“TLC is our last stop.” Koze parked the ABC in front of a one-story wooden house with peeling white paint and green shutters in need of repair. He led the way up the rickety steps to the porch and knocked on the frame of a sagging screen door.
“Come in, come in. Door’s not locked,” an irritated voice shouted.
They heard the scream the moment they walked through the screen door. “Help!” an elf-like man yelled as he teetered on the top rung of a ladder. Koze took two long strides, steadied the ladder, and helped the man step down.
“He bit me, that crazy bird.” The man ignored his rescuers and examined his hand. A few clumps of gray hair stood straight up on his shiny head. A pair of wire-rimmed spectacles perched on the end of his long narrow nose, and he wore a long leather apron and pointed-toe boots stretched up to his knees.
“I’ll get the bird.” Koze reached up to the top shelf and retrieved a squawking red bird. He eased it into a tiny cage on the miniature examination table.
“Humph! Thanks, Koze. Who’s this?” He adjusted the glasses on the end of his nose.
“Dr. Leaf is the head of The Leaf Cottage. Dr. Leaf, Halo is a new student at White Feathers.”
“Hello, Dr. Leaf.” She offered her hand, but Dr. Leaf ignored her and focused on the squawking bird.
“Broken wing. Bad temper, that bird.” He opened the cage and told the bird, “You can come out now. I’ll examine that injured wing.”
The bird struggled to stand and limped out of the cage, dragging its right wing across the clean sheet.
“It understood you.” She moved closer to the bird.
“Of course, it did,” Dr. Leaf grumbled while gently lifting the injured wing.
The front door opened directly into what appeared to be the emergency room. The room to the left of the entrance held an assortment of nests, cages, and cribs. An extremely disorganized room to the right of the entrance appeared to the office. An assortment of books, papers, and files haphazardly filled a wall of floor-to-ceiling shelves. A small untidy wooden desk and a threadbare child-sized chair faced the room’s only window.
“Is this an animal hospital?”
“TLC is an animal care center.” The little man straightened his shoulders and adjusted his glasses again.
“TLC. Does that stand for tender loving care?”
“No. It means The Leaf Cottage. I’m Dr. Leaf, and this is my cottage.” He puffed up his chest and turned his attention back to the injured bird.
“Your hand is bleeding a little. Do you want me to clean it with peroxide or put an antiseptic on it? That’s what my aunt Dora does when I get a scratch. You probably need a tetanus shot, too. Have you had one?” She reached down to examine his hand.
“Young lady, I am a doctor. I know how to treat a minor scratch. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to take care of this ill-mannered bird.”
“May I visit with the animals over there?” She motioned to the room with the nests, cribs, and cages.
“Only if you don’t touch anything.”
Koze assisted with the bird and conversed with Dr. Leaf while she made friends with a beautiful but blind white cat named Cotton. Cotton (cannot see) was written on the clipboard attached to the crib. A big orange fish with one fin flopped around in the aquarium near the window. Oscar (cannot swim well) was written on the tag under the aquarium. Lizzie (missing a leg) was written under the small bowl a tiny lizard called home.
“It’s time to leave. Goodbye, Dr. Leaf. Thank you for seeing us,” Koze announced.
“Do you think I can come back and visit the cat, Dr. Leaf? I mean, if I’m still here, may I come back and visit?”
“We’ll see. Goodbye now,” Dr. Leaf replied as he fitted a splint on the bird’s tiny wing.
Koze drove Halo back to the compound, returned the car, and reported the results of the day to Angel Vesta.
“Are you sure?” Angel Vesta swerved her chair around to face Koze.
“Yes, I checked the results of the scan myself.”
“Halo has no talent? No gift?”
“I did not say that she had no talent. I said the scan did not identify a particular talent, or a gift that fits any of the study programs offered at White Feathers.”
