T is for Trust

It was after reflecting that Gordon realized he could have been better to Maria, the fact that she was gone forever made it easy to fill his head with thoughts of her, and as usually happens, only the best memories surface once someone is gone for good.

He took a walk through the park, down the street and unknowingly had navigated himself right to the very spot where his wife’s life had ended. He looked through the window and a new layer of dust was already forming over the floors that had been partially cleared by the shuffling of feet and other commotion. He wondered why, why would anyone want to hurt her. His name had been cleared in the murder because it was proven that he was nowhere near Hooper’s that night. But even so, he knew deep inside that Big Bird was incapable of murder and there was some sort of mistake.

“You ok Gordon? A voice whispered from the shadows behind him. It was Bird.

“Big Bird what are you doing? Half of the country is looking for you! Where are you, I can’t even see you!”

“I couldn’t be found Gordon, I didn’t do it and nobody believes me. I had to stay to find out what happened. You believe me don’t you?”

“Of course I do, but the feathers, the footprints, it looks bad Bird, real bad. I can’t see you. Let’s go somewhere and talk.”

They sat near the river somewhere that Gordon had never seen before. Bird had been hiding here for days and it was evident that he was planning for a long stay.

“I hear Snuffy is on the run and they think that you have taken him”

“You know Snuffy couldn’t handle the news that Maria’s dea…” he paused and considered Gordon’s feelings for a moment.

“Sorry.”

“That’s ok Big Bird” he said solemnly, “So where’s Snuffy?”

“He’s gone to visit some family until things cool down, he’s so innocent you know, he even left a trail of hair along the way so he could find his way back, I just don’t think I could handle it if he believed those lies about me.”

“So what happened that night Bird?”

“Well after we had words at Oscar’s I was pretty upset… and drunk, I called Maria to cry on her shoulder and something strange happened, she turned from the phone and said “How did you do that?” then the phone dropped there was a little muffled noise and then the line went dead.”

“I just didn’t feel right about it, so by the time I had made my way back downtown the commotion at Hooper’s told me the story.” That’s when I sent Snuffy on his way and hid out here to wait for things to cool of a bit.”

“So there must have been someone in my apartment when you called, someone she trusted, and someone she knew, a familiar face. Like you... but not you.”

They both fell silent as they heard a rustling in the woods around them. Bird pulled up a brush camouflaged blanket over them both and they lied perfectly still.