After lunch, Daniel found the bat hanging upside down from his usual place in the attic. But he wasn’t alone.
“Coo woo. Coo wooooooo.”
“You!” he shouted at Birdgirl. “Get lost!” Birdgirl edged closer to Megabat.
“You ruined everything.” Daniel grabbed a comic book off his shelf and waved it at her. The pigeon flew around the room, bumping into a lamp and knocking a pile of books off the bedside table. Finally, she found her way out the window.
“Shoo!” Daniel said, shutting it. But Birdgirl stayed right outside, looking in.
Daniel flopped down on his bed and banged his head on the sloped attic wall. “I hate this room!” he yelled in frustration. “I hate this house! I hate this whole place! And I hate that stupid pigeon!” He felt so hopeless that he started to cry, and—drip, drip, drip—he wasn’t the only one.
Daniel held out one hand and Megabat swooped down to nestle in his palm. There was something about the small weight of him there that made Daniel feel a little less alone—and somehow that helped a lot.
They stayed there for a while, neither of them feeling much like talking. Until—thud, thud, thud—Birdgirl began launching herself at the window.
Daniel had to admit that Talia’s brother was right about one thing: pigeons were pretty dumb.
“Birdgirl is most distressed also,” Megabat said with a little sniff.
“Well, she should be. She ruined our purse plan. She is not my favorite pigeon right now.”
Daniel put Megabat back to roost on his beam then started picking up all the books Birdgirl had knocked over. There, at the top of the pile, was his Children’s Own Atlas. Birdgirl’s flapping had left it face-down on the floor, open to a page with two kinds of world maps. Daniel studied them. In the first map, Borneo was about as far away as you could get from North America. But in the second, which looked at the Earth from the other side, it was closer.
He measured both distances with his thumb. It took twelve thumbprints to go across the Atlantic to Borneo, but just seven to cross the Pacific Ocean.
Daniel knew that seven thumbs was still a long way…thousands and thousands of miles, probably…but it gave him an idea.
Megabat soon fell asleep, and Daniel went back next door. Talia’s mother said she was upstairs playing with Jamie—but playing wasn’t what Daniel would have called it.
From the top of the stairs, he could see Talia kneeling on the floor with a bucket of water and some sponges.
“Don’t forget to wash between my toes,” Jamie commanded.
“Hi,” Daniel said, coming to stand in the doorway. “Can I talk to you for a minute? It’s kind of important.”
“Can’t you see my servant’s busy?” Jamie barked.
“I’m allowed to talk to people.” Talia said.
“Fine.” Jamie pulled his feet out of the bucket and walked toward the door, leaving wet footprints behind. “Just like I’m allowed to talk to people. Like, say, Mom…and tell her about your talking bat.”
“Don’t you dare!” Talia said, but it was obvious from his smirk that he would dare. “Just let me talk to Daniel for five minutes, okay? Then I’ll organize your comic books and put your laundry away.”
“And file my toenails,” Daniel added.
“Fine,” she said, then she motioned for Daniel to follow her into her room.
“I think I have a new plan for getting Megabat home,” Daniel said once the door was closed. “He might be able to fly there himself—if we train him. He’ll need to learn geography and survival skills. Plus practice his flying. It’s a long journey.”
“Seven thousand, five hundred and seventy miles,” Talia said. Daniel looked at her in surprise. “I looked it up. I’ve been thinking the same thing,” she explained. “But do you really think he can do it?”
“It might be our last hope.”
“I think you’re right,” Talia said. She sat down on the bed. “I’ll help train him as much as I can,” she said. “But I’m going to be pretty busy.”
“Talia!” Jamie shouted. “Time’s up!”
“See? I’d better go. But I can come help on the days Jamie’s at swimming lessons. And after dinner.”
“Okay,” Daniel said, even though he was feeling less certain about his plan by the second. Training a bat to fly across the world…Where was he supposed to start?