Angel Vesta tapped her fingernails on the clear glass desk and read the scan results again. “She’s already twelve, too old to start in the beginning phase of any programs offered here. The Star Festival is less than four months away. She seems to be intelligent but not outstanding in any particular field of study. We will have to help her find a gift. But where can we place her to apprentice?”
“Are you speaking to me?” Koze asked.
“Oh, sorry. Yes, of course I’m talking to you. I’m trying to sort it all out. She simply doesn’t fit into our system. There are so many other places, other planets, even other galaxies for children. I wonder why the Powers sent her to White Feathers.” She continued seemingly unaware of Koze’s presence.
“It’s a puzzle, isn’t it? There are hundreds, even thousands of heavens for older children, the ones who need more time, or need to be part of a group. Our graduates are individuals, assistants to angels serving specific realms. Halo deserves a chance to fly in the realm of her choice. Do you have a suggestion?”
“Dr. Leaf could use an assistant,” Koze volunteered.
“Yes, yes, he certainly needs one. Problem is, he doesn’t want students. He says children are distracting and irritate the animals.”
“I believe he will take her, and Jet, too,” Koze offered.
Angel Vesta glided over to stand by Koze and said, “I will be surprised if he is receptive to the idea, but it is certainly worth a try. Please, go now and ask Dr. Leaf if he will accept them both as apprentices.”
Koze immediately visited Dr. Leaf to discuss the possibility of having apprentices at TLC. As usual, Dr. Leaf had excuses for why the idea wouldn’t work, but when Koze suggested the two new students would help clean and repair the building and work in the garden, a glimmer of interest sparked in the little doctor’s eyes. When Koze mentioned the additional pinfeathers paid to departments accepting apprentices, Dr. Leaf was ready to give the idea a chance. Koze promised to confirm details of the arrangement with Angel Vesta and contact Dr. Leaf that evening.
Koze went back to the administrative offices immediately. Angel Vesta was receptive to everything he discussed with Dr. Leaf. They contacted Dr. Leaf, and the deal was completed.
~ ~ ~
Halo returned to her room to find Amber, Opal, Star, and Zadie waiting to hear about her day.
“You have a message from Angel Vesta’s office, too. I’ll bet it is your study assignment.” Zadie handed her a white envelope with her name printed in block letters on the front. She read it silently first and then out loud to Zadie and the triplets.
“This says: Student Halo. I guess you don’t use last names here. Anyway, it says,
Primary place of study: The Leaf Cottage
Instructor: Dr. Leaf.
Time: Seven Bells, Ninth Month, Twenty-Fifth Day.
I will meet you at the entrance of Star IV.
Signed: Koze”
Not a word was spoken.
“What’s wrong with The Leaf Cottage and Dr. Leaf?”
“Nothing,” Amber quickly told her.
“Dr. Leaf doesn’t have any students,” Opal added.
“Maybe he takes students, but he hasn’t had any since we’ve been here,” Star added.
They all sat in stunned silence for a few seconds.
“Come on. We’ve time to go shopping. Halo has a list of things to buy at Necessities. She even has her pinfeather account. We can grab a bite in the esplanade. My treat,” Zadie broke the awkward silence.
“Okay. I don’t want to buy too much. Angel Vesta will find out any time now that I’m not supposed to be here.”
Zadie led the way through the jumble of streets to the bubble-shaped shop named Necessities. True to its name, the shop carried necessary items such as underwear, regulation tees, socks, and canvas shoes, and the standard knee-tops, which was what they called knee-length pants.
A robot clerk with a long red ponytail and wearing a uniform with the word Necessities printed across her shirt requested her shopping list, scanned it, and asked if she wanted black or brown knee-tops.
“I’d like the blue ones and a pair of these.” She picked up a pair of yellow striped pants.
“Those uniforms are for students assigned to Art and Drama Studies. I do not see a color assigned for TLC students. You may take the standard color or ask your instructor for a color preference. How many and what color do you want?” The robot clerk assembled the requested items from Miss Ruth’s list. “That will be two-point-five pinfeathers,” the clerk said.
