Читать книгу The Lost Gargoyle Series 3-Book Bundle - Philippa Dowding - Страница 15

The Flightless Bird

That night at dinner, Katherine’s mother was trying to explain to her father what had happened at The Golden Nautilus that afternoon.

“He GRABBED the other statue?” he was asking in disbelief. “Marie, why did you take him there? What was the point?”

“I was hoping that he would see the other gargoyle and want to stay, that’s all. I mean, if it had been alive, he would have wanted to stay, wouldn’t he? I don’t know...or maybe we could have found out where he was from, then return him there. It didn’t seem like a bad idea at first...” She trailed off, upset.

Her father sighed, then leaned over and spoke gently to his wife. “It’s okay, I guess. Clearly, they aren’t going to arrest you for anything, and at least we know a few things now.”

“What?” asked Katherine, looking up from her pasta.

“Well, we know that Gargoth is the only real gargoyle at The Golden Nautilus, that he was made in New York, and that the supplier isn’t making them any more.”

“If he is alive, there must be other gargoyles that are alive, don’t you think?” Katherine asked. “Maybe there are some others like him in other stores in Toronto. It might be worth trying to visit some of them to see.”

“I’ll look on the Internet to see if I can find out who supplied them to Canada,” her mother said.

For his part, Gargoth wasn’t very helpful. After they’d arrived home from The Golden Nautilus, Katherine’s mother spent a full hour trying to get more information out of him. She sat in the backyard on a lawn chair beside his pedestal and questioned him about everything that had happened to him.

He was sulky from his misadventure and still frightened. Unfortunately, he wasn’t very helpful and tended to talk in riddles, and even outright lies. Finally Katherine’s mother gave up and left him with a fresh bag of apples to keep him company.

“I don’t know what to do with him. One thing’s for sure,” she said with a smile at Katherine, “no more car trips, and no more trips to The Golden Nautilus.”

“Mom, why was he so mad at the other statue?” Katherine asked.

Her mother looked sadly at her. “It’s hard to say exactly. It seems that someone stole his image somehow, without his permission. I think he finds it terribly insulting to see himself recreated in a statue. He says he was kept against his will in an awful place for a long time.”

“Couldn’t he fly away?” Katherine asked, surprised.

“Oh, he can’t fly!” her mother said.

“He can’t? How come?” Katherine asked.

“I guess he never learned,” her mother said mildly and went back to her dinner.

Throughout the evening, Katherine found herself wandering to the back window to check on Gargoth, who was pacing sulkily back and forth among the dwarves.