The Great Unexpected

Naomi flees to the barn. She sees the trunks belonging to her father, mother, and Nula. Joe told Nula once that the trunks were full of “dead…things,” and she argued with him, telling Joe to leave them alone. This led Naomi to fear that her parents were in the trunks, desperate to escape. Nula reassured her, saying that Naomi was letting them out just by being alive. However, Naomi didn’t understand what this meant. Now, Finn climbs up the ladder. He’s looking dusty and different from everyone else. They chat for a while, and he leaves.

Naomi explains that Nula left Ireland when she was 12. She believes her siblings and parents are all dead by now. It is evident that both Nula and Joe had impoverished childhoods. After the funeral, Nula tells Naomi she’s thinking about all the years she and Joe worked, all the effort and energy they put in, and how it all just goes away.

Mr. Dingle arrives, and Sybil asks him if her plan is in jeopardy. He tells her that “the girls” talked about a boy called Finn, but everything else seems to be “in place.” He references Joe’s death, saying that, while it is sad, it makes things “easier.” Sybil is thrilled by the news and intrigued by the mention of a Finn. She finds it “perfect” that the girls would talk about him.

The day after the funeral, Nula tells Naomi that they’ll have to sell the place and move. The day after that, Lizzie appears, and she is despondent because the Cupwrights will not adopt her. The girls go to the loft, where Nula finds them. Nula wants to go through the trunks now, and they start with Naomi’s father’s trunk. It contains several issues of The Ravensworth Times with headlines addressing the dog attack. There are a couple of yearbooks, dog tags from his Army days, and some photographs. Lizzie points to the nurse in one of the photos depicting Naomi in the hospital after the attack, exclaiming that it is Lizzie’s mother. Lizzie is overjoyed to know that Naomi met her mother, saying, “I knew we were connected” (132).

Nula opens Naomi’s mother’s trunk, with no idea what it contains, having never met her. There are several baby items, some clothing, a hand-painted wooden box, a notebook, and other various objects. Lizzie is enchanted, but Naomi feels numb because she recognizes nothing. From the notebook, Naomi learns that her mother, Kathleen, had the last name King before she married Naomi’s father, Andrew Deane. She sees that her mom’s middle initial was “M” but doesn’t know what it stands for. Suddenly, Lizzie blurts out that the Cupwrights don’t want her; they told her that they “couldn’t” adopt her, but Lizzie thinks they never wanted her. Nula tries to reassure her, but Lizzie says she has no other family except for “some crazy old aunt” in England or Ireland called “Hillbunny or Pushbunny, or something like that” (135-36).

Nula tells the girls that she brought the trunk from Ireland. A neighbor gave it to her out of pity when her family sent her away with a shady couple who promised to take her to America to work for a grand family. She was just 12, put to work for the shady couple instead, earning nothing for her first year to cover the cost of her passage to America. Lizzie wonders how Nula survived, and Nula says simply: “You get up and then you go on” (137).

Sybil tells Miss Pilpenny how she came to Rooks Orchard. Paddy McCoul, then called Finn, got her a job in the kitchen, then ran off with her first month’s wages. She thought he’d gone to America to follow her sister, but he didn’t. Though the Master and Mistress were cruel, their son, Albert, was kind. His mother called him “frail,” and his father thought him “useless.” One day, when the Master saw Albert and Sybil talking, he whipped her. Not long after, they eloped. When his parents died, Albert inherited the property, and when he died, the estate went to Sybil. Sybil asks Miss Pilpenny if they should have a murder tonight, and she happily agrees.

