And, like the nunnery pantry, it was lined with oversized cans of soup on shelves (Much too big and too plentiful for one person, Oyster thought). But unlike the food in the nunnery’s walk-in pantry, everything was covered in blue feathers. “Iglits,” Ringet explained, while putting sheets on the sofa where Oyster and Leatherbelly would sleep. “They’d die out there, breathing in all that sugar.” The Iglits were nervous birds. They hid in the rafters, darted around a little overhead. Some perched on the hat rack where everyone had hung his black cape and cap. “When the factory started up full-tilt, they just fell from the trees,” Ringet said sadly. “Ringet is softhearted,” Hopps explained. “Do you know what these birds would go for on the black market? Fifty skids each, easy.” “I had a bird that I brought back to health,” Oyster said, gazing up at the darting birds. “It learned to fly. I can see why people would want these as pets. They’re so pretty and blue.”
