That very speech made all of the “First Nine’ realize for the first time how important their journey had become. Hector had just declared all of them to be prophets. No more were they just flying along because it seemed like a fun thing to do. No more did they fly just to be among the first birds to fly around the world. No more were they flying with Hector out of devotion or brotherly love. Now they were all prophets with a message to take to the world and a mission to fulfill. For the first time, Hector accepted the fact that perhaps he really was the Prophet. All were now renewed and more willing than ever to take on the challenges of taking the words of the Creator to the rest of the world, but for now they were faced with the task of taking the words to Australia. It would not be an easy task.

Knowing how reckless Randy could be, Hector decided to send Geronimo and Victor with him to keep him out of trouble. Hector also decided that Larry might not be the best choice to send with Randy so he asked that Larry come with him.

As a couple, he felt that Sidney and Jeff shouldn’t be divided so he sent them with Randy as well. He kept his brother Octavo with him as Octavo always watched over Hector, and asked that Desiree and Dorothy remain with Larry, Randy, and Hector as well. Each group would help in dividing the flock and making sure that every bird knew which group they should fly with.

The next morning, the two flocks started their journeys. Hector allowed Randy’s flock to fly almost out of sight before he took to the air just to make sure there was no confusion. In no more than a few minutes, the two groups were miles apart and headed in opposite directions.

For the first time in his life, Randy felt as if somebody trusted him. You see, crows are known around the world as tricksters who are less than trustworthy, and subject to do anything to anyone for their own personal gain. While that isn’t true of every crow, every crow lives with the fact that most birds see them as that way, and while Randy never liked the fact that other birds thought of him like that, he had learned to live with it. Now that he knew Hector trusted him, he was more determined than ever not to let Hector down. While Randy didn’t realize this, it was the primary reason Hector had chosen him to lead half of the flock around the continent of Australia.

Randy quickly learned that the roll of a prophet was a big roll indeed. Not only did he have to lead the flock along their journey, but he had to settle disputes, council birds when they were upset, and always appear as if he was in control of every situation even when he wasn’t. He also had to face the possibility that Geronimo, Sidney, Jeff, or Victor might be jealous of the fact that he had been picked by Hector to be their leader. Thankfully, even though he didn’t realize it, none of the four of them cared that Hector had left him in charge.

Hector had instructed him to keep the flock moving almost every day. The reason was that staying in one place too long might cause them and the native species problems in finding enough food for all of them to eat. With that in mind, Randy moved the flock almost every day and never allowed them to spend more than a couple of days in the same place. The pace was sometimes hard but it was necessary if they hoped to stay in shape to make the journey north in a few months.

Until now, Hector hadn’t asked much of any of the ‘First Nine’, especially Dorothy. He decided that it was time that he trusted her with more responsibility as well. He figured that might help build up her confidence as she was often intimidated. Hector decided to have Dorothy scout out places to feed as well as safe places to rest. He decided that a flock as big as his needed a lot of direction in order to function in a safe and orderly manner. He also decided to have the others fly at the sides and the rear of the flock so that they could help watch over the flock. “But Hector,” Dorothy said, “I might get lost.”

“You won’t get lost,” Hector replied. “All you have to do is keep the ocean on your right.”

“But you told Randy to keep the ocean on his left,” Dorothy chirped. “Which is it?”

“Randy’s going the other way,” Hector said.

“So?” Dorothy questioned.

“I tell you what,” Hector said. “You stay in sight of the flock for the first few days until you get the hang of it. Then when you learn more about it you can get farther ahead. How’s that sound?”

“Okay, I guess,” Dorothy was still unsure of her own judgment, but that was understandable as she had never flown far from home before joining Hector’s flock.

Hector was getting some real lessons in management now. It seemed as if there was always some bird with some sort of problem to sing about, and they sang all the time. Thanks to the nightingales, owls, and night hawks, they even sang at night. It took him a few days to get used to sleeping with all that singing, chirping, crowing, squawking, and clucking going on. Yes, even some wild foul had joined the flock.

Over on the other side of the continent down under, Randy was getting more than his share of management lessons. Unknown to any of the flock, the east coast of Australia is far more populated by people than any other part of the continent, and many of those people were quite alarmed at the sight of over five hundred birds of different species all traveling together in a single flock. Often the people would try to scare the birds away by waving things at them or making loud noises. The flock found this to be very disconcerting so Randy decided that they should all fly in single file. Still, that didn’t help matters much when they all landed in the same place.

Back in Minnesota, Maria was having problems as well. “But I don’t want to fly south for the winter,” she insisted.

“But why not?” Her mother asked.

“Hector might come back while I’m gone,” Maria cried. “What if he comes back and I’m not here? He might think I got tired of waiting for him.”

“It would serve him right,” her father said sternly. “It’s about time everything in this family didn’t revolve around some bird that’s never coming back.”

“But he is coming back,” Maria cried. “He promised.”

“Hector should have never left you here in the first place!” her father squawked. “Just proves he’s crazy! Crazy I tell you!”

“No matter what you say!” Maria squawked back as she flew off to the tree where she and Hector used to sit, “I know my Hector is coming back and I’m going to be here waiting on him!”

“Well Ralph,” her mother squawked, “you did it again!”

“Did what?” Ralph asked.

“You opened your big fat beak!” Gladys said as she flew off to talk with Maria. “Why can’t you just shut it once in a while?”

Since he was alone again, and it didn’t look as if anyone would be talking to him for a while, Ralph decided to go hunting again even though he was plenty fat enough for the upcoming trip, and not the least bit hungry. “Females,” he said, “can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em.”