“How do I pay for this?” she whispered to Zadie.
“We get 1,200 pinfeathers a year. The receipt will tell you how many pinfeathers you have left. All you have to do is sign the ticket,” Zadie told her.
She signed the ticket, took the brown shopping bag with the Necessities logo on the front, and followed Zadie, Amber, Opal, and Star out of the shop.
“I’m thinking a berry-butter sandwich and honey-dipped crisps.” Opal licked her lips.
“And a cone of sweet ice,” Star chimed in.
“Halo.” She turned to see who called her name and recognized Annie and the two girls who were with her at dinner yesterday.
“We’re on our way to Chilling Berries. Why don’t you come with us? You can tell us about your study assignment. You did get assigned today, didn’t you?” Annie smiled and flipped a long blond curl behind her ear. She wore a pair of hip-hugging pants and a tight striped tee that showed off her slender, developing figure.
Halo noticed the smile on Zadie’s face fade. “We, Zadie, Amber, Opal, Star, and I, have some shopping to do. Thanks anyway.”
“You know, she wants to know what your assignment is,” Star volunteered after they were out of hearing range.
“I don’t mind sharing that information with friends.” She smiled.
They sat under an umbrella in a sidewalk café named Berrylicious. She took their advice and tried a berry-butter sandwich that tasted a lot like peanut butter with honey.
She was relieved to know that she had enough “pinfeathers” left to buy a few colorful accessories for her side of the room, as well as a cute pair of sandals that Zadie called straps. There was credit left in case she stayed here a little longer.
The suns moved toward the horizon, and they hurried to get back to the dorm before suns down. The boy, Jet, was coming out of a shop, and she started to wave at him, but stopped when Zadie spotted him and waved. They stood silent, their eyes seeming to make contact, and then waved goodbye.
“You know Jet?” Zadie asked.
“Yeah. Koze took me to the maintenance shed today, and I met him there. He seems okay, but Koze says he can’t hear.”
“No. He doesn’t hear or speak,” Zadie replied curtly.
She followed the girls back to the dorm and invited them to watch her try on the new outfits. They approved all the new clothes and gave advice on what to wear where.
She told Zadie good night and decided maybe White Feathers wasn’t such a bad place after all.
Koze arrived promptly at seven bells the next morning to escort her to TLC and a somewhat reluctant mentor, Dr. Leaf. Jet, toolbox in hand, was waiting at the entrance to Star II when they arrived. His white T-shirt and jeans were new, and he wore his shiny, long black hair tied neatly with a leather strap.
“Is he going with us?”
“Dr. Leaf accepted Jet as an apprentice also. You both begin your studies today.”
“Dr. Leaf wants Jet? I mean, not that he wouldn’t like Jet or anything, sorry, I keep saying the wrong thing. Dr. Leaf really doesn’t want us, does he?”
She glanced at Jet, who stared at the ground as if he were waiting for grass to shoot up through a rock. Koze’s eyes were sending flashing signals to the world.
“Dr. Leaf is cool with the idea. I am sure about that,” Koze stated.
She rolled her eyes and tried not to giggle. Koze surely picked up a new word quickly.
“I’ll bet,” she muttered to herself.
“I beg your pardon?” Koze flashed.
“Nothing.” She peeped at Jet to see if he was paying attention. If he was, she couldn’t tell.
Koze rapped on the door, and Dr. Leaf yelled, “It’s open like always.”
“I reckon you know how to fix a ladder, Jet.” Dr. Leaf stretched as tall as possible to speak to the boy who was at least two heads taller than he. “Then there’s the porch. Needs a lot of work, broken boards, rotten boards, missing nails, paint, and the works. Can you handle that?” He was talking so loud she wanted to cover her ears.
“Jet can read lips. If he can see your face, he can understand what you are saying,” Koze announced.
