The Vulture's Tale, by Stuart Evans

It was a hot day, not one of those hellish types of heats, but hot nonetheless.  Maybe you’ve heard of the desert?  Maybe not, but anyway no matter what way you look at it, the desert is a cruel place.  My mama told me that, and she wasn’t kidding around when she did too, I can’t imagine a more inhospitable place in the world.  But it’s my life.  Never left here and I doubt I ever will.  After everything I’ve learned in life there is one thing mama said that really stuck out in my mind: “The desert is sometimes forgiving.”

Not too long ago on a dusty trail near my home there were a group of people on their horses who had lost their way.  There were three of them in total and they all wore these ten gallon hats.  All of them were scruffy looking but had different facial hair styles.  The short one had a mustache, the tall one had a small beard, and the fat one had a full beard, though not very long.  The three of them had been traveling for hours along an old dusty trail out where there was little more than scrub.

Pretty soon there came a fork in the road that I knew very well.  I know which way is the right way and which way is just a dead end.  So I decided to place myself squarely on top of the right road they should go down.  I knew that they might be superstitious and that soon became true.  It became apparent that they didn’t take too kindly to my appearance once they saw me blocking the way on the road.

“Whoa there!” The tall one said to everyone around him as soon as he noticed me.  “Ain’t no way we’re going down that road.  Vultures seem to be waitin fer us.”

“What makes you say that Jeb?” the fat one asked as he shifted his eyes right and left, and then planted them squarely on me.

“You know dern well what it is.” Jeb said as he squinted at him in the noonday sun.  “Obviously we got to turn left, vultures are waitin fer us on the road right here.  Yer an idiot Abe.”

“Well let’s just go left then.”  Abe said staring off into the distance.  “Not much of a fuss over it at all.  What do you think Clem?”

“As long as we get to a town soon and I get away from you two that’s fine with me.” Clem said as he avoided everyone’s eyes.

“It’s settled then,” Abe smiled.  So they went down the left road which went the wrong way, which was exactly my plan to have them do so.  They turned away from me and I decided to fly up into the air to get a better view of them as they traveled along the wrong road.  After a mile or so of churning up dust and staring at the trail they came upon a dead end with no other roads in sight.  Nothing but a cliff face and a drop that made me feel wary at the sight.  After Jeb and Clem threw their hands up in the air they, including Abe, turned right around and went back to the fork in the road.  Then they took the path that I was conveniently standing on not too long ago.

“We’re gonna die for sure,” Jeb muttered as they started going down that road.  I had a giddy feeling of anticipation as I watched them go on to the right path.  Being a vulture can really help prod things along nicely at times.  I knew the path on the right would lead them in the right direction, but it was a long way to the next town.

After several hours of them traveling along in the hot desert sun I was able to pick out a few snippets of conversation that went back and forth among them.  These little conversations were mostly about how long the road was or how hot it was; either way they were complaining almost the entire time.  This led to them forming a small dilemma as they traveled along this road.  But for me I was just happy they weren’t complaining about if they took the right road or not, since there was only one way to go.  But soon enough they started to talk about me again, so I paid closer attention.

“Dern it that vulture keeps on hoverin round our heads, been doin it all day long!” Jeb said as he pointed at me in the air.

“Naw it’s just been up there since the fork in the road.” Abe replied.  “Besides it’s not like we’re dying or anything.”

“You twits, it’s been there ever since we got in this god-forsaken desert!” Clem retorted.
“How long’s that been huh Clem?” Abe snickered.

“Don’ you start that now.”

“Vulture’s still up dere.” Jeb decided to interrupt their little argument. 

“But this was the only way to go after that dead end.  Has to be something at the end of this desert.”  Abe said.

“Damn the vulture! And damn this desert!” Jeb said.  “There’s no end in sight!”

“Now don’t go talkin bout her this way Clem.  Makes her angry.” Abe said

“What you talkin about?” Jeb said.  “Make who angry?  Yer not makin sense.”

“He’s right ye know.  Can’t make her angry n such.” Clem said.  “I think the vulture’s on to something here.”

To this Jeb started to get really angry at both of them and said, “you too?  Know what? I’m naming that vulture after you Clem, yer just like it. Always hoverin around waiting for me to believe in yer superstitions!  Both of you are goin to hell for sure.”

“Fine, have it your way yeh old coot.” Clem retorted after looking up in the sky one last time.  It was from then on that I decided to keep my distance and perhaps leave them alone for a while.  Tomorrow would be a great day for me anyway because my marvelous plan would be brought into fruition.  If they only knew what was waiting for them on the other side of the hill.  

I got so excited that I was almost dancing with excitement over a fresh corpse that hasn’t been rotting away for the past week or so.  So I decided to perch myself on a tree and wait out the night for when they would receive their reward for traveling on this very long road that seemed to go nowhere.

So the morning finally came and these men saddled up their horses preparing for a long day’s journey ahead of them.  “How interesting,” I thought.  “Not a word spoken among them all day.”  They climbed up onto their horses and started going down the dusty road once more.  To their great surprise, and my delight, they came upon a small town with everything that they needed to make it out of the desert.

            Maybe it was the good feeling I had about leading them down that path, or maybe it was me just feeling nice that day, I’m not sure.  At any rate I at least saved them the trouble of wondering if they took the right path or not.  Call it motherly love or something, but I really wanted them to succeed.  It may have been a long trip to the town, but I say they learned something along the way.  They may not realize it yet, but they will eventually.  Like my mama said, “The desert is sometimes forgiving.”