The field trip van is slowing down as it comes to the outskirts of the small rural village where Crowoman lives nearby. Petunia, who has been drowsing, is suddenly wide awake and aware of the black birds all around their van. As she looks out the window, she sees that, in fact, every tree, rooftop, available perching spot sports a crow or a raven as far as her eye can see. The old mill town, nestled in the fork of the meeting of two feisty rivers, crisscrossed by bridges, is full of the black birds. They are very eye-catching, appearing as an undulating black line on the shoulder height side walls of the bridges.

Prof Bolo pulls the van over into an empty lot to let Kaylar and Crewman film the crows. Petunia's attention is riveted to the birds and it seems to her that it is immediately clear to the crows that the stopping of the van is all about them. They start to fly about using their voices, making quite an array of sounds and some of them land at the far edge of the abandoned lot as Crewman and Kaylar assemble their gear. Petunia watches fascinated, as the flock of landing birds increases and the crows come closer and closer to where Crewman is setting up a tripod.

As the birds move closer to the humans, they start strutting their stuff, puffing out their chests, ruffling their feathers, stretching and bending and taking little pecks at one another, so obviously performing for the camera and their enchanted audience, that the audience is starting to chuckle at their antics. Chuckling turns into full belly laughter, as the birds keep hamming it up until Petunia is clutching her sides that are starting to ache from laughing.

Eventually, though, the crows retreat to the far end of the lot and start taking off into the air in groups of a dozen or so. Petunia sends mental kisses and accolades towards the birds; she hasn't had such a good cleansing laugh in a long time. She is aware of the relaxation of the whole human group as they repack their gear, little bursts of chuckles erupting here and there.

“Well, thank-you crows and ravens and guiding spirits,” Prof Bolo says as he executes a little bow in the direction the crows have flown off from. “We are deeply honoured to be in this adventure with you.”

The field trip van continues on slowly through the village. At every turn, there are what Petunia has named “greeting crows” that fly off as the van passes, in the direction they are going. Petunia finds it uncanny to be the object of the conscious attention of the crows, but then she feels the comforting reassuring energy of the Light Being's presence and she focuses on sending greetings to the crows and seeing if she can identify individual birds.

A few more turns onto smaller and narrower yet dirt roads take them to the outskirts of the village and Crowoman's cottage. As the van pulls in to a parking spot, Petunia's attention goes to all the flowers that are still blooming, their colours vibrant in the morning sun. It is an incredibly picturesque tangle of vines, branches, tall stalks, dangling seed heads overgrowing the yard and covering most of the sides and part of the roof of a small stone house. Petunia gives herself a moment to savor the visual feast, to drink it all in and appreciate it.

The others are already halfway across the yard to where Crowoman is rising from her seat, by a picnic table beneath some old apple trees, to greet them, before Petunia turns to follow. She sees a small figure in a long black coat, topped with a dark wide brimmed hat, stride energetically towards her visitors. Two large old crows hop along the ground beside her. Petunia is imagining sharp facial features that are crow like, so she is surprised to see that underneath the brim of her hat, Crowoman has a soft, round, pleasantly wrinkled face. She holds Petunia's gaze with clear bright eyes that seem to search the young woman's heart and intention.

“So good to see you,” Crowoman nods happily and Petunia feels very welcome, very much at home in her presence.

Crowoman leads her guests to the picnic table and serves them all some herbal tea. She readily agrees to be interviewed for the film and Crewman settles in a chair with his camera on the tripod before him, while Kaylar walks around with her camera, filming the yard.

Petunia keeps out of the picture, but listens raptly as Prof Bolo asks Crowoman about her life and her relationship with the crows. Her two companion crows are in the picture with her. Maybel sits in her lap and Mave is on the table, nestled in the protective crook of her arm. The crows are a mated couple who have come to stay with Crowoman, whose given name is Beth. Petunia thinks that explains the gentle face.

The crows had decided a number of years ago that they wanted to offer their services to humans working to heal the natural world and they asked Crowoman to be their interpreter with humans. Maybel and Mave were emissaries for the crows. A young man made up a website for their work and they have had a dozen or so requests a year since then. Crowoman doesn't charge any fee on behalf of the crows, but donations are welcome. Petunia knows there is money in the research grant for this.

“So tell me, how do you communicate with the crows?” Prof Bolo asks.

“I've always understood them in my mind, from the time I was a toddler playing in the yard while my gentle mother worked in her gardens. The crows would tease me when I was a flopsy mopsy tired little tot deposited on a blanket under some tree for time out. I would laugh and play with them and I simply understood what they were saying. I learned as a young girl, that other people could not understand them and eventually came to appreciate that this is a gift I was born with. It is very satisfying to be able to share this with other humans for the highest good of all beings on this planet.”

Crowoman affectionately pets her crows while Prof Bolo asks her to tell them that he really appreciates their engagement with his project.

Crowoman laughs. “They say, you are welcome. They appreciate all the publicity you are bestowing on their work.”

* * * * * * *

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