The Madrona Heroes Register: Underneath It All

Chapter 11 - The Mango Mural

Ollie drew faster. But his drawing wasn’t even half done.

FLAP. FLAP. FLAP. Ollie was getting even more frustrated. That stupid bird was going to ruin everything.

The bird flapped harder. Ollie could feel it slipping away. Ollie’s drawing was getting ruined. Not only was it not complete, but it was frenzied and sloppy. The bird was now hovering a foot in the air and flapping furiously. Ollie felt the bird slip away completely and then CRACK Ollie’s pencil snapped in two.

Ollie knew exactly what would happen next. The bird would leave. It would fly away as fast as it could from Ollie. And it would never return. But that’s not what happened.

The bird flew straight at Ollie, its beak aimed at his head like the tip of a spear. Ollie put his hands up to cover his face but the bird made contact. It squawked and squealed, pecking at Ollie’s head and hands in a rage. Ollie batted wildly at the bird, but he didn’t connect. He couldn’t see what he was doing as he was covering his face from the bird’s attack.

Then THUNK. And THUNK THUNK. And a dozen more THUNKS. And then silence. The bird was gone. Ollie was crouched on the ground in a ball. He had tried to make himself as small as possible to avoid the bird’s attack. With the bird apparently gone Ollie dared to take his hands away from his face. Long scratches criss-crossed the recently healed cat scratch Ollie had received at the park. A thin line of blood had formed in each one. Ollie burst into tears.

§

“What the hell is going on here?!” Gore Grater boomed.

Ollie had stopped crying but was still sitting on the ground knees up to his chest, not entirely sure what to do next.

The area where he had been sitting was a shambles. Planters were up ended. Some plants had fallen to the ground. Many of Ollie’s drawings were ruined. His notepad was covered in dirt. But something more fundamental was amiss. The mangoes that were usually the old man’s afternoon snack were everywhere but on the trees. It was a huge mess.

“Oh boy. You’re trouble kid. You know that? You’re not just in trouble, you are trouble.” Luce Laboraties head of security pulled out his walkie-talkie cell phone, “Dr. Trace. Yes, It’s me. Your son has vandalized the greenhouse. You’re gonna want to come over here.”

It normally took at least five minutes to get to the greenhouse from Dr. Trace’s building. She made it in under three. But they were the longest three minutes of Ollie’s young life.

Samantha Trace’s eyes flashed with anger as she surveyed the scene. “What have you done?” she hissed at her son.

The door marked PRIVATE opened and out came the old man. As much as Ollie dreaded his mother’s reaction, it was the old man he was truly afraid of disappointing. Ollie knew his mother could punish him, but somehow letting the man down felt much worse than anything his mother could have done to him.

“I see we have visitors.” The old man smiled.

“I’m so so sorry for this. I knew this was a terrible idea. I promise you Ollie will be here all night cleaning up if he has to. Isn’t that right Ollie?”

“I was doing my rounds nearby and I heard the noise and got here as soon as I could.” Grater actually looked happy at the situation. 

The old man knelt down by Ollie, and put his hand on his shoulder. “Ollie, what happened?”

Ollie took a breath, not entirely sure what happened himself. Though he was quite sure that no explanation, truth or otherwise, would satisfy his mother.