Eagle's Destiny (49 page)

He laughed, “Oh Elizabeth no more.  You have exhausted me, thoroughly and completely.”

We fell into the deep sleep of lovers.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

We awoke early to Michael’s cell phone ringing.  By the time, he was able to find his phone the call had gone to voice mail.  He checked the caller ID.

“Who called?”  I asked him.

He shook his head, “Park rangers.  That’s strange.”  He hit the send key to call them back.  “Hey it’s Michael, what’s up.”  He paused to listen and then spoke again, “No problem, I’ll check it out this morning.  Yeah, I’ll call you back.”  Michael looked grim when he turned to face me.

“What happened?”  I got out of bed and put my robe and slippers on.

“The town’s police arrested a drunk driver last night, a reservation teen.”

“And?”  I asked
,
wishing he would just tell me.

He took a long sigh, “He had a rifle and three eagle tail feathers on the back seat.  They called in the park rangers.  I’m going to go up to check our eagles.  The rangers couldn’t tell if the feathers were from one of our eagles.”  Michael reached for his pants and put them on.

I opened my top dresser drawer and took out panties and a bra.  “I’m going with you.”

Michael turned, “Ah, Elizabeth, no you’re not, it may be dangerous.”

I already started for the bathroom to turn the shower on.  “Yes, I am going with you.  I am not going to let you go alone.”  I flashed him a look, “Don’t argue with me on this Michael, you won’t win.”

He looked at the determination in my face and nodded, “Okay.”  He rubbed his hand across his stomach and grimaced, “Hell, Elizabeth.  I’m all sticky.”

I laughed while I got into the shower, “You weren’t complaining last night!”

“Meet me outside in a half hour.  If you’re not there, I’ll go without you.”  He called to me as he left my bedroom.

True to his word, he had his jeep running in front of my house thirty minutes later.  I grabbed my jacket and ran out of the house to join him.  I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek as I put my seat belt on. 

Michael turned to kiss me properly, “Good morning my lover.”

How was it that he could turn me to jelly in an instance with just a kiss and a few words?  I did not know, but I loved it.  We drove in silence through town and took the highway up the mountain.  The jeep turned onto the utility road and followed the path into the woods.

A blast of cold air hit me when I climbed out of the jeep.  I was glad I had brought my jacket with the hood.  My braided hair was still damp from my shower.  Tugging the jacket on, I pulled the hood over my head and zipped up the front of the jacket.  Michael opened up the jeep’s back door, and took out his handgun from the locked case.  The gun went into the holster he was wearing inside his jacket.  He held out his hand for me while we walked toward the eagle stand and I took it feeling comforted by him.

“Are you cold?”  Michael asked, “Do you need my jacket, I have a sweatshirt on underneath.”

I shook my head, “No, I’m okay; the walk is warming me up.”

We trudged through the forest, so many of the leaves had already fallen off
the
trees.  The forest floor was a mixture of red, orange, and yellow leaves.  The air smelled
of
fresh pine and the sun had started to pe
e
k through the trees.  It would have been a beautiful walk for us, except we had a clear sense of impending doom.  The feeling had settled on us.  It was a dark mood
.  I
t stretched out and made itself at home.

“Annie called me before we left.”  Michael said.

“She knows it’s a Pomo teen?”  I asked already knowing the answer.

Michael nodded.  “Yeah, Frank finally told her.  They are convening a tribal council at the reservation offices.”

We walked into the clearing and I held Michael’s hand.  We saw empty cartridge shells around the tree stand.  Michael swore under his breath.  I moved to walk forward but Michael caught me and held me back.  He pointed to the sky.  I looked up, and an eagle was flying in circles above us.

“Is that her?”  I was certain it was the female eagle we had named Ethel.

He nodded silently.  “She’s very agitated.  You can tell by the way she’s flying in circles.”

Michael climbed up into the tree stand and I followed him up.  He surveyed the surrounding area with the binoculars.  His eyes scanned everything repeatedly then he suddenly swore loudly his voice anguished.  “Oh god no, shit!”

