Julius Chance
Bird
“Birds of prey do not sing” (German proverb)
His glance slid to the dumpster where a seagull the size of a pig was sitting. What?! Antony turned his eyes back and froze… Two hemispheres were fighting in his head. The right exclaimed that such a thing could not be possible, and the left insisted that he should believe his eyes. For a couple of minutes he stared at the giant gull as it heavily stepped from paw to paw along the edge of the garbage can, which swayed under its weight. Then Antony smoothly pulled out his smartphone and took a picture of the miracle. As he continued to stare, he reasoned that, as a university-educated man, he probably should have been aware of the existence of such superbugs. But he has not been. By using various logical reasoning, he concluded that he was just lucky enough to be the first to come across a hitherto unseen mutant. The appearance of which could be result from a radiation or gene pollution of the environment. For instance, as a result of leaks in the accident at the Japanese nuclear power plant Fukushima. From there, he could have flown here to San Francisco. Why not? Such considerations led Antony to delight and he decided to urgently attract the attention of other people to his discovery, before it flew across the ocean. After all, it could well be in a single copy! He slowly turned his head from side to side, trying not to scare away the object of science – no one at this early hour! What a bad luck! Antony froze like a mannequin and waited. Ten minutes later, he noticed the shaking figure of a man on a morning jog in the depths of the park. It was getting closer. Soon he saw a middle-aged man in a faded T-shirt and shorts. He was running towards here! Antony smiled in anticipation of how now this uncle will stumble out of the blue, seeing such a ‘pterodactyl’. The runner caught up with the trash can and… ran past it. Didn't you notice? Antony wanted to shout to him, but refrained and prepared to wait for someone else. Soon, a college-looking guy in his twenties, wearing jeans and eating a McDonald's hamburger popped up nearby. He crumpled the bag and threw it into the tank, almost hitting the scientific discovery. The miracle fearlessly turned his head away from the flying ball, and the student walked on past it… But this time this guy could not notice!
“Excuse me, what kind of bird is that?” Antony shouted after him, pointing at the feathered wonder.
The guy turned around in surprise: “It’s an albatross!”
In an hour, Antony had fished out almost everything about albatrosses from the Internet on his smartphone: that it is the largest flying bird in the world with a wingspan of up to three and a half meters and a body length of up to one and a half meters; that, like an ocean bird, it feeds on fish and, like a bird of prey, it does not sing, just screams instead, and that it is extremely rare. А special admiration as an engineer Antony felt from the fact that albatross can catch headwinds and updrafts so masterfully that she can soar over the ocean for days without landing and almost without flapping its wings. In fact, he had heard the name of this bird before, and as a child he even rested in a camp with the same name, but to this day he had not seen it and had no idea how actually huge and beautiful it was. He had never been to a country where albatrosses live even in small numbers before – he was born and studied in Russia, worked in Australia, and visited only Austria. In the United States, it was the first time. Antony called a taxi to the nearest intersection, got up from the bench, and walked down the path to it. When he arrived, the car was waiting for him. Antony jumped in: “To the St. Francis Yacht Club.” The taxi driver looked over his shoulder at the passenger with interest. “A university friend invited me to take a ride to Alaska.” Boasted Antony “On your own yacht?” the taxi almost jumped on his butt of curiosity. “Sort of,” Antony said. “Great! Where may I also could try to find such a friend?” taxi-driver continued. Antony left the question unanswered. The driver's chatter has annoyed him and distracted from pondering why Victor would suddenly has remembered him after twenty years.
The caretaker was already waiting for Antony at the entrance to the club. To the right of the harbor the famous Alcatraz prison island was in clear view, to the left was the equally famous Golden Gate Bridge. It was apparent from the yachts moored that this club was an elite one. The caretaker escorted Antony to pier seven. Victor’s motor yacht with the unusual name ‘The Trackless Hero’ was impressive. Sixty feet long, with a closed wheelhouse, freshly painted in blue and white, it was one of the best yachts in the harbor. Feeling a mixture of envy and pride for his friend, Antony ran up the ramp. A sunburned Victor was pacing the deck and giving instructions to someone in the control room. Antony recognized him straight away. When Victor noticed Antony, he opened his arms and took a step towards him:
“How many summers, how many winters! Looking fresh!”
“Thank you for the invitation! And you look well preserved too!”
They hugged.
As they sealed away, Alcatraz faded in the haze behind them, the orange arches of the huge bridge overhead slowly flew away, and the yacht turned into the open ocean. The sun was shining mildly. Glittering waves calmed mind down. There were only three people on the boat. The third was motorman Daniel. He was busy down in the engine room. Victor was at the control desk, checking the route by the map and navigation instruments. Antony was comfortably situated on the deck. He seemed to have been forgotten by all and liked it. Antony did not understand much about yachts and did not want to delve into them either. His brain, overloaded with the complexities of the latest project for Deutsch Bank, relaxed and refused to strain itself about the nuances of navigation. Antony looked half-asleep at the silvery stream of water over the side and thought about life in general. About what is the crucial condition for success. At the university, Antony surpassed Victor both in academic performance and in sports. But now he was on Victor's yacht, not the other way around. His friend was able to put together a thriving company from scratch, while he, Antony, worked as a programmer for others. Antony was not envious, because he believed that the universe is arranged absolutely fairly and therefore everyone gets what deserves. He believed that many people doubt it only because they do not see the whole picture in the panorama (which is visible only to the gods). He was just trying to find some secret springs of success by comparing himself to his successful classmate. He was driven by both curiosity and self-interest. Antony tried to guess in order become wiser and more successful himself. He went through quality after quality, feature after feature, remembering his own and Victor’s actions, good and not so good. But he could not find a clue.
Victor came out of the control room, looked at Antony and, as if reading his thoughts, said:
“Enough philosophy! Here's the answer: the goal of education is not knowledge, but action! Who said that?”
“Herbert Spencer,” Antony replied, impressed by Victor's insight. It suddenly dawned upon him that, yes, it was Victor's insight that surpassed him. Surpassed by a whole head, or rather by ten! Surpassed not only him, but almost everyone around him. Antony instantly recalled several episodes from his past student life, confirming this guess.
“You see, the philosopher told us all about it a long time ago. The universe rewards only action! You are too afraid to make a mistake, but even a wrong action is useful.”
“In which way?”
“It eliminates uncertainty. If you make a mistake, you will clearly see where you were wrong and will be able to adjust your course. If you don't, you'll be stuck in uncertainty and miss the chance.”