The Blue Wings

The Blue Wings — page 5

The Blue Wings — page 6 — It was the first day of fall break and all we had planned was lots of fun stuff together Like watching watching cranes for example My brother Jadran and I raced each other along the path through the woods to the lake He ran ahead of me in his rubber boots I let him win Every one let Jadran win Even though he was as strong as a young wolf his big gangling body was slow And he couldn’t stand losing Watch out Giant I’m catching up with you I shouted to fire him up And Jadran liked being fired up He staggered across the stones to the squelchy shore As usual his head hung slightly forward and his back was hunched I want to be the first to see them he panted I’m always the first to see everything aren’t I Josh

The Blue Wings — page 7 — 4 The Blue Wings The sound of trumpeting came from behind the reeds Krrroo krrroo krrroo Jadran turned and waved at Mom and Murad who were strolling to the lake arm in arm Yasmin trudged along behind them doing her best not to see any cranes at all She’d wrapped her scarf high over her face right up to her glasses I can already hear them shouted Jadran That counts too doesn’t it Mom Mom and Murad gave a thumbs up both at the same time And that made them both laugh also at exactly the same moment Murad and his daughter had only just moved into our apartment last week And it hadn’t exactly gone smoothly It had taken forever before Jadran would say a word to Murad The night of the move he had barricaded barricaded the front door with a dresser The only thing that eventually saved the situation was the promise that he could sleep in my room from now on on two mattresses mattresses pushed close together Jadran ran clumsily toward the sound of the cranes his chin sticking out and his big hands dangling beside his body Josh make sure he doesn’t go too far Mom screamed above the wind He’s not allowed near the marsh

The Blue Wings — page 8 — The Blue Wings 5 I sprinted after him Jadran was sixteen and could lift me up in the air with one arm But even though he was almost five years older than me he was my little brother as far as Mom was concerned We squelched our way over to a bed of reeds Jadran squawking along with the cranes With every step his feet sank deeper into the mud Krrroo krrroo krrroo We saw the huge birds among the reeds pecking for food There were dozens of them with their long legs and their bushy tail feathers They had patches of red on their heads and their black and white necks jerked back and forth There they are shrieked Jadran way too loud He threw his arms in the air and made a leap toward the birds The cold water splashed and soon he was up to his calves in the sludge Shut up Giant I whispered but it was already too late They’d spotted us The crane alarm went off Kaa kroo ee Kaa kroo ee The birds turned to stone heads forward high on their toes Only their beaks still moved making that eerie cry You scared them I hissed

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