Finding Francois
A Lost Pigeon in New York City…
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For those who are new, today’s post is the newest chapter in a series about a lost pigeon named Lew in New York City. You can find the series for free here:
Now, enough chit-chat. Here’s “Finding Francois”!
We made our way back across the city to the cinema roof. It was a quiet and surprisingly tranquil little journey. The traffic buzzed below as it always buzzed. The air ruffled pleasantly in my ears. The wind was kind.
Eventually, the cinema roof came into view. Except it turned out that Joan had other plans.
“Follow me,” she said.
I was initially confused. I just wanted to sit down and finally get a moment’s rest.
Still, whatever her reason, I could see the concern on her face and I trusted her.
We veered away from the cinema roof ahead of us and flew to one of the taller nearby buildings that overlooked it. We landed on a ledge and Joan scanned over the cinema roof, checking the area, suspicion in her eyes.
I looked too, searching. Clearly, Joan suspected an uninvited guest might be waiting for us.
We looked all over the cinema roof, finding nothing. At least for now, there wasn’t anyone there.
I looked at Joan and her attention had turned to the other buildings that surrounded the cinema.
“There,” she said.
Ruby and I focused in on where Joan was looking. It was a tall brick building beside the cinema. I looked at the ledge at the top of it and couldn’t see anyone. I scanned the wall of orange brick and glass windows until I then finally spotted them: a small flock of pigeons nestled together on the fire escape that ran up the side of the building.
The pigeons were clustered close together, casually chit-chatting as they watched over the cinema roof below them.
“They’re with Mac,” said Joan.
“How many pigeons are in on this?” I asked.
“Right now, I wouldn’t trust a single bird in the city,” said Joan.
“It just keeps going, doesn’t it?” said Ruby.
The frustration hit me hard; it almost felt like despair. Everyone was against us. Whenever we made it through one mess, we were straight into another.
I had to keep my spirit.
“What do we do now?” I asked.
Joan thought it over.
Suddenly, I thought I had something.
“Why don’t we just go straight to the vet?” I said. “We can grab Francois right as he’s released.”
Joan was unphased.
“I wish,” she said. “The vet doesn’t release birds straight out the window. They take them somewhere else and let them go. I don’t have a clue where, but it’s never too far away. Not for pigeons anyway.”
She was looking up at the sky as she spoke, multi-tasking, calculating.
“Francois should be here soon. If he was let out in the morning then he will be well on his way here by now.”
I couldn’t help the sickly worry I felt in my belly.
“What if something’s gone wrong?” I asked. “What if he gets lost?”
“Francois isn’t someone who gets lost,” said Joan with a smile. “He’ll be here.”
She was right. I needed to have some faith.
*
Waiting on the rooftop, we were finally able to properly catch our breaths. I felt my heart gradually settle down.
We’d set down all of our fresh treasure in a small pile beside us, ready to be scooped up at a moment’s notice. Over a dozen bits and pieces of shiny shimmering goodness. We didn’t need to know the actual human value of the haul to know that we had hit the jackpot. How hard we had had to fight for it was already proof that we had some very special items in our possession. And anyway, all you had to do was look at it — the shininess of it all in the light. This was precious cargo. The pigeon greed in me wanted to just sit and stare at it for hours.
Joan took the first shift while Ruby and I sat further back.
Ruby grimaced as she tried to stretch out her injured wing. The wing was shaking; she couldn’t fully extend it. Feathers were missing where she had been hit by the security guard’s slingshot back in the mall. She had a gnarly purple bruise that took up a big chunk of the wing. It hurt just looking at it.
“How bad is it?” I asked her -- a silly question.
She moved it a little more, wincing.
“I don’t think anything is broken,” she said. “I’ll be ok.”
The day ticked on. The sun was right above us. The cinema roof remained empty.
We continued taking turns to watch over the cinema roof. As expected, Mac’s pigeons still held their position on the fire escape, waiting.
At that point, we still hadn’t been there too long yet. Maybe half-an-hour? I was getting nervous, though, and so was Joan and Ruby.
All things considered, we had gotten in and out of the mall pretty quickly. That had bought us some time, but Mac’s good will wasn’t going to last for long. As time went on, Mac and the others on the mall roof were eventually going to realise something was off. Good chance the cinema roof would be their next stop…
*
It was my turn to be on watch when I saw a grey flock of a dozen or so pigeons moving through the sky like a haunted storm cloud -- Mac leading them at the front.
“Joan! Ruby!” I said, ducking back behind the ledge. “It’s Mac. He’s here.”
The three of us lined up along the ledge, peering over for a look.
Mac and those with him glided down through the air and landed squarely in the centre of the cinema roof. The other pigeons that had been by the fire escape flew over and joined them.
It seemed like they were having an emergency meeting. Mac was barking orders. He was livid.
Just then, I caught a spot of white in the corner of my eye on top of one of the buildings around the cinema.
It was Francois!
Thanks for reading! Not long left now in the series. Don’t miss next week!