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Date:   4/22/2010 9:09:31 PM ( 14 y ago)

Right down the street from my house is one of those suburban strip malls that are so ubiquitous these days. Grocery store, donut shop, Starbucks, clothing store, Blockbuster and Rite Aid. There's a bit of a fake turret centered over Starbucks that's built into the otherwise non-descript architecture.

Some weeks back a pair of crows painstakingly built their nest and a couple of days later the Property Management Company promptly took it down. There was nothing in it at the time and the crows simply rebuilt. Then there were caution signs about, warning people of what lay above and the locals would grab their cups of coffee and sit outside and feel good that there were little crow eggs just waiting to be hatched. Everyone smiled about it and it was a common thread that brought strangers together even for a brief ephemeral moment. All was good. It seemed that the Property Management Company was cool with it, the crows were elated and the people that knew about it had something to smile about.

Today I went to that mall and noticed that there was no yellow warning tape about. As I gazed up at the B in Starbucks, someone sadly and quietly whispered that the Property Company had removed the nest. Five eggs. I gasped involuntarily with breath so sharply drawn in that I was almost hyperventilating. I was told that the Property Management Company had the eggs moved to an animal sanctuary nearby which, I guess, was supposed to mollify all of the crows' nest watchers.

I made it back to my car and sat inside trying to collect myself. Absentmindedly, I looked upward on the roof of the building next to Starbucks where, lo and behold, there were the Momma and Daddy crows perching with heads gently cocked. Every so often they would swoop to the B in Starbucks where their nest had been, looking for their eggs. And then perch on the opposite building. Back and forth they flew every few minutes while I sat there crying uncontrollably in my car.

It all seemed so iconic of something else, something bigger and more dire. Not that crows missing their young isn't sad, because (trust me), it was. I couldn't let go of it all day and even now it makes me cry a little. I won't be going near that mall for a while.

My Mom said to visualise them building a new nest somewhere else, somewhere safe where they could raise their little family without the encroachment of modern day banalities.



 

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