By: Greg Scaffidi
It was a wonderful day. I awoke from under the sun and got up and stretched my back. Today was going to be the best day of my life, I just knew it. From the time that I fell asleep under the stars and saw the flashing meteors tear through the deep black sky I couldn't wait till morning, but I had to watch the celestial light show. I ran inside and gave my mom a big hug and asked, "what's for breakfast, Mom".
"Pancakes and fresh fruit", she said. This was my favorite. I always looked forward to Fridays because of the great breakfast. I loved the sweat syrupy pancakes and the tart juicy strawberries, blackberries and blueberries. I savored every bite of my morning meal and still had time to meet Sammy down by the creek. We loved that creek. We spent most of our summers catching frogs and salamanders. But for the next few days, Sammy would have to do the job alone.
Today was a very special day in my normally mundane life. We were going camping, just Jake and I. My Pa said that once I turned ten, I could go out for one night with one friend up to ten miles away from home. He said that if we didn't get scared and come home crying that I could go out whenever I wanted, as long as I told Mama.
My friend and I got all of the things that we would possibly need. Each of us had two big backpacks that we saved up for all year long. They had straps and three pouches with a water bottle holster. They cost almost ten dollars, a lot for our one-dollar per week allowance. We packed matches, candles, flashlights, and our sleeping bags. Then, of-course, we had our food. We wanted to be like real pioneers, so we took only bread, potatoes and apples. We had to bring our fishing poles and our mess kits so that we could provide for the rest of our dinner.
As I said goodbye to my parents, they said that they had a surprise for me. When I asked what it was they said, "open it and see". I opened it and pulled out a shiny red Swiss Army knife. "We think that you are responsible enough for this now, son." I was so excited; I gave each of them a big hug. After a brief lesson about safety, I was out the door and on my way to Jake's house to show off my new equipment. The last words I heard as I headed out the door were "Now take care of yourself and don't fool around with that knife."
We were finally on our way, just me, Jake and my new knife. "Wanna see something?" I asked Jake.
"Sure", he anxiously replied.
"Ready?", I said as I slowly pulled the knife from my pocket. "Here it is", I finally said. "It's the n…"
"Wow, it's the new Swiss Army knife, I can't believe that you got it."
"Yep, it's called The Raven, my folks gave it to me just before I left, I think that they finally trust me. Well, lets get going. It's already ten judging from the sun." I always read the survival books. I wanted to be just like my hero, Davie Crocket.
"Yeah, I guess so, we had better hurry if we want to get to Catfish Lake before dark. Do you mind if I use your knife until we get to the site?"
"Okay, sure". So, like two young explorers we marched off, sticks in hand and packs on back. We had to cross over two hills and through a thick forest to get there. This being the first time going there alone, we were a bit weary. I had been this way with my Pop dozens of times before, and I knew the way well. Even so, the thought of being alone in the woods for a weekend is quite frightening.
We passed through the first grove of trees that opened into a small but heavily vegetated field. As we stopped to see the hill standing like a sentinel to greet us. With the dense cover of the forest, we couldn't see the hill before. It looked different then before, more massive and defiant. Looking up at the nearly one thousand feet high mass of rock and soil, I was frightened but strangely excited at the same time. Maybe it was being unsupervised or maybe because it was my first time going hiking all summer, but I really wanted to get to the top of this mountain.
After a period of about five minutes, we decided to start walking again. As we left the field behind and started our ascent, I looked back towards the forest we had come through and noticed that a single black bird flew out and followed our path up to the top of the mountain. It made no sound except a loud 'squawk' as it flew above our heads.
I have heard stories told at the campfires of our many family reunions about friends of my father about the malevolent deeds that come with the passing of large black birds. People are known to disappear or have their memories erased of the events of a day if they come in contact with these amoral avis'. I chose to say nothing to Jake because I know that he would turn around and go home; I really wanted to go on this trip.
We walked with haste to reach the summit, and it took only about an hour. We stopped at the top to briefly rest and enjoy the view provided by the hill. It was a magnificent view, better then I ever remember it being. We each put our backs against a single large Oak and stayed for a few minutes. I looked out and saw between the next hill and the one we were on, a beautiful valley with a powerful river passing through it. I must have gotten lost in my thoughts because the next thing I noticed was Jake's hand tapping my shoulder. "Lets go", he said.
I started to get up; I grabbed a branch of the tree to help me up. "Yuck", I exclaimed, "there are bird droppings all over this branch". I wiped it off and looked up to see three black tail feathers fall from the sky. Apparently Jake didn't hear me because his eyes were transfixed to the sky.
"Did you hear that?" he said.
"Hear what?"
"Did you hear the squawking, I'm still hearing it?"
"No", I answered truthfully.
"Look up, see that bird up yonder?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Look! It's coming down!" He was panicking and fell to the ground in a fit of agony.
"Hey, man, are you trying to mess with my head? I don't like it when people mess with my head." He continued his spastic frenzy on the ground. "Hey, you okay?" I asked with concern.
"Alright, alright. Let's get up now. I'll help you." I grabbed his hand, and at that very moment three cuts appeared on his left cheek.
"Ahhh, keep it away", he said, "get it off my face".
I grabbed his other hand and pulled him up; I looked directly into his eyes. I saw what looked like the reflection of a bird tarring at something. Blood came all over his face. Slashes that appeared to have been attacked were oozing with blood. I didn't know what to do. I was very scared. I noticed that in his right hand he held my pocketknife. He was squeezing so hard that the metal was cutting into his skin. His hand was bleeding too. I tried to make him let go but he wouldn't, it seemed that he couldn't. I tried to pry it out of his hand but something was stopping me. Next, I felt a sharp pain come across my hand. A huge gash was taken out of my hand, and I was forced to let go. I stared at the blood flowing out of the fresh wound.
I finally figured that whatever was attacking my friend was also protecting the knife. I summoned all of my strength and delivered one quick blow to the hand holding the knife. It fell to the ground, and so did we; the pain was overwhelming. I looked over at my friend and saw that his face was healing. So was my hand, all that was left were scars. The two of us fell asleep where we lay. What just happened, thought it lasted only seconds, tired us out more then if we had completed the whole journey to the camp spot.
In the morning, we both woke up and spoke nothing of the events that occurred yesterday. We had slept nearly twenty hours. It was almost noon. Each of us picked up our things and tacitly decided to leave. I noticed that Jake still held the pocketknife in his hand. He still looked very tired. I looked at his hand and then to his eyes and back down to his hand again. I noticed that his hand was twitching as if he was fighting something. "Do it", I said. With my last words a look of relief came over his face as he dropped the knife.
We both sighed in relief and walked toward home. I noticed that the forest seemed the way that it always did before. I took one look back and saw that in the spot where Jake dropped knife, a large black bird lay stiff and motionless.