“Right,” Dr. Leaf lowered his voice, repeating his assignment, and the chirps and growls inside the patients’ room calmed quickly.
Jet nodded in understanding.
“The girl, Halo, will work inside. Start with cleaning cages and putting clean sheets on the cribs and baskets. If you can do that correctly, then I’ll show you how to change bandages. Understand?” He stood as straight as his humped back would allow, which made him almost as tall as she, or four feet, eleven inches.
“I’ve got it…sir.” She spied stacks of paper and towel-size sheets tucked on a shelf near the cages. Cleaning cages and changing bandages didn’t sound like much of a learning experience. She blinked back a tear and bit her lip.
Guess they couldn’t find a place for a no-talent kid.
“I’ll be going now.” Koze paused and added, “Dr. Leaf can beep me if you need something.”
“Goodbye, Koze,” Dr. Leaf said. “Well, come on. Cages, baskets, and beds cleaned first. Put paper in the bottom of cages, change pillow cases and fluff up the pillows in the baskets then put clean sheets on every crib. I’ll be in the garden. Find me when you finish. Don’t upset the patients. They don’t know you. Any questions?”
Before she could ask, he left.
Well, that pretty much does it for me. I’m doing maid service for a bunch of sicko animals while the smart kids get smarter. I’ll bet they’re all laughing and calling me the dumb kid with the job that nobody wants. Oh yeah, a job with the famous grouch himself. She tried to figure out the best place to start.
“Dr. Leaf might be a good doctor, but he sure wouldn’t win any housekeeping awards.” Thank heavens most of the animals were small and not scary. Cage doors swung free, allowing birds to fly away at will, but they seemed to like and even cling to their cages. The beds and baskets were the size of doll cradles with rockers. He even had a small table covered with white sheets like the one in the entry room. She hoped that he didn’t expect her to help with surgery. She wasn’t sure she could handle seeing blood and all that.
“Romeo. Romeo,” a big green parrot screeched and stabbed at her hand with his beak. She jerked back from Romeo’s fancy bamboo cage so fast she almost fell.
“Stop that. You scared me to death.”
“Romeo. Romeo.”
“Okay. I got it. Your name is Romeo. Well, Romeo, there’s no Juliet here, so scoot over in your corner while I move this paper. Yuck, you are one messy bird.”
The bird spied her necklace and launched toward her neck.
“Romeo. Stop it.” Dr. Leaf slammed the screen door and jumped between her and the bird. “Um. He gets excited when he sees something shiny. Keep your jewelry out of sight. Better still, leave it in your room.” He eyed the bird. “Don’t bite. You know better.”
“Thanks.” She dropped the shell part of her necklace under her T-shirt.
He did a quick survey of her work before going outside to examine Jet’s progress. He was yelling instructions so loud, it was good Jet couldn’t hear.
Dr. Leaf doesn’t get it. Jet can’t hear no matter how loud he screams.
Romeo stayed quiet while she changed the paper in the bottom of the cage. The feathers on the back of his neck stood up while she worked.
“Pretty, pretty,” Romeo yelled when she filled his water bowl.
“Romeo, good Romeo.” She smiled, held out a berry in her palm, and watched Romeo quickly take it without biting her. She rearranged the room so the empty cages, baskets, and supplies were on one end, and the sick bay creatures were categorized in neat rows labeled nests, cages, and cribs.
She counted sixteen birds including Romeo, two lizard things, two furry things that might be related to squirrels, one cat, and the goofy orange fish. Cotton, the white cat, was definitely blind, and a couple of the birds wore leg or wing splints. Lizzy the lizard leaped around on three legs, and Oscar the fish flopped around like he’d never known how to swim. The other patients looked old and maybe lame. She hoped they didn’t have something like a virus or chicken pox or mumps. Maybe Dr. Leaf liked having them around—after all, they couldn’t talk back. She shook her head, answering her own thoughts… Just ask him.
