Everything is calm in sleep. Upon waking, everything would be quiet and still, and I’d wait for my prey under the dark evening sky.
Something was different about the forest, though. Something. . . unfamiliar.
Beeeeep.
VrooOOM.
Screeee!
“Oiy, driv-ah! Watch it!”
My eyelids snap open, revealing frightened yellow orbs beneath. Surrounding me like a cage of stone and steel are tall gray buildings. Below them scuttle tiny people through a blaring traffic. The sky is darkening. I find myself in a delicately trimmed tree far too small to appear in the pine forest.
“Look out below!”
I’m startled by the outcry, but despite that and the size of the plump pigeon barreling down from above, he misses me and crashes into the foliage instead.
His head pops up out of the branches. “That. . . was awesome.” he says with a grin as sloppy as his landing. I help the overweight pigeon out from the branches.
“Fly much?” I ask with a laugh.
“Yes,” he says. “But not well.” After a moment, he adds, “Name’s Brian.”
“Paquito,” I say, unintentionally smiling.
“You’re not from around here,” Brian says knowingly. “Are you visiting?”
“No,” I say with a sigh. “I don’t even know where ‘here’ is.”
Brian seems surprised. “You’re in New York City, Paquito! Probably the most awesome place ever.”
Abruptly, Brian lifts up into the sky with a not-so-graceful flourish.
“Come on Paquito!” he yells. I watch him clumsily swoop back down to me. “I want to show you something.”
Without pausing, Brian has taken me by the wing to soar beside him above the grand city of New York. We pass over Fifth Avenue and the Empire State Building, and peer into the windows of Broadway and the Metropolitan Opera House. Brian directs me to his favorite street vendor, where I taste hot dogs for the first time. Then we fly through the Boardwalk, weaving between the Wonder Wheel’s spokes. After we’ve finished touring, we alight atop the Statue of Liberty’s crown to view New York Harbor.
“Fantastic, isn’t it?” Brian asks as we survey the city’s reflection on the water. “Never gets old.”
I stare sadly out across the water. The tour had been amazing, but it hadn’t gotten me any closer to home.
As my gaze lingers on the rising sun, I notice a patch of trees on the opposite side of the harbor. They strike me as familiar. It couldn’t possibly be. . .
But something tells me it is – the forest! I had found the forest!
“Brian,” I say breathlessly, “thank you so much for showing me around the city. I enjoyed every minute of it. But I think this is where we part ways.” I prepare to lift off from Lady Liberty.
“I hear you Paquito.” Brian looks at me questioningly. “Catch you later?”
“Yeah.” My voice is strong. “Catch you later Brian.” I had begun to think that New York wasn’t as scary as it first seemed, and maybe – just maybe – I’d visit again.
But first, home.
Written by Olivia Benoit from Franklin, Wisconsin
