From a Distance

I had been admiring these wide-winged flyers for a while now. On my drive home they greet me at the same intersection. Soaring high and easy, they seem to just glide on the wind. They have become part of the scenery for me and a landmark that I am approaching my destination. I wondered how I could get a closer look at them, or capture them in a photo. I always seems to be in the car when they are above and so I couldn't really stop, get out, snap a picture, get back in and drive on. I needed to be on my own two feet one day.

And then that one day came. Yousef and I were playing upstairs in the spare bedroom when I looked out the window and saw amazing creatures on the street below. I had been wanting to get Yousef out into the warm sunshine since the minute he woke up, but he was insisting on playing indoors. Then came the reason; "let's go see keek-keek!" I exclaimed not really knowing what kind of "keek-keek" they were. My first thought was that our neighbors are raising turkeys for Thanksgiving. Then, I hoped they were the hawks I was seeking. But they were too dark and too uni-colored for hawks and too skinny for turkeys. Yet they were the perfect distraction for Yousef.

I ushered him towards the window. And that was all the motivation he needed. He dashed out of the room, pulled at the gate on top of the stairs and opened his arms to me to carry him down. He could barely sit to put his shoes on. And he was off, and I was behind him with my camera ready to freeze these birds in my photo album.

Then I stopped dead in my tracks, and the birds lost all their luster. They weren't hawks; they were vultures! And they were feasting on a road kill.

I was disappointed. All along I had thought pretty thoughts about "my" birds, admired their flight, sought to get closer to them. And now, I saw them for what they really were; predators out for an easy catch. They scattered as soon as they saw us approaching, fearing for their lives. They huddles on the rooftop of the neighbor's house and waited for our departure. I took the photos I had wanted but filed them under a different category ~ trust, faith, caution ~ lesson relearned.