"Serendipitous", maybe? That doesn't seem quite appropriate either, but plain old "coincidence" doesn't seem to do the incident justice, somehow. A "meaningful coincidence"? Maybe, but I don't really know what meaning to ascribe to it.
Anyway, a few hours earlier I set out on a walk, like I do every day. As I was passing by this grocery store I heard a dull thud; I turned to look, and there was what might have been a crumpled hat (I was wearing very dark sunglasses and it tends to filter out details to some degree). Thinking it might have been dropped by a construction worker working high up, I went and looked closer -- and realized it was a dove.
It was still alive, just barely. I immediately took out my phone camera, and as I clicked away it closed its eyes (well, its nictitating membranes) and stopped moving -- I had just witnessed the death of the creature. I should have switched to video mode and recorded its dying moment, I could have kicked myself.
The shop proprietor saw me shooting away, became curious and came out. I told him the bird had just fallen a moment before. Then a woman came along, seemed curious and gingerly turned the little body over with her foot.
The proprietor went back inside and came back out carrying a plastic bag, grumbling about something so inauspicious happening right in front of his shop.
I had only once before witnessed the actual dying of a creature. Many years ago I was renting a room in an old building to use as a painting studio. One day, as I was climbing the stairs I happened to look out the window over the landing, and saw a butterfly flutter down on the roof of the building next door. Amazingly, it fell onto its side and didn't move, exept for its upper wing being blown about by the breeze. I had just witnessed the end of its life. Some years later, in creative writing class I wrote a short story inspired by the incident. It was titled "A Small Death" and was about a boy recalling the death of a butterfly while attending his older brother's funeral. Unfortunately, I don't have it any more.
Here are three close-calls from the past, where I narrowly missed witnessing the dying moment of some creature:
No comments:
Post a Comment