Dreams Underfoot: A Newford Collection Read Online Free PDF Page B

breasts. She felt a sudden pain inside—like a stitch in her side from running too hard, only it was deep in her chest. Right in her lungs. She looked down, eyes widening as a beak appeared poking out of her chest, followed by a parrot’s head, its body and wings.
    It was like one of the holograms at the Haunted House in Disney-land, for she could see right through it, then it grew solid once it was fully emerged. The pain stopped as the bird fluttered free, but she felt an empty aching inside. Uncle Dobbin caught the bird, and soothed it with a practiced touch, before letting it fly free. Numbly, Nori watched it wing across the store and settle down near the front window where it began to preen its feathers. The sense of loss inside grew stronger.
    “That ... it was in me ... I ...”
    Uncle Dobbin made his way back to his chair and sat down, picking up his pipe once more.

    “Magic,” he said before he lit it.
    “My ... my magic ... ?”
    Uncle Dobbin nodded. “But not anymore. You didn’t believe.”
    “But I didn’t know!” she wailed.
    “You got to earn it back now,” Uncle Dobbin told her. “The side cages need cleaning.”
    Nori pressed her hands against her chest, then wrapped her arms around herself in a tight hug as though that would somehow ease the empty feeling inside her.
    “E-earn it?” she said in a small voice, her gaze going from his face to the parrot that had come out of her chest and was now sitting by the front window. “By ... by working here?”
    Uncle Dobbin shook his head. “You already work here and I pay you for that, don’t I?”
    “But then how ... ?”
    “You’ve got to earn its trust. You’ve got to learn to believe in it again.”
    Ellen shook her head softly. Learn to believe, she thought. I’ve always believed. But maybe never hard enough. She glanced at her companion, then out to the street. It was almost completely dark now.
    “Let’s go walk on the beach,” she said.
    Reece nodded, following her outside after she’d paid the bill. The lemony smell of eucalyptus trees was strong in the air for a moment, then the stronger scent of the ocean winds stole it away.
    6
    They had the beach to themselves, though the pier was busy with strollers and people fishing. At the beach end of the long wooden structure, kids were hanging out, fooling around with bikes and skateboards. The soft boom of the tide drowned out the music of their ghetto blasters. The wind was cool with a salt tang as it came in from over the waves. In the distance, the oil rigs were lit up like Christmas trees.
    Ellen took off her shoes. Carrying them in her tote bag, she walked in the wet sand by the water’s edge. A raised lip of the beach hid the shorefront houses from their view as they walked south to the rocky spit that marked the beginning of the Naval Weapons Station.
    “It’s nice out here,” Reece said finally. They hadn’t spoken since leaving the restaurant.
    Ellen nodded. “A lot different from L.A.”
    “Two different worlds.”
    Ellen gave him a considering glance. Ever since this afternoon, the sullen tone had left his voice. She listened now as he spoke of his parents and how he couldn’t find a place for himself either in their world, nor that of his peers.
    “You’re pretty down on the sixties,” she said when he was done.
    Reece shrugged. He was barefoot now, too, the waves coming up to lick the bottom of his jeans where the two of them stood at the water’s edge.
    “They had some good ideas—people like my parents,” he said, “but the way they want things to go
    ... that only works if everyone agrees to live that way.”
    “That doesn’t invalidate the things they believe in.”
    “No. But what we’ve got to deal with is the real world and you’ve got to take what you need if you want to survive in it.” Ellen sighed. “I suppose.”
    She looked back across the beach, but they were still alone. No one else out for a late walk across the sand. No booger. No