Excerpt: Ribbon of Trouble

Maybe if my stupid name weren’t Blackbird. Blackbird McAllistair had this conversation with herself often. Maybe if I didn’t have one blue eye and one brown eye. She tried to keep her breathing steady, tried to relax her clenched teeth. Maybe if my hair were curly like fathers, or at least black like mother’s instead of straight and red. She tried to tear her eyes away from the couple on the street, but it was no use. Maybe if I were older, or he were younger.

Three blocks down the cobblestoned street, standing in front of the milliners, was Merret Benetton. Her Merret. Her ‘Ret. And he was flirting with Rebecca Sauceworthy. Even from this distance, she could see Rebecca flash a simpering smile when Merret chucked her under the chin. Her blood boiled.

Maybe if I could get out of Stonewick and finally do something. Maybe if mother and father were even remotely normal. Maybe if- her thoughts continued thusly as she drew closer to the couple on the street. Merret hadn’t seen her, neither had Rebecca. With every step closer, she could feel her cheeks grow redder with heat.

She knew she shouldn’t care. She knew she shouldn’t have this reaction. She knew that Merret cared less for Rebecca Sauceworthy than he did for any other girl who found him irresistible. It wasn’t that he was so handsome, and he certainly didn’t dress in fine, fashionable clothes. But his grey eyes had a dangerous, wolfish look to them that too many girls mistook for sensual hunger. They melted under his gaze. Instead, they should have run.

Blackbird watched the couple part as she drew nearer, and was about to breath a sigh of relief, but then she saw where Merret was headed. The stone wash house. Her heart grew tight and her stomach clenched. There was one woman who she knew she should be jealous of- Eva White, the laundress who sang like a nightingale, whose bell-like notes echoed off the stone walls of the wash house. Whose perfect face and two blue eyes were framed with silken blond hair. Who was kind to little children, who was beloved by nearly everyone.

Maybe if Eva weren’t here. As Merret disappeared through the stone wash house archway, Blackbird struggled for control. She wanted to run. She wanted to strike Eva. She wanted to throttle Merret. As it was, she passed Rebecca Sauceworthy and glared at her. Across the street, Rebecca shrunk back in horror and crossed herself.

Maybe if every nitwit in this town didn’t think I was a witch! Blackbird knew what she was about to do was wrong, but she absolutely could not help it. She gave a short whistle, and a large, inky black crow flew down from a nearby rooftop where it was perched. Her pet crow, Moxie. She hissed “ribbon, fetch” into his ear and pointed towards Rebbecca.

She watched with a strange mixture of satisfaction and shame as Rebbecca’s eyes grew large with horror. Moxie stretched his wings and with a raucous flapping and cawing, winged his way towards Rebecca, talons stretched and aiming for the blue ribbons that trimmed her fashionable dress at the shoulder. Rebecca was either too stupid or too frightened to move or run away, as Moxie closed in, seized the ribbon in his talons and began to tug. The ribbon came away with a satisfying rip, and Rebecca finally found her legs. She tore away down the street, her beautifully arranged hair all bedraggled, and her lovely dress ruined.

Moxie landed softly on Blackbird’s shoulder, offering her the ribbon. “you can have it,” she told him dejectedly, and he flapped off to add it to his collection somewhere.
Well, maybe if I didn’t act like that so often. Maybe then, maybe then I would have his heart.