Endearing Misfortune

By Brian Whelihan

Follow the magical realism of relationships between ravens and humans in this historical romance set in the late summer of 1969. Brian developed an endearing friendship with an especially gifted raven named Poe after meeting in Kansas. Poe learned to speak to humans by attending outdoor movies with subtitles and reading books at city dumps. Brian urges Poe and his 'unkindness' (flock of ravens) to migrate from New Mexico to northern Minnesota, where he believes an exciting life awaits them. After the 30-day journey, navigating by the moon and the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, they arrive in their new home. When a series of deadly tornadoes sweeps through the region a month later, their devotion to one another is put to the test in a fight for survival.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Nov 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9781667872209

Book preview

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Endearing Misfortune

Copyright ©2022 Brian Whelihan

Cover design by Todd Minske

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means --- eg., Electronic, photocopy,

recording --- without the prior written permission of the author.

ISBN: 978-1-66787-460-9 (paperback)

ISBN: 978-1-66787-220-9 (eBook)

This is a fictional story. Names of characters, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual people or ravens living or dead is coincidental. Names of cities and places (except the fictional city Montapielier), towns, counties, parks, hospitals, businesses, lakes, rivers, and highways are authentic if they existed in 1969. Discussion of the events related to or occurring from the tornadoes of August 6,1969 are based loosely on publications and information reported around the time of their occurrences.

Chapter Headings

Introduction

July 26, 1969 a.m. - Ravens in Route

July 26, 1969 p.m. - On the Road to Montapielier, Minnesota

July 27, 1969 a.m. - Ravens in the Air

July 27, 1969 p.m. - Montapielier, Minnesota

July 28, 1969 a.m. - At Brian’s home

July 28, 1969 a.m. - at Monty’s Swimming Pool

July 29, 1969 a.m. - Breakfast at Brian’s Home

July 29, 1969 p.m. - Five Hundred Feet Above the Mississippi River

July 29 p.m. - Highway 71 North from Montapielier, Minnesota

July 29, 1969 - Full Moon - Are They Here?

July 30, 1969 - Grand Rapids, Minnesota

July 30, 1969 p.m. - Poe and Ravens Meet Nina

July 31, 1969 - Goodbye for Now

July 31, 1969 - Back to Montapielier

Poe, Joe, Queek, Crok,Nuk, and Clik Meet the Wolves

Life in Montapielier

A Hot Summer Day in Monty

August 6, 1969

Poe’s Unkindness - Feeling it in Minnesota

Many a Tear Has to Fall

A Bird’s Eye View

Brian Opens Up

Goodbye to Queek

The Air Force Has Arrived

Nature v Nature or Good v Evil?

Go West Young Men and Dog

Feathers, Fur, and Her

I Smell a Human

I’m Too Young

Land of Crok

Out of Harm’s Way

Remembrance and Sorrowful Joy

The World Knows Now … August 13, 1969

Epilogue - September 29, 1974

Acknowledgements

References

Introduction

This novel is a romantic adventure, combining historical fiction with magical realism. The relationship developed between a young man and his raven friends leads to exciting, amusing, romantic, and dangerous experiences in northern Minnesota. Recent research into raven (Corvus corax) behaviors shows that ravens are very intelligent, can speak, solve problems and befriend humans. In this novel, an especially gifted raven, known as Poe, leads his ‘unkindness’ (flock of ravens) from New Mexico to northern Minnesota at the suggestion of the young man Brian. He convinces Poe that life will be wonderful in northern Minnesota for the ravens. In the prequel novel, Rowl, Role, Role Your Weigh, Brian met Poe and his fly buddy Joe, in Kansas. Poe learned to speak English by attending outdoor movies with subtitles and reading books he found in city dumps.

Poe and Brian co-narrate their adventures which take place in late summer of 1969 in northern Minnesota. The ravens communicate among themselves using their natural sounds, such as quork, queek, quonk, cawk and many others. Poe communicates well with both ravens and humans, but he chooses when and to whom he uses his abilities. His close friend Joe is also able to use human-speak, but only at Poe’s direction. Poe and his ravens maintain their bird behaviors throughout the story in Endearing Misfortune, which make for amusing, provocative, advantageous, and of course, endearing behaviors.

