Bethany found her work at the General Store quite interesting. First Uncle Dean just had her wrap things for customers and unbox deliveries, but when it got later into the day more people started coming in and he needed her at the front desk. Working the cash register took a bit of doing(especially since several keys did not work properly) but once she got it down the rest was a breeze.

   There was a nice elderly lady by the name of Mrs. Donovan who took twenty minutes to buy a can of beans. She could not decide whether or not to get chick-peas or black beans and in the end she decided to get green beans. At the cash register she told Bethany all about her four cats– Tommy, Gabrielle, Pooches, and Sir Reginald – who lived with her in a two room flat on Becket Street.

   Bethany politely listened, nodding a few times and adding an occasional"Mhm," and a "Really?" when appropriate. She managed to fold several stacks of newspapers and put them on display before another customer came in and Mrs. Donovan had to leave.

   Dean was watching from the back room and laughed, going back to his work shelving supplies.

   About fifteen minutes went by without another customer and Bethany was bent over a math book trying to make equivalent fractions when the bell rang.

   "Good afternoon. Can I help you?" Bethany asked automatically, putting her math book away on a shelf under the cash register.

   "I'm looking for a big bag of gummy worms," a familiar voice spoke.

   Bethany peaked over the counter and saw Fran and Freddie with Sabrina and Mariah,standing by the candy rack.

   "Ha...Ha...Nice try. The last thing you all need is a bag of gummy worms," Bethany said, getting up and rearranging the peanut packs on display.

   "Ah, this is suppose to be vacation!" Freddie wined.

   "We're going to be here for several months and if all you eat is junk you won't be able to fit through the train door...You may have some broccoli though, if you like."

   Freddie rolled his eyes and made a face, Fran actually considering the offer. There were not many vegetables she liked, but broccoli was a most definite maybe.

   "What are you all doing here?" Bethany asked, going back to her math.

   "We thought we'd take a tour of the town," Fran said, stopping Sabrina from sticking a plastic wrapper in her mouth.

   "Who's giving you the tour?"

   "We are,"Freddie said.

   Bethany looked up at the clock. It was three forty five leaving fifteen minutes for her to stack the rest of the soda cartons before her shift was over.

   "If you can wait till four I'll go with you...Mariah don't touch that, it's not yours," Bethany said, getting up and going into the back room.

   "Hey Uncle Dean, it's almost four o'clock. I'll finish stacking the soda but is it alright if I go out with Fran and Freddie after that?"

   "Oh sure.Have fun!" Uncle Dean said, his back turned.

   Bethany thanked him and went over to the refrigerators to start stacking the sodas.Freddie helped her to make it go faster but Fran had to watch Mariah and Sabrina.

   Five minutes later they stepped out into the hot sun and began walking, with no particular destination. They passed several large houses with well kept lawns and perfect flower beds, completely amazed by the symmetry of everything. However, Bethany soon found herself bored with it and they wandered down the main road to a park, surrounded by short bushes of roses. It had several large Ponderosa trees and couple benches, widely spaced, with the most amazing wooden playground they had ever seen. It was larger than most and had a large variety of board walks, bridges, tunnels, monkey bars, swings, and a whole lot of other things that none of them knew what the heck they were.

   Bethany agreed to sacrifice herself to push Sabrina on a swing while the others chased each other around the rest of the playground. There were a couple of middleschoolers doing homework and looking at their phone sat one of the tables, but they politely ignored them.

   "Hey Annie, look!" Mariah called from the playground.

   She was pointing at a crow that was perched on the other bench, making funny noises and tilting its head to one side, looking over at the kids at the other table. A moment later two more crows landed on the bench,making the same funny noise and tilting their heads as well.

   Bethany stopped pushing Sabrina, watching the birds. She had never heard a crow make that kind of sound before. It was quite strange and fascinating to watch. The birds seemed to be observing the other kids like Bethany was observing them, with a confused curiosity.

   Sabrina looked up at Bethany and made a little gargling sound, trying to get her older sister's attention, but Bethany did not hear.

   "Hey Annie, what are you doing?" Fran asked, stopping her laps on the playground.

   Bethany snapped out of her daze and blinked several times, rubbing her eyes.

   "Oh, nothing much. Just pushing Sabrina on the swing," she replied, resuming her sisterly duties.

   Sabrina smiled with delight, her red cheeks bulging and her gray eyes twinkling with pleasure.

   Suddenly a loud scream pierced the air and Bethany whipped around,just in time to see a flurry of black feathers fill the air around the table where the kids were. The crows screeched and cawed, clawing at them with the fury and fire of a long sought out vengeance, as if they had finally found a lifetime enemy.

   Fran and Freddie leaped off of the playground and rushed towards the birds and Bethany followed shortly, telling Sabrina and Mariah to get under the playground. Freddie grabbed a big stick off the ground and started yelling at the top of his lungs, managing to knock one of the crows over the head. Fran and Bethany chased the other two away before they did any more damage then ran back.

   Two of the kids, a girl and a boy, were more or less unscathed, but the third, a girl of about twelve, had a bad gash in her arm several cuts on her neck and face.

   "What happened?" Bethany asked, looking over the dead bird.

   "I don't know," the boy said.

   "We were just looking over our assignments when they attacked us."

