A Bee in Her Bonnet Read Online Free Page B

of Rose’s voice, Big Bertha stirred and squawked and flapped her wings as if the cat were chasing her. She made such a fuss that the other chickens awoke and disintegrated into a skirmish of feathers.
    â€œWhat is this all about?” Poppy said. “Did Billy Idol scare you out of your coop?”
    Billy Idol was their new cat. He was fierce enough to rid the farm of mice, but he also made the chickens quake in their boots—if chickens had boots. Lily’s fiancé, Dan, had brought Billy Idol last week as a gift to Aunt B, but Aunt B had never appreciated a gift less. She wasn’t all that fond of the cat they already had.
    â€œAendi Bitsy is going to get rid of Billy Idol for sure this time,” Rose said, furrowing her brow at the possibility of losing their new cat.
    Poppy couldn’t share Rose’s concern. Billy Idol might have been a good mouser, but he was the orneriest cat alive, and he left his victims on the porch almost every day. Poppy could just as well do without the sight of a dead mouse greeting her first thing in the morning.
    â€œLet’s go see,” Poppy said.
    Tiptoeing around the agitated chickens, they went behind the barn. If Billy Idol had cleared out the chicken coop for a place to sleep, he’d be in big trouble.
    â€œOh no,” Rose whispered as they came around the corner.
    Poppy took in a sharp breath.
    The chicken coop was gone.
    Well, not exactly gone. Nothing remained of it but a tangled heap of straw, wire, and splintered lumber. It looked as if a tiny tornado had blown by and reduced it to a pile of kindling in the middle of the night.
    The troublemaker had returned.
    Fear and anger tightened in Poppy’s chest. Could someone truly hate them this much? What had any of the Honeybee Schwesters ever done to warrant chopping down their chicken coop or painting threatening messages on their barn? Aunt Bitsy wore earrings occasionally and hid money between the pages of their Bible, but surely no one could be this angered by her eccentric behavior. Lily read books to the schoolchildren once a week, and Rose was so timid and sweet that people were afraid of offending her , not the other way around.
    Poppy nibbled on her bottom lip. She had socked more than her fair share of boys in primary school. Could one of them still be angry after all these years? At the moment, it was the only explanation that made sense. This whole mess could very well be her fault.
    Tears slowly trickled down Rose’s cheeks. “Why would he chop up our chicken coop? What did the chickens ever do to him?”
    Poppy put her arm around her sister. After this, they’d be fortunate if they could convince Rose to leave the house. “The important thing is that he didn’t hurt our chickens. That means he has a little kindness inside him.”
    To Poppy’s surprise, Rose’s expression brightened considerably. She wiped her eyes and sniffed back new tears. “That’s true. He cared about the chickens. He must not be all bad. Jesus can still touch his heart.”
    Well, maybe. The best Poppy dared hope was that he’d get arrested for sneaking around people’s houses and quit bothering them.
    â€œLet’s go break the bad news to B and Lily,” Poppy said. “We’ll have to buy some eggs at the market today.”
    â€œ Nae , look,” Rose said, gazing at the side of the barn where the chickens had been roosting.
    Six eggs lay on the ground in a nice little row against the barn wall. Rose quickly snatched them up and put them in her basket. “It’s a chicken coop miracle,” she said, with an unexpected smile.
    Maybe she wouldn’t shut herself in her room today.
    Billy Idol strolled around the corner of the barn and mewed loudly. His voice was gravelly and deep, as if he’d been a smoker all his life. At the sight of the chickens milling near what used to be their coop, he crouched and crept closer, no doubt