17 Frightful Feels the Call to the Sky

stop the flow of blood. Then he gave Mole a deer bone for consolation and went to his desk. He opened a book. "As long as we're stuck here," he said, "you might as well learn something. I'll read to you." He began: "With his first trip to France in 1781, a five-year period began in which Thomas Paine used his skills to work more openly on behalf of the United States to insure that his liberal-republican ideals were implemented.' "He glanced at Mole. The dog's eyes were closed. "We're on page one hundred thirty-one in Jack Fruchtman Jr.'s book called Thomas Paine," he said. Mole opened his eyes and thumped his tail. Sam went on reading. IN WHICH Frightful Feels the Call to the Sky

Atop the mill house, Oksi turned her head almost all the way around in one direction and then the other. She saw trees, boulders, the millpond, and, high above them, a bright glimpse of blue sky. The sky captivated her. She sensed she should be there. She flapped her wings. Nothing happened. The air was still. No wind gave her lift. She closed her wings to her body and flicked her tail in frustration. She needed to be in that sky. Frightful watched Oksi from Sam's tree. Her eyas had taken her first flight. She was no longer a nestling but a fledgling, a flying member of bird royalty—the family Fal-conidae. But Frightful was not about to join Chup wandering free on wing. She had still another duty—to provide food until Oksi could catch her own. Oksi's mood changed from frustration to curiosity. She turned her head almost upside down to focus on a twisting leaf, a flying beetle, and a bird. Birds excited her. She lifted her wings to chase, thought better of it, and folded them to her sides. Eventually she grew tired and put her beak in the feathers between her shoulders to sleep. The afternoon shadows lengthened and turned purple

blue. Up in the big tree, Frightful closed her eyes. From time to time she opened them and checked on Oksi. Sam read on. Mole chewed on the deer bone. Suddenly—"Sam, where are you?" Bando was running toward the big tree, waving his arms. Oksi awakened and flapped her wings. A gust of wind rushed under them and lifted her off the roof. In seconds she was above the hemlock grove, on her way—somewhere. Sam saw Oksi soaring to independence at the same time he heard Bando shout. "It's a girl! It's a girl! Her name is Samantha." "Samantha?" Sam said, and Oksi was forgotten. "Who named her that?" "Zella," said Bando as he caught his breath from running. Sam couldn't speak. "Now we have a son and a daughter," Bando said, putting his hand on Sam's shoulder. "Those are Zella's words." Sam ran his fingers through his hair, trying to take in the wonder of having a namesake.

"I've got to get back to the hospital," Bando said. "I'll pick up my surprise for Zella and Samantha." He winked. "Think she'll like it?" Sam still could not speak. Bando's blue eyes shone under his dark eyebrows and prematurely white hair. His face crinkled around a big smile. He waited for Sam to say something, realized he was overwhelmed, and hurried off to the mill house. "Samantha," Sam finally said as his friend of the forest and wilderness left the mill house, carrying on his head the exquisite wild-cherry rocking chair he had been working on for eight months. "Samantha," Sam whispered to himself. "I have a new friend." Frightful did not hear the excitement. Oksi had disappeared over the mountain, and she was speeding to catch up with her daughter. She finally took the lead and steered to Sam's meadow. She alighted on the limb of an oak tree. Oksi landed on a hickory stub. Frightful scanned the meadow. Oksi scanned it, too. A rabbit jumped. Instinctively Oksi dropped from her perch. She missed. She hit where the

rabbit had been, not where it would be by the time she struck. The rabbit dove into a patch of greenbrier and Oksi flew back to her perch. While she sat waiting for something else to run, Frightful flew back to the courthouse. She returned in the late afternoon but brought no food. Oksi, who had still not caught anything, ravenously attacked her mother. Frightful dodged, climbed swiftly, and sped back to the cupola. In the morning she caught a pigeon. Oksi saw Frightful flying toward her with the food when she was still a long way off. She waited, then attacked. Frightful dropped the pigeon. With a twist, Oksi caught it in the air and returned to the oak tree. She ate rapaciously. Although she had never been taught this, Frightful was following ancient peregrine instincts. She was hacking her daughter—bringing her food when she could not catch her own. Four miles away, on the side of Palmer Hill, Perry Knowlton was doing the same thing for Blue Bill and Screamer. He carried Screamer to the hack board, a food platform on stilts. He had constructed it below his

house on the far side of the pond. It was shaded by a tree. To keep predators like Jessie Coon James from climbing it, he had encased the stilts in tin sleeves. Carefully he removed Screamer's jesses and held him high. Screamer saw the food on the hack board and flew to it. He was hungry. Perry had not fed him for a day to get him ready for this moment. "So far so good," he said, and went back to the barn for Blue Bill. Perry held him high. Blue Bill had imprinted on Perry more deeply than Screamer and was perfectly happy to sit on his hand and admire him. "Go," Perry said, lowering his fist with a quick downward movement that forced Blue Bill to spread his wings. He flapped and he flew, too, but only as far as a tree limb— not to the hack board. There he sat. "Ah, come on," Perry said. "You've been a mother's boy since I got you. Now, go join your brother and grow up." Perry picked up the jesses, leashes, and falconry bells he had taken off the birds and walked the