“What are you boys doing? Stop bothering that young girl?” Miss Sepdet yelled out from her porch.
The boys took off running. Iris stopped and turned around and then breathed a sigh of relief.
Miss Sepdet was the neighborhood bird lady who lived in the house facing Cypress Street on the older, undeveloped side of Middle Crescent. She lived by herself and was always seen feeding or talking to birds from one of the many fountains and feeders on her property. She even had special cages for nursing sick birds back to health.
Iris remained still from within the shadows of the tunnel. Something still wasn’t right. She was looking at Miss Sepdet without the magic eye and yet there she was, a bronze statue before her eyes. She also had something on her head. It looked like a frisbee stuck between two horns. Then she remembered why she was standing there. Iris turned around and saw that the tunnel was still there.
“Are you alright my dear?” Miss Sepdet’s voice reverberated off the walls of the tunnel.