Free Scaredy Cat by Robin Alexander Page A

think she’s going to be like Dad. She’ll go to her grave with her jaw set where you’re concerned.” Jacob grunted and rolled when the bit of water they could not purge spilled from the pipe. The front of his coveralls were saturated with mud.
    Quinn was glad his focus was on the job, and he couldn’t see her clearly because she’d teared up. She’d never been as close to her mother as Dawn was, but they’d always gotten along, and Quinn loved her. The few conversations they did have about her sexuality were brief. Nelda cut her off every time Quinn explained that she had not chosen to be who she was. Nelda Scott didn’t want to hear anything from her daughter unless it was “I made a mistake, I’m straight,” and that simply wasn’t going to happen.
    She bobbled the light as she groped the front of her coveralls when her phone began to ring. “Scott’s— Hey, Blake. Yes, I do like pork chops.”
    Jacob groaned. “I’m so jealous.”
    “Well, I’ll have to go home and shower first. I’m under a house right now. Do you need me to pick up anything? No, we carry a tool bag, it’s easier to drag around on jobs like this… It’s dark and smelly. Let’s not talk about spiders. Okay, I’ll see you in a couple of hours.”
    *******
    “Stare all you want. You try to peck me, and I’ll tear your beak off. I’m not fooled by your pretty red plumage, you’re a killer. No, I won’t pay you off in seeds. You just go away,” Blake talked smack to the bird on the limb outside. “You’re just a bird, I’m a woman…who sounds like an idiot.”
    Disgusted with herself, Blake leaned her head against the glass. She’d watched the woman across the street sit out on her porch that afternoon. In her apartment, she’d never really gotten to see anyone sitting outside just for the sake of doing it. Blake wanted the experience, to breathe in fresh air, to feel the breeze that gently moved the branches outside her window. For the last half hour, her hand had been on the door handle, but she could not give it a turn.
    “I’m just gonna go out there and pick up the stuff I dropped. The bird won’t even notice. Slowly, she opened the door and pushed the screened one just enough to be able to reach the box of nails. The retrieval was a success and emboldened her to go for the pillow. Soon the items were all gone, and Blake felt brave enough to stand behind the screen door. The bird had left.
    “I can sit on that swing,” she said haughtily, “if I wanted to, and I kinda do.” Quinn would be proud to see me out there, she thought as she edged the door open again.
    Blake felt daring. She gave the door a push and walked slowly across the porch, hands stretched out in front of her in case she needed to defend herself. And then she sat. The afternoon breeze lifted her hair and cooled her neck. In the distance, she could hear the burr of a lawn mower. She scanned the tree limbs for birds and didn’t find any, though she could hear an occasional chirp.
    “Okay, this was nice, and now I’m done,” she said as she raced back inside the house.

Chapter 10

    Quinn raised her hand to knock, and the door opened. Blake was all smiles. “I went out on the porch today.”
    “Well, all right.” Quinn held out her fist, and Blake bumped it. “I have something for you,” she said, keeping one hand behind her back as she stepped in. “It’s not alive, so don’t freak out when I show it to you, okay?”
    Blake took a step back. “O…okay.”
    “It was my grandmother’s, and she used it all the time,” Quinn said as she produced a plastic owl.
    “I was expecting it to be an afghan…but this is…cool. What exactly did she use that for?”
    Quinn patted the owl on the head. “She used to put Hootie here on a post next to her garden to keep the birds from getting her blueberries. As I’m sure you know, owls are predators, so other birds are kind of scared of them. I was thinking you could put him on your porch