“Later,” Shawn said, pushing himself up on his toes a little bit more to kiss her quickly on the mouth, a sharp peck.
The SUV backed up, kicking up more dirt, as Shawn walked towards everyone. Leila stared at him, and when his eyes met with hers, he quickly turned away.
“Sorry I’m late, all,” Shawn said, adjusting the backpack on his shoulder. “Dad had some things going on down at the office, and I, um,” he cleared his throat. “Well, I’m here.” He turned and watched the SUV as it sped out of the parking lot. A couple of half-hearted grumbles rose up from the students as he turned back and walked towards Leila, Mikey, and Britt.
“Hey,” he said, as Britt and Mikey stepped away. Leila caught the two of them looking at each other with curious glances, and Leila knew she was already busted. They could clearly tell something had happened, even if nothing really had.
“Hey,” she said back, shrugging.
“Look, I’m sorry about the other day. I wasn’t thinking before I spoke. I do that a lot. Sometimes I really only hear myself, you know?”
“I guess?” Leila ventured. She didn’t know. She didn’t do that. “Were you thinking before you went out with me, when all that was clearly going on?” Leila nodded at the dust cloud that still hovered around the parking lot.
Shawn’s face turned red.
“It’s more complicated than . . . You know what, it’s fine. I’m sorry. I’ll give you your space,” Shawn said, lifting up his hands. “But if you want to talk, maybe hang out again sometime, I’d like that. I’d, you know, like to do better, if that makes sense. Be friends?”
“Yeah, I don’t know about that,” Leila said. “I’m not promising anything. That was an unpleasant way to spend an afternoon. At least the end of it and all. Especially the whole leaving-me-alone-at-the-hospital thing.”
“Oh God, Leila, it’s . . . I didn’t want to bail, but . . . I was there for a while. Did your mom tell you? I was—”
“Yeah, she did. I shouldn’t have expected you to stay the whole time but—”
“I wanted to!” Shawn said, looking frustrated. “I’ll explain one of these days. Is your head okay?” Shawn asked, looking up at her forehead. His face was awash in disappointment, his mouth a thin line, like he was holding something back.
“It’s fine. Are you still worried about how my face looks?” she snapped back.
Shawn completely deflated. “Okay. I’ll go get things ready, but if you start to feel like, I don’t know, dizzy or anything, let me know.”
“Sure, Shawn,” Leila said, eager for this conversation to be over.
Shawn sighed, and walked away towards the other B.E.A.C. students. He started to do his smile-point-click thing to a few of them as he made his way to the front of the group.
“Wow, that is annoying,” Mikey muttered, walking back up to Leila with Britt.
“Yeah,” Leila said. “Yeah it is.”
“So, the two of you?” Mikey started, making some entirely inappropriate hand gestures.
“Mikey!” Britt shouted, slapping him upside the head.
“Ow!” he said through the laughter.
Leila smiled, fighting the urge to scowl.
“No. We just went on a sorta-date the other day.” Leila shrugged. “Not a good one.” She pointed at her forehead and lifted her scarf up a little, revealing the bandage. Britt gasped. “I fell off my bike. It was bad. And now here he is with that other girl.” She shrugged.
“Death to men,” Britt said, crossing her arms. “Except you, pal.” She punched Mikey in the shoulder. “You can stay.”
Leila smiled. She liked these two.
“Hey everyone!” Shawn exclaimed, a bit of disappointment still lingering in his voice. “We’re going to meet our tour guide over at the Japanese tea house, and then we’ll take a stroll of the grounds, maybe explore some of the area before we get to work fixing—”
“Are you guys my group for the day?”
A young man sidestepped out of the woods, down one of the trails, right up behind Shawn, and patted him on the shoulder. He stood a few inches taller than him, and wore a uniform consisting of dark-green pants and a beige dress shirt, topped with a brown, thick-brimmed hat. A black belt wrapped around his waist with a number of things tucked away inside, notably a container that looked a lot like mace and a ridiculously long, black flashlight which swung about as he walked. Looking at him in profile, Leila noticed his meticulously kept beard, which was cut in strong, almost impossibly straight lines. Shawn spun around, and the man stuck out a hand.
“Landon Johnson,” he said as he shook Shawn’s hand vigorously. He let go and slapped Shawn on the back, and Shawn took a few steps away. For a moment, Leila felt a little bad for him, losing the spotlight he seemed so fond of. She shook it off.
Landon turned to look at everyone, and Leila gasped as he faced the group. The pounding in her head suddenly matched the thundering of her heart.
“I’m your guide for the day,” he said, putting his hands on his hips.
On his shoulder.
“I’m a park ranger here in Fairmount Park, or, at least a soon-to-be ranger,” he continued.
The owl.
“I’m still in training and all.” He shrugged.
The owl from yesterday’s bike ride. It jostled about with Landon’s casual shrug, and Landon lifted his hand up to scratch the bird under its chin. It was the same one. It had to be. The one she saw after racing away from Shawn and his idiotic, heartless comments. The one that made her crash her bicycle. It was here. Staring at her with its bright-yellow eyes.
The bird swayed with the young park ranger as he talked to the group, cocking its head to the side as it looked at Leila. Its gaze quickly darted about from person to person, and then up to nothing in particular.
“Is there a problem?” Landon asked, looking to Leila. He squinted at her for a moment and her heart raced. Did he recognize her from the other day? She felt a wave of awkwardness wash over her. That whole ordeal had been so embarrassing.
“No,” Leila said, and then, as if a bolt of realization hit him, Landon laughed.
“You must be curious about this guy.” He lifted his arm, which was wrapped up in some fraying leather, and the small owl hopped onto it, flapping one large wing. The other was just a small nub. Leila exhaled. Maybe he really didn’t realize who she was. Maybe she’d be spared the awkward conversation.
“This here is Milford.” He gave the owl a small scratch under its chin with his free hand, and it closed its eyes, clearly enjoying it.
“What’s, uh, what’s up with his wing there?” Mikey asked.
“Well, Milford was found here in Fairmount Park as a fledgling, and his wing was broken and deformed.” He kept scratching the little owl, the bird’s head pushing back even farther, lost in joy, as though he might fall off Landon’s arm at any moment. “It was starting to grow at an odd angle as he grew older, and they had to remove it to save him. Because of this, he’s not releasable into the wild.”
He stopped scratching the owl, and Milford’s head shot forward, eyes darting about as if trying to figure out why the scratching had stopped.
“He shuffles between live animal exhibits and lessons at the Academy of Natural Sciences and the Philadelphia Zoo for classroom visits.” He placed Milford back on his shoulder, and the owl nibbled at his ear. “Ow, come on, man. But for the most part, he’s here, in our raptor conservatory. Any other questions?”
“Does he have a fake wing?” Leila asked. She had to make sure. It had to have been him yesterday. “A prosthetic?”