“I do. She’s a trooper,” Samirah agreed.
“That she is,” Mrs. Marais whispered. “That she is.” As she said this, the two chickens wandered into the cottage, stepping inside as if they owned the place, and had done it a hundred times before. They were scouring the floor for morsels, pecking and clucking away happily.
I turned and smiled at the old woman. “It’s kind of like Mark’s house in a way. Right down to the chickens,” I heard myself say, even though I hadn’t actually planned on saying that. Shit, and now I was thinking about Mark again and what had happened between us the night before.
Samirah looked at me sideways, just a little, just enough to make me think that something was going on in that head of hers.
“Doesn’t Mark have a cottage out back?” she asked. “I remember someone rented there once.”
I shrugged. “I think he uses it as a storeroom now,” I offered.
“Isn’t Mark the nice lad down by the place you can rent those VCRs?” Mrs. Marais asked, showing her age.
I smiled at her again. “Yes, he is.” Although “nice” was a questionable adjective to describe him. Moody, maybe. Unpredictable. A douchebag that kisses a girl likethatand then storms away without an explanation.
“Such a pity,” Samirah said.
“What is?” I turned to her.
“Such a pity you can’t rent his place. No offence, Myra.” She said that part with a strange tone again.
“Well, it’s not like I wouldwantto stay there anyway,” I said a little too snappily, which caused Samirah and Myra to look at me in surprise. I shook my head at them both and then walked into the middle of the room. “But here, this place is perfect. This is where I want to stay.” But as I said that, hell and pandemonium broke out.
CHAPTER 46
“HARUN!” I screamed as he rushed straight for the chickens, the leash pulling from my hand. They screeched and flapped and hopped around frantically as he raced after them.
“Dotty! Bessy!” Mrs. Marais gasped loudly, rushing forward with her walker and almost losing her balance as both the chickens jumped up onto the dining-room table, Harun hot on their heels.
Samirah jumped. “Sit, Myra. Sit.” She pulled her down to the sofa and tried to calm her, but she was inconsolable.
“My chickens!” she wailed, sounding so pained, as if she were talking about her own children. It broke my bloody heart.
I watched in horror as Harun also jumped onto the table, skidding across it, sending things flying in all directions. The chickens jumped off the table and raced over to the other sofa. But they were no match for Harun, who jumped so hard onto the sofa, the thing toppled over. The chickens skidded out from under it, flapping and jumping and screaming their way free. I joined the chase. The cottage was so small and tightly packed, I was forced to push chairs away as I went. I tripped over the carpet and went flying, I could hear Mrs. Marais crying and whimpering as the whirlwind of destruction swept through her place.
“Dotty! Bessy!” She was frantic and Samirah kept urging her to calm down, “for her heart.”Shit!This needed to stop, I couldn’t give a poor old woman a heart attack. That would be terrible.
“HARUN!” I screamed again as he raced after the frantic flap of feathers. Finally, I caught up to him. I grabbed his leash and held it so tightly that my knuckles went white from the effort. I’d expected him to tear off again, continue the chase. But he didn’t. As I grabbed the leash, he stopped. He simply sat down, and the chickens rushed out of the cottage and raced into the garden as fast as they could.
I looked at Samirah and Mrs. Marais. They were both sitting on the sofa. Samirah had her arm around the almost hysterical-looking old lady.
“I am so sorry,” I said in a high-pitched tone. “He’s not like that with chickens. I don’t know what got into him. He’s usually very—”
“Get out!” Mrs. Marais raised herself onto her feet. She was spluttering and coughing and pointing a wrinkled, bony finger at me now.
“Get out!” she repeated, low and shaky.
“B-But, the cottage?” I asked, and then looked at her with the best pleading eyes I could manage. But I realized instantly that my best pleading eyes were just never going to be good enough in this situation. I sighed and lowered my head, avoiding all eye contact now.
Samirah walked up to me and placed a hand on my back. “Maybe it’s best if we leave. I’ll call someone to help her clean up.”
I nodded. “I’m so sorry,” I said, exiting sheepishly, with Samirah close behind me. When we were back on the street, I turned to Harun.
“What the hell?” I threw my hands in the air, frustrated and angry, while Harun just sat there looking at up at me casually, as if he hadn’t just totally destroyed someone’s whole cottage and given them a bloody heart attack.
Samirah bent down to look at Harun’s stitches. “He really shouldn’t be running around like that,” she said.
“Do you hear that?” I scolded Harun. “You know, that was the only cottage for rent in the entire town. And you just got us banned from it. You see how nice it will be when you and I are sleeping in the car tonight.”
