Chapter 18: To Be Honest

"Hello," said Birdie into the microphone, and a squeal of feedback ran through the hall.

Forty-one phones tilted a quarter inch.

"My name is Birdie Kimball. I'm five. I'm going to turn six in October."

"That's lovely, sweet pea," Inez said, with a hand reaching for the microphone. "Now the pledge."

"I'm not saying the pledge."

The hand stopped.

"Grandma wrote it. It's all true," Birdie said. "That's why it's bad."

A woman near the front said "Oh," very softly, and then covered her mouth.

"I'm going to say the other true things now," Birdie went on. "The ones Grandma didn't put in."

She took a breath, and it came out loud through the speakers.

"Grandma pays me in cookies. One cookie for a true thing about Mom."

Inez laughed, quick and bright.

"It's a game, honey. We play a game."

"Two cookies if it makes the room go quiet," Birdie said. "I'm saying that now, and the room is quiet, so that's two."

Somebody at the back of the hall snorted, and a hundred people tried not to.

"Three cookies," Birdie said, "if I say it in front of an official."

She turned her head and looked straight at Officer Cobb.

"That's you. You got me three."

Officer Cobb rose halfway out of his chair, sat back down and picked up his hat to hold it against his chest.

"The pastor got me three on April ninth," Birdie said. "In front of the choir."

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