And, as we walked, Shane and I that is, had about settled into my meditative, head slightly down and no eye contact with anyone pace, and Shane with his eager, always going forwards tail-wagging enthusiasm.
I had heard the rooster cry several minutes before, and took great comfort at the cool early morning sight of the farm field within which he cried and called his domain and inspiration for song.
Then, an altogether different cry came across the early morning haze, climbing up from the grass.
I could have sworn that it was the cry of a Peacock, but it had been so long since I had seen one-perhaps two decades or more-and so I thought I might have imagined it.
But then I heard it again, and, after casting my eyes once more across the green May field, and sighting in a bit narrower and lower, there I saw Her.
The Peacock, with her deep green head, almost purple, and merging in the black, bobbing,ever alertly, and taking me in with a gaze informed by some unearthly wisdom.;
She was trailing her bridal train in long, sweeping green, purple and black swooping desultoriness across the field behind her. Taking her time, and taking me in as I say and telling me what I and my kind were all about since time had started ticking-at a glance.
She looked at Shane, who was eagerly pulling on the leash about his neck and towards some tree nearby, and explained her haughtiness with a nod, and still remained a playful player all the while, in deep shades of endless spring and summer in the very darkest purple , green and black, all contained within the sweep of her long bridal gown and train of shimmering and glittering greenish purple and black.
A peacock.
*Note: This Memorial Day weekend I will be finishing the Allstate Interview Story. I will cut out most of the digressions, or at And as far as the peacock bit goes---aah....not bad. But it is one of those "You had to be there" moments. So on it is to the Allstate Interview Story.
