Chapter 19

It had taken them over a week, but the flock was now in Washington state. They flew along the Columbia River as it made its way to the sea. Geronimo caught all the Salmon he could eat while the rest of the flock found plenty of worms, bugs, and seeds among the trees that lined the sides of the river.

Hector decided to turn northwest so that he could make the trip a little shorter. Off in the distance they saw the snow capped peak of Mount Ranier appear as if the mountain was floating in the sky. It took the better part of the day after seeing the mountain for the flock to reach it. Along the way they had picked-up a dozen or more followers. who like the original nine, wished to fly around the world for almost as many reasons as there were birds in Hector’s flock.

They rested in the trees near the base of the mountain. Fortunately, the flock was able to fly around the fourteen thousand foot peak rather than flying over it where the air would be cold still. At the base of the mountain it was spring and all the migrating birds had returned just as Hector’s family had returned to Minnesota weeks ago. After a short break, they again took to the skies to make their way to the Pacific Ocean.

Hector never saw it coming! As a matter of fact, no one saw it before it was too late. A falcon came diving down from high in the sky above them and grabbed Hector forcing him to the ground! Had Geronimo not been there to fight off the Falcon, Hector might have been someone’s lunch! “Hector, are you okay?” Octavo screamed as he landed on the ground beside of his younger brother. “Please tell me you’re okay?”

“Oh,” Hector moaned, “I’m hurt bad.”

“Come on Hector,” Victor said. “Let’s get going before that Falcon comes back.”

“I can’t,” Hector cried.

“What hurts?” Geronimo asked as he landed beside them.

“It’s my wing,” Hector cried as he lay on the ground. “I think it’s broke.”

“On no, that’s no good,” Larry said. “What are we going to do now?”

“We stay here until Hector gets better,” Octavo ordered. “We’re all in this together.”

“But if his wing is broken then Hector will never be able to fly again,” Randy said. “He won’t even be able to get away from a tom cat, much less a falcon.”

The entire flock spent the next few hours looking after Hector. There wasn’t really anything they could do for him except hope that he would recover. Still, if his wing was broken, then there would be no way Hector would ever recover. If forced to remain on the ground, sooner or later Hector would become easy prey for another predator even if the falcon never did get him.

They were all tending to Hector when they heard someone walking through the woods. “What’s that?” Sidney asked.

“I’ll check,” Jeff said as he flew off in the direction of the noise.

It only took a minute or so before Jeff came flying back screaming, “It’s a man! It’s a man! Look out, it’s a man!”

“Everybody fly!” Hector squawked. “Don’t let the man get you!”

“But we can’t leave you!” Desiree screamed.

“Fly! Fly!” Hector screamed. “It’s too late.”

As the rest of them flew up into the trees, Hector tried to hide from the approaching man. He ran as fast as he could go, but running with a bad wing hanging down is very hard and it was only a minute before the man had him trapped inside a huge log that had fallen on the forest floor. “Look at you,” the man said. “Why you’re hurt.”

Hector expected the man to reach out and grab him, but instead, the man just stood there talking to him. Hector couldn’t understand a thing the man was saying, but he didn’t sound the least bit threatening and looked as if he might be friendly. Still, it was a man, and men are dangerous. Everyone knows that.

Finally, after several minutes, Hector decided he had no choice but to trust the man. The man could have grabbed him easily by now, but all he had done was squat down and talk to Hector. Hector decided to hop closer to the man.

A few minutes later, the man was walking away with Hector perched on the man’s finger. Hector had never trusted a man before, but his little voice had told him the man would not harm him. Don’t think for a minute though, that Hector wasn’t still scared out of his wits.

The man took Hector into a house with a room filled with birds all in their own cages. He wondered what sort of place this might be and was hesitant when the man tried to put him inside a cage, but Hector’s little voice kept telling him to trust the man so Hector finally perched on a stick inside the cage.

“So what got hold of you?” a hawk asked.

“Falcon,” Hector replied.

“Wouldn’t you know it,” the hawk said, “Fattest Robin I’ve seen in months and Leroy blows it. Why if I had of been flying you’d be lunch by now. What’s Leroy’s problem anyway? He shouldn’t have no problem taking you.”

“Geronimo happened to Leroy,” Hector managed a small laugh.

“Who’s Geronimo?” the hawk asked.

“He’s a Bald Eagle,” Hector said. “He’s a friend of mine.”

“Robins making friends with Eagles,” the hawk complained. “that can’t be good.”

“It is if you’re a robin,” a Warbler laughed obviously trying to taunt the hawk.

“You be quiet,” the hawk grumbled, “we’ll both be out of here soon.”

“You mean the man lets you out?” Hector asked.

“Sure he does,” the warbler replied. “As soon as you get better, then he lets you go free.”

