Willodeen

Willodeen and Connor develop a morning routine of taking Quinby snail hunting. Quinby grows quickly and starts to look like a fierce creature and not a cute baby. Willodeen wonders why Quinby doesn’t screech at night. One day, there’s a family of hummingbears in their willow grove, chewing the leaves and blowing bubbles to make their nests. Connor and Willodeen puzzle over why they’re there and not by the river, but they come to no conclusions. On their way home, hunters corner the kids because they smell like screechers, and Connor manages to convince them Quinby’s wheelbarrow contains manure, making the hunters leave. Connor and Willodeen agree not to tell anyone about the hummingbears for another day. They’re sure there’s a connection of some kind, and Willodeen hopes “we’ll figure everything out” (185).

That night, Willodeen wakes from nightmares about the fire that killed her family. Birdie and Mae rush into Willodeen’s room to comfort her, and for the first time, their comfort leaves Willodeen feeling like she’s part of a family. After Mae and Birdie leave, Willodeen stares at Quinby and wonders if the screecher feels as misplaced as she does since she’s so displaced from her natural habitat. Willodeen considers that if her family could die in a fire, then maybe Connor’s creation could come to life, too—after all, “if horrible things were possible, why not magical ones?” (193).

One day, Willodeen takes Quinby to the grove without Connor. As Quinby eats, Willodeen studies the trees where the hummingbears nest, which are the same two trees Quinby digs beneath. Willodeen gathers leaves from the five trees in the grove but can’t figure out what’s different about the trees with the nests. Duuzuu blows three bubbles and Quinby eats to her heart’s content. By the time they leave, Willodeen is “the only one who left feeling disappointed” (200).

After dropping Duuzuu and Quinby off at home, Willodeen goes to the council meeting to tell the villagers about the hummingbears, but a man is lecturing and she doesn’t want to go inside. Instead, she collects leaves from the blue willows by the water and notices there are many peacock snails at their bases. After gathering more leaves from other trees, she heads home and lays out all the leaves. She tries to stick Duuzuu’s bubble to each, and it only sticks to the ones from the trees where Quinby dug for snails. With a grin, Willodeen takes rapid notes “as if I was doing what I was meant to do” (206).