Free Darkling by R.B. Chesterton Page B

gull is it, Donald?” I asked as I drove the station wagon along Shore Road. It was a beautiful August day. Too hot, really, but the wagon had air-conditioning and so the heat devils that shimmied on the asphalt were merely a distant bother.
    â€œThose are laughing gulls. Black heads show maturity.” Donald loved birding as much as I did.
    â€œErin, are the birds herbivores?”
    â€œCarnivores. They survive on small fish and crabs, the debris from the fishing vessels and what they can steal from other creatures or humans. Some gulls have been known to use tools.”
    I nodded. “For example.”
    â€œThe larger white gulls have been filmed using bread to lure small fish to the surface so they can be caught.” She flopped around on the backseat. “It’s horrible. Something is always eating something else.”
    Erin retained information better than any of the other children. She was also the most tenderhearted. A vegetarian, she ate seafood but no other life forms. Berta had resisted at first, but now Erin’s preferences were part of the family.
    â€œNature is cruel,” Annie said. “In this world, it’s eat or be eaten. It isn’t just animals, either. People are like that, too.”
    â€œSpoken like the little parasite you are,” Margo, who was in the front seat, turned back to speak to Annie.
    â€œYou’re a stupid cow, Margo. Life doesn’t have to be awful.” Erin was only twelve, but she had strong feelings. “Mother says that love and compassion can change anyone.”
    â€œYou are such a goody two-shoes,” Margo reached back and pinched Erin’s leg.
    Berta wouldn’t apply that to Andrew Cargill, but I kept my mouth shut and my comments to myself. Innocence was a privileged state, and I would allow Erin to stay there as long as she could. “Why don’t you guys grab an ice cream while I take these library books back and show them the damage? Margo, if you continue to torment your sister, I’ll have to tell Berta.”
    â€œOh, another black mark. What now? She’ll make me scrub floors? Like that’s ever going to happen.”
    We parked at the library and Margo, Annie, and the children tumbled out of the car and headed down to Swenson’s Ice Cream shop. Coden had little to offer in the way of shopping. For clothes and such, we drove into Mobile. Beauchamps stocked the basic groceries, and Bobinger Hardware carried the essentials of home maintenance. Other than that, there was a bait shop, two restaurants, one beauty salon, and the ice cream shop, which was open only in the summer months.
    It was with a sigh of relief that I stepped into the air-conditioned library. Quiet surrounded me. I put the books I was returning on the counter and then searched the stacks for other history books. Away from the bickering children, I lost myself in thoughts of the past, when the Paradise was up and running. Then there had been clubs and sailboats and a sense that life was opening up for Americans. Before the Paradise, there had been another hotel, the Rolston, which had been destroyed in a hurricane.
    â€œMay I help you, miss?”
    The librarian was Cora’s age, a trim woman with steel-gray hair and a twin set the color of her hair. I walked back to the counter and got Chad Petri’s book and showed her the damage, which drew an exclamation of dismay. “This book is irreplaceable.”
    â€œSurely Mr. Petri might have additional copies?” Or know how to get some. “He lives right around here.”
    â€œI’m afraid not.” She ran a finger down the spine of the book as if she could heal it. “There was a fire last night and his garage burned to the ground. All of his extra books went with it. Everyone is so upset.”
    â€œThat’s terrible.” I was surprised. Fire was an event everyone in Coden learned about, yet I’d heard not a word. “Was anyone