“I hope this
works.” Ms. Penelope said while dipping a ladle into her concoction she made
earlier.
“Who wants to go
first?” She asked the doves. When none answered she gently picked the fat one
up and put him on the seat that she was sitting on. He tried to fly away, but
Ms. Penelope held him down. She then she pinned him down so his stomach was
facing up and opened up his beak. She picked up the ladle and gently poured the
chipmunk bile down his throat while making magic motions with her hand. She
made her hand tense with muscle and then waved it around like a river. Then she
let it go boneless and wiggled it like she was conducting an orchestra. Then
she closed up the dove’s beak, unaware of what would happen next. The dove’s
eyes turned pink then yellow and then green. Seven feathers fell off it’s back
as it shook, terrified. Ms. Penelope bit her lip as she watched the bird tumble
and twist. Then all of the sudden, the bird turned normal white and it stopped
twisting. It sat up straight and looked at Ms. Penelope as if it wanted to
listen for a command.
“Oh, I do hope
this works.” Ms. Penelope’s lip was bleeding from so much gnawing. She fetched
one of her letters. She put it into the dove’s beak. She also told the dove
where to drop it and to make sure it was a kid. The dove nodded in response and
flew away like a fat, petite angel. The other doves stared in awe and shook
terribly, afraid it was their turn.
“It worked! It
worked! Now…for the others.” Ms. Penelope said and reached for another
wriggling dove.
When the last dove
had turned different colors and was off with the letter, Ms. Penelope sighed
with hope and made herself a cup of green tea. She watched the last dove fly
above the setting sun.
“ Oh, I do hope
they want to help. Oh, I do hope.”
Chapter One
Eleven-year-old Adolfo Lupine paced
up and down his stone pathway in Argentina. The pathway was black and shiny and
on the sides it was garnished with beautiful purple lupines, in honor of his
family’s last name. Although the pathway was beautiful, it didn’t have a
welcome sign or a lamp near the entrance. Instead, it had a large iron gate
that was always locked and the lupines were cut straight and firm like
soldiers.
“Oh,
why is Mama so late? I hate being with Nanny!” Adolfo ran into the huge garden
with an old woman in white clothes chasing after him.
“Adolfo!
Young man, when your parents said that you could get whatever you want, they
didn’t mean you could run away from your nanny!” The nanny spoke to him in
Spanish. The old woman stumbled as she ran. She dusted off her petticoat.
“Huh!
Adolfo, you can play in the garden. I’ll be watching you from the east master
bedroom.” The nanny scolded him scornfully in Spanish. The nanny stomped away,
mumbling about until Adolfo’s parents got home.
“Why
do Mama and Papa have to go to stupid balls? All I do is sit on a velvet stool
and have my tutor teach me English! Ugh!” Adolfo groaned as he stomped passed
the soldier-roses. Adolfo thought living in a mansion was worse than being in
prison. Adolfo scratched at a scab. The only place he could do that was in
private. Well, he actually wasn’t supposed to do it ever, but especially not in
public.
“I
hate being stuck in my mansion! I’m not allowed to do anything a normal kid
could do! My life’s so…oh what is that word in English? Oh, yes! Boring. And
dull! Ugh!” Adolfo kicked a stump.
“Ouch!
Why’d I do that?” Adolfo hit his head, annoyed. The lupines suddenly looked
dreadful and Adolfo wanted to scream and run away, but the gate surrounded all
thirty acres of the mansion.
“Ah!”
Adolfo did a petite and quiet scream, as he was allowed to do that and only
that. Adolfo groaned. He felt like a bear trapped in a zoo. There were always
people asking him: “Adolfo, would
you like a snack?” or, “Adolfo, what would you like? Just name it!” It was the
most obnoxious life ever! Adolfo got so indignant that he picked up a rock and
threw it up into the sky. He put his hands up to catch it, but instead it hit a
bird and the dove (apparently, it was a dove) fell down into his hands instead.
“Huh!”
Adolfo gasped. He’d never touched an animal before and he’d only seen a couple
of dogs. This must be a bird.
“What
should I do? Give it to Nanny? No, she’d through it out the window and yell at
me for touching an animal! Maybe I should bury it? It is dead, after all.” Just
then, the dove opened his eyes and flew out of Adolfo’s hands.
“I
guess not.” Adolfo sighed. Just then, he noticed that the dove had dropped a
letter into his clean and perfect palms. But before he could read it, a
rumbling sound of rubber wheels driving on pebbles sounded from the entrance of
his mansion. He stuffed the letter into his pocket; he would read it later.
“Mother
and Father!” Adolfo cried, jumping for joy. He ran and greeted his elegant
mother and father as they stepped out of the limo.
“Hello,
Mother! Hello, Father! How was the ball?” Adolfo said, hugging his ruby-covered
mother. The woman pulled him away from her silk dress like a dog pulling off a
flea.
“Adolfo,
I’m disgusted of you! You’re pants are ripped and there’s dirt covering your
neck! And your English sounds horrid, did you practice?” Mrs. Lupine spoke in
perfect English and frowned at her stout son.
“Um...well,
you see I got tired of learning so I went into the garden.” Adolfo’s face got
red as a chili pepper when he admitted that he skipped his tutoring. His mother
looked down in disgust.
“Did
Nanny have to chase you like last week?” Mr. Lupine asked, speaking Spanish and
tapping his foot.
“Uh…well…”
Adolfo stuttered until the nanny stomped indignantly out of the mansion. Her
dress was filthy and her hair was like a bird nest.
“Oh,
you bet I had to chase him! It was worse than last week! I ran down the flight
of stairs, threw the kitchen and out the door until he hid in the garden. I had
to give up and watch him from inside the house!” The nanny screamed so close to
Mr. and Mrs. Lupine’s faces that they could smell her stinky breath.
“Adolfo,
young man, is this true?” Mrs. Lupine asked him. Adolfo winced. He knew what
was coming next.
“Yes.
It is true. I am ashamed.” Adolfo said, blushing more furious than ever.
“Well,
you should be! Go up to your room and prepare for a nice whipping!” Mr. Lupine
screamed at him, pointing with his gloved hand to Adolfo’s room.
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