The Humpbacked Bird
Kent Nelson
THE shadow of the vulture drifted across the rocky hill in front of them, and the two men stopped and looked up. Schafer raised his hand to block the midday glare of the sun and squinted to find the bird that belonged to the shadow.
"Alone," Tom said of the vulture. He took off his wide-brimmed hat and, with a bandana taken from the pocket of his red shirt, he wiped his face clean of sweat. "From the way he's soaring, he hasn't found anything yet."
Schafer trained the binoculars on the bird, picking out the featherless, pink head and the way, unlike a hawk, the vulture's wings tilted upward as it spiraled on the high currents of air. "Could sure as hell see the boy from up there."


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