The white vulture
I had a dream this morning that a white vulture with a silver collar was feeding off the suet in the backyard of the house in which I grew up. We managed to catch the vulture and determined from the collar that the owner lived in Norway. We were quite astounded that the vulture had managed to come so far... it was obviously a very unusual bird. O figured out how to contact the owner, and we were told that there was a huge reward for its return.
We were debating how best to get the bird back to its owner in Norway when it very patiently explained to us (in perfect English) that if we returned it to its owner, we would be condemning it to a lifetime of slavery and oppression chained to a perch in a circus tent. Not phased in the least by being confronted by a talking vulture, the debate then turned to whether or not we should return it to its owner and collect the reward anyway, or if we should turn it loose to fend for itself again and perhaps get captured by someone else (who might be much worse than the original owner). It wasn't much of a debate; the vulture told us that it would much rather fend for itself. So we removed the collar and turned it loose.
Skip forward an indefinite period of time. I found myself in Florida watching the launch of the Space Shuttle, Atlantis. While staring at the launch pad looking through my binoculars, I noticed three shapes soaring over our viewing place - three vultures, two black and one white. I realized that the white vulture had flown here to watch the shuttle launch also; a kindred spirit of sorts. And I was very happy. End of dream.
Boy do I wish I knew what that was really about. I am enchanted by the thought of my talking white vulture, though.
We were debating how best to get the bird back to its owner in Norway when it very patiently explained to us (in perfect English) that if we returned it to its owner, we would be condemning it to a lifetime of slavery and oppression chained to a perch in a circus tent. Not phased in the least by being confronted by a talking vulture, the debate then turned to whether or not we should return it to its owner and collect the reward anyway, or if we should turn it loose to fend for itself again and perhaps get captured by someone else (who might be much worse than the original owner). It wasn't much of a debate; the vulture told us that it would much rather fend for itself. So we removed the collar and turned it loose.
Skip forward an indefinite period of time. I found myself in Florida watching the launch of the Space Shuttle, Atlantis. While staring at the launch pad looking through my binoculars, I noticed three shapes soaring over our viewing place - three vultures, two black and one white. I realized that the white vulture had flown here to watch the shuttle launch also; a kindred spirit of sorts. And I was very happy. End of dream.
Boy do I wish I knew what that was really about. I am enchanted by the thought of my talking white vulture, though.