The Crow

The Crow

Miranda and David were childhood sweethearts. Everyone they knew always remarked how much they were alike and how suited they were for each other. This was true in every aspect of their lives and personalities. David was tall, about six foot 2, a football player, a class president and he made people laugh. Miranda was a few inches shorter but that was the only major difference between them. She was a cheerleader, the leader of a girl scout troop and the jokester of the family. Growing up David and Miranda loved nature and being outdoors. They persued many hobbies in nature together such as catching butterflies, bees and fruit flies to study their habitats. But their main passion was birdwatching.

After finishing university they were married and spent almost every waking moment perched in a tree or laying in marsh lands watching birds. Their favourite place to go was to Presque Isle State Park which was a few miles from their home in Erie Pennsylvannia. Here over 250 species of birds could be seen at specific times of the year. Miranda and David rarely went birding unprepared. They had invested in strong binoculars and camourflage clothing to blend in with the bird environment undetected. As with most birdwatchers Spring was the ideal time to spot tundra swans or hummingbirds. But as the years passed Miranda and David became increasingly curious about crows.

To members of David's family and other birdwatchers their fascination with crows was a mystery. Like the general public they considered crows to be noisy, nasty, ugly and a nuisance, something to be avoided rather then to be studied. Miranda and David were undetered by the opinions of others and became intrigued with crows and their nesting, breeding, roosting and migrating habits. They spent many sleepless nights high in trees or crouched low amongst the reeds of the wetlands in the park watching crows. On one of these evenings David suggested that they make and erect a scarecrow to test the folklore that crows were afraid of them. Miranda agreed and the next day they set about gathering the materials they would need.

They assembled everything in the basement and began their task. It took them several hours before their scarecrow looked as close to what a farmer's scarecrow would look. Miranda thought that they would go out that very night to test their creation but was surprised when David insisted on waiting until the following night saying he felt too tired to go out right away. Many days passed, the scarecrow remained in the basement and David's health started to decline. He had never liked doctors so it took weeks before Miranda was finally able to convince him to seek treatment. They went to a nearby hospital where numerous tests were done. It seemed to Miranda that David was wasting away by the minute and she grew increasingly anxious. The diagnosis was cancer and despite a valiant fight David passed away three months later.

Those first few days after his passing were like a fog to Miranda. They had been as one for years and married for ten so it seemed inconceiveable to her that she would have to live out the remainder of her life without him. People tried to comfort her, to make her feel better, but their efforts were futile. The day of the funeral was like a nightmare with his parents, brother and friends weeping while Miranda sat looking almost lifeless herself. She was thinking how lonely her life would be now and kept averting her eyes away from the casket. Miranda hung her head and began to weep softly as she glanced around the area. It was then that she first saw it, a white crow. She was certain it was a crow even though it was white because of its long black beak. The bird stared at her, cocked it's head to one side and then was gone.

Seeing the crow reenergized Miranda and within days of the funeral she went back to her passion, birdwatching. Spring was near and she knew that all of the birds that had migrated for the Winter would be returning to the park and she was determined to be there too. Two or three times a week she would spend her nights amongst the birds, photographing them and taking notes about each species she encountered. One weekend she got permission from the park to pitch a tent for a few days. It was mating season for the birds and she wanted to be there day and night to observe. Miranda picked a spot for her tent near the edge of the trees and waited. She expected to hear mating calls and see birds unite to form a family. Instead that first night it was damp, raining, cold and an eerie silecne surrounded the marsh.

The foul weather and the silence did not dampen Miranda's resolve or excitement with the prospect of seeing birds mate. She patiently waited for hours. While she waited her thoughts went back to the many nights she and David had spent together over the years waiting for the "perfect" shot or for a rare bird to delight them. It was nearly dawn when Miranda's patience paid off for she saw him again, the white crow. He was a handsome bird with a wide wing span for when he glided into the marsh it was as if his wings were attached to the air like a kite. He made no sound and did not have a mate or attempt to gain one from the flock of crows already nesting. Miranda raised her binoculars and watched him with great interest. Within seconds of her looking at him she was astonished when the crow cocked his head to one side and appeared to look back. Before she could move the crow took flight and disappeared into the rainy mist.