Brian and his girlfriend, Nina, develop close friendships with Poe and his ravens. These friendships become essential to survival, following the devastation by tornadoes in northern Minnesota on August 6, 1969. Ravens are thought to have a symbiotic relationship with carnivores such as wolves. Ravens will lead wolves to large game and partake in the feast after the wolves dispatch the animals. This relationship creates a dilemma for Poe and his ravens, following the tornadoes of August 6, 1969. Other raven ‘unkindnesses’ lead wolves from northern Minnesota to regions where the tornadoes have left many animals injured or wandering around. This migration of wolves creates a dangerous situation for people located in the same areas. Brian’s girlfriend finds herself in such a situation. What will Poe and his ravens do if they have to choose between their natural instinct and their friendship with humans?

July 26, 1969 a.m. - Ravens in Route

Our guiding circle in the sky was nearly full last night; another three hot circle journeys and we will reach where Brian will meet us. It was a tough sell to get four other ravens to leave the mountains and deserts of New Mexico. My human-speak name is Poe. I am an unusual raven on account of I can speak the human language, but only to those I choose and my raven friend, Joe. He and I are from the same unkindness, the others are from different flocks. The memory of our unsuccessful adventure into the east, two full guiding circles ago, was enough to keep the others in their current nests. The six of us all share a highly adventurous spirit; to explore a land with trees, rivers, lakes, and large dead animals like those I had seen in the human movies. With Brian’s description and convincing words, I know this long journey will be rewarding. I have to admit, I was worried about finding enough to eat along the way, but with what we found on the roads and along the many rivers we crossed, we had plenty. It was a refreshing change from trying to find a rotting carcass in the desert, settling for dried insects and an occasional vulture egg. We all miss the baby tortoises though. We looked healthy; our eyes are black and bright. I sensed increasing excitement as we followed the large river toward our destination. Clak-clak-wonk was a big help in convincing two members of our newly formed unkindness to start life in a new land. Queek-clik-clik had yet to see two full hot circle journeys across the sky and crok-clik-clik had seen three; one less than me. I convinced clik-queek-cawk and one female; nuk-clak-wonk , that the land of trees and water described by my human friend Brian, had many ravens, plenty of big animals and fun things to do. Brian was using his bird brain when he told me of the opportunities in northern Minnesota. We are all looking forward to a new adventure and meeting some fun, smart, tails of a feather.

I soared up in a hot air draft; the others followed me. When we were all together, I began a dive toward a large field next to tall trees. Joe helped keep the others in line. I reminded myself to use the name ‘Joe’ instead of his raven name, clak-clak-wonk, when we meet up with Brian. It will be a lot easier for him; especially since there are six of us. Brian would be out of breath by the time he spoke to all of us using our raven names. I will have to figure out how to give human-like names to the rest of us. Perhaps we might be able to teach Brian our language.

I couldn’t resist doing flips and spins on my way down, watching the wisps of clouds stream off the tips of my wings and moving so fast I had to close my eyes. It was a beautiful warm bright day. Large blasts of upward air kept us from colliding with the ground as we streaked toward the earth. We were high enough to do several spins and flips. I could see each of us was enjoying their own acrobatics. After falling far enough, we glided into a field of tall leafy stalks. One by one we landed gracefully. A small group of crows took flight as we disrupted their lunch. They were not happy seeing us and will probably return with huge numbers of their murders to attack us. No matter, we won’t be here long.

I called out to queek-clik-clik, he was walking too far away from our group. He had what looked like a dead mouse in his beak and was heading toward a hole in a tree. No doubt he intends to hide it in the hole. Flying up and landing on a branch next to the hole, he looked back at us; making sure we weren’t watching where he was going to cache his prize. "Quork, quork, clak, queek, quork," I called to tell him he is stupid to think he would come back here to eat his catch. We are very far away from our final destination. He called back, brkk, clak, clak, quork, quork, after chewing the head off the mouse. He dropped the rest into the hole and flew back to our group.

A sudden movement caught my eye. Crawling along a yellow upright log bound to one of the stalks was a green worm. I flew a short distance and snatched it in flight. Yum, yum. It was very tasty. I landed next to the stalk and holy desert lizard! There were dozens of that green worm’s buddies all over other yellow logs! I called out to the rest; "cawk, cawk, quork, quork, quork, clik!"

Everyone picked up their heads and took the short flight to where I was picking off those yummy green worms and swallowing them. We busied ourselves eating the scrumptious little greenies, flapping our wings, and calling out in loud "clak, clak, quork" sounds. That was the biggest meal we had together since we left our desert mountains.

