Song of the Red-Legged Birds: Chapter 10: Chimera
Song of the Red-Legged Birds: Chapter 10: Chimera
it's deja vu all over again
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Last week, in chapter 9, you learned all about Holly’s parents, Jack and Diane
Chapter 10: Chimera
“Oh no, your pizza!” Chimera said.
“Uh…” Takeda mumbled in a daze.
Her father bent down to pick up the pizza box from the sidewalk. “Chimera, apologize to the man, please. This is why I told you not to run.” Clearly, he’d said it a thousand times before.
“I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to hurt your pizza.”
“That’s okay, uh, Chimera, is it? That’s your name?”
“Yes, sir. My daddy is taking us out for pizza.”
“Here you go, man; sorry about this. Think it’s salvageable?” Chimera’s father said while handing the box to Takeda.
Takeda opened the box. “Hmm, toppings intact, no major cheese landslides. I think the patient will live.”
“Glad to hear it. Hey, you look familiar. Do I know you?”
“I don’t think so. At least I don’t recognize you. I do have one of those basic faces though... Oh, and today’s my birthday if you’re one of those that believe it changes a person.”
“Ah shit, yeah man, birthday, that’d do it. How was it for you?”
“Fine, I guess…” Takeda said, trailing off.
“Buddy, you okay? You don’t look so good.”
“Sorry, it has to be deja vu or something. And for the second time today.” Takeda scratched his forehead.
Ralph, seeing the commotion, burst through the door. “Takeda! Are you still here? Get a move on; I just got a call wondering where that large roni is!”
“Sorry, Ralph,” he said, turning quickly and jogging down the street - pizza in hand.
When he got around the corner, he slowed and then stopped. He put the pizza down, took a scrap of paper from his pocket, and grabbed the pencil tucked behind his ear.
He wrote Chimera.
He had a habit of jotting notes on scraps of paper, and his apartment was littered with them. Holly had often teased him about it.
‘You know that your phone has a notepad? It makes it easy to save and search for stuff that I might not otherwise be peeling off my feet right now!’ She had said while picking a piece of paper off the bottom of her foot and tossing it on the coffee table.
He examined the paper for a moment before shoving it into his pocket, picking up the pizza, and starting a brisk walk.
Next week in Chapter 11, “The News” Holly tells Takeda about the screaming trees