Miranda went back to the park daily, hoping to see the white crow again, but weeks went by and he did not reappear. She went to the library to do some research on crows and discovered that white crows do exist, they are very rare, but they have been seen before. This information gave her hope that she would see the bird again, and she did, however not in a place she would have expected. It was the first anniversary of David's death and Miranda wanted to spend some time at the cemetary, she wanted to tell him about the white crow. So she set off stopping only at a flower shop to pick up some roses. It was a beautiful Summer day when Miranda parked her car and walked leisurely through the cemetary. David's grave was at the back between two oak trees facing south which Miranda had insisted on when they bought the plots so that the sun would always warm the bird bath she had installed. Miranda left the walkway to approach the grave and stopped. She found herself unable to move. She was not alone, the white crow was perched on David's gravestone staring at her.

Miranda felt frozen in time. She did not move, the crow did not move. The minutes ticked by and still they stared at each other. She took a step forward, holding out her hand and speaking softly to the crow. Suddenly the bird flapped its wings and soared upward. The sun was in her eyes so Miranda could not see where the crow went, she assumed he had flown away. With a sigh she sat down on the bench in front of David's grave site and started talking to him. She told him how much she missed him and she told him about her discovery of the white crow. A light breeze rustled the leaves in the trees above and Miranda looked up. There sitting on a branch was the white crow doing as it had done before, staring at her and turning his head from side to side. Miranda stood up fascinated and thrilled that the bird had not left her, cooing quietly holding out her hand as she did so. She hoped that the crow would sit on her hand. The bird left his perch and dove in her direction its claws extended. Miranda's heart sang with joy as the bird drew closer, she was sure it intended to land on her, but it did not. The crow did come within a few inches of her face but he did not land, instead he dropped an object into Miranda's outstretched hand that had been in his beak and then flew away.

After watching the crow glide away into the horizon she looked at the object in her hand and gasped. The crow had just given her David's insignia ring from his college football days. How could the bird have gotten his ring Miranda thought aloud as continued to stare at the ring. This was impossible, yet here it was in her hand. She rushed home and searched the entire house for the ring convinced that what the crow had given her was a fake. Miranda tore the house apart, searched for hours but never found the ring. It was nearly dusk when she finally gave up and went into the kitchen to prepare dinner. She sat at the table with her meal but just picked at the food completely lost in her thoughts. Her quiet reflections were interrupted by a soft tap, tap, tap sound, she looked up and there tapping it's beak against the window was the white crow. As Miranda stared at the crow, a conversation she once had with David returned to the forefront of her mind, a conversation about what might happen after death. A slow smile formed on her lips as she recalled that shortly before David's passing he had promised her he would come back to her. That had to be the answer, the white crow was David!

Miranda's neighhours saw her frequently over the next several months sitting in her backyard talking to someone or to herself they were never sure which. A lot of people who knew Miranda were starting to wonder what was going on. She never went birding anymore, stopped going to church, stopped going to work and stopped seeing her friends. Months passed and even in the dead of Winter Miranda spent all day sitting in the backyard. A couple, Tim and Susan, who had been friends to both David and Miranda were hearing stories from other birdwatchers that something was wrong with their old friend and decided to stop in to see her. They were not sure if she would see them or what they might find but they felt that they owed it to David to visit her and see if there was anything she needed. So the next day they went to Miranda's house, knocked on the front door and waited.

She heard the knock and tried to ignore it. She was sitting on the sofa and the white crow was perched on her coffee table. Miranda did not want to move or answer the door because it had taken her months to get the crow to come into the house. She enjoyed the crow's company so much, she didn't need anything or anyone else. On the table beside the crow was a small box where Miranda kept the items that the crow had given her. The insignia ring had only been the beginning, the crow had also given her both of David's diamond cufflinks, his tie pin and his wedding band. There was no doubt in her mind that the white crow was indeed her husband reincarnated. She heard another knock yet still she did not move. Others had knocked and gone away when she did not answer she was sure this visitor would do the same.

