"Peacocks" by Jessie Arms Botke
[This is part 2 of the Peacock Piece I started yesterday, and am getting back to it. Writing can be a 'joyous' torture at times, and this is one them. Any news source will tell you so. And I am adding my small voice.]
I've committed to this ending of a strange trilogy with part 1 and feel like I need to get it down, so here goes without any preamble whatsoever: ;)
The very first time we drove up the long winding road that ended above the property that was soon to be 'ours' in a hilltop lake, I could hear the peacock's call.
They came with the place, and more beautiful was the landscape because of them, even though it was perfect as it was.Listening to them each day, especially in the gloaming, added something joyous, mysterious and unique to the already burgeoning wildlife that lived through and around 'our' place. There was a collection of woodpecker, kingfisher, swallow, goldfinch, cardinal, etc. There were deer, elk, mink, rabbit, fox, coyote, harmless snakes, and squirrel that made some of their life there too. With us.
We got big time into finding the right feed for the peacocks - and the canisters and the nesting material and protection for them at night, including eventually - a foot high electrical fence around the extra small-spaced fencing.
We tried out best.
One day an acquaintance called and told us about a pair of albino peacock and peahen they had, and after discussing it, we decided to give them a home too. M. L. went to Eastern Washington to pick them up. Must've been an interesting ride home, but I was not there to witness it.
They were gorgeous, and the mixture of differently colored, dazzling birds got us excited, so...We went to an auction and bargained on 5 ducks - there were already two volunteers hanging about. (When one of the volunteers left or something else happened to it, the remaining duck mourned - loudly - for 2 months, no kidding. And some scientists still adamantly posit that animals are incapable of emotion.)
Then we heard about the Mother Lode! A VERY interesting bird sanctuary/supplier-to-good- homes establishment about 40 minutes from where we lived. There was such variety of beautiful and unusual birds... we could not believe our eyes... and wanted to get many to add to our clan.
We got a bit of reality in the decision-making, narrowing-down process, and then...This list sounds a bit like the Christmas song without the pear tree and a few other dancing beings, but we brought home - more peacocks, a peacock pheasant with a four foot lovely tail a'trailin', and two mourning doves. I can't remember whether there was a mate for the pheasant; I hope we were kind.
I used to love and sit to hear the doves' soft cooing sounds as they whispered to each other conspiratorially. There was a great space for them with huge-logged playground structures for perching, plenty of space for the wandering spirit, and protection at night.
Our hearts swelled as we surveyed the land, the plantings, the birds, and saw that all was good. Very sweet and full of life.That night we went to sleep with a feeling of enhanced beauty in our little necks of the woods, and a definite sense of accomplishment.
Waking early, we could hardly wait to go out and visit 'our' birds and drink in their beauty in that incredibly three-dimensional natural setting.You know the end. You've known it all along. I finally figured out why I felt so prompted to write this: in memorium of the dead and in recognition of the wounds that sometimes are completely outside your control.
I know some people feel strongly that it's wrong to keep any animals. Don't think I'll tackle that one, except to say that I thoroughly respect their feelings on the matter. And it felt that way to me that morning as I stood there, with my jaw to the ground, as I surveyed the massacre. It was relatively low on the gruesome meter, as small mink had gotten through the extra-small fence spacing... to drink the nighttime blood of these helpless creatures. I like to think the doves got away, as we never found their bodies laid out in figures of easy capitulation like the others.
I was inconsolable and cried for a long time that day and the next. What could I have done and so forth, but the story always goes on. From this life to the next.