Here is how writing often works. I move around my spaces and through my hours and I pay attention to anything and everything but mostly to what might occur that is unlike what else has occurred or usually occurs. And when a thing of note occurs, I think, ah there it is.
My friends with whom I now share house space had family coming from afar. We discussed possible activities, but mostly menu. One person would be coming to the U.S. for the first time and as it is almost Fall, we put things like “apple picking” on the activity list and “ turkey?” on the menu.
You might wonder if turkey is available year-round in New England and it turns out, no. Not really. Like you have to make phone calls and drive around. I was sure giant frozen birds were in all supermarket freezer aisles, but no. My friend’s husband joked, “ It might be easier to shoot one.” Ha ha. We had just wrangled with seven live lobsters a few nights earlier and while a bit winded by the enterprise were also feeling only a hair shy from hunting. Alas a frozen bird was found, an early Thanksgiving-ish menu was sorted and prepared, and no apples were picked. Because best laid plans.
But today, Jupiter barked rather wildly at the front door (glass) and so I went to see what was drawing his attention. Two giant turkeys were strolling (what is the verb for turkey walk?) at the far end of the lawn (almost all foreigners say garden and I would like to pick that up) and I said, to Jupiter, “ Oh, I see, thank you.” It feels important to let him do his job (alerting me of strange happenings) so he does not dissociate from danger because I never take his warnings seriously ( I begin to feel where I might be headed here). I did not open the door because he has proven he is quick and eager to catch creatures. I ushered him away from the glass and we carried on.
Hours later, I brought him and Piper out to swim(in the back garden). Swim season is drawing to a close so we are making the most of pool time and I had been on calls most of the morning and throwing a frisbee into the water for the dogs to leap in after is kind of as close to purposeful peace as I feel most days. I heard turkeys beyond the line of bushes. Jupiter had not yet noticed. I wanted to see but not let him see me see. There were seven turkeys and a chain link fence between them and the woods. They were waddling (?) quite close to the pool but Jupiter was playing tug of war in the water. Until he wasn’t. And he leaped through the hydrangeas to where seven giant turkeys had nowhere to run.
Jupiter is mildly adherent to my commands under normal conditions, but with seven birds who outweighed him by a lot but who were also a bit penned in, I did not even try to call him off. I braced myself and listened for what was coming. Jupiter barked like mad. Like “What even are you guys?” I braced myself for noise and impact (like we did with the semi-frozen lobsters as we quickly lowered them head first into boiling pots of water). The turkeys said nothing. They took flight instead. Seven full grown wild turkeys beat their wings and hoisted their 25 lb bodies 200 feet into the air into the pines. I had time enough to turn to watch them do it. No shrieking or anything. They just took off to the trees.
Jupiter was baffled. He circled and sniffed the area sure that one must still be on the ground. I searched the trees hoping to see giant birds on high up branches. But neither of us found a turkey. In fact, I had tried to take a picture of them in the front garden earlier but the camera was unable to pick up what my eyes could see.
The giant turkeys were there and then not there.
I met a friend for dinner last night. She told me about her recent voyage to Alaska and the whales and dolphins but also all the fairy, unicorn, and dragon energy she encountered there. I believe these reports easily but I also asked, “What does that mean though? Like they are there but in a different dimension? Like there energy is there but just as an echo?”
No, she said. Like when you go into a quiet forest and you know the birds are there but you do not see or even hear them.
Like when I write something and you read it but do not make a sound.
Like, Charlie Kirk knew he had enemies, but did not (yet) have wings.