When Nula sailed from Ireland, she had some clothing, two photos, a quilt, a bag of Irish soil, and an envelope of seeds. She stole the quilt from her parents and the dresses and pictures from her sister, feeling she deserved them because her sister stole the boy she loved and her parents sent her away. Naomi guesses that the boy her sister stole was Finn. Nula calls him “wicked,” saying he stole hearts and told lies. Nula pulls her wedding dress from the trunk, some dried flowers, and finally, two iron birds. She doesn’t know who sent them to her or why. Naomi looks at a photo of a young Nula with her five siblings, and Nula knows four of them died either in the war or of disease, leaving only a sister. Nula says her sister’s name was Sybil, and she assumes Sybil married Finn but does not know because they haven’t spoken since Nula left Ireland. Lizzie worries Sybil could be alive but near death and might die before Nula reconnects with her. Naomi looks at the second photograph in Nula’s trunk, open-mouthed. Lizzie wants to know who’s in the picture, and Naomi responds, “Finn?” Nula confirms she is right.

On the way to visit the elderly, Naomi shows Nula’s picture to Lizzie again, asking if Nula’s Finn looks like her Finn. Lizzie doesn’t know. When they arrive, Mr. Canner has Naomi read him a story titled “The Legend of Finn McCoul.” This Finn is a large man with a large wife named Oonagh, and he is an Irish hero who fears no one except for the giant, Cucullin. When Finn learns that Cucullin is coming for him, Oonagh hatches a plan to trick the giant. The plan works, sending Cucullin running for the hills, and Mr. Canner applauds Finn, but Naomi says that Oonagh is the real hero. Mr. Canner tells her she doesn’t know anything about it.

Next, the girls head to one-armed Farley’s. Naomi looks again at his iron birds, and they remind her of the ones in Nula’s trunk. When Naomi asks about them, Mr. Farley only says, “Mary-Mary.” He gets very agitated, and Mrs. Mudkin, again, ushers the girls from his presence.

Walking home, Lizzie tells Naomi she is scared. Without Naomi, Lizzie says, she’d be all alone in the world. She worries about the future, but Naomi promises she won’t let Lizzie be homeless. After Lizzie leaves, Naomi sees Finn. When she presses him to tell her where he’s from, he says, “Duffayn,” which sounds familiar to her. He tells her it’s in Ireland, and she suddenly realizes how much she longs to travel outside of Blackbird Tree. Naomi returns to Mr. Farley’s and asks him if the birds belonged to Mary-Mary. He repeats the words. Naomi asks if she can hold the birds, and he hands them to her. Next, he goes to his desk and pulls out a note addressed to Mary. The writer says she doesn’t know who sent her the crows but knowing how Mary loves birds, she thought Mary might like to have them. The note is signed by Margaret “Strawberry or Sheltering”—the handwriting too difficult to decipher (157). Naomi races home, wondering about the power of things that scare us, the reason we find people when we do, and if we attract our own futures. She feels that change is coming.

On the way home, Naomi stops at Witch Wiggins’s house. Inside, Naomi asks if the woman has any crow figurines. Witch Wiggins doesn’t, but she asks what crows Naomi means. Naomi tells her about Nula’s birds, and the witch says that Joe hated not knowing who sent them. When the wind blows, the witch claims to be responsible for it. When Naomi asks if she knows who sent the crows, Witch Wiggins says Naomi will know soon and pushes her out the door. The wind pushes Naomi toward “Crazy” Cora’s house and then suddenly calms. Cora lets Naomi in, and Naomi asks if Joe really stole the woman’s dog. Cora claims he took her dog, named Raven, late one night. A timer goes off, and Cora says she has biscuits in the oven, bundling Naomi out the door.

Sybil says they have a prowler, and she instructs Miss Pilpenny to get her gun and megaphone. The prowler is Paddy McCoul. She shouts through the megaphone, threatening Paddy with the dogs. She fires two warning shots. Paddy begs her for a truce, saying he’s just Finn, but Sybil says he never deserved that name, that he was never a “Finn” and always a “Paddy.” Afterward, Miss Pilpenny thinks Sybil looks pale, so she starts a fire. She offers Sybil sherry and asks if Sybil would like a Poirot or Miss Marple, but Sybil does not answer.