A/N - Only 8 more days til Christmas, so if I do a chapter a day then it'll be done just in time :) This one may seem odd at first because it says black birds...but basically, Calling Birds is just a more fancy name for black birds. At least supposedly. Whoever sends a black bird to their true love must be certifiable :P Other than that, there's a reference to the wonderful Hitchcock :)


Chapter 4

Caw. Caw. The unusual sound caused Wilbur to fumble his chargeball shot. "Great, now I have to work harder to win," Wilbur groaned and tried to concentrate. Bam came a noise about ten minutes later. This time the noise caused Wilbur to fumble the game winning block. "UGH! What is that noise!?" Wilbur turned off his game and threw his glove down on the ground. He stomped out of his room and down the hall. "Someone has got some explaining to do…ah!" Wilbur quickly ducked as Laszlo flew over him, out of control, followed by four blackbirds. "What the…"

"Wilbur, grab a net and help us," Cornelius said. He and the others all had nets and were attempting to wrangle the birds that had been chasing Laszlo around the house for the past ten minutes.

Wilbur grabbed a net. "How did all of these birds get into the house? Did someone leave a window open?" Wilbur asked as he chased after one that flew by.

"No, it's just another one of those confounded gifts," Laszlo said in a huff as he flew over again.

"He's kidding right?" Wilbur looked at his mom who shook her head 'no' in response. "Who sends black birds!? And who were they sent to?"

"That would be me!" Laszlo yelled anxiously.

"This is getting out of control," Wilbur rolled his eyes. "I mean, come on, black birds! What's next?"

"I'd rather not even consider it," Cornelius answered as he finally caught one of the birds.

"Hurry, take it outside!" Franny urged as Art and Gaston helped Cornelius do so.

"Wait a second!" Wilbur shouted as his dad and uncles shut the door quickly. "Leave the door open and then we'll scare them outside!"

"Vwe've already tried that," Billie spoke up. "It vwas no use."

"They seem to have a thing for Laszlo so they'd probably follow him out," Wilbur made another suggestion.

"Yeah, but how would I get back in before they could!? You're not going to leave me out there to fend for myself!" Laszlo protested.

"Oh, relax, Lasz! Wilbur was only making a suggestion," Tallulah scolded.

"And that wasn't all of my suggestion," Wilbur defended. "What if, Laszlo, you fly outside, the rest of us hold up a huge net to catch the rest of the birds and then we'll call animal service or something."

"Uh…why do we have to go outside when we can just set up a huge net in here?" Carl asked the obvious.

"Because there's more room to run, or in Laszlo's case fly, around outside than there is in here," Wilbur answered.

"Good point," Carl shook his head in agreement. "I think it just might work."

"Me too," Tallulah chimed in.

"I say vwe do it," Billie added.

"That's good thinking, Wilbur," Art also threw in his two cents and eventually everyone was speaking up at once.

"Hello! Still flying around for my life here," Laszlo interrupted them.

"Alright," Cornelius nodded. "We'll give Wilbur's idea a try. Someone go find a big enough net. Honey, do you mind calling animal control? Hopefully we can get this to work."

"I sure hope because this is turning into The Birds!" Laszlo said in a panicky voice.

"What's that?" Wilbur looked around the room for an answer.

"Oh, it's this ancient movie from before we were born," Tallulah answered. "There's a bunch of birds who attack this town because they're only after one woman. Hey, Lasz, I guess you're the woman!" Tallulah couldn't pass up the chance to tease her brother.

"Ancient? More like classic," Cornelius just shook his head.

"Come on, people!" Laszlo called again even more anxious than before.

--------

"Okay, I've called this family meeting before dinner because I think we need to start refusing the packages from the post office. I don't know who this 'True Love' is but after today, I'm a little worried to see what other presents are in the works," Cornelius explained to the rest of the Robinsons who were present in the dining room, with the exception of Laszlo who was outside with a man from animal control.

"I've just realized something," Wilbur spoke up first. "All we've been getting are birds!"

