Fortuitous timing

Life follows a pattern, as it is bound to since the same chores need to be attended every day and doing them at the same time gives us a vague sense of order, I suppose. We eat certain sorts of food for breakfast, others for lunch and dinner, not because we have to but because that’s just what we do.

Anyway, I don’t plan to debate the reasons for human routine. We have an established one that we stick to it day in, day out, but we do not adhere to strict timing. We tend to rise when we wake and that often depends on cat activity or what time the Sun comes up.

Timing can affect us in devastating ways. We could no doubt all offer endless examples. Fortuitous timing can also provide us with rewarding experiences. Wednesday morning we happened to be outside, at the front of the house at 7 am.

Grant was by the garage. I was observing a flowerbed when he called out, astonished:

“There’s a peacock coming up the driveway!”

“What?”

.

Uncharitably, I thought he wasn’t wearing his glasses again, but OMG – a peacock!

Expecting it to be gone by the time I returned, I rushed for the camera.

There is such a bird at the farm, just up the hill, but we knew this was not he because we’d just been listening to its forlorn calls.

.

So who was this? And where had it come from?

It strode with purpose toward us, as if it knew where it was headed.

.

“Good morning!”

It was a very polite peacock.

.

“Did you want a photo of my other side?”

Obliging, too.

.

Grant introduced himself.

And just as that moment, the other lad called out again:

.

Which got our new friend going.

.

Though he didn’t head up the hill just then.

Grant offered him some corn and he pecked at it briefly.

.

It seemed as if he was getting the lay of the land.

Checking every corner of the field.

.

Maybe he was plotting possible escape routes?

.

“Hello camera lady!”

.

“You have a very nice field here, missus.”

.

From every angle, he was a beautiful bird!

.

Having checked us out, he completed his circuit of the house.

.

.

He found a couple of leftover peanuts but then remembered he had a pressing purpose…

.

Further calls from up the hill set him in motion again.

.

And off he went.

He seemed to know there was a path through the woods. He disappeared up it, coming back into view (albeit out of focus) at the top of the hill. We listened for sound effects when the two peacocks met, but the encounter was silent and the bird that had been calling desperately for days has been quiet ever since. Two brief calls I heard this morning sounded – content.

(Perhaps we choose to interpret it that way)

At the end of this enchanting episode, we looked at each other bemused. In some places perhaps it might not be unusual to see a peacock in your driveway, but up here? And this bird was so confident, so purposeful. Had it heard the other’s plaintive calls and responded? It is likely, but where had he come from?

The visitor was obviously used to humans, so no doubt belongs to someone who will be missing him, though we’ve seen no appeals. We rather hope that everything is as should be and that the two boys can live happily together up the hill.

.