Eric--Part Forty-Two

Splog # 185

Forty-Two

 Kiz beamed at Eric. "Me, too." She tugged on his sleeve to get his ear close to her lips. "That shirt is way too big for you, you know."

 Eric replied in a hushed tone. "I know. It's not mine. Mine got all wet and Cor let me borrow one of his."

 "Did you go swimming with your shirt on?"

 "No," Eric laughed. "I actually fell in a fountain."

 "The fountain with the monkey and the fish?"

 Eric thought for a moment and found himself mostly remembering the sheep.

 "Yes. And there was a sheep and a - "

 "Horse!" Kiz finished for him. "We don't really go there," she elaborated. "Daddy says that's a place where light and darkness cotingle."

 She brought this out with a sort of modest pride in knowing the word. Eric was considering whether it would be appropriate to offer a correction when she inquired, looking thoughtful,

 "Is that word right - cotingle?"
 "I think maybe what you mean is commingle," Eric gently suggested.

 "Commingle," Kiz tried out the sound of it. "Commingle, that's probably right. But I bet it tingles when it happens." 

 Eric had to laugh at this sally and Kiz shortly joined in with him.

 Splog and Kiz's parents were now standing, watching the two youngsters laughing heartily. Jan walked to the water bucket, rinsed the cloth he'd wiped the table with and added it to the clutter on the dumbwaiter.

 Hes, meanwhile, was thanking Eric for keeping Kiz entertained during their discussion.

 "I don't know who kept who entertained but it was quite pleasant to spend time in conversation with someone so erudite and, at the same time, amusing," Eric said, half to Hes and half to Kiz.

 "You know I don't know that word, so I think you're just teasing me."

 Eric crouched next to Kiz and spoke softly. "It means you express yourself clearly and intelligently and a dialogue with you is something worthwhile. Thank you for your patience and forthrightness." And he stuck out his hand to shake with her.

 Kiz rushed into his arms and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Eric struggled to maintain his balance as she wrapped her arms around him and hugged tightly.

 "You can come over and visit for a little while if you want," she began saying in his ear and then he did fall over and Kiz landed with a thump on her bottom as a commotion enveloped the room.

 Eric was hearing flapping and feeling small gusts of wind when he realized that a bird had flown into the enclosed space. Everyone had their arms up around their heads and Eric had pulled Kiz close to him and pressed her to his chest by the time the furor ceased.

 Eric looked up to see a rather large bird perched on the water bucket, not far away. The bird was looking at him and, as Eric looked back at it, it took turns staring for a moment at each person in the vicinity. Then it thrust its head into the bucket and gobbled at the water. Eric had time to take stock of the bird and find that it was rather unusual. It was large enough to be a raptor of some sort but didn't seem to be built with the admirable economy those hunters of the air possessed. Somehow this bird had too much plumage and its coloring was extraordinary. It was all over shades of yellow and gold. And it looked soft and pettable. Nothing in its eyes threatened injury if one approached it. And now it was watching Eric again. Eric glanced at Hes and then gently pushed Kiz over to her mother. The bird watched this exchange and then looked to Splog. Eric found Splog's countenance to be  rather expressive, as if he were communing with the bird. The bird looked from Splog back to Eric, hopped down from its perch and waddled up to the seated boy. It put its head down to its chest and rummaged among its plumage with its beak. After a moment, it plucked a small yellow feather and remained in front of Eric with the tiny object in its beak. A couple of times, its head jerked forward towards Eric.

 "I think you should probably accept," Splog's voice murmured.

 Eric slowly raised one arm and gingerly took the feather from the bird. The offering accepted, the bird jerked its head in the boy's direction a couple more times, and then hopped up to the table, moved awkwardly to a window and dived through it.

 Everyone was silent for a time and Kiz was the first to recover. She pulled the feather Splog had given her from wherever she had sequestered it and ran to Eric.