Free Flutter by Gina Linko Page A

dresses.
    “Hello there, dear,” the woman next to me said.
    When I turned to the left, I registered her round, smiley face, but it took me a few moments before I could place her. It was the nice woman from the bakery yesterday. Jean. No, Jeannette.
    “Hello,” I said brightly.
    “How is the cabin?”
    “Actually, I need to find Roy this morning. You’ll never believe what was in my shower.”
    “A raccoon?”
    “Jeez, no. Probably worse, though. A bat.”
    “A bat?” Daisy was back, filling my coffee cup, although she hadn’t asked. “Do you know what you want?”
    “I’ll have two eggs and toast. Scrambled.”
    “I can walk you down to Roy’s office, and he’ll have to get rid of that bat for you, dear,” said Jeannette. “I’m so sorry about that. Not a very nice welcome.”
    “You should just ask Ash to get it, or Julian, somebody from your stables,” Daisy offered, still smacking her gum. “Roy’ll keep her waiting till July.” She was young, probably only a few years older than me. She had the most beautiful bronzed skin. In December.
    “That’s a good idea,” Jeannette agreed. “My husband, Jimmy, runs an animal shelter at our farm,” she explained.
    “Okay,” I said.
    “We don’t usually do bats, but anyone would be quicker at things than Roy. I’ll have my husband send somebody over to get rid of the bat for you,” she finished.
    “Thank you, Mrs.…?”
    “Winging. Jeannette Winging. You can call me Jeannette.” The din of the breakfast rush went on around us.
    Jeannette introduced me to Lily, her ten-year-old daughter, who sat at the counter with her, and who was already late for the school bus.
    “Nice to meet you,” Lily said before she left, all shy, averting her eyes, yet just as smiley-faced as her mom.
    A few townspeople came up to Jeannette, who promptly introduced me to them. The first was Mr. McGarry, the underbiter from the post office.
    “Nice to properly meet you,” I said to him, shaking his hand.
    “You too,” he offered, then quickly went back to his booth, his coffee.
    “He might not be
all there
,” Jeannette whispered, pointing at her head, squishing up her nose, in a knowing look. I nodded. “He is nice enough, though, eh? Harmless.”
    Next up was Eva Richards, a beautiful young woman with auburn hair. She had some urgent question for Jeannette about a bakery order, one that seemed like a ruse, just so she could eye me up and down from a close distance.
    “Nice to meet you,” Eva said, looking down her nose at me.
    “You too,” I said, thinking no such thing.
    “She’s the town gossip,” Jeannette told me quietly with a wink when she left.
Great
, I thought. I didn’t want to have the whole town gossiping, trying to find out who … or what I was. But it was too late for that.
    When the place had quieted some, Daisy came back with my breakfast. I peppered my eggs, gave them a bit of ketchup.
    “Jeannette, I’m also looking for a church. Do you have any churches in Esperanza with big, tall stained-glass windows?” I gestured with my arms, indicating floor to ceiling.
    Jeannette considered this. “I don’t think so. We have the Catholic church out on Hickory, but it’s just a redbrick building, no stained glass. And the Lutheran church is behind thepost office. We do have stained glass. But nothing like you’re describing.” She pursed her lips for a moment, taking a sip of her coffee. She gave me a motherly look. “Are you okay, dear?”
    “Yes, ma’am,” I told her, trying not to look disappointed.
    Jeannette counted some bills from her big patchwork purse and laid them on the counter, turning to me. “If you need anything, you can usually find me at Betsy’s,” she said, giving me a pat on the shoulder.
    “Thank you,” I told her, hoping I hadn’t drawn too much attention to myself. Jeannette left then, and I finished my breakfast, loving the warm food in my empty belly.
    I made my way back to the cabin, in hopes that