Growing Heart

Ch 15 - An Unprecedented Event

"AH! Don't kill me! I'm just a journalist!" Paddy screamed as he came running out with a slight tear on his left sleeve, "My name is Paddy!"

"Jour...nalist?" Sid repeated and she looked at Cricket, "What's that?"

"He's just a kid," Cricket snorted, "Ignore him."

"I saw you..." Sid said slowly and walked down the steps to meet Paddy, "I saw you yesterday. You were on that hill with that man and bear..."

"Oh good! You remember me!" Paddy said with a sigh of relief. He straightened up his posture and gave a slight tilt of his cap, "My name is O'Bearan Padra. My father, Fergal, is a farmer. He lives just down the road from Iwan."

"What the hell were you doing sneaking around then? This doesn't seem very neighborly," Cricket asked as he drank his coffee.

Paddy tilted his chin up. "Like I said, I'm a journalist. I wasn't sneaking around. I was just seeing if I could get a story."

"Sounds like snooping to me," Cricket mumbled.

"A story? You came here looking for a story?" Sid asked.

"Not just a story," Paddy said and whipped out his pad and pencil, "I want your story. Who are you? What is with your wings? And that thing that was on your lap? That thing is alive isn't it? What is it?"

"I'm-," Sid started to say. She was stopped short when Cricket grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back behind him.

In his haste, the old diver forgot about the sky sheep and he was flung into the air before naturally stopping himself. Boo opened his eyes and blinked sleepily at his owner while still hovering in midair. "Boo?"

"No comment," Cricket yelled as he turned his back on the boy and gently pushed Sid towards the door, "No comment ever!"

Boo floated over to Sid and flopped over her shoulder. "Boo?"

"Wow! So it is alive! What is it?!" Paddy exclaimed.

"Sorry, kid," Cricket said without turning to him, "You won't be getting any answers from us."

"Could you at least give me your name?" Paddy yelled out in desperation just as Sid went into the house.

"I'm Sid!"

Thwack!

The door slammed shut.

"Sid..." Paddy murmured to himself as he scribbled it down on his notepad, "Interesting."

Inside the house, Sid put her hands on her hips as she waited for Cricket to explain himself. When he didn't, she reached for the doorknob, only for him to beat her to it.

"At least, let me go outside and bring the cups back in," Sid said exasperatedly.

"Wait until that kid is really gone."

"What kid, old timer?" Shoujo yawned as he poked his head out from under the blanket. He and Mashira had decided to sleep right on Iwan's living room floor while Cricket and Sid had each taken a guest bedroom. Next to him, his brother stirred in his sleep but did not wake up.

"Nothing," Cricket grumbled, "Just a nosy neighbor."

"Why couldn't I tell him who I was?" Sid asked and folded her arms over her chest.

"You have to be careful of who you talk to," Cricket said, "Remember what happened to Montblanc Noland. You don't want to be called a liar, believe me."

Sid rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to hide who I am. If people can't handle the truth, that's their problem. Not me."

Bang! Bang! Bang!