The Human Stain

He thinks she is thinking about how long it has all gone on, the mother, the stepfather, the escape from the stepfather, the places in the South, the places in the North, the men, the beatings, the jobs, the marriage, the farm, the herd, the bankruptcy, the children, the dead children... and maybe she is. Maybe she is even if, alone now on the grass while the boys are smoking and cleaning up from lunch, she thinks she is thinking about crows. She thinks about crows a lot of the time. They're everywhere. They roost in the woods not far from the bed where she sleeps, they're in the pasture when she's out there moving the fence for the cows, and today they are cawing all over the campus, and so instead of thinking of what she is thinking the way Coleman thinks she is thinking it, she is thinking about the crow that used to hang around the store in Seeley Falls when, after the fire and before moving to the farm, she took the furnished room up there to try to hide from Farley, the crow that hung around the parking lot between the post office and the store, the crow that somebody had made into a pet because it was abandoned or because its mother was killed—she never knew what orphaned it. And now it had been abandoned for a second time and had taken to hanging out in that parking lot, where most everybody came and went during the course of the day. This crow created many problems in Seeley Falls because it started divebombing people coming into the post office, going after the barrettes in the little girls' hair and so on—as crows will because it is their nature to collect shiny things, bits of glass and stuff like that-and so the postmistress, in consultation with a few interested townsfolk, decided to take it to the Audubon Society, where it was caged and only sometimes let out to fly; it couldn't be set free because in the wild a bird that likes to hang around a parking lot simply will not fit in. That crow's voice. She remembers it at all hours, day or night, awake, sleeping, or insomniac. Had a strange voice.

Not like the voice of other crows probably because it hadn't been raised with other crows. Right after the fire, I used to go and visit that crow at the Audubon Society, and whenever the visit was over and I would turn to leave, it would call me back with this voice. Yes, in a cage, but being what it was, it was better off that way. There were other birds in cages that people had brought in because they couldn't live in the wild anymore. There were a couple of little owls.

Speckled things that looked like toys. I used to visit the owls too.

And a pigeon hawk with a piercing cry. Nice birds. And then I moved down here and, alone as I was, am, I have gotten to know crows like never before. And them me. Their sense of humor. Is that what it is? Maybe it's not a sense of humor. But to me it looks like it is. The way they walk around. The way they tuck their heads. The way they scream at me if I don't have bread for them. Faunia, go get the bread. They strut. They boss the other birds around. On Saturday, after having the conversation with the redtail hawk down by Cumberland, I came home and I heard these two crows back in the orchards. I knew something was up. This alarming crow-calling.

Sure enough, saw three birds—two crows crowing and cawing off this hawk. Maybe the very one I'd been talking to a few minutes before.

Chasing it. Obviously the redtail was up to no good. But taking on a hawk? Is that a good idea? It wins them points with the other crows, but I don't know if I would do that. Can even two of them take on a hawk? Aggressive bastards. Mostly hostile. Good for them. Saw a photo once—a crow going right up to an eagle and barking at it. The eagle doesn't give a shit. Doesn't even see him. But the crow is something. The way it flies. They're not as pretty as ravens when ravens fly and do those wonderful, beautiful acrobatics.

They've got a big fuselage to get off the ground and yet they don't need a running start necessarily. A few steps will do it. I've watched that. It's more just a huge effort. They make this huge effort and they're up. When I used to take the kids to eat at Friendly's. Four years ago. There were millions of them. The Friendly's on East Main Street in Blackwell. In the late afternoon. Before dark. Millions of them in the parking lot. The crow convention at Friendly's.