He climbed quickly out of the tree and didn’t wait for me to follow.  He ran toward the ravine where the eagle’s nest was located.  I followed him and when I reached him, he had already dropped to his knees. 

“Oh god no.”  He said repeatedly with torture on his face. 

I dropped to my knees next to him and looked over the ledge.  About 20 feet down, the male eagle lay dead.  The sight was as if someone had hit me in the chest hard and all the air escaped from my lungs in one big whoosh.  Michael’s shoulders were shaking.  He was down on all fours now and I wrapped my arms around his side and back trying to hold him to give him some sort of comfort.

His sobs were gut wrenching and my own tears started to flow down my face.  We held each other for a long time.  Until the crying call from Ethel brought us back to reality and we looked up at her.  She landed in her nest and she was alone.

Michael spoke first.  “Elizabeth, I need you to go back to the jeep.  We won’t get a cell phone signal here and maybe you won’t where the jeep is parked.  You might have to drive the jeep back to the main road.  I want you to call the ranger station.  The number is on my cell.”  He handed his cell phone to me.  “Let them know where I am.  I’m going to stay here.  The eagle is crime scene evidence and I don’t want an animal get to it.  Can you do that for me?”

I nodded.  “Are you going to be alright, I mean, here by yourself?” 

He kissed me, “Yes, honey.  Please, tell them to come quickly, and call Frank and Annie too.”

I nodded again and wiped my eyes with edge of my jacket as I stood up.  Michael grabbed my hand and squeezed it the tears still in his eyes. 

I leaned over and brushed up lips against his forehead, “I love you Michael.  I’ll hurry.”

I ran back to Michael’s jeep as fast as I could trying not to trip over the tree roots and limbs sticking out.  I stayed on the path this time and reached the jeep in record time completely out of breath. 

Neither of our cell phones worked on the utility road and it wasn’t until I reached the main road that I finally had a signal on Michael’s phone.  I scrolled through the alpha listing on his phone until I found the correct number and pressed send.

“Mt. Mintock Ranger Station, Ranger Harry speaking.”  The voice on the other side said.

I tried quickly to spit out the information but my mouth was so dry it was difficult to be clear.

“Excuse me lady, could you slow down please.  Now what was that about an eagle?”

I rolled my eyes.  Why did I manage to get the dim person answering the phone?  “This is Elizabeth Sommars.”

“Oh hi Elizabeth, I know you, we met at one of the baseball games.  You have a mean fastball.”  He said with a friendly voice.

I almost screamed.  “Ranger Harry, please.  I have information about the eagles up on Mt. Mintock.  My boyfriend, Michael Hoffman received a
call this morning about the eagle feathers the police picked up last night with the drunk driver.  We, I mean Michael just found one of the eagles dead.  He’s at the tree stand and needs someone to come up.  Right now,” I added.  I shook my head in disbelief hoping the message was clear to Ranger Harry.

“Oh!”  He exclaimed.  “Okay, yes.  Oh my gosh!”  He exclaimed again.  “Yes, we’ll get up there right away.  Where are you?”

“I’m on the main road and the utility road junction.”  I answered glad that he finally recognized the urgency of the call.

“Can you wait right there until we arrive, just in case?”  He asked.

I agreed and we ended the call.  I followed up with a call to Frank and Annie.  Frank was still at home.  Annie had already gone over to the tribe’s offices.  Frank too told me he would be there shortly.

I hung up and waited in the jeep.  Annie and Frank both arrived in separate cars at the same time.  She hugged me closely, and the tears I was holding back came out.  Always prepared she had a purse pack of tissues in her sweater pocket, which she handed to me.  I wiped my nose and eyes while she held me around the waist.

“Frank you go with Elizabeth back to Michael.  I’ll wait here for the park rangers.”  She squeezed me and looked at me directly.  “Elizabeth, you go back to your man.  You need to be there for him.”

