Maple Hollow and the Bird Sanctuary Dispute
Maple Hollow and the Bird Sanctuary Dispute A Gia and Faith Healing Mystery The rain drummed a steady, rhythmic beat against the tin roof of the potting shed, a sound far more soothing than the sharp chirp of a dying smoke alarm battery. Inside, the air smelled of damp earth, dried lavender, and the cedar shavings Gia Doyle used to line the nesting boxes for her neighbors' hens. Gia sat on a weathered wooden stool, her fingers tracing the edge of a vintage tea tin she’d repurposed for storing seeds. Outside the window, the Maple Hollow sky was a bruised purple, the kind of heavy atmosphere that usually signaled a sudden drop in temperature—the sort of weather that made your bones ache and your throat feel a bit scratchy. Across from her, Faith Waters was leaning against the potting bench, her eyes closed as she breathed in the scent of the rain. Faith had arrived twenty minutes ago, looking like she’d been through a metaphorical (and literal) storm, complaining about a "con...