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CHAPTER 084

Gerard was tired. He had been flying for an hour since his last stop, which had been something of a disaster.

Shortly after dawn, he had landed at a complex of buildings where he smelled food. The buildings were made of wood with faded paint. There were old cars with grass growing up around them. Large animals made snorting sounds behind a fence. He stood on a fencepost and watched a young boy in blue coveralls walking out with a bucket in his hand. Gerard smelled food.

“I’m hungry,” he said.

The young boy turned. He looked around briefly, then continued on his way.

“I want food,” Gerard said. “I am hungry.”

The boy paused again. He looked around again.

“What’s the matter, don’t you know how to talk?” Gerard said.

“Yes,” the kid said. “Where are you?”

“Here.”

The kid squinted. He walked over to the fence.

“My name is Gerard.”

“No kidding! You can talk!”

“How thrilling for you,” Gerard said. He could smell the bucket strongly now. He smelled corn and other grains. He could also smell something else that smelled bad. But his hunger overwhelmed him.

“I want food.”

“What food do you want?” the kid said. He reached into the bucket and scooped up a handful of feed. “You want this?”

Gerard bent over, tasted it. He spit it out at once. “Yuck!”

“It’s chicken feed. Nothing wrong with it. They eat it.”

“Do you have any fresh vegetables?”

The kid laughed. “You’re funny. You sound like British. What’s your name?”

“Gerard. An orange? Do you have an orange?” He hopped back and forth on the fencepost, impatient. “I like an orange.”

“How come you talk so good?”

“I could ask the same of you.”

“You know what? I’m going to show you to my dad,” the kid said. He held out his hand. “You’re tame, aren’t you?”

“Sink me!” Gerard stepped on his hand.

The kid put Gerard on his shoulder. He started walking back to the wooden building. “I bet we can sell you for a lot of money,” he said.

Gerard gave a squawk and flew up to the roof of one building.

“Hey! Come back!”

From inside the house, a voice: “Jared, do your chores!”

Gerard watched as the kid reluctantly turned back to a dirt yard, where he tossed handfuls of the grain from the bucket onto the ground. A group of yellow birds clucked and jumped as the food was thrown to them. They looked incredibly stupid.

It took a moment before Gerard decided that he would eat that food, after all. He flew down and made a loud squawk to drive away the stupid birds, then started eating their grain. It tasted disgusting, but he had to eat something. Meanwhile the kid dived for him, hands outstretched. Gerard flew into the air, pecked the kid hard on the nose-the kid screamed-and then dropped down a short distance away, to eat again. These big yellow birds were all around him.

“Get back! Get back, all of you!”

The yellow birds paid little attention. Gerard made the sound of a siren. The kid dived again, barely missing Gerard. He was obviously a stupid kid.

“Buffeting! Buffeting! Twenty thousand feet, buffeting! I am going to push the stick forward-” Then the sound of a huge, air-shattering explosion. The chickens scattered at that, and he had a moment of peace, eating a little.

Now the kid was back with a net, and was swiping downward with it. That was too much excitement for Gerard, who was feeling sick in the stomach from the horrid food, so he flew quickly into the air, evacuating and hitting the kid perfectly on the head, before he climbed into blue sky and went on his way.

Twenty minutes later, in cooler air, he came to the coast and followed it. It was easier here, because there were updrafts, a blessing to his tired wings. He could not soar, but it helped nonetheless. He experienced a modest sense of peace.

At least, he did until some giant white bird-enormously huge, gigantic-rushed silently up at him, whooshing past, creating spinning turbulence that tumbled him out of control. When Gerard got his bearings again, the bird had glided away from him on huge flat wings. There was a single eye in the center of the head; it glinted in the sun. And the wings never moved; they just remained straight and flat.

Gerard was grateful there was not a flock of these birds, but instead only one. He watched as it circled slowly toward the ground below. And that was when he noticed the beautiful green oasis in the midst of the dry coast. An oasis! It was built at the site of a large cluster of huge boulders. Surrounding the boulders were palm trees and luscious gardens and pretty buildings nestled among the green. Gerard felt certain that there would be food there. It was so inviting, he spiraled down.

It was a kind of dream. Beautiful people in white robes walking silently through a garden of flowers and shrubs, in the cool shade of palm trees, with all sorts of birds flittering about. He did not smell food here, but he was sure there must be some.

And then he smelled-orange! Cut orange!

It took him only a moment to locate another bird, brilliant blue and red, standing on a perch with lots of oranges all around him on a tray below. Oranges, and avocado, and bits of lettuce. Cautiously, Gerard landed next to him.

“I want you to want me,” he said.

“Hel-lo,” blue-and-red bird said.

“I need you to need me.”

“Hel-lo.”

“Nice place you got here. My name is Gerard.”

“Aaah, what’s up, doc?” the bird said.

“Mind if I have an orange?”

“Hel-lo,” the bird said. “Aaah, what’s up doc?”

“I said, I would like an orange.”

“Hel-lo.”

Gerard lost patience. He went for the orange. The blue-and-red bird pecked at him viciously; Gerard dodged and flapped away with the orange in his mouth. He sat on a tree branch and looked back. That was when he saw that the other bird was chained to the perch. Gerard ate the orange at his leisure. Then he flew back for more. He came at the perch from behind, then later from the side. He flew in unexpectedly, each time dodging the bird, who could only say, “Hel-lo!”

After half an hour, he was quite satisfied.

Meanwhile, he watched the people in white robes come and go, talking of NyQuil and Jell-O. He said, “Jell-O, the tasty dessert for the whole family, now with more calci-yum!” Two of the people in robes looked up. Someone laughed. Then continued on their way. This place was peaceful; the water gurgled in little brooks beside the path. He would stay here, Gerard felt certain, for a long, long time.