She was stuffing a pile of soiled papers in the can marked TRASH when Dr. Leaf poked his pointy head in through the doorway. “Break time. Get the boy and come out here. It’s time to teach you about the healing garden. Don’t drag your feet.”
She spied Jet squatting, pulling nails out of the rickety steps, and reached out to tap him on the shoulder. She yelled when he grabbed her hand in midair, almost throwing her to the ground. She watched the fierceness in his green eyes soften before he tapped “sorry” with his forefinger, the words translating instantly from his wrist link.
“Hey, I didn’t mean to scare you. Do you always grab people like that? You scared me to death.” She jerked her arm away and added, “Well, probably not to death, seeing that I’m already dead.”
Jet shook his head and tapped, “I’m sorry.”
“Dr. Leaf says it’s break time, and we need to go to the healing garden.” She led the way through the back door, muttering to herself, “Jet is one scary boy. I don’t care if he follows me or not. What’s with him, anyway? Is he afraid of people or what? Well, people are probably afraid of him.”
Dr. Leaf handed out writing pads, instructing them to write the name of every plant, root, vine, bulb, so on and so forth, do a simple sketch, and write a description for each one. He bounced from row to row, pointing from one bush, vine, or plant to another. She struggled to keep up and wondered how Jet could read lips and write at the same time.
She studied the fuzzy fern-like plants in elevated wooden boxes, vines climbing over trellised fences, rows of root plants blossoming surrounded by bushes, and tall plants tied to stakes.
“You will memorize the name of every plant in this garden. Learn to recognize each one by the shape of its leaf. Please notice, some of them are in bloom. You need to be able to identify the bloom. Number One: Memorize the name and how to recognize each plant, and then learn its use. Understood?” His bushy eyebrows moved up and down when he talked. Two tufts of frizzy gray hair stood straight up on his otherwise-bald head. Pity those bushy eyebrows couldn’t be transplanted to his head.
He was interrupted by a robot dressed in yellow coveralls riding a unicycle with a rear basket. The robot stopped at the gate to the garden, took three boxes from the basket, placed them on a wooden picnic table, got back on the unicycle, and left.
“You have thirty minutes for lunch,” Dr. Leaf announced.
“Is that a robot?” she asked Jet. He nodded and continued to page through his notes.
She sat across the table from him and tried to think of something to say. What did it matter anyway? He couldn’t hear or talk unless he used the arm pad. She wondered if Jet worried about being a loser like she did. Being able to repair cars and fix things probably counted as a talent. Cleaning cages and changing bandages didn’t rate high on the talent scale. She hadn’t planned to be a housekeeper and maid for a bunch of sick creatures. Learning about plants in the healing garden might be worth a point or two, if she could actually remember all those names.
Maybe they were the only two people at White Feathers with no talent. Angel Vesta said everyone flew up on Birth Day. Exactly where did they fly? Maybe angels need maids and handymen. She decided to ask Koze when he came back. He might not be a real person with a brain, but he was definitely smart.
“Uh, did you get the name of that thing in the wooden box? You know the one with the fuzzy leaves?” She peeped over Jet’s shoulder, hoping he would let her see his notes.
“Burnleaf.” Jet tapped the name carefully on his wrist link.
“What about the root thing, the one with the purple leaves?” She leaned forward again, trying to see his notes.
“Ache powder.” He turned the page and pushed his pad across the table to her. She was surprised to see his drawing of the plant. He even had the colors right.
Lunch was interrupted by Dr. Leaf’s screams. He yelled loud enough to disturb every creature in the cottage.
“My spotted berries. Destroyed.”
He ran up the steps to the back porch, grabbed the end of a rope, and pulled with all his might. The metal bell on the roof clanged in unison with Dr. Leaf’s yells. “Koze, come fast.”
“What’s happening?” she yelled to Jet.
“My precious spotted berry bush! I had two of them. Now I have only one.” He pointed to the smashed bush tossed on the ground after being stripped of leaves, berries, and roots.
