Uncontrollable (The Nature of Grace, Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

I really laughed. The gut-wrenching kind that leaves your stomach aching. I think I might have smiled last week for the first time, but I’m not entirely sure it was totally intentional.
    In the distance, the bird sounds off another distress call. Birdee cocks her head with her ear pointing up and listens. When the bird tweets again, she nods as if it’s talking to her. “Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit.” She peers in her binoculars and then quickly pulls her eyes away. “No, it’s can’t be.”
    I stare up at the tree. “What is it?”
    She looks again and beams when she hears the squawk. I swear she clicks her heels like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz . “Ha! I do believe we have a Carolina Parakeet here.” She does a little jig. “Ohhhh, this is so exciting.”
    “You’re crazy.” I laugh and grab the binoculars. “Let me see.”
    Birdee points to the bright spot of green and orange standing out against the brown branches.
    “Carolina Parakeets have serious distress calls that can be heard up to two miles away. Some thought they were extinct. Though others have said that bird smugglers may still bring them in and out of the country. Someone must’ve let this little guy loose.”
    I pass back her equipment. “You don’t need another looney bird in the house.”
    I point to Petey, who nips at my finger. He meows when I pull away, “Come here, kitty kitty kitty.”
    I shake my head and glance at Birdee who is smirking. “You are sick to teach him that.”
    She giggles as she jots some scribbles in her little notebook covered in colorful birds. She hollers up at the trees. “Come on, Big Guy, gotta make it harder than that if you want to trick me!” Then she mutters under her breath, “You old coot. My mind is just as good as ever. I know every bird in this dang state, extinct, endangered, or stuffed.”
    Petey repeats after her in his own high-pitched parrot voice, “Old coot.”
    I laugh out loud. “So you and Petey are challenging God now?”
    She winks and strokes the gray bird’s head. “Gotta keep the dialogue open so Big Guy don’t forget about me. Just in case.”
    My smile drops at the same time as my stomach. “Why? Is something wrong?” I step back even though my legs quake beneath me. “Is that why you’re here?” I can barely get the words out, so I whisper, “You’re…you’re dying?”
    Birdee laughs out loud and picks up her rifle, slinging the strap over her shoulder. “Jesus, child. Don’t get all crazy on me. I’m as healthy as Shoney’s veggie plate.”
    She wraps her arm around my shoulders and squeezes me with every step as we head up the path toward home.
    “I ain’t going nowhere, Chicken. You hear me? I’m right here. So stop trying to kill me off. Besides, I ain’t got no money.” She winks. “That you know of. Though I could leave you Petey.”
    Petey falls over on his side and squawks, “I’m dead.”
    As Birdie talks to her bird, I sigh out loud and push down the frantic feelings that rose so quickly, so unexpectedly. I can’t lose someone else. Not now. Dad’s death almost did me in, and I’m not sure I’ll ever be okay again. Birdee is all I have left of him.
    Petey gets another seed from her palm as she rambles on. “Petey’s too young to lose me now. He’s only fifty. When your daddy gave him to me, he failed to mention I have to live to be more than a hundred to take care of my fine feathered friend. No pressure or anything.”
    “You love your feathered friend,” Petey says and bobs his head up and down.
    My dad found Petey in a trailer after he busted some guy for hunting deer off-season. Later, they found out the man was also importing animals. Dad confiscated all his animals and eventually gave Petey to my grandmother. Now they’re inseparable.
    She kisses his head as I shake mine, sucking on the fingertip he practically bit off. “You’d better live that long, because I’m not taking the little nipper.”
    Petey