Above & Beyond

By Steve Aversano and Ashley Randall

Expect the unexpected in the charming sequel to We Are Flock!

"To decide and to choose may seem much the same, but more often, life is what we decide when there is nothing to choose." Yep. Willow is at it again, but what does she mean? Join the birds of Birch Grove again as they meet new friends, chase down adventure, and face the greatest

• Language: English
• Publisher: Autumn Leaf Books
• Release date: Apr 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9781734987850

Steve Aversano

Steve Aversano grew up on Long Island, spent much of his life in Minnesota, and now lives in Charleston, SC with his lovely wife and kids. When he's not writing, working, or volunteering, he's either playing music or watching birds, but most likely, he's in a quiet place reading his favorite books.

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Steve Aversano

Above & Beyond

First published by Autumn Leaf Books 2021

Copyright © 2021 by Steve Aversano

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher. It is illegal to copy this book, post it to a website, or distribute it by any other means without permission.

First edition

ISBN: 978-1-7349878-5-0

Illustration by Ashley Randall

Editing by Daisycakes Creative Services

This book was professionally typeset on Reedsy

Find out more at reedsy.com

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For Oliver, Emmet, & Eli.

My fledglings.

Every day is a wonder,

you just have to look.

Scientists say that human beings are made of atoms, but a little bird told me that we are also made of stories

-Eduardo Galeano,

from his May 8, 2013

Democracy Now! interview

"No bird soars too high

if he soars with his own wings"

-William Blake

Contents

Acknowledgement

Prologue: Patrick

1. Hatched

2. Fledgling

3. Translations

4. First Flight

5. Amelia

6. Bluethroat

7. Hijacked & Hunted

8. The Stump

9. Plans

10. Beyond Control

11. Fergus Falls

12. To Survive

13. An Exciting One

14. Now What?

15. Something Strange

16. The Pact

17. Convalescence

18. To Forgive

19. The Trade

20. When Hope is Abandoned

21. Cowbirds & Sparrows

22. We Are Flock

23. Departures

24. Above & Beyond

Epilogue: Katie

About the Author

Acknowledgement

Again, a heartfelt thanks to my own Aversano Flock for being the absolute best; the Randall Flock for bringing Joyce to life with such wonderful illustrations; to Lauren Dee of Daisycakes Creative Services; and to all of you who read We Are Flock, and then wanted to see what happens next. I hope you enjoy this sequel, but when you’re done, find yourself a good field guide to the birds (I like the Kaufman guide myself), a pair of noculars, get outside, and go find some birds! Dee-Dee-Dee!

Prologue: Patrick

A steady flow of salty air battered Patrick as he pushed northward through the sky. The young Blackburnian Warbler had not seen land for almost eighteen hours now. It felt like a lifetime. A memory. At least there was daylight. For a little longer yet. He had to be getting close.

Things were going better than the last time he crossed the Gulf. That was in the fall when flying in the opposite direction. Now that was a memory. For all his brave words, he had begun to doubt himself. Mile after mile revealed nothing but more and more ocean. What had he been thinking? He remembered his wings burning with fatigue, his heart pounding faster than a hungry woodpecker looking for bugs. He remembered the dread he felt that he might plummet into the sea. He strained to keep his altitude up, but with each painful hour, he drooped lower and lower until he was dangerously close to the constantly churning waters below. One bad spin and he would have been a goner, drowned and forgotten.

The sea was endless. An eternity of black, then gold, blue, and then gray. The changing colors of sky reflected in the water were his only indication of time. That and his exhaustion. How could there be so much water in the world and why would anyone in their right mind try to fly across it! He remembered thinking someone, like a certain raven he knew, must be playing a horrible, horrible joke on him. There was no such thing as Winterland. Clearly, the rest of the planet south of High Island was nothing but ocean.

And then he saw it. A sliver of a line along the distant horizon. He worried it was only a mirage. As he forced himself onward, however, the sliver stretched wide and became a broad, sandy expanse. Land! He had done it! All by himself, Patrick had flown across the Gulf of Mexico.

Well, that was last fall. It was spring now. His wings burned again, and his heart pounded. But this time it was different. He was experienced. He was stronger. The months down south had done him good. There was so much he wanted to tell his friends!

Winterland was everything his aunts, uncles, siblings, and cousins always told him it was, and then some! The land across the Gulf was exotic. The plants and animals were beyond imagination. Patrick hoped he’d be able to describe them well enough.