   Fran bent down next to her sister and looked at the crow. Its head had a large dentin it from where Freddie hit and one of the wings was missing a large chunk of feathers.

   "That's weird," Fran whispered.

   "I know. I've never heard of a crow doing that...Unless it was in a Hitchcock."

   Fran looked at Bethany with a look that said, 'maybe...?'.

   "Oh don't be ridiculous. The birds aren't going to suddenly attack us all,"Bethany said, keeping her voice steady and calm.

   "But yesterday a girl got attacked by a chicken. Chickens are birds."

   "Fran,there's nothing to worry about. Let's just get Sabrina and Mariah home with as little fuss as possible. We don't want to scare them over nothing."

   Fran nodded and got up, walking over to the playground to fetch her younger sisters.

   "Are you alright?" Freddie asked the girl.

   "Yeah. It just stings a little," she said quietly. "Thanks for helping."

   "No problem," Freddie smiled, being as charming as ever.

   "Do you live around here?" Bethany asked.

   "Yeah," the boy said. "Just down the street."

   "Can you get there or do we need to call someone?"

   "No it's fine. We can make it...Thanks."

   They walked out of the park and disappeared behind some houses, leaving Bethany and her siblings alone.

   "That was just about the weirdest thing I have ever seen," Freddie said, his eyebrows furrowed.

   "Come on. I think it's time we go home," Bethany replied, picking Sabrina up and heading out of the park.

   Fran and Freddie looked at each other, shrugging and jogging after Bethany, Mariah close behind. They were walking down Main Street when an old silver truck pulled up to the curb, Liam at the wheel.

   "Are you heading back to the house?" he asked, pushing his flat cap back.

   "Yeah."

   "Get in. I'll give you ride," Liam said, putting the truck in park.

   "Thanks!" Freddie exclaimed, leaping over the side into the bed, hoisting Mariah up.

    Fran climbed in as well with Sabrina and Bethany got in the passenger seat, buckling herself in. She was still pouring over what happened when they drove up the hill and her face must have said it all because it did not take long for Liam say something.

   "Did something happen?" he asked.

   "Yeah...A couple of kids got attacked by crows today in the park...Fran is kind of freaking out."

   Liam chewed his lip and frowned, remembering what Blondie had said. Now he was seriously contemplating sleeping with his shot gun.

   "I shouldn't worry about it too much," he said, pulling up to the mansion. "Animals do strange things sometimes...Just make sure you don't leave the smaller ones alone."

   Bethany nodded and got out, thanking him for the ride. Liam tipped his hat and drove away down a less conspicuous road and into the trees. For the first time since they had arrived Bethany wondered where he lived. It was strange to think that with all the space Aunt Laura had she would not let her employees at least sleep in the bunk house, which was located behind the mansion.

   The siblings all trudged into the house, hot and tired from their escapade, and sank down in the comfy parlor chairs. The sun was sinking low behind the trees and it was cooling down, much to Bethany's pleasure. She was boiling and had to change into a t-shirt and shorts before she melted into a little puddle in the middle of the floor. The house had air conditioning but Aunt Laura had forgotten to turn it on before she left and Bethany did not know how.

   Up in her room Bethany could hear thundering footsteps running down the hall towards her, skidding to a stop in front of door. Several pairs of fists slammed on the door and she could hear the raised voices outside calling, "Annie! Annie help! Victoria got bit!"

   Bethany quickly opened the door and saw Theresa, Timothy, and Allen, their three pairs of crystal blue eyes looking up at her.

   "What happened? Where's Victoria?" she asked hastily, already heading downstairs.

   "She's in the kitchen. Fran is helping her," Allen said, following Bethany down the stairs.

   They all crowded into the kitchen where Victoria was sitting on the counter,Fran putting a bandage on her arm.

   "Is she alright?" Bethany asked, looking at Victoria's tear stained face.gt

   "Yeah she'll be fine," Fran answered, tying the ends of the bandage together. "Will you tell Bethany what happened?"

   Victoria frowned and turned with an angry look, pointing at Mariah.

   "She bit me!"

   Bethany looked from Victoria's red face to Mariah's ashamed one, promptly bursting into a fit of chuckles. It was all she could do to keep herself from falling on the floor laughing.

   "I don't think it's very funny," Victoria muttered, folding her arms.

   Fran smiled and helped Victoria off the counter, knowing why Bethany had started laughing. It was honestly a relief to know that nothing more serious then a family quarrel had broke out.

   "Mariah, why did you bite Victoria?" Bethany asked, managing to contain herself.

   "She stole my bear!" Mariah accused her.

   "I did not!"Victoria protested.

   "Alright that's enough!" Fran said, breaking the two up. "Now go and find something else to do."

   With one last glare at each other the girls left the kitchen, immediately forgetting about the whole incident.

   "Hey Bethany!" Freddie called from the parlor.

   Bethany sighed and walked through the adjoining room into the parlor where Freddie was standing above a bag, its contents scattered all over the floor. There was a lipstick, a water bottle, a cell phone, a compact, a watch, and a few other bits and pieces, all completely torn to shreds.

   "What's the matter?" Bethany asked, walking up to him.

   "I'm not sure. I just found this and...look over there."

   He pointed towards a corner of the room where there was a large hole in the ground, large enough to fit a cat inside.