The Sweet Suite Life

Chapter 35. Ornithophobia

꧁༺ 𝓢𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓼 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 ༻꧂

•┈┈┈••✦ ♡ ✦••┈┈┈•

"Did you hear that Mr. Blanket has a thing for sniffing rabbits?" I asked as I grabbed the drink Zack made me.

"I thought that was just a rumor? Does he actually do that?" Zack asked.

I nodded as I took a sip of my drink. "I was walking past the room he uses for his therapy sessions... And I accidentally saw something that I wish I could bleach from my memory. He had a white and brown rabbit and sniffed it," I sighed as I shook in horror.

Zack and I looked over when a seagull landed on the counter.

"Aw, hi, little friend," I said as I grabbed a grape and split it in two. "Here you go," I said as I pushed the grape halves toward the seagull.

"No, no, no. You don't want that. You want some fries," Zack said as he grabbed two fries and offered one to the seagull. The seagull took the fry out of Zack's hand and started eating it.

"Halt in the name of nature!" Cody came rushing over, "Feeding that bird human food is dangerous to its delicate digestive system."

The seagull started to walk towards me. I held out another fry and let it eat from my hand. "Cody, you're nuts," I said as I watched the bird eat from my hand, "Seagulls eat fries all the time. They've adapted to eating human refuse. That's why they're usually around amusement parks and beaches. Cause those are the 2 known places for littering."

The seagull started cooing and I petted its head. "It's perfectly fine, Cody," I said as I grabbed half of the grape and broke it again. The seagull started to eat the quarter grape, "See? Something greasy, now fruity."

"Yeah, he is a little fruity," Zack said as he crossed his arms, looking at Cody.

Cody tried taking the stray fries away. The seagull looked right at Cody and chirped. "See? He's grateful that I took these fries away," Cody said. The seagull snapped at Cody before it started to fly away.

"I'm gonna miss the sweetie," I said, "Back home, we had a pet crow. His name was Poe. That was until Crookshanks figured out how to open the cage and ate Poe."

"Esme," Mr. Moseby came over with a bouquet of flowers, "I know you'll appreciate this."

I smiled, looking at the flowers. "They're tulips," I said with a nod, "Wait a minute. Mr. Moseby, they're centennials." I was in awe of such a rare flower. "How did you get centennial tulips? They're absolutely gorgeous."

"I knew you'd understand my appreciation. Take a whiff of their sweet aroma," Mr. Moseby offered. Man, was he right. It was almost like you could taste the nectar on your tongue, that's how sweet they smelled.

Mr. Moseby started to sniff the flowers, and I couldn't help but smile. That was until we all heard a bee buzzing.

"Get away, bee! Get away, get away!" Mr. Moseby started shouting, waving the flowers. A couple of the flowers fell out of the bouquet, which I grabbed. Listen if there was any way to save these rare flowers, I was going to do it. 

I grabbed a cup and a menu. "Stay still, Mr. Moseby," I said as I followed the bee. I caught it in the cup and placed the menu over the opening of the cup. "There. Now the flowers are safe, and the bee is safe," I said as I sat the cup on the counter and I sat back down in my original seat.

"Why is there bird poop all over my towels and nothing else?" Cody asked loudly.

A piercing caw answered Cody. "Look at your brother becoming all sorts of paranoid over this seagull," I said as I watched what was going on.

"Don't have to look. Been dealing with it my whole life," Zack said as he made another customer's order.

I laughed as I shook my head.

"I thought we were friends," Cody said loudly, looking at the railing. I was surprised the bird stayed up there. Well, it didn't for long because it started cawing as it flew over Cody and pooped right on his shoulder.

"That did not just happen, did it?" Zack asked.

"Right on his shoulder, yes sir it did," I said, not taking my eyes off of this seagull tormenting Cody, "I'm half tempted to go get popcorn and share it with you."

"Ooo," Zack said with a smile, "Popcorn does sound pretty good. Who knows maybe Chick Norris would like some?"

"Chick Norris? No, no, no. His name is Scuttle," I said.

"You already had a pet bird. I get to name this one," Zack said.

"I've never had a seagull before," I said.

"How about this? Eddie the Seagull?" Zack suggested.

"Like Eddie the Eagle?" I asked, but then saw Zack nod. "Eddie," I said it once again, "I like it. Eddie."

Just after I finished saying the name, the same seagull landed between me and Zack. Zack and I looked at each other, shocked that this bird had come to us once again.

"Looks like Eddie likes the name," Zack said, "Don't cha, Eddie?" Zack started to pet Eddie's head before giving Eddie a fry.

"Already, boys. I gotta go to work," I said. I smiled at Eddie, "Be good for Daddy, Eddie." Eddie cocked his head and cooed.

About an hour or two passed when I was in the middle of putting a rose bouquet together. Zack came into the little boutique.

"Hey, Esme," Zack said with a smile, "You'll never believe what's going on between Cody and Eddie."

I sighed and shook my head, hearing Zack. "Oh lord. How much more delusional is your brother going to be? Eddie's perfectly harmless. Eddie's a perfect angel," I said as I put some baby's breath in the bouquet.

"I told Cody the same thing. But he doesn't believe me. He thinks Eddie is after him," Zack said. He looked around the boutique. "You know, I haven't stepped in here in a long time. It looks really nice. You do all these flowers?" Zack asked.

I nodded, "Nobody else cares to put the bouquets together, so I did them. In fact, people started requesting that I do orders. And then, word got around and next thing you know, I'm the only one people will trust with doing the flowers."

"Ah-ha! I caught the winged devil!" Cody came rampaging through the shop with Eddie in a cage.

"What are you doing with Eddie?" I snapped as I took the cage from Cody.

"That thing has a name?!" Cody asked frantically.

"Yeah, he does," Zack said, "Esme and I named him."

I looked at Eddie and sighed, "It's okay, Eddie. That crazy man's not gonna hurt you." I looked in the cage, seeing straw... and an egg. "Eddie's not a boy," I said as I looked up at Zack, "Eddie had an egg."

"Come on. We'll take her outside and see if we can get a nest together for her," Zack said.

I walked to where my cabin was and started getting a nest put together where the lamppost was. "Okay, Eddie, sweetie. Here's your nest," I said as I opened the cage. I grabbed an oven mitt and put the egg in the nest. It was almost immediately that Eddie went to the nest and sat on the egg, cooing at Zack and I.

"Well, at least she won't have Cody bothering her again," Zack said.

"Exactly, that's why I put the nest near my place, so she won't be bothered," I said.