Paranormal
Joshua stepped lightly through the rough undergrowth in the forest, and he heard the low pitched call of a bird. He immediately recognized it as a Warbler. He was only nine years old, but he knew these things because he liked to study everything he could possibly study, and recognizing bird calls was one of his recent pursuits. Of course, he wasn't like other boys his age. He was actually smart and intelligent, and he wasn't annoying at all. He didn't cry when things weren't done his way and he would get out of your way if he saw you were busy. He was different.
Instead of going around to a park to play on the creaky swings or misshapen see-saws where his friends would be screaming and shouting about nothing at all, he preferred exploring the forest that sat just beyond the backyard of his large house.
It was in part because his dad, who worked for some government office (and that's what almost everyone did in the tiny country of Mauritius), would usually work late, and his mother was right now busy preparing everything for dinner tonight. But mostly, it was because he loved exploring. He would often venture into the forest and follow whatever caught his fancy. He'd overturn a rock crawling with bugs and pick up a few and try to identify them. Sometimes he'd climb up a tree to peer at a nest full of chicks when the mother bird wasn't around and feed them things. Other times, he'd follow a trail of ants all the way to their hill and watch in amazement the bustle of activity that surrounded it, with pieces of other animals, leaves and strange unknown things being carried around by them in a ghostly manner.
Today, he had spotted a frog and was following it quietly to see where it lived. Knowing that frogs were amphibious, he figured that it might lead him to a stream nearby which he had never encountered before in his adventures. The stream would be teeming with life, so many new animals to look at! The frog was hopping along and stopping casually, because it had all the time in the world and no fixed bedtime like Joshua did. This made him a little impatient, and every once in a while, he'd pick up a small stone or pebble and toss it towards the frog. The frog would get ever so slightly startled, and start hopping swiftly ahead for a while before forgetting that it had just been hit by a pebble, and stop again.
He picked up another stone, this time one slightly bigger than the rest, and aimed for the frog's backside. He threw it and it hit the frog's rump rather hard, for this made the frog make a huge leap into a bush nearby. Joshua was just about to move forward to follow, when he stopped. It must have been his imagination, but he was pretty sure that he saw the bush across the path from where the frog went move too.
It must have been my imagination, he thought, the frog went into the bush on the left. Maybe my stone bounced into that bush there. Or maybe, the frog went in there, but I didn't notice properly.
I'll fish it out with another stone in there, he decided. So he picked up another stone, about the same size as the previous one, and with a little more effort than before, threw it straight into the bush on the right. The stone went in with a satisfying "swish", but a tiny moment later, the bush shook rather strongly, as though in response to the feeble stone thrown its way.
"That wasn't the frog or the stone!" he whispered to himself. There was something hiding there in the bush. From where he was standing, he peered at the bush by squinting as much as he could. The bush was partly hidden from view by a large tree in the way, and so his active imagination went to work as he pondered what was there.
Perhaps it's a snake! Or, or... a badger. Or a huge frog that's the king of frogs in these parts. It could even be a ferocious wild cat ready to pounce on me, he thought, and a cold chill went through him. But at the same time, he was rather excited at this mysterious creature behind the bush hidden by the tree, and his fingers and toes started tingling and he started breathing a little faster.
Very slowly and ever so quietly, he took a step forward and put his foot down as silently as possible so as to not startle the creature. He put his other foot forward to edge closer to the bush, when he stepped on some dry grass, and with a squawk, a startled creature darted out of its hiding place.
For a tense minute, Joshua and the creature stared at each other. Joshua didn't even dare to blink, because there in front of him was the biggest bird that he had ever seen in his life. It was almost as tall as him and fatter than him and definitely seemed more powerful. The bird stood there too, its head cocked sideways, getting a proper look at Joshua through its tiny yellow eyes.
