You hear the harsh cry of our local red-tailed hawk,
the hard honking of the resident geese,
but I know other sounds, a kind of murmuring,
a soft bleating,
when all is right with their worlds,
and our world,
even as the sun sets after a day of heartache,
the inexplicable,
a gut-twisting,
a damning day,
the horror, yes,
the horror--the dogwoods in full bloom,
turkeys sounding in the distance,
a flyover, two mallards.
Moonrise.
Lyman 2023
Harris aimed his fishing rod at the shore. “Look at that! Wha—“
John swiveled around in his chair. “What the hell?”
“Is that a—”
“Yep, pretty sure.”
“Up here? On our lake?”
“Well, it’s there. No damn doubt about it.”
“You ever see one before?”
“On t.v. Nature shows, that kind of thing.”
“I saw them down in Miami when I was a young boy. Maybe
it’s a…I don’t know…a pet.”
John lifted his cap and ran his fingers back through his
hair. “Nah, not around here. Doesn’t make sense.”
“Well it’s there, that’s for sure.”
“Maybe it came out of some zoo or something.”
“Like in Raleigh?”
“Maybe. Maybe Greenville.”
“We could try to get a little closer, get a picture.”
“Well, we’re going to be called damn liars without a
picture.”
“Maybe that big fish tank in Chattanooga?”
“Never been there.”
“Chattanooga, never?”
“Nope. No cause to drive that far.”
“I know you haven’t been to Knoxville. What about
Ashville?”
“No, nope, haven’t.”
“Not even Ashville?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“Not interested. Mountains are good enough for me.”
“Maybe it’s just lost.”
“I don’t know.”
“Maybe though. Not sure how it would get this far inland.
Been to Greenville?”
“Nope. Spartanburg once, when I was a kid. Went to some
drive-in burger place. Was pretty good. Girls came out to the car on roller
skates. My momma fussed about their skirts.”
“I think they get their pink from the shrimp they eat.”
“I don’t know anything about that. Remember seeing them
big flocks on t.v. somewhere.”
“Africa I think.”
“Maybe so.”
“Kind of funny seeing it out here.”
“Let me turn the boat back that way.”
“My grandkids are coming up for the weekend. Would be
cool if it was still hanging around.”
“Got to eat something. No shrimp here.”
“Maybe minnows. Or a frog or something.”
“I don’t know anything about them.”
“Wonder if anyone else has seen it this morning, or some
other time?”
“Well, it’s going to be talked about, that’s for damn
sure.”
“There it goes!”
“Yep.”
“Wonder if it is going to hang around here.”
“Hard to say.”
Harris stood and stretched his arms skyward. “Would be
cool.”
“Round here, would be something to talk about, all
right.”
Lyman
2023