The couple grew concerned when Miranda did not come to the door. They could hear her talking to someone so they knew she was home. Tim leaned over the porch railing to look into the front room window. He could clearly see Miranda and what he saw only made him more worried. She was sitting on the sofa with a small box of jewelry lovingly caressing each piece. She was wearing pyjamas, her hair looked like it hadn't been washed in weeks and she was speaking softly. He scanned the room quickly but could see no sign of another person. The only other thing in the room was a figurine of a bird which Miranda had on the coffee table. Tim realized that she was either talking to herself or to the figure of the bird. He related what he had seen to Susan and she suggested that they get Miranda some help.

She smiled with satisfaction as well as relief when she heard a car start and then leave her property. At this moment the crow made its first sound, it began to caw over and over and over again very loudly. The noise was piercing her ears making her eyes water with discomfort. Miranda screamed and the crow flew around the living room then into the kitchen, back and forth many times. Without thinking she grabbed a broom and started swinging at the crow. It came at her then, pecking her head and arms until the blood flowed. At that instant she became aware of the broom in her hand, dropped it and fell to her knees sobbing. The crow perched on the kitchen counter watching.

Tim and Susan went straight home and started making phone calls. They called everyone they knew who also knew Miranda asking if she had any family in the area. It took several hours but they learned that her parents had died many years ago in a plane crash and David's parents had died just a few weeks after his funeral. No one seemed to know what had happened to them exactly, some said they had a car accident because they had been found bloody and battered in a ravine. Others said that his parents were attacked by something or someone because there had been significant damage to their heads and faces. All of this was sordid gossip as far as Tim and Susan were concerned and they ignored it. They kept digging into both David and Miranda's family background in hopes of finding a relative to help her. A week passed before they were approached by a man and a woman who claimed to be David's brother and Miranda's sister. Tim and Susan were relieved, explained thier concerns and urged the siblings to go with them to see her. They agreed to help and left for Miranda's.

The neighbour's had called the police. Lights were flashing and an ambulance was in the driveway when they arrived. A policeman met them at the door refusing them entry until Miranda's sister identified herself as family. They slowly entered the house not knowing what to expect. The scene was horiffic, every window in the house was nailed shut, except for the kitchen window which was wide open. There was blood splatter everywhere that seemed to start in the kitchen and ended in the living room. Miranda's body was sprawled on the carpet, her arms, legs and face were smeared with blood. The most disturbing injuries were to the top of her head and her eyes, which were both gone. The injury to her head was so severe that her hair was soaked in blood making her look like a redhead rather then a blond. They asked when she had been found and were told the neighbours heard Miranda screaming several hours ago. Miranda's sister said she would make funeral arrangements and then they all left the house. Tim and Susan extended their sympathies to Miranda's sister and asked if they could drive them somewhere. Miranda's sister said no that they would take a cab. Tim and Susan said their goodbyes, got into their car and drove away. David's brother Scott and Miranda's sister Ginny watched the couple until they could no longer see their car. Then they quietly walked away holding hands.

A few hours later two figures walked through the cemetary. There was a full moon which provided ample light for the path. It was nearly midnight and all was quiet except for the call of a single crow. The two figures turned towards David's grave. As they passed between the two oak trees the moonlight illuminated their faces revealing it was Scott and Ginny. He held out his arm and whistled sharply, the white crow obeyed and flew to his master. Ginny and Scott sat on the bench grinning widely obviously pleased with themselves. She asked him if he had any regrets, he gazed at David's grave for a moment before answering. Scott replied that he would do it all again without hesitation, that he had hated David because he had taken everything from him. His parents' love, his first love Miranda and his share of his parents' estate. Ginny nodded, she could relate, Miranda had one the same to her. She got their parents' love and money leaving Ginny completely penniless. Her lot in life never improved until by chance she met Scott and they hatched their plan for revenge. They stood up, kissed and embraced. With a final glance at David's grave Ginny, Scott and the white crow disappeared into the night never to be seen again.