Clancy would have passed out at just the sight of the mountains! Cowbirds preferred a flat landscape. Katie would love hearing about the unusual birds. There were Saffron Finches, Green Honeycreepers, Thick-Billed Euphonias, and so many others. The names alone would boggle her mind! They were so colorful, vivid, and strange. It was the strangeness that Emily would want to hear about. She found amusement in things that were different or odd. She liked Clancy after all!

Patrick smiled, remembering when he had finally caught up to his family. They hadn’t been even a little surprised to see him! They really did have trust in him, though his sister, Jen, teased him for being a slowpoke. He wasn’t as good at telling stories as Clancy was, but his family was truly amazed when he told them all he had gone through to get there. Even Uncle Bernard had been impressed, and he claimed to have been everywhere and done everything. Twice!

Now Patrick was going home. Winterland had been fun. He had even made new friends, but Patrick often thought of his best friends. He missed them.

At night, before going to sleep, he would look at the sky and remember. Katie always fell asleep gazing up at the stars. He never understood why exactly but now he was doing it, and when he did, it was as if she were right there next to him. Sometimes, he even talked to her, telling her about each day’s new adventure.

The sun off to Patrick’s left was sinking fast and the stars would be out before too long. If he could maintain his current pace, he wouldn’t have to pretend tonight. He would tell Katie about this day’s adventure in person.

The thought gave him a little jolt of energy. He pumped his wings and darted through the air. The ocean was ablaze with flashes of white and yellow. Abruptly, the oh so welcome sight of land appeared in the distance. Thank goodness! He streaked towards it with the last of his strength.

The scene in front of him slowly came into focus. Vague, intermittent shapes became a line of Brown Pelicans soaring just above the surface of the water. White smudges turned into black-headed Laughing Gulls swooping and diving where the waves swelled and crashed. On the shore, there was a blurry stump. No. A lone Willet stood peering out across the sea while a flock of suddenly visible Sanderlings raced back from the incoming surf. Beyond the narrow strip of sand, the green and tan smear covering the dunes became distinct blades of grass.

And there!

Atop one dune in particular perched three very familiar shapes. Patrick would have recognized them anywhere. A male and female Brown-Headed Cowbird pair and an eagerly alert Black-Capped Chickadee.

1

Hatched

Fergus could not wait to meet his mom.

He was pretty sure that was his name. Fergus. It was what the voice called him. The voice from outside. The other thing he was pretty sure of was that the voice had to be his mom. A mom would know her chick’s name, and she called him Fergus.

The voice told him lots of things. Fascinating things. Mostly about birds. Fergus thought it safe to assume he was a bird. But what kind? According to the voice, there were all sorts of species. Also according to the voice, some birds could be two species at once! It sounded confusing. And wonderful.

The voice. Fergus supposed he might as well call it Mom. Mom also told him stories. Incredible stories of when she and her friends were young. She told him about the adventures they had and the strange places they had them in. She told him about flying. Something in his little heart stirred when she spoke of it. Could such a thing be real? He sure hoped so.

What Fergus wasn’t sure of was how to get to the outside. That was where everything happened. Not that it was bad on the inside. It was warm, and there was food, though it was running low. Then what? He was always hungry. Fergus did worry about how much space he had left. If he ate the remaining food supply, he should have more room, but the opposite was happening. As the food disappeared, the more cramped it became. Extremely so. Was the inside shrinking, or was he getting bigger?

For now, Fergus would stay. It was safe. And yet, his mind kept coming back to the same thing: he could not wait to meet his mom.

She was in the middle of one of her stories that very moment. He had heard it before. Still, he loved listening to her energetic voice. She was telling about the time when two gigantic birds, a swan and a goose, taught Mom and her friends a secret new way of flying or something. A way that helped them fly together instead of apart? He didn’t fully get it. Most of her stories didn’t make sense to him. He could not guess what a river or a map was, and he had no clue what a Blue Serpent was.

At first, your uncle didn’t think it was a good idea, Mom was saying, "that it wasn’t the way of songbirds. Patrick used to be so hesitant, so unsure of himself those days. Well, he’s not like that now, but back then … Uff da! Anyway, the first time I felt the lift that Marty and Nick told us about, I couldn’t believe it! I felt like I could have flown across the entire world, until I lost control and nearly crashed into the river! She laughed brightly at this. I knew right then, with a little practice, that I could do it. I’d have the strength and