The Man in the Crane
By David M. Savage, 9/22/97

There's a large construction site across the street from where I work. In the center of the pit is a tall crane. I worry about the man in the crane. Is there a bathroom up there? Does he come down for lunch? There is no elevator; he has to climb up the stairs all the way to the top. It seems that his whole lunch hour would be spent climbing down and climbing back up. This morning walking from the car on the way to work, I looked up at the man in the crane. He stood up and took off his jacket and put on a different one. Then he opened the large window of the cab, which is really the front wall. I waved at him and he waved back. The man in the crane is friendly.

Two blocks from where I work is another, larger construction site. There's a huge pile of dirt that they keep covered with plastic sheets. In the middle of the deep pit is an orange crane that's even taller than the one at the construction site across the street. I worry about the man in the crane.

Three Million Birds
By David M. Savage, 9/22/97

When I walk to the Metro at 6:30 in the morning on the way to work, past the swimming pool, about halfway up Cottage Street on the way from Cedar Street to Gallows Road, half a block before the pine tree where the rabbit family lives, there are three million birds in the trees on both sides of the street. They sit in the trees making a loud noise together. Then they take off and fly around the sky. I look back and see the full moon in the dawn. I have to walk right under a tree with low branches where the birds are. It's scary. On the ground are lots of feathers and bird droppings. I wanted to show Gwen the birds, so on Sunday we got up earlier than usual and by 7:30 we had walked to the bird trees. There wasn't a bird in sight. We were an hour too late. Gwen saw the feathers on the ground and said there must have been a bird massacre, that it looked like a lawnmower had run over a flock of birds. Some of the feathers were sticking straight up quill in the ground. I don't know why so many birds roost in the trees at that part of the block. You have to get up pretty early in the morning to see three million birds.

Copyright 1997, 2015 by David M. Savage
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david @ savageheart.com
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