by Tara Gabor
Kyle loathed giving offense, avoiding arguments and unpleasantries as much as Beatrice welcomed lengthy chats. He accepted the challenge of facing Ace, figuring the bird would not recognize him, let alone accept him. Kyle remembered reading that birds, especially parrots, tended to bond with one person. That one person was May. Kyle would be off the hook.
He followed Johnny and Thomas to a backroom where a blanket covered a cage. Johnny reached up to the top and lifted the blanket. Ace sat in the middle of a wooden perch, emotionless until Johnny completely removed the blanket, then Ace opened his lungs and began an ear-splitting screech. Kyle thought the experiment was over in his favor, but Johnny angled his body to give the parrot a better look at the people around him. Ace stopped yelling, and, instead, looked directly at Kyle.
“What’s up, Doc?”
Kyle’s mouth dropped open. This was certainly an unexpected turn.
“That doesn’t mean he will allow me to get near to him,” Kyle protested.
By the time Beatrice came looking for her husband, Kyle and Ace were comfortable together. Ace sat on Kyle’s arm as if he had been sitting there his entire life. When Beatrice entered the room with their infant son, Kyle figured Ace would show his meaner nature, but the bird surprised him again.
“Hello,” the bird said. “Hello, Ace.”
In the version of events that Kyle had relayed to Beatrice, the carrier pigeons had a leading role. He had described many details, but apparently had left the blue and gold macaw completely out. Thomas provided the lost elements for Beatrice, embellishing Kyle’s naming of the bird.
“Dr. Kyle bestowed a great name on him. Ace liked it right away and we knew Dr. Kyle was meant to give Ace a home.”
Beatrice laughed, and the baby giggled. With her usual graciousness, she accepted the inevitable, and Ace was loaded into their station wagon for the ride home.
Kyle was unsure. A parrot was a big responsibility. They lived a long life. He closed the back of the wagon. He turned to go to the front of the car, but something caught his eye. He looked up into the trees. Three cardinals perched on a limb overlooking the car. He waved his arms, but the birds didn’t move. They seemed to be looking down on Kyle and his carload.
Weird.
Kyle climbed in the driver’s seat.
“Look at those lovely cardinals,” Bea said.
Kyle looked up at the branch. The line of red birds had now grown to ten.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said. “I think May Gayland is trying to tell us something.”
“Do you really?” Bea asked.
Kyle recognized the amazement in her voice. He was her man of science. He didn’t believe in the supernatural and had stated so many times.
“No, not really. Just kidding. Sorry, poor joke, I guess.”
“Still, you said it. It’s so unlike you. There was something about her, wasn’t there? There was something about the woman that makes you even joke like this.”
A soft blush started at Kyle’s neck. He felt the rush of blood and his face go red.
“She was a very interesting woman, of course,” he said as he put the family car in gear and beginning a three-point turn in the narrow driveway.
“Yes?” Beatrice encouraged.
“Well, it is just too fantastic to even consider such a thing.”
“What thing is that?”
“People told stories about the woman. In another time, not too long ago in these hills, she would have been considered a witch.”
“I got the feeling Reverend Wellesford still considers her a witch.”
“Yeah. Well, he didn’t say that exactly. He worried for her soul. Felt she dabbled in dark arts, I suppose.”
“There you go, witchcraft.”
“Nonsense,” Kyle said, driving toward the paved road and the route home.
“What kind of stories?” Beatrice asked. Kyle’s young wife was a teacher and had taught third grade until they were married. She had an interest in writing children’s books and found inspiration in everything.
Kyle shook his head as if he didn’t want to speak of it.
“You aren’t afraid, are you?”
“Of course not! Afraid? Of what?”
“Well, that night, the bear, doesn’t that, well, make you wonder?”
Kyle didn’t answer. He pulled the car onto the road. Beatrice remained quiet.
“That night was a rare and inexplicable event.”
“It certainly was,” Beatrice agreed.
“It does not prove the existence of the supernatural.”
“Certainly not.”
“Of course not,” Kyle said, sighing. “I mean, what kind of a person could have a wild bear protect their home, if that’s what you want to call it? I mean, like she summoned the bear and ordered the bear to kill a man?”
“Certainly not.” Bea shook her head.
“Certainly not.”
They drove a few miles in silence with only the soft baby snores of the infant in Bea’s arms for noise.
“Uh-oh,” the parrot said.
“What?” Kyle asked. He turned his head to an angle towards Bea, his ear towards the bird.
“Lookout,” Beatrice said, her hand pointing out the windshield.
Kyle whipped his head around and applied pressure to the breaks. In front of them on the road were three deer. Kyle brought the car to a complete stop a hundred yards away from the deer. The deer family, a buck, a doe, and a fawn, stood facing the family in the car.
“Oh my! What do you think about that?” Beatrice asked.
“Weird,” Kyle said.
“What’s up, Doc?” Ace piped up from the back of the car.
“Who knows?” Kyle answered the parrot. “Should I try to scare them away?” he asked his wife.
Beatrice shrugged.
“I’m not sure, honey. Maybe they are here to tell us something?”
“Oh, really? Like what?”
“I don’t know. Maybe we should ask them,” Beatrice cradled the baby in her left arm and pointed with her right.
Kyle followed her arm and saw them, the ten cardinals. The red birds were in the air and descending onto the scene. The really bizarre part was how the birds settled, all ten cardinals taking perch on the buck’s antlers.
“Wow,” Beatrice said. “I didn’t know animals could act like that.”
Kyle didn’t respond. The couple observed the animals, sedately posing in front of them, for several minutes.
Headlights from a car approaching from the opposite direction broke the darkness behind the animals. The buck and doe reacted first, raising their heads. The cardinals took flight. The doe nudged the fawn next to her, and the family turned and walked off the road.
By the time the approaching car came into view, there was no trace of the wild animals.
“Bye-Bye,” Ace said.
Kyle moved his arm to the gearshift.
“You think they were friends of May’s, too?” Beatrice whispered. She sounded reverent.
“Friends,” Ace repeated.
“I don’t know, Bea. All I know for sure is I am happy it is not a bear.”
Bea smiled. “I bet.”
Kyle put the car in gear. Before he could pull away, the approaching car pulled along side. Sheriff Bates leaned out of the window.
“Doctor. Nice to see you. Heading home now?”
Kyle nodded, not sure what to say.
“The road is safe now. I was on my way up the mountain when I observed a car going from side to side. I pulled him over. He reeked of alcohol. Can’t say I knew him,” his eyes went up and to the left. “But one of my deputies is taking him in, and letting me get back home.” He smiled, looking directly at Kyle. Kyle smiled in return. “If you had been a few minutes earlier, well, not sure what might have happened.”
“I see. That is odd. ” Kyle looked askance at his wife.
“Lucky. That’s what I would say,” the sheriff said.
“Certain
ly lucky, yes, thanks, Sheriff.”
“Lucky,” Ace repeated.
the end