Spoiler! :
april 20th, 2023 - not really sure what I was expecting
of course, just when I'm sitting down
on a folding chair in the grass
with a third sandwich in one hand
and soda in a solo cup in the other,
having picked them up off the ground
after tugging on my hoodie cords
because I'm feeling a little chilly
under the shade of the overhanging roof,
my brother decides to start texting me.
first memes, then to say he'll be
changing his major for the third time
this semester (something with less physics
this time around), then to ask me
if there's any grouses up there
(wikipedia tells me there's a whole bunch of birds
called grouse - maybe it was a sage grouse?
I'm not going to look for that conversation,
and sage grouse live in southern idaho,
where's there more sagebrush bushes
than there are people, so let's go with that),
and maybe if I can send him pictures
pretty please.
I'm pretty sure I'd be able to spot
some goofy puffed-up white crest
and spread out black tail feathers
in the endless dead grass lawns
or among the horses wandering dirt fields
or among the cows grazing by creeks
or between the lava rock-covered hills,
but nope, can't say I've run into any,
much less had the chance to break out my phone
(or my camera, if I remembered to bring it)
and hope they don't book it
to the sagebrush because they're pretty sure
anything pointed at them must be a gun.
and, I mean, there's a couple hunters
in plaids and jeans and caps
standing by the sandwich table,
talking about the permits they need to get
and telling stories about things like
carrying deer carcasses up hills
in the hopes of eventually finding
where they parked their truck.
they did, in fact, take pictures
of sage grouses lined up on the back of their truck.
which is pretty impressive,
but I think my younger brother
wants living birds,
so that's a little unfortunate.
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