the car rental agency was deep south and smooth as butter, calling her his Pennsylvania Pretty as he answered two or three phones at a time. He eventually got all the paper work in order, pointed out the large window to the Ford Focus she’d be driving and suggested she wait in the car while he moved his truck that was parked in front of the rental. Margaret waited patiently, a wily grin crossed her face as she studied the decal of a chef’s hat on the truck’s tailgate. Glancing down at the paperwork in her hand, she was surprised to see it signed by someone Ellie was more familiar with than she was…Rene Boudreaux… a chef at the Mercantile Hotel.
WHAT IT IS NOT
Although he was the new interim leader of INSECT, Graham still liked to keep tabs on day to day projects, especially ones he had personally worked on.
Cathy stood in front of his desk, gazing down at the floor at nothing in particular waiting for him to ask for the third time if she still believed that’s what happened. In the outer office, Graham had informed her, were two of INSECT’s finest Ornithologists and they were more than capable of setting the record straight. Graham summoned the two scientists, and two twenty-something women strode through the large maple door with the utmost of confidence. The first to speak was Janet and she declared that as an expert on hummingbirds she could state categorically they didn’t “hitch” a ride on Canada geese for migration purposes. The second scientist, trying desperately not to giggle, said she worked with geese for over five years and had never seen this migration myth.
Cathy stood like a stone statue, feeling the ridicule of the entire room. Graham wanted to know what became of the hummingbird he had been training and all she could offer up was it escaped from the compound while a flock of Canada geese flew overhead. She said once again, the hummingbird landed on the lead goose and disappeared with the flock.
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