"What?" a few of the Robinsons looked around at one another questioningly.

"Well, it's true! One partridge. Two turtledoves…"

"Oh no! The turtle doves! I forgot to feed them! If mom comes home from the second honeymoon and they're dead, I'll be dead!" Tallulah suddenly panicked, cutting Wilbur off.

"Don't worry. I went into look at them and noticed they were looking hungry, so I asked Lefty to keep an eye on them and feed them," Franny assured her.

"Phew. Thank you so much," Tallulah was grateful.

"Okay, now that that's over, where was I?" Wilbur started again. "Right. One partridge. Two turtledoves, three hens…"

"French hens," Art corrected.

Wilbur huffed, frustrated in being cut off again. "Fine, three French hens. And now four black birds."

"You know, black birds are also known as calling birds," Lucille added.

"That's great, grandma, but that's not the point. The point is…" Wilbur stopped for a moment. "Hey, wait a minute. It's more than just being birds. There's a pattern! 1, 2, 3, 4! Well, I suppose with the exception that grandpa actually got two gifts."

"Wilbur, you're making excellent points. It's safe to assume that if the pattern continues that tomorrow there will be five gifts and the next day six for however long this goes on, possibly up until Christmas."

"That's twelve whole days!" Gaston did the math for everyone.

"I shudder to think what gift will be given on the twelfth day," Franny thought aloud.

"It'll probably be twelve killer bees or something like that…or worse! Twelve of those stupid singing Christmas trees!"

"Don't push it, mister," Franny looked at her son seriously, not enjoying the tone in his voice.

"So, I want to take a vote," Cornelius took charge of the family meeting again. "If the majority of you don't want your package, then I'll just talk to the head of the post office and have him stop sending them. I'll pay him if I have to. Or if some of you want to take the chance, then I'll just refuse the packages for those of you that don't want them."

"Well, that's a no brainer," Wilbur spoke up first.

"I'm not really a bird person," Tallulah spoke up second, creating a whirlwind of agreement from others in the family that hadn't received a gift yet.

"So, I guess it's unanimous. Tomorrow, I'll…" Cornelius was interrupted as Laszlo entered the dining room, carrying two cages, each containing two of the four black birds. "Laszlo?"

"What are you doing with those things!?" Tallulah asked her brother.

"Well, I'm keeping them for a little while. The animal control man said I could give them to a local bird habitat any time I want. He said they're most likely domesticated and so they won't survive in the wild."

"But why are you keeping them at all?" Wilbur asked in disbelief. "They tried to kill you!"

"No, that problem was solved too. They were just so excited that they fixed their energy on the first person living thing they saw. Kind of like when a baby bird is hatched."

"So now you're attached?" Franny asked sentimentally.

"Yes and no. I'm fascinated is more like it. I really just want to paint them."

"But they're black," Tallulah said skeptically.

"I think that's why. They're so homely looking but so graceful. There's this art in them that I couldn't capture with a million colors if I tried. It's just so simple," Laszlo tried to explain.

"That makes absolutely not sense, Lasz," Tallulah shook her head.

"Vwell, I think it's wonderful for Laszlo to have found the good in his gift despite vwhat had happened. I think I vwill change my vote. I vwant to see vwhat is coming for me if anything," Billie responded to it all.

"Maybe Aunt Billie is right," Franny chimed in after a few minutes of silence. "Laszlo's gift was the first one that none of us could see the good in at first but even now he has. Maybe we should just continue to receive the gifts that are yet to come. At least until something too horrible arrives. So far nothing bad has come from this 'True Love' that I can see."

"Franny's right," Cornelius said. "So far, each present has had some sort of point to them."

"Here here!" Art exclaimed. "Why, I was so inspired by having so many eggs on my hands that I pitched the idea of egg based pizza toppings and Stanley has decided to test it with a focus group!"

"So I guess the gifts, although ridiculous, are being sent for a reason," Cornelius shook his head and smiled at his family. "All in favor of changing your vote…"

"Aye!" everyone agreed, even Wilbur.