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Wanting to fly away and never look back is a pretty common feeling, or so JD thought.
As a child, in the midst of one of the many fights between his parents, after being forcefully sent to play outside by his mom not wanting him to witness any of it, he would find himself staring at birds.
He was enamoured by them, they had everything he and his mom could never, freedom. Other than that, they had very pretty wings (unlike insects, in his opinion).
Looking at them helped him feel better, even hopeful sometimes, wishing for an escape.
That wish was crushed the moment his mom walked into the building his dad was going to blow up.
After that, he wanted to both disappear and be noticed at the same time, he wished the effort he put in filling the role his mom had left would do anything to get a sliver of attention.
All it earned him were the same beatings.
So he gave up, continued living his life as a nuisance his dad had to drag around with himself. He wasn’t able to believe escaping was possible by that point, especially without his mom helping.
When some years passed, his fascination with birds and freedom grew again. Getting his motorbike was the catalyst.
Finally having something to move whenever he wanted helped with the perceived oppression, which made him believe there might’ve been some way he could continue pulling through this.
He had also just discovered that Seven Elevens, other than being in every city he went to, had the cheapest and most effective method to forget about his problems, slushies!
So, on many afternoons, he would just sit in the parking lot in front of the store and birdwatch. He didn’t actually know or see particular species, but his favourites were definitely crows and ravens.
Very edgy, but he had to build his cool-bad-boy-persona™, and what better way than to be friends with crows?
That was also why he started buying not only slushies, but Corn Nuts too, after reading in one public library that bread wasn’t good for crows to eat.
He also read that they “spoke” to each other. If you were friendly to a group of crows pretty consistently and always gave them food, they’d tell their friends about you and would protect you even from a city away.
He always moved cities too fast to make any of that work though.
Sherwood, Ohio was a special town. First and foremost because of Veronica, but also because it was the first town they were going to stay more than one month and a half in, which hadn’t happened since he started high school. This meant that he could finally try out his plan and make the local crow population his friend.
So, on every afternoon, he would sit and try giving Corn Nuts to the crows. Today he had taken Veronica with him.
“So you still haven’t managed to get them to come closer?”, she questioned, sitting right beside him on the sidewalk and looking at the flock staying at a safe distance of at least 5 meters from the spot they were at.
JD blew a hair out of his face, sighing “Yup, it’s been weeks, I expected at least one to come by now.”, he tried throwing some more Corn Nuts closer. Still no movement.
Veronica pondered the situation, before admitting, “It’s weird considering you even look like them.”
“Is that supposed to be a compliment??”, he barked out a laugh, looking up at her with disbelief at what she had just said.
She shrugged, teasing “I mean, black trenchcoat and all, you really do look alike if you think about it.”, in the most neutral tone she could muster.
“Wow, being told I look like a bird by a future Harward student, what an honor-”.
Veronica playfully shoved him on his side, trying to stop him from finishing his sarcastic remark. “It’s not my fault you look just like them! My observational skills are just too over the top. Just like Baudelaire was an albatross, you are a perfect crow!”
“At least I'm not alone in this, I guess.”, he deadpanned, now resigned to his newfound crow status.
They continued observing the birds from afar, cuddling closer, drinking the slushies they had gotten earlier with the nuts. Some time later, a pigeon came to hang out with the crows, as it was surprisingly let in.
“See? That’s what I mean when I say I don't get these birds. This is bullshit, they should reevaluate the form I sent them and get me for the job.” He said, starting to chew down on the straw of his already finished slushie, continuing to grumble “What do they even see in that pigeon”.
Veronica started giggling at that, JD took that as an opportunity to build on the joke.
“Look, even you said I look just like them, you can’t deny I would be a flawless addition to the flock.”, he said, running a hand through his hair and sighing dramatically, before glancing at her.
“Oh that’s for sure,” she shrugged, rolling her eyes, “but I guess you just aren’t cool enough to be in their group.”.
JD frowned, putting his hands on his face, “What will I even do if not even crows want me in? How can I live somewhere that isn't the ‘Creepy House Of The Street’™?”
“Wait, that was why you wanted to do this?”, Veronica said, struggling to hold back laughter.
“Hey! Don’t you mock my childhood dream, thank you very much. “, he told her with a facade of anger, clearly overdramatic. “It’s just that I like birds and crows are the ones that fit how I look the best.”
“Then you do know you look like one of them!” she chimed in, excitedly proving her point once more.
“But I don't look exactly like one! Do you see feathers on this trenchcoat?”
“No, but at this point i bet you would look really good in a pink feather boa.”
JD stared at her for a moment, trying to understand what she just said, before laughing and choking out “How does this even connect to anything?”
Veronica playfully frowned, “Well it has feathers, and black and pink go really well together as far as colors go. You can trust me on this, Heather taught me all kinds of stuff on color combinations.” she finished, smiling proudly.
“I think the colors clashing would be the least of my problems if I were to do that.”, he deadpanned, trying to mask his giggles with a neutral facade.
While they were talking, one of the crows had made a tentative move to try and quickly grab a corn nut. Noticing this, Veronica froze before replying and just pointed at the bird to make JD look too.
As it finished eating and went back to the tree, he turned to Veronica, grinning “You see, because crows are really intelligent, now that they know that we aren’t a threat, they’ll start to come eat closer to us if we put the food here. It’s a foolproof plan.”
She raised an eyebrow at that, “Up until that first bird it looked like the opposite of foolproof, but I see what you mean.”
JD shrugged, “Well, not everyone goes against the crowd and tries new things, I like that bird.”
“Look at you, already talking to your newfound friends.” Veronica said, condesceding, both her hands intertwined under her chin and tilting her head slightly.
“You are the one that has for boyfriend a guy that talks to birds, so”, he smirked, getting closer to her, “can’t say i’m the one losing here.”, he finished, kissing her cheek.
“Touchè, but i’m not losing either.”, she quipped, “You said they protect people they know as good, so now i’ll have a group of bodyguards with me at all times. That’s a pretty good win in my book.”
“If we are both winning, then I'd say we celebrate our victory with a slushie.”
“You were just waiting for an excuse to get another one.”
“Can’t deny what you said.”
By that point, the crows had slowly started eating all of the nuts on the ground, leaving only a few.
Noticing this, Veronica said, “Let’s just get in and get another pack of Corn Nuts too for the babies, can’t make them think you are a Scrooge.”
“I like your way of thinking, let’s go!”, he rushed in the store, maybe a bit too excited at the thought of another slushie.
The next day, going back to Seven Eleven, JD found in front of their spot from the day before a five dollar bill. Maybe his new friends could help in other ways he hadn’t expected too.