After having our fill of the greenies, we walked over to a small pool of water, spread out in a circle and took our time taking sips of the water from the pool. "Quork, quork, cawk, clik, queek, clak", we uttered to each other in small talk while digesting our meals. We were having a pleasant time but with the hot circle climbing higher in the sky, we needed to get on with our journey.

"CAW, CAW, CAW, CLIK, CLIK, CAW!"

The nasty crows returned in large numbers in their murders and were circling us, screaming their calls. I jumped up and called to the others, "quork, quork, brkk, brkk! We flew together, away from the large crow circle, up over treetops. We managed to outdistance them, but it took many flaps of our wings. There were three or four crows, half our size, dive bombing each of us, but we soon got away. One persistent crow followed Joe up and attacked him. Joe was too smart. He quickly flipped upside down while flying and scratched the much smaller black nasty with his claws. The attacker flew off; Joe righted himself and joined us. Joe had developed some human-speak from our last journey, so I congratulated him by yelling; Quick work, Joe!"

Not wanting to use too much of that around the others, he responded, "quork clik." That was the end of the battle but not the war between us and crows. We continued our journey on the right side of the hot circle, hoping there will be less of our nasty crow cousins when we arrived in Brian’s land.

July 26, 1969 p.m. -

On the Road to Montapielier, Minnesota

B rian, you have to tell me what is going on between you and those ravens! Nina shouted.

The moment of truth has arrived, I have to tell Nina about Poe. Nina, you promise not to tell anyone, I mean anyone, about what I am about to tell you. Do you promise?

YES, of course. We have kept secrets before, please tell me!

Nana, as I called my VW, was cruising along as we followed the road back to Montapielier. She was running quieter than her usual growling motor noise, as if she wanted to hear the story too. Nana was with me at the Kansas River Park last June, so she saw what happened. I didn’t tell her any more than what she saw; she is a motor vehicle not a person.

Nina, do you remember when I was on my southern journey a month or so ago?

Of course. You called me from Vicksburg I think.

"Yes. A few days before I called you, I was staying at a KOA campground in Kansas. I took a day trip to the nearby Kansas River to relax by the river and listen to some tunes on Nana’s 8-track player. I was listening to The Beatles White Album and nodding off a bit in my chair by the river. Something startled me so I looked over toward a big rock on my right. A large black bird landed on the rock and sat there looking at me. I stared back at him and figured out it was a raven, too big for a crow. Suddenly, while staring at me, it opened its beak and started talking!"

Nina interrupted, I knew that ravens are great mimics and can be taught to speak several words.

Yes, but this raven didn’t just speak random words. He told me his name was Poe and spoke in complete sentences like we are now.

What did Poe talk to you about?

He was philosophical and seemed to know what I was seeking on my journey. He told me to make sure I kept all the good features of my character as I tried to eliminate my problems.

He knew about your dyslexic spelling problem! How is that possible?

No, silly. How would he know that? I didn’t tell him about my spelling problem either. He just knew I was seeking to solve a problem. I must have had a searching look on my face, I don’t really know. He told me he also had to struggle with his problem or gift of being the most intelligent raven in his unkindness. Maybe he recognized a look in my face that told him I was dealing with some issues similar to his.

What exactly did you and he talk about?

Poe told me he saw three Brians; one who used to be, one who is, and one who will be. Poe seemed to know my personality and character traits. He cautioned me not to lose those traits as I went about figuring how to solve problem that I was dealing with. You remember the problem I had?

Yes, of course. He told you those things after just meeting you? You were a stranger to him. What am I saying? You have me believing a raven was talking to you like we are now!

"I don’t blame you for thinking that I might be loony. After my conversation with Poe, I felt it could have been a dream for I had fallen out of my chair and was lying on the ground. Poe could be real because our conversation made so much sense. I didn’t care whether it was or wasn’t because his words were in my head; it didn’t matter who put them there."

Brian, just by the way you describe your meeting with Poe, I am convinced it really happened! It’s the most amazing tale I have heard since the frog turned into a prince in Cinderella, but your story isn’t a fairy tale.

"No, Nina. It could be a phairy tale, but it isn’t and there is more. Help me pay attention to Nana’s driving while I tell you. Poe told me he was a member of a group of ten ravens looking for new homes east of Kansas. After wondering if my meeting with him at the Kansas River was a dream or not, I started thinking I might see him again. One night at a drive-in movie near Montgomery, he surprised the heck out of me when his voice came over the car speaker system! He was watching a different movie with subtitles for the hearing impaired on the screen next to mine and noticed my VW van. He said things weren’t going well as far as their new home hunt. I told him I had solved