Chapter 5 - Plumage and Paranoia

At breakfast, Tanya is browsing her notebook, thinking of the recent strange events.
Mom and Dad are also having breakfast at the kitchen table.

Tanya is wondering whether she should tell her parents about the state of Gunnar's house (and about their obvious absence from it). After all it is their friend... but they will ask me why I was there... and I cannot tell them we sneaked in following Majsan...

She decides for a casual, "Mom, what was that thing on the fridge the other day, about Gunnar and Lena's vacation?" She asks it while crunching cereals. "Where did they go?"

When Robbie gets home, Freddie on her shoulder, she finds to her surprise and delight the delivery van that Tyra drives standing by the side of the house. "Freddie, come and meet Tyra. She's Emilia's mom and really cool!" she tells the pigeon. Then she pauses. "Wait, maybe it'd be better if you just watch. Adults can be weird around weird stuff. Not that you're weird, just unusual." Great, now she's already beginning to verbally embarrass herself in front of a pigeon. "How about you sit over on that roof and then you can watch," she suggests.

She then hurries over to find Tyra moving crates that the Åströms have laid out into her vehicle. "Hey Tyra!" Robbie exclaims happily. "I didn't know you were coming today." Usually, she has all the dates marked in her calendar, but in all the excitement around Freddie and the strange birds, she must have forgotten.

Tyra looks up from her work and smiles when she recognizes Robbie. "Roberta," she says. Tyra is a tall woman. She has broad shoulders and strong, muscular arms under her rolled up sleeves, but she still always manages to look beautiful and feminine like Emilia. Robbie is pretty jealous of her for that, because all that Robbie's muscles make her look like is a wardrobe. "Your parents said you weren't home."

"I wasn't. I just got home," Robbie says as she immediately picks up a crate to help her friend. She likes talking to Tyra while helping her work. "I was actually hanging out with Emilia. She's really cool."

She rolls her eyes, having clocked where this is going.
A little more sharply than she intended, she replies, "Well that's just great, Mom and Dad! Glad you are getting the itch to write fiction too! Must run in the family after all! " Her tone is heavily sarcastic.

Calm down, girl... You're gonna stir up more trouble than is worth... Why are you so prickly? she asks herself.

She widens her eyes, gasping horrified at Mom. "You did WHAT????"

She stands up and steps away from the kitchen table. "I am NOT going. I hate swimming and I HATE Izzy! All I could learn from her is how to be a shallow idiot!!! I can find my own friends, thank you very much... as a matter of fact, I just made a new one, without YOUR HELP, Mom!"

She storms off, wanting to get out of there before tearing up. "Swim team..."

She grabs her notebook and coat and gets out of the house before they can call her back.

She walks through the woods to let the fresh air work its magic. But after twenty minutes, her mood is still foul. She is furious at Mom's meddling in her life and at Dad's dismissing her writing at every opportunity.

Without Tanya consciously realising, her feet start leading her towards Professor Hedstrom's house.

"I think Emilia is the prettiest girl in school," Robbie admits. It's not a thought she would have so easily shared with anyone else, including her parents. "But we only became friends the other day, when we were in detention together because that was when we met the birds." She wonders whether she should try to explain the whole situation to Tyra, but decides that it's probably best to keep it between the kids for now. "We are investigating a mystery together!" she instead just says. "But it's not only us. My friend Tanya is also part of it." As she and Tyra are lifting a heavy crate together, Robbie says, "Tanya is the smart one and Emilia is the pretty one." She thinks for a moment. "I guess that makes me the strong one. But I wish I could also be the pretty one, like Emilia."

Tyra's compliments make Robbie smile happily. Somehow, whenever her parents insist that she is a very beautiful girl, Robbie never believes that they actually mean it. But Tyra has a way of complimenting Robbie that always feels sincere. "Thank you," she says a bit sheepishly. "And yes, it is a bit of an adventure, but I can't tell you about it. It's only for our group." She grins at the woman, enjoying the idea of being a bit mysterious for a change. "And I guess I know what you mean," she acknowledges Tyra's comments about everyone's unique qualities, even if she isn't entirely sure.

As they continue moving everything into Tyra's vehicle, Robbie then moves on to simpler topics, just talking about her grades at school, or how she doesn't like gym class or which teacher said something funny the other day...

Tanya makes her conventional knock at Professor's Hedstrom's window.

The scholar's voice answers from within.

"In the study, come on in."


Tanya walks in (the prof keeps the front door unlocked) and makes her way to the scholar's den. A cozy room filled with books and journals, a calming place of knowledge and letters that Tanya loved from the moment she set eyes on.
The book spines pad the room from sounds and texture it in leathery colours, promising literary treasures untold, hidden within.

The Professor is part of the very fabric of this magical place, the core of the magic. Always with a book on his lap, inhabiting his reading armchair like a wizened alchemist, each wrinkle and line on his face a motherload of knowledge in Tanya's imagination.

Tanya moves some books from a nearby chair, placing them carefully on a desk.
Touching the books makes her remember.

"Oh! Professor... I forgot to bring you the Strindberg book you asked me! I got it from the library, then left it home!"

She sits down, shaking her head, "too many things are on my mind, that is the trouble... And my parents are NOT helping! My mom had the nerve to sign me up to a stupid swimming team without asking me! Just because this dull, brain-dead Izzy girl goes there, and they want me to be friends with her..."

She realises she's been venting and apologises.
" I am sorry... That's all boring teenage stuff. "

"I do hope you are right, Professor..." she says, already somewhat comforted by the scholar's reassuring tone.

She then perks up, "my friends and I noticed something strange is happening to the birds, around here. Have you ever heard of experiments to make birds talk, Professor? We spotted a group of pigeons that can speak! It sounds impossible, but... they do! We even captured two. They all have a little cut, and wait... we saw one bird dissected, it had this electronic thing inside."

She shows the Professor the microchip she pocketed at Gunnar's house.

"Oh, the pigeons are at war with the larger birds, and they are building this massive communal nest on a a cliff in Spånviken..."

"Oh. I'm always at the Library, but I didn't think of researching this chip... " she comments, surprised at the suggestion.
She springs up on her feet. "Thank you Professor Hedstrom! I will do as you say, and keep you informed on what we find out!"

She rushes to the door with the eagerness of youth, then turns to say, "you'll have to tell me everything about the strange occurrences around here!" before running outside the Professor's house, and heading to Robbie's farm to tell them the new lead the Professor suggested.