43. Jack
AT THE LIbrARY, A HANDFUL OF HARD-CORE BIRDERS SIPPED coffee. Barb wore a teal beret and matching muffler along with the requisite birder outfit—flap jacket vest, nylon pants with multiple pockets, binoculars around her neck, and knee-high rubber boots.
“Welcome to the fortieth year of the Bird Isle Bird Count,” Barb said, shouting through her cheerleader horn. “Harvey tore out our boardwalk, but we are happy to report the Audubon Society donated a drone to aid in the count. We have thirty-five participants, and we’ll set out in seven groups of five. We’ll meet back at my house for tamales at 1:30.”
Barb handed the group members a list of bird species. “Remember to count every bird you see each time you see it.”
Jack, Teddy, Pete, Dot, and Brooke loaded into Jack’s truck and followed Barb to the pass. They arrived at the marsh just as a salmon pink smear broke through the fog. The smell of wet mud hung in the fine mist coiling over the grasslands. Now and then, the morning sun sparked off a patch of water otherwise invisible in the thick vegetation of the wetlands.
Jack heard a mumbling sound, like Donald Duck’s voice, and then a flash of red and pink.
At first, the colors seemed part of the sunrise, but Brooke shouted, “There’s a spoonbill.”
Sure enough, a tall bird with a rounded beak stood in the mist.
Barb flashed an approving smile. “What kind is it?”
Brooke reviewed her list. “Roseate, since it’s got red coloring.”
Teddy referenced her Texas Gulf bird book and confirmed Brooke’s ID.
Barb handed a map to Jack. “The five of you cover the back of the marsh to the bay.”
They set out walking, keeping their eyes intent on the bushes. Some of the birds were camouflaged so well they were hard to see.
One of Barb’s friends set up a telescopic lens on a tripod and hid in the brush. He pursed his lips and sent out a breathy whistle followed by a phuweet-phuweet. If Jack hadn’t been watching him, he would’ve sworn the sound came from a real bird.
Teddy and he reached a swath of thick grass and stepped into it. Teddy’s boots sunk into the spongy earth. “I hope there’s not quicksand.”
“Stay with me,” he said. “I don’t want you to get lost.”
“I don’t want you to get lost.”
The thick brush opened to a meadow with ponds of water and salt grass. Jack inhaled the froggy scent of the marsh as he placed the binoculars to his eyes. The staccato ticking of insects surrounded him. He never imagined that bird watching would be so interesting. But then, anything he did with Teddy meant fun.
In the distance, two white birds perched on the remnants of the boardwalk. “Is that a Whooping Crane?” Teddy asked pointing across the pond. She pulled out her book.
“Not big enough.”
“They could be babies.”
“No red head, no black feathers.” Jack traced his finger over the picture.
“I want to see a Whooping Crane.” Teddy had a little whine in her voice.
“Just wait. Didn’t you ever go hunting with Pops?”
“I can’t believe you’re talking about hunting here.”
Teddy determined the birds were snowy egrets and marked them on the tally sheet.
“Dove-hunting, and it’s a Texas tradition. My point is, you need to be patient.” He patted her on her head as if she were a child. “And quiet,” he added.
A chorus of laughing gulls flew overhead and serenaded them with their high-pitched squeals. “How many were there?” Teddy asked.
“A dozen maybe. Sounded like a thousand.”
“They are loud.”
They waited and waited, watching the sun burn through the mist. The sky changed from salmon to apricot to barely pink, and then finally to its blazing yellow-white. Jack felt right at home with nothing to do except watch the plumy heads of swamp grasses waving in the breeze.
“I never knew the wetlands could be so interesting.” He watched a tiny brown bird jump to the top of a mangrove.
“Seaside sparrow.” Teddy identified the bird.
“That’s great. Barb worried about the sparrows.”
He put a finger to his mouth and motioned for her to follow him through the mist and into the marsh. They crouched and duck-walked into a stand of salt grass. The blades scraped across his face. His boots sunk into spongy mud. They reached the point where the vegetation submerged into a river of water and stopped. Peeking through the sawgrass, they waited. Gradually, the sun bleached the color of sunrise from the sky and chased the fog away. The marsh grass gleamed with blades of lime, spring, and sea green. Even the swamp water came alive with fish navigating the olney bulrush or drifting in the American lotus.
A throaty click sounded from the marsh, then squeaky cries. He jerked his head.
A bird the size of a teenager stepped from behind a tree on the other side of the water. The bird let out a shrill bugle-like sound.
“Geez!” He patted Teddy’s arms. “A Whooping Crane.” Another appeared.
He pulled his phone from his pocket and started a video. The birds strutted through the marsh. Each time they stepped, the water covered their three-pronged claws and submerged a quarter of their black, spindly legs.
When the cranes walked into a stand of reeds, a third smaller bird joined them. Together, they pecked at a bush ripe with red wolfberries and then buried their beaks into the water searching for crabs or minnows.
The tallest Whooper lifted his head with a tiny snake in its beak. After he swallowed, he lifted his wings, allowing the wind to pass over the tips of his feathers. The sun ignited his wings with a blazing white light so bright that the crane looked like an angel from a Christmas pageant.
Teddy embraced him. “Three Whoopers, not bad.”
“Not bad at all.” He stuffed his phone back into his pocket.
Three members of an endangered species had survived. They had flown all the way from Wisconsin. The odds were against them. At times, he felt as if the odds were against him, too. But not anymore.
The Whoopers were like the Vietnamese family who owned Kim Son and so many others who had survived against the odds. He wrapped his arms around Teddy.
“What was that for?” Teddy asked
“Everything is coming together perfectly.” He pushed a strand of hair off her face and kissed her forehead. “A moment of synchronicity.”
He pressed his lips against hers and lowered her into the grass. They kissed like teenagers in the backseat, but he knew the connection extended much deeper. He knew he could start a new life with Teddy.