Chapter 8

Wedding Doves

‘How many bridesmaids? ‘ India was filling her bag with bulk dry dog food. Tiny ate so much, it was cheaper to buy in bulk.

‘Six or seven. It’s a big wedding,’ said Mr. Snip-pets who was washing a pigeon in the sink.

‘What colours are the bridesmaids’ dresses?’

‘All the colours of the rainbow.’

Why don’t you dye the birds to match the dresses?’ India watched Mr. Snip-pets carefully wash the pigeon.

‘What?’

‘If you haven’t got your Serena back in time, you’ll need something special for the photos.’

‘Matching birds. Colour co-ordinated,’ Mr.Snippets smiled. ‘That’s a thought.’

‘Would you paint them?’ asked India, thinking of Tiny’s luminous mouth.

‘No. I’d use vegetable dye. Lasts about six weeks.’

‘How many colours in the rainbow?’ asked Art.

India answered immediately. She remembered that sort of stuff. ‘It depends whether you mean the main colours or the shades. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. But wouldn’t you have to match the girls’ dresses?’

‘That’s a point. I’ll find out.’

‘You could have striped in footy team colours,’ suggested Art but India didn’t think much of that idea. Her football team didn’t have stripes.

‘Tiny’s food is heavy. I’m taking it home. See you at school tomorrow.’

‘D’you want me to carry some?’ offered Art who really wanted to look around the yard of the pet shop. There must be clues somewhere that he had missed.

‘No. See you.’

Sleuth Art didn’t find much. There were several logs, an overgrown vegetable plot and some sheds out the back.

The gate which opened onto the back lane was padlocked.

Of course, a bird could fly over the top. In or out!

Mum had asked him to get a lettuce, so on the way home, Art called into the shopping centre. The fruit and vegetable place was downstairs. Art stepped onto the escalator.

His foot landed halfway between the steps which slowly grew further apart. He slipped. He grabbed the side.

The escalator kept moving down. GIANT SALE,MAGIC PARADE,SUMMER MUSIC. Posters filled the walls beside the escalators. Art looked at the pictures. There was one with a dove. A magician was pulling a dove out of his top hat.

‘Hey!’

Art hurried down the escalator and then returned upwards, so he could look at the poster again.

It was a white dove. And the magician was performing centre stage tonight. He saw it said THURSDAY.

He arrived at the bottom again. He jumped off quickly before his heels were clipped.

Down at basement level, empty shops with windows like blank eyes watched him.

He decided to get Mum’s lettuce first. She’d be mad if he didn’t. Then he’d find the magician.

Art couldn’t sop thinking about doves. Every time he heard a bird noise, he looked around.

Who might have taken Serena? Where might she be hidden?

Who’d want to take her? Could the magician be involved?

Lettuces were piled on a table outside the fruit shop. Red tomatoes, yellow bananas and purple passionfruit. The colours of the rainbow vegetable colours. Vegetable dye. Pigeons. Art’s mind was back to the mystery of the disappearing doves. He didn’t notice Mario.

‘One lettuce please.’

Art handed over the money. He looked sideways.

Photo Fantasy, the shop next door, belonged to a photographer. In the window were smiling people, all dressed up. Some were holding balloons or sparklers. Others were leaning against racing cars. One was hugging an elephant. None seemed to be doing ordinary things.

Just then, Mario pushed towards him. ‘Hey, Art!’

That’s when it happened.

A woman with a baby was pushing a shopping trolley. The child struggled to get out of the seat. The mother leaned over. She didn’t look where the trolley was going. The trolley hit the front table of the vegetable display. The lettuce table wobbled, the tomatoes wobbled and the oranges started to roll.

As the fruit fell, it was like an avalanche. Apples. Oranges. Tomatoes. And then the melons. They didn’t just roll, they went splat as they hit the floor.

‘Help!’ cried the shop owner. ‘My fruit!’

The photographer raced out, camera flashing.

He shot the falling fruit, Mario, the owner’s face and Art catching the baby.

That was the photograph which made the front page of the local newspaper. LOCAL BOY HERO.

‘They should have seat belts on shopping trolleys,’ Mum suggested when she saw the photo.

Only later, Art found out that Mario was telling everybody that he, Mario, had saved the baby. The caption underneath read “‘It was nothing,’ said Mario, local Mount Street primary student. ‘I was just doing the vegetable shopping for my grandad. I am a great footballer. Catching the baby was easy.’