A Practical Guide to Borrowed Wings

How it begins

Edith knew a customer had broken something expensive when they complimented the bell.

"Lovely tone," said the young man in the doorway.

"The bell is three pennies. Put the wings on the counter."

He laid down a pair of municipal Number Sevens. The left wing trembled beneath its canvas cover. A feather fell out, rose six inches, and pointed accusingly at him.

"Before you say anything," he began, "I followed every instruction."

Edith reached under the counter for the blue form. Above it, pinned to a shelf with an upholstery tack, was the notice giving her fourteen days to vacate. She turned the form over so she wouldn't have to look at the notice while writing.

"Name?"

"Sam Bellows."

"Weight, including regrets?"

"Is that a standard question?"

"For Number Sevens."

He considered this. "More than yesterday."

The feather pivoted toward the window. Edith set a brass weight on its stem. The weight slid three inches across the counter.

She took off her spectacles.

"Where did you get these?"

"Here. Tuesday. Your assistant said they were reliable."

"My assistant is a kettle."

"The woman drinking from it, then."

That would be her sister. Edith put the spectacles back on and opened the wing cover. The canvas smelled of wet rooftops and someone else's lunch. Under the primary struts, where a balancing charm should have been, a little green light pulsed in an unfamiliar rhythm.

Outside, a delivery cart rattled over the cobbles. The wings jerked so hard that Sam grabbed the counter.

"They've been doing that all morning. I was meant to deliver a letter to the council. They took me to a chimney instead."

"Was there anything in the chimney?"

"A cat."

Edith looked at the notice above her blue forms. The council seal was the same green as the light inside the wing.

Then somebody screamed in the street, and both wings opened.

Sam ducked. Edith caught the brass weight before it struck the kettle.

"Lock the door," she said. "Apparently we're making a house call."