“What’s a spotted berry bush?” She mouthed the words to Jet.
“What’s a spotted berry? I’ll tell you what it is. It is the most valuable plant in this garden. It’s a healing plant. One of the only two healing plants I have. Who would do this to me?” Dr. Leaf was nearly in tears when Koze flew an ABC into the garden.
They watched in stunned silence as Koze listened to Dr. Leaf’s hysterical ramblings.
“Koze. A dead bush. Somebody or something has destroyed one of my precious spotted berry bushes. These are the only healing ones I have. I can’t find replacements anywhere on the island.”
Koze knelt down in the garden, poking his long, gloved hand into the dirt around the uprooted bush. His star-shaped eyes flashed like mad as he dictated a monotone message into his arm pad.
“Is he talking to you?” she asked Jet.
Jet shook his head.
“I thought he used that pad to talk to you.”
Jet put a finger to his lips indicating she should quit talking. They watched Koze sort through the debris, selecting broken roots and twigs to take inside the cottage. Dr. Leaf ran along behind him, his short arms cradling the remains of the bush.
~ ~ ~
Jet waited for the door to slam before going over to examine the remaining bush. He picked up one of the wish berries, rolled it in his fingers, squeezed out the juice, and tasted it.
“Have you ever seen a bush like this before?” she questioned him.
Jet avoided her eyes, shook his head, and walked out of the garden and through the gate toward the trail to the forest.
“Hey, where’re you going?” she yelled after him then gave up in disgust.
“Like I thought he could hear me. Guess he’s had enough of TLC for today.”
She sifted through the dirt around the hole where the bush once stood, found some leaves, and carried them to the cottage where Dr. Leaf and Koze were examining the evidence.
“I found a few leaves, and they seem pretty fresh. I bet if you put them in water, they’ll sprout roots. My aunt Dora does it all the time with her roses. Her roses are beautiful.” She handed the leaves hopefully to Dr. Leaf and opened a cabinet door.
“I’ll get a vase or a bottle, something to put them in.”
“No. I’ll find something. You can leave now. Class dismissed.” Dr. Leaf cleared his throat before adding a terse, “Thank you.”
“I’m trying to help.” She carefully placed the leaves in a basket by the porch, disappointed by Dr. Leaf’s abrupt dismissal.
“Can you find your way back to the compound?” Koze asked.
“Sure. No problem.”
~ ~ ~
The girl stood at the top of a cliff beyond the Star Points, her face lifted toward the sun. The Rogue Sea’s gray water crashed against the black rocks below. This was her favorite place, her secret. She loved the feel of her hair flying in the wind, the taste of salt on her lips, and the thrill of escaping the protective borders of the Star Points.
“What a joke. The Star Points aren’t for protection. They’re here to keep us inside, like prisoners. Why? So we can practice our talents until they are perfect and then give them away. Why do they do it? Angels. Everyone here wants to be an angel assistant, even the ones with pitiful gifts. What use is one small talent? None. Their gifts are useless. They should be thrilled to add them to mine where they can make a big difference.”
She laughed out loud, her hair flying around her like a windmill whirling in the wind.
“Poor things, they’re trying to protect their puny talents. I don’t need their gifts, but I will have them, for no reason other than to eliminate the competition.”
She watched Dr. Leaf frantically ring the bell at The Leaf Cottage beyond the cliffs. Koze came running, just as she’d anticipated. She laughed at Halo gathering up the broken branches, trying to help, and clapped with glee when Jet ran away from TLC to go to his hiding place.
“The time has come. Jet’s secret is a secret no more.” She raised a triumphant fist. “Dr. Leaf’s Clinic is doomed without the spotted berry bush. Yes, this is going to be fun.”
She lifted an eyebrow and studied the new girl. She hadn’t planned on a new student, especially one arriving midyear. It didn’t matter anyway. The girl had no talent. Why else would Angel Vesta send her to Dr. Leaf?