But Catherine Fitzgibbons gave him a curt, snide wave of dismissal. “I have no further questions for this witness.”
She proudly waddled back to her seat.
JUDGE DWYER GAVE US a most special gift that night, and I hoped it didn’t come out of some combination of pity and guilt. He made a decision that the kids could spend part of the night with Kit and me. He kind of threw us a bone.
What a treat! Unforgettable.
The kids were brought to our hotel, the venerable old Brown Palace , by a phalanx of U.S. marshals. The first order of business was deciding on a place for dinner. Everyone was superstarved. The choices were room service, the Ship Tavern right there in the hotel, or the Little Italy in the Sixteenth Street Mall. Little Italy won in a landslide, six to two. Supposedly they had great veggie pizza, the kids’ all-time favorite food on the planet. Say no more.
We arrived at the Italian restaurant about 8:30 , and the usual rules were in effect: no staring contests with other people; no food fights, especially under the circumstances; absolutely no flying inside Little Italy; no snide jokes about Uncle Frank or Little Joey, who were pictured all over the walls.
The kids were a dream to be with that night. Part of it was because they were on their best behavior, but part was because they were so smart and were growing up so fast. Max was twelve, but in human years she was probably twice that. She was even starting to look like a young woman in her mid-teens. And then there was Ozymandias, who was more handsome than Prince Harry on a good hair day.
This was the first time they had all been together to talk and “vent” about their new parents.
Ozymandias started off by saying that his mom was a “really good, really sweet person,” but she just didn’t get the bird part of him and kept suggesting that he would “grow out of it.” He also revealed to us that his mother had engaged an agent and an entertainment lawyer because “we don’t want to be taken advantage of by Hollywood types, do we?”
“I like her, you know,” he said, “but she really isn’t equipped to handle me. The press are always sniffing around the house, and she thinks it’s okay. She likes the attention, I think. Not in a mean way. She’s just human.”
All the kids had horror stories about the press constantly being at their houses, at school, just about anywhere they went. The Chens had sold interviews with Peter and Wendy; the Marshalls would have, except that Max forbade it. She had also smashed up a camera during a particularly obnoxious interview.
“If goddamn ET shows up here tonight,” she warned, “I’m going to take away their cameras, and film them.”
While we were waiting for various desserts to be served— gela to, sorbetto, chocolate zuccotto cake—Max took the floor. God, she was magnificent: looks, bearing, everything about her said “hero.” Follow me. I am the special one you’ve been waiting for.
Imagine heightened mother-of-pearl and you would come pretty close to getting the color of her wings right. They had an iridescent sheen, flushed pink where the shafts emerged from her nearly translucent skin. They reminded me of the wings of ospreys or swans, but, of course, spanning ten feet, they were much larger. The wings grew from behind her shoulders, but Max’s arms seemed elegant and natural. Clearly, she represented the best of both species.
“Unaccustomed to public speaking, as I am,” she said, and we all laughed. Actually, Max had been on just about every TV news and talk show over the past few months. And, of course, she was very good.
“Win, lose, or draw,” she continued, “I just want Frannie and Kit to know how much we appreciate everything they’ve done for us, and I mean everything, from saving our pitiful butts to getting shot at, having Frannie’s wonderful house burned to the ground, and then coming here and offering to take all of us into their new home. My God, they’re even willing to take in Icarus!”
“Sure, pick on the blind kid,” yelled Ic as he laughed loudly. He actually loved it that Max always took special care to include him.
“Frannie said in court today that we belong together, that we should never be separated, and I swear, that’s the way it will be. It’s the right thing to do, the only thing. Anyone with even half a brain has to see that. So we may be in trouble,” she said, and winked, “because our fate is now in the hands of this country’s judicial system.”
Then Max came around the table and gave Kit and me the biggest, warmest hug and kisses.
“We love you both,” she said. “Mom and Dad.”
THAT NIGHT, Dr. Ethan Kane walked through thick woods toward Frannie O’Neill’s cabin in Bear Bluff. He’d flown into Denver that morning and had actually watched part of the trial. Dr. Kane was extraordinarily interested in the bird children, especially Maximum, who not only represented a forward step in evolution but might also know things she shouldn’t.