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143 21 A male ruby-throated hummingbird perched on the railing to rest near a teardrop-shaped feeder. He stretched his fiery red throat, poked his bill in the air, and swiveled his iridescent green head first one way and then the other as if he had only one good eye. He puffed his feathers, causing his tiny body to appear larger, and expanded his silver-grey chest to its maximum, daring any other hummingbirds to dip into the red sugar-water. Sadie thought he looked like a miniature penguin. A female hummer flew into his airspace. She hovered near the feeder, slowly edging her bill toward the yellow flower-shaped plastic portal of artificial nectar . In an instant the male took flight, his body transformed into a small missile aimed directly at his adversary. He sideswiped her. They twirled in midair in a dance of grace and precision and then zoomed off. Sadie shook her head, grinned, and watched. A few seconds later, the male bird returned to his duty station. “You are so tough for such a tiny bird,” teased Sadie. Another dazzling hummingbird ventured near. Showing its aerial agility, the bird held its flight pattern high near the roof of the porch. The guarding hummer flew toward the intruder and found himself caught in an abandoned spider web. He fluttered and reversed flight, pulling strands of the sticky web across his wings and body. Sadie gasped and ran to help, determined to rescue the little creature. Just as she reached for him, he maneuvered, pulled free, and escaped. But she had reached too far. Her foot slid off the edge of the porch and suddenly she was falling . She fell hard on her knees and rolled onto the ground. When she tried to get up, her legs would not move. “Sadie, what are you doing on the ground?” The soft voice caught her unaware. “Grandma?” Sadie’s voice echoed as if it were in a tunnel. “Is that you? I’m hurt. Alisdelvdi,” she said. “Help me.” “You must help yourself, Sadie. You are strong. You are a Walela. Get up.” 144 Sadie moved her legs, trying to increase blood flow to her tingling toes, and opened her eyes. She had been dreaming. Certainly no hummingbirds flew inside this cold steel vault. But the spirit of her grandmother, she was sure, had been there while she slept. Her knee still hurt from the spill she had taken and it was swelling. She looked at her watch. It was only a little past nine o’clock and she wished she had access to a restroom. It was going to be a long night. She took the reports she had scraped off the floor earlier and decided to put them back in order. She studied the different headings, some of which made absolutely no sense to her. Guided by the report numbers at the top of each page, she began to sort through the mess of paper. “Dormant accounts,” she muttered to herself. “Who cares about dormant accounts?” She scanned the report, thinking she might recognize a name or two. Nothing. Then suddenly a dollar amount jumped out of the column on the right-hand side of the report. It was an odd amount. She had seen it earlier in the day. She concentrated, trying to remember where. Probably the same page, she thought. “I’m looking at pages I’ve already looked at,” she reminded herself. She continued to scan through more reports. Again, the same dollar amount leapt off the page at her. “What report is this?” She looked for page one. Unable to find what she was looking for, she laid out the pages on the floor, grouping the different report numbers together. Before long she saw a pattern of questionable transactions, the same odd amounts going in and out of different accounts. “Why doesn’t this stupid report have names on it?” she said aloud. She would have to remember to bring them to Tom’s attention. “Why am I doing this?” She spoke out loud again. “I don’t care about strange transactions. This is ridiculous.” She bunched the papers together, stacked them on top of the counter, and sat on the floor. Her knee throbbed. Maybe if she could go back to sleep, she thought, morning would arrive sooner. But her mind wouldn’t rest. She searched her memory, trying to figure out who would lock her in the vault, and why. This...
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