Finding Elmo by Monique Polak Read Free Book Online Page B

in. They were using the backseat of a car for a couch. A half-empty pizza box lay open on the floor. But I was more interested in the hallway at the back. It had to lead to another room. And I was pretty sure Elmo was there.
    â€œElmo!” I whispered, “I’m coming!”
    I heard a faint rustling of feathers. The pressure I’d been feeling on my chest lifted. My heart felt lighter.
    I spotted him the second I walked into the room. He was slumped on a balsa branch in a cage about half the size of the one he had at the store. The cage was padlocked, which meant Elmo must have figured out how to undo the latch. Smart boy.
    When he saw me, he opened his beak, but no sound came out. Then, slowly—as if it took every ounce of energy he had—he hopped down from his perch and pressed his brown head against the bars.
    â€œAttaboy,” I said as I poked my finger through the bars and stroked the top of his head. His feathers were dull and tufty-looking, and the bottom of his cage was covered with wispy brown and black feathers. Elmo was molting which wasn’t supposed to happen until the weather changed at the end of summer.
    I checked my watch. Three minutes had already gone by. I figured I had about twenty more till the birdnappers came back.
    I could leave straightaway, taking Elmo with me, or I could try to feed him. Just then, Elmo opened his beak again. His tongue, usually a pale pink, was gray. He had to eat something.
    On a table near the cage, I spotted a key and a plate of pineapple chunks. But pineapple would be too heavy on Elmo’s stomach. I used the key to open the padlock, and then I unlatched the cage and reached in for the water bowl.
    I dipped one finger into the water, and then I brought it up to Elmo’s beak. His eyes were dull, listless. “Come on, boy,” I urged him. Just when I was sure he wouldn’t have any water, he opened his beak. His throat jiggled as he swallowed the first drop.
    When I ran my fingers down Elmo’s spine, I felt bones. I took some seeds from the seed dish, dipped them in water and cupped them in my palm.
    Elmo pecked at the wet seeds.
    â€œAttaboy.”
    It was time to get him out of there. There was no sense taking the cage. I pressed myforearm in front of his belly so he could hop on.
    â€œWe’re going home,” I told Elmo.
    Just as he landed on my forearm, I heard a clattering sound. I thought it was coming from the scaffolding. Was it the workers? I was about to make a run for it when I realized the noise was coming from the hallway. Someone had dropped something— and now whoever it was was coming into the office. I had to move quickly.
    I put Elmo back on the balsa branch and locked the cage. Then I put the key back exactly where it had been. My heart thumped so hard I felt it in my throat. I walked back toward the window.
    â€œWhere are those two blockheads?” someone asked from the front room.
    Why did the voice sound so familiar?
    It took me five steps to reach the window. I know because I counted them. A warm breeze blew up against my back. If I hoisted myself up in time, I could hide on the scaffolding.
    â€œLyle!” I heard the voice bark as I stepped out onto the scaffolding. I could tell the guywas on his cell phone. “I told you two not to leave the bird alone. Not for a second,” he continued.
    For a few seconds, I couldn’t hear anything. Lyle must have been coming up with some excuse. But then the barking started up again. “Just get yourselves back up here!” the voice said.
    Even after he snapped his cell phone shut the guy kept grumbling. “Curse that bloody Barnes for refusing to sell us the cockatoo,” he said. “Especially after all the money we offered him!”
    I nearly gasped. Why wouldn’t Dad sell Elmo? Wasn’t he always saying all the animals in the store were for sale? And with money so tight, I’d have figured...
    That’s when I