“How bad are you hurt?” the hawk asked.

“I think it’s broke,” Hector answered.

“Doesn’t look broke to me,” a Spotted Owl commented. “I know about things like that.

“He thinks that just because he’s a owl, that he knows about everything,” a Raven complained. “We have to listen to him spouting off all the time. I’ll be glad when he realizes Ravens are smarter than owls.”

“What?” the Owl asked.

“It’s who, who, you big dummy,” the raven squawked. “See how dumb he is? He’s an owl. It’s who, who, you moron!”

And so it was, while the dozens of birds in the room all argued about who was the smartest, who was the toughest, and even who was the fastest, Hector’s flock waited outside the window and watched their friend Hector struggle with the pain of what may or may not have been a broken wing.

The man examined Hector’s wing daily, and fed him all he could eat. Hector wasn’t sure of what it was the man was feeding him, but it tasted good and gave Hector lots of energy. It only took about a week before Hector was again flapping his wings and in just a few more days he was to be released, or so the other birds said. Of course, they argued about that too.

Hector’s friends waited outside while Hector recovered from his wounds. On days when the weather was good, the man would leave the windows open and Hector’s friends could fly inside and visit with him. On days when the windows were closed they would wait on the windowsill and sing to him so that he wouldn’t be sad. There wasn’t a day that they didn’t come by to visit.

From time to time the man would leave a cage door open so that the bird inside could fly away. Some of the birds were so scared and confused that they stayed in their cages for hours or days, while other birds exited their cages and flew out the window before the man left the room. Hector watched this and realized that the man intended for them to fly away when they were well.

One day, the man left the door to Hector’s cage open. Hector was happy to fly away and wasted no time in getting out of the cage, but because he wanted to thank the man for saving him from certain death, he decided to light on the man’s shoulder and sing a song for the man. “You’re welcome,” the man said with a smile, and Hector then flew out the window to go meet his friends.

When Hector joined his friends they were all overjoyed to see him healthy and ready to fly. There were also dozens of birds that Hector had never seen before who were also happy to see him free and using his wings again. “Who are all these birds?” Hector asked.

“They want to go with us,” Octavo said.

“But why?” Hector asked, somewhat confused that all these strange birds would want to follow him.

“Lots of birds have heard about what you’re doing,” Larry said. “They heard about how you whipped the crows and how you saved Victor and the others. They all say you’re a prophet.”

“Me, a prophet?” Hector questioned even more confused than before.

“That’s what they’re saying,” Larry said.

“Do they know how hard it’s going to be?” Hector asked.

“They say they do,” Geronimo answered.

“Then I guess it’s okay,” Hector replied as all the birds began to chirp, squawk, crow, call, and sing in celebration of being a part of Hector’s flock.

“Hey Hector,” Sidney asked, “are we gonna go get that falcon now?”

“What falcon?” Hector asked.

“You know, Dude,” Randy crowed, “the falcon that tried to eat you.”

“No,” Hector replied.

“No?” Octavo questioned, “but don’t you hate him?”

“No,” Hector replied.

“You don’t hate him,” Desiree asked. “But he tried to kill you.”

“Yeah,” Jeff complained, “he eats birds.”

“That’s okay,” Hector said.

“Are you saying it’s okay for birds to eat birds?” Geronimo asked.

“Yuck, who would want to eat a bird?” Dorothy asked.

“It’s okay if you’re a falcon or a hawk,” Hector answered, “but most birds shouldn’t eat birds.”

“Dude, is your little voice talking again?” Randy asked.

“Love even the Falcon, Fox, or Tom Cat that would take you into its belly,” Hector quoted from his little voice, “for its needs are no less than yours. That is the way of the Creator. Remember: To he who would consume you, you are no more or no less than the worm, bug, or seed that you would consume.”

“I knew it!” Randy crowed. “His little voice is talking again! I just love it when Hector’s little voice talks.”

I’m sure everyone who saw this strange flock of mixed birds making their way towards the Pacific Ocean would have been shocked. The latest additions to Hector’s flock included Owls, Hawks, Warblers, Wrens, and Woodpeckers. The flock now numbered well over one hundred birds and they caused quite a stir everywhere they went. That managed to make their way to Mount Olympus that day, but the fogs set in early and made navigation so difficult that Hector ordered them all to land in the lush forests that surrounded the mountain in those days.

When the sun came up the next morning to burn away the fog, the flock got their first look at the Pacific Ocean. It was like nothing they had ever seen. Even from twenty miles away it looked enormous, and the closer they got to it the bigger it became. They were all happy to be told by Hector that they wouldn’t have to fly directly across the ocean as it was possible to go around most of it by following the coastline to the north until they came to the Bearing Strait that separated the North American continent from Asia by only about fifty miles, a distance easily flown by most any bird.