His mind started working. He realized that there in front of him was a bird he could not identify. It looked like a duck, a rather fat and overfed and overgrown duck. But its bill wasn't like that of a duck, it was more like a pelican's. Not even that. There was a little bulge at the end of the beak, but it was thin in the middle. It was a mixture. The feathers were a blend of mostly gray and a few peach hues, blending into each other in a pleasant way. But he couldn't tell what it was by the feathers either. Or by the curve of the vulture-like neck. This was all so mysterious.
"What are you?" he asked the bird out loud, finally. The bird said nothing, because birds can't speak, and it just stood there. It had lost interest in Joshua and had started looking around. He felt that it was safe, so he took another step forward towards the bird, and the bird did nothing. So he took another and he reached out and stroked the bird's neck. The bird let him do that.
Now, in all his excitement, Joshua realized that he needed to know what bird it was, but if he ran back to his house to check some book, the bird might be gone by then. So he gently pushed the bird by the shoulder back the way he had come from, and the bird complied. He pushed a little more and the bird allowed itself to be led wherever he took it. This delighted Joshua, for he hadn't thought it would be this easy and here he was, a little boy, controlling a creature probably more powerful than him. Steadily and patiently, for he didn't want to overdo it, he led the big bird back towards his house. He would occasionally talk to it, as though the bird understood where it was going. "I am going to take you to my house. You can stay in the garden and I'll go check my book to see what you are." The bird just plodded along, because like the frog, it too had all the time in the world and no fixed bedtime like Joshua did.
About ten minutes later, they finally reached the garden. Joshua led it to the middle of the garden by the cloth lines. He stepped in front of the bird and very slowly and clearly said, "Stay here, OK? I am going to go inside for just a few minutes. I have to read my book and see what you are." The bird said nothing, of course, but simply kept looking around.
Joshua ran in as fast as he could, and went to his mother in the kitchen. "Ma! Look what I found! In the forest!" he said, pointing frantically towards the garden.
She glanced outside for a second and asked, "What is it, Juju?" in her sweet, musical voice.
"I found it in the forest. I think it's a duck, but maybe it's a special duck. I'm not sure, but I think I've discovered a new species of birds!!"
"That's wonderful, Juju. What a nice duck." said his mother, without really listening or paying any attention. Because that is the way adults talk to children, since they never really think that a tiny nine year old would be capable of any mature thoughts of an interesting nature.
Joshua ran up to his room and took out from his top bookshelf, "The Dolane & Grett Guide to Birds." It was a thick volume, filled with glossy pages and colored pictures of all sorts of birds with several details pointed out. He thumbed to the index to find all the birds listed under "Mauritius" and noted down those page numbers. He then quickly flipped to the pages to each of the page numbers he had noted down. Of course, it wasn't the Warbler. Or the Fody. He looked at the Paradise Flycatcher, that wasn't it either. Obviously not the macaw, or any of the owls, or the Echo Parakeet. Pink Pigeons were too rare, and pigeons weren't as big as a nine year old boy. And that was the final entry. There were no more birds listed under Mauritius, and he started feeling a little distressed. It was like finding a fortune in your possession but not knowing what to do with it at all.
He was about to put the book away when out of pure instinct, he turned to the appendix and looked under "Extinct Birds". And there it was! The very first entry on that page, was "Dodo (Raphus cucullatus)". And the picture beside it was almost exactly what he had found. Just the feathers were colored slightly differently, and the head was just a little bigger, but that was it. He had found a dodo, the extinct dodo! Electricity danced through his fingertips. He felt like dropping the book and doing a little celebration dance. Instead, he tried to compose himself and calmly read the entire article on dodos in the book and closed it quietly, because children like to act mature when confronted by big situations.
But his mind was in overdrive, with a thousand thoughts flowing in an out of it faster than he could mull over them. He started talking to himself, "OK, OK... I've found a dodo. It's an extinct bird, but that's what they thought. I've found a dodo, the last dodo. The last one of its kind. I should give it to a zoo or some scientists. And it'll be big news. I'll be in the newspapers as the kid who found the last dodo ever. This is big news. But how do I get it to them? Oh but Mrs. Benham will be so proud. Of course, Mrs. Benham!"
