Free A Girl Called Badger (Valley of the Sleeping Birds) by Stephen Colegrove Page A

honey-sweetened porridge and a large cup of spruce tea, and took them to the rectory.
    Father Reed opened his door and looked as if he had just woken up. “Yes?”
    “Breakfast as usual, sir.”
    “How can I help you?”
    Wilson struggled to hide his true feelings. “I’m sorry about yesterday, sir.”
    Reed nodded. “Apology accepted. Now, are you ready to forget that distraction of yours and help me with some real work?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “There’s a pile of dried herbs in the storage room.”
    Wilson sorted the medicines into paper envelopes and placed them in cabinets. When he finished, Reed was in the library.
    “Sir, may I ask a question?”
    Reed looked up from a yellowed medical tome. “Yes?”
    “Did you find the errors in the locator and the weather sensors?”
    “What errors?”
    “From three weeks ago. Lewis was attacked, then we missed the forecast–”
    “Oh that. It wasn’t anything. It took me a week to find the logs for that specific sensor. The founders had many odd categories and naming conventions. The sensor and one of the locators just had few days of glitches, from what I could understand. Hasn’t happened since.”
    “That’s good, sir.”
    “Speaking of errors, Ensign––how did you know the details of Airman Chen’s condition?”
     Wilson bit his lower lip. “I used your database.”
    “I’m glad that won’t happen again.”
    “No, sir, it won’t.”
     
    HE’D PROMISED ROBB and all the other boys vast piles of treasure if they saw Badger or discovered when she was coming back. As boys do, they made this into a grand adventure complete with code words and wooden knives. Wilson didn’t care what they did, he just wanted to see her.
    As he closed the outer door of the rectory he saw a boy at the top of the steps in a too-large hunting mask.
    “What is it, Alfie?”
    Muffled sounds came from Alfie as Wilson walked up the steps.
    “Take off the mask.”
    Alfie pushed it to the top of his head.
    “Father Bear! We found Momma Bear!”
    “What?”
    “Geez, figure it out Wilson.”
    “Where is she?”
    “The Bear is in her cave.”
    “Alfie, I swear on my father’s grave–”
    “Aww, you’re no fun anymore. Come on.”
    Wilson followed him through the lemon trees on the plaza. At the concrete mouth of the Office living quarters they met another masked character who exchanged code words with Alfie. Down the steps and through the dim corridors they met others playing the game. At the corner near Badger’s room Robb waited for him. He wore a mask with red stripes.
    “This is ridiculous,” said Wilson. He tried to pull off Robb’s mask but the teenager slapped his hands away.
    “Stop it!” hissed Robb.
    Wilson turned and walked down the corridor away from the boys.
    “Father Bear is moving! Father Bear is moving!”
    He stopped in front of Badger’s door and listened. Aside from the little scouts whispering back at the corner everything was quiet. He rapped his knuckles on the metal door three times. No response. He counted to ten then knocked again.
    “Don’t bother me, I’m sleeping,” said Badger from inside.
    Wilson put his mouth close to the door frame. “It’s me. I just want to talk.”
    “No!”
    He heard movement and then something delicate smashed against the door.
    “Just let me explain,” he said.
    “No. I’m going to count to ten and you better be gone.”
    Wilson sighed. “Listen. I’m sorry about what happened and I should have told you sooner.” He glanced down the corridor. “You don’t have to come out here or see me or talk to me. I’m an idiot and what I did was stupid. That’s a fact and we all know it. But I’m not the person you think I am.”
    The door opened and she stood there in a plain sleeping gown, left fist clenched at her side. Her long, unbraided hair covered her face.
    “Don’t smile and don’t look at me,” she said. “I haven’t slept on a real bed for the last week. Take your little ducklings away