An Unexpected Bird

 

            “Hey, Bill, wait up!” John ran to catch up to Bill, who was already speeding along the trail. “You’re going to miss things by going so fast. I saw a ring-necked pheasant near here the other day.”

            Bill smirked. “A ring-necked pheasant? That’s small potatoes compared to the birds that I want to see.”

            “What is it that you’re looking for?” John had caught up to his friend and was breathing heavily.

            “Oh, something much more interesting.” With no further explanation, Bill walked at a breakneck pace until they reached a small clearing surrounded by towering oak trees.

            John craned his neck to look up into the treetops with his binoculars. “Is this the place you were looking for?”

            Bill wasn’t listening. Counting trees under his breath, he stopped when he reached seven. “This way.” He strode in between two of the oak giants and John hurried to follow.

            Plunging into darkness, the two young men pushed aside branches as they followed a very faint trail. With all of his attention focused on keeping his face free of scratches, John didn’t notice when Bill stopped and he bumped right into him. Annoyed, he wanted to yell, but he saw the excitement on his friend’s face and he paused.

            In a hushed whisper, Bill said, “Okay, this is it. Got your binoculars ready? I don’t know how close we’ll be able to get.” He slowly moved forward to what John could now see was an opening through the trees to a large clearing.

            Binoculars in hand, John felt his excitement growing. This had to be a truly spectacular bird. What could it be? An owl perhaps? It was certainly dark enough in these woods. He strained his ears to hear the telltale hoot-hoot of an owl, but what he heard instead made him stop dead in his tracks.

            A screeching roar rang out of the stillness ahead. Feeling the blood drain out of his face, John’s voice came out as little more than a whisper. “W-what was that?”

To his surprise, Bill had a triumphant smile on his face. “It’s what we’ve been looking for. Come on! There’s a great spot to watch just up here.”

            With more than a little trepidation, John followed his friend to a small rise which had an unobstructed view of the entire clearing in front of them. He had to rub his eyes several times before he realized what he was seeing. “Are those… dragons?”

            Three giant, lizard-like beasts were lounging in the clearing. All of them were different colors, but they still seemed to manage to match their surroundings. Blue, green, and yellow shades ran together over diamond-hard scales and were only detectable once they moved. The massive creatures seemed to be slowly rousing from a nap. Translucent wings spread out as the dragons stretched, each one of them as big as a house.

            Words left John as his throat grew too dry to swallow.

            Bill, however, was beaming. “Told you this was better than spotting pheasants!” He pulled his own binoculars up to his face. “When they’re on the ground like this, it’s much easier to get a good look at them.”

            A yellow-green dragon displayed all of its lethal-looking teeth as it yawned. Images of getting caught and trapped with those teeth flashed through John’s mind. With effort, he whispered, “Are we safe up here?”

            “Oh, sure. I’ve been here lots of times. Just don’t make any sudden moves.”

            John didn’t think he could move if he tried. He could only stare as fear paralyzed him. After a few minutes, one of the dragons, a blue-green one, gave a few experimental flaps of its wings. The entire clearing was blasted with a wind that nearly knocked the two friends over. Suddenly, the dragon crouched and sprang directly up into the air and started to fly away. More wingbeats followed as the other two dragons took off and flew away as well.

            The sudden stillness in the clearing was deafening. Finally convincing himself to move, John sat down in the dirt with his head in his hands. “How?” was all he said.

            Sitting at ease beside him, Bill answered. “You know we’ve been friends for a long time, right? Well, I thought it was finally time to show you where I came from.”

            John stared hard at his friend. “What are you talking about?”

            With a smile, Bill wrapped his arm around John. “I’ve just brought you to a magical land where legendary creatures from your world actually exist. My family and I were sent to live in your world to see how you live without magic.” Sadness spread across his face for a moment. “It’s like living without color. I wanted to show you how things can really be.”

            John looked into Bill’s face and saw that he was more animated than he’d ever seen him. As his fear started to dissipate, he began to understand what Bill meant. After seeing dragons, he couldn’t imagine anything else looking as majestic and full of life as they had been. He gave a small smile. “You know, you’re right. But maybe you could warn me next time you show me something like that. Those were definitely not birds.”