Mrs. Benham was Joshua's science teacher and she was currently teaching his class about the dinosaurs. She was old and had wrinkly skin all over her face and gray hair, but she had a kindly smile and she always smelled of sawdust, which all the children liked. Since the dinosaurs were extinct, it went to reason that she'd know what to do with a bird that was supposed to be extinct. And she'd know scientists and other intelligent people who could study the dodo. And since this was a small town, she lived nearby, he thought, I can just run over and bring her here and show it to her!
He ran downstairs like a tiny cyclone, and ran to the kitchen. He glanced outside the window, and the dodo was still there, exactly where he had left it, oblivious to his mother who was taking sheets off the cloth line.
"Ma! I'm going to Mrs. Benham's house to call her here," he yelled frantically.
"Alright, Juju. Come back in time for dinner."
With that, he ran out the front door and down the sidewalk. There weren't many cars on the road, just a few bicycles and some people walking back home from work. He ran down across the street, turned left at the corner and walked swiftly up the hill. The sun was starting to set and the sky was turning a deep shade of orange and purple, and a lot of the streets were falling dark, but in his intensity, he didn't notice and knew exactly where he was going.
Finally, he reached Mrs. Benham's house and knocked on the door, hurriedly. He waited for half a minute, but there was no answer. He knocked again and about a minute later, Mrs. Benham opened the door. She was in her bathrobes and had a towel turban on her head.
"Oh I'm sorry Mrs. Benham, I didn't know you were showering. But I'm sorry Mrs. Benham! This is really really important! I have to show this to you, you have to come to my house."
"Calm down, Josh. What's the matter? Come inside, catch your breath and explain to me."
So Josh walked in and sat down and waited till Mrs. Benham was seated. Then he explained everything to her, about the big bird ran out of a bush and he took it to his garden, and how he checked his book and found out it was a dodo. He even explained how the book had the feather colors wrong and that the head was slightly larger, so as to add to the credibility of his story, since adults often have a hard time believing children.
"So you see Mrs. Benham, it really is a dodo. Everything about it matches, and the forest behind my house is isolated. I mean, it's unexplored, so it's possible that this dodo or its family was living there for a long time and this one must have been the last one because it just wandered to where I was. So please, you have to come over and take a look at it."
Mrs. Benham, by this time, had gotten a somewhat serious look on her face and he could tell that she was taking him seriously.
"Alright Josh, wait here. I have to get dressed, and then I will go with you. I'll get you some milk for while you wait. Wait here."
And she got him the milk and went into her room to get dressed. Joshua was very excited though, and he didn't drink the milk. He just wished she would hurry up and go with him to see his dodo.
Ten minutes passed and in a passing thought, Joshua suddenly understood why his father had often said that women take forever to get ready.
After what seemed like "a million years" to Joshua, Mrs. Benham came out wearing a flowery yellow shirt and gray pants, and he would have wondered why it took so long just two put two things on, but he tried to get her to hurry up. They went out, she locked the door, and he led the way to his house. He couldn't walk very fast though, because Mrs. Benham was old, and so he would walk briskly and then slow down and wait for her to catch up. Along the way, she asked a few specific questions about the dodo he found and he would answer in as much detail as possible.
They were on the sidewalk leading to his house and Joshua asked, "Mrs. Benham, when they write the story about this, could you please make sure my name is there? I think this is the biggest discovery ever!"
"Of course, Josh. This is very big news, they are going to want to know everything." Even she was excited to see the dodo, and thinking about where this would all lead.
Finally, they were at the door of his house and Joshua hurriedly opened the door and almost dragged Mrs. Benham towards the kitchen to get to the garden. His mother was in the kitchen cutting up some vegetables, and he said, "Ma! Mrs. Benham's here, I've brought her here to see the dodo!"
"Oh, Mrs. Benham! How nice of you to join us. I do hope you'll be joining us for dinner, I've got some duck roasting in the oven. Would you like something to drink?"
