They flew down the corridors and checked every door. All of them were locked tight, and besides, the three birds weren’t big enough to push them open anyway.
Suddenly, the mall didn’t seem quite so fun. In fact, it seemed kind of scary.
A grimy, disheveled bird with sticky-looking feathers popped up from the garbage can next to them. Speed Bump screamed and jumped into Slingshot’s arms, and Nuts jumped onto his back.
“You outside birds don’t know what you’re MISSING! All these smells!” The bird held a half-eaten taco to his beak. “All these STORES! Look around! It’s like this stuff is surrounding you and giving you a giant, squeezy hug and making you feel SAFE! Not like the outside, no sir!”
“I got trapped, too!” the bird said. “I escaped, but then I got trapped again! And again! And then I started to LIKE it! I mean, REALLY like it! And now I’ll NEVER leave! NEVER! HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!” His eyes rolled back in his head as he laughed, and each eye looked in a different direction before they focused back on Speed Bump. Then the scrappy old bird scooped up a wing full of garbage.
And before the three birds could say anything, he dove back into the can.
The three of them flew to a nook in the rafters. Slingshot unzipped his fanny pack and pulled out three french fries.
“I really shouldn’t, but…” said Nuts.
“How can you even think about eating when … yeah, okay, I’ll take one,” said Speed Bump.
A few minutes later, with bellies full and beaks greasy, they were fast asleep. Again.