Frank followed me in his truck down to the end of the utility road.  “How far down is the eagle?”  Frank asked as he opened the back of his pickup pulling out rope and climbing apparatus.

“Not more than twenty feet.”  I answered.

Frank handed a camera to me, “Did Michael bring his camera?

I shook my head.

“Okay you carry the camera and this.”  He handed me a black plastic trash bag.

Tears started streaming down my face again.  Not a very glorious ending for a magnificent creature, stuffed inside a trash bag.  Frank already wearing his service revolver on his side picked up his shotgun and slung it over his back.  We walked quietly to the clearing.

Michael was still sitting at the edge of the ravine and stood when he saw us approaching.  I immediately went to Michael and put my arms around him.  Burying my head into his neck, I sobbed.  Frank patted Michael on the back.  We stood there awhile trying to give comfort to each other. 

“Are you up to taking pictures?”  Frank asked Michael.

Michael nodded and sighed, “Yeah, I never thought these were going to be the type of pictures I would take.”

“Sorry the camera isn’t a fancy one.”  Frank said under his breath.

Michael turned on the small digital camera, “It will do for our purpose.  The rangers said you caught the guy who did this?”

Frank, “Yeah, one of my guys pulled him over last night.  He was weaving all over the road and drunker than a skunk.  We have him locked up for the drunk driving.  The eagle, well this is tribal land, so the tribe and the Feds have jurisdiction.  The elders have already met this morning.  They are waiting for you to let us know if it was our eagle.  I guess we have the answer now.”

Michael nodded and started to take pictures.  Two rangers and Annie joined us a short time later. 

Annie walked up and when she looked over the edge, she spoke several sentences in her native Pomo tongue.  She stood between Michael and me putting her arms around both of us. 

“I just said a short prayer for the eagle,” she whispered, “to speed his soul into the afterlife.  The tribe will perform a cleansing ritual to erase the violence done here.  This land is sacred for the eagle and us.  The eagle is our brother and we have shamed ourselves.  I don’t know why the young man did this.  We Pomo never collected eagle feathers.  It is not part of our culture to do so.  He has brought disgrace to the entire tribe.”

One of the rangers using the rope that Frank brought lowered himself into the ravine.  He took a few more pictures and then put the eagle in the plastic trash bag.  We helped pull him back up again.

When the bag reached us, Michael pulled the eagle out to examine him.  He drew a heavy sigh and nodded, “Yeah, he’s missing his tail feathers.  Frank you have our culprit.”

“There had to be more than one person involved.  He could not have gotten out of the ravine by himself.”  I interjected.

“Maybe, if that is where the eagle fell once he was shot.  It could be that he was shot and after his tail feathers were removed he was tossed into the ravine.”  Frank answered, “Don’t worry Elizabeth we’ll get to the bottom of this.”

“Do you need us any further?”  Michael looked at Frank and the two rangers.

Frank shook his head slowly looking at the eagle lying on the plastic bag.  “No
.  T
hank you both for com
ing out here to help us with this today.  W
e’ll complete the investigation out here.”

“Let me know what happens.”  Michael shook hands with Frank and the rangers. 

“I’ll walk out with you two.”  Annie looked at Frank, “You’re going to be late aren’t you?”

Frank nodded and Annie gave him a hug.  “I’ll see you at home.”

Annie walked out with us.  The three of us were quiet until we arrived at the utility road.  Annie hugged Michael as he got into the driver’s side of the jeep.  I walked with her to her car.  Annie slipped her arms around my waist. 

“Be patient with Michael, he is suffering like he lost a close friend.”

“What should I do Annie?”  I asked.

“He is your lover Elizabeth, just follow your feelings they will guide you.”  She hugged me tightly.  “I’ll call you later.  Okay?”

I closed her car door and went back to the jeep.  Michael started the ignition after I climbed in and we drove slowly out following Annie’s car.  Michael was silent.  I took his hand in mine and held it in my lap.  We drove home and he pulled in front of my place to drop me off first.