Author: David C.Nutt

The Crow sat on the post croaking, clicking and cawing at my dog Culley. Culley’s got a real strong prey drive so watching him sit there and occasionally whine and stutter step was par for the course. Jah, Culley-boy has serious focus. If he scents a squirrel or chases a rabbit in our fenced in yard he’ll come back to the same spot for weeks, so it was no big deal him coming back to the same spot day after day. But not for a solid month. And not with a crow teasing him every day for exactly 45 minutes, every morning, rain or shine. This was strange indeed. Being recently retired, and the weather being glorious, I thought I’d sit out with Culley and see what all the fuss was about.

On my first day I sat a few yards away and watched Culley’s new ritual unfold. Sometimes the Crow was there, sometimes he’d sit and wait for her. She flew and perched. There was a long “caw” and then Culley sat down. I wasn’t really listening (plugged into YouTube,) but I could see him sit rock solid until the crow flew away. The next day Culley and I sat in the same place and waited. The long caw started followed by the clicks and croaks. It was odd…the clicks and croaks soon had a weird rhythm, a set of distinct patterns. It was so annoying I was about to grab a rock and fling it at the Crow. Then, it happened. It wasn’t pleasant. It felt like someone took two icicles and simultaneously, jabbed them into my temples. I saw sparks and my body was flooded with heat and then there was a sound like a combination of shattering glass and a gong and, and…I was in a different place.

Culley was next to me and he looked like always did except he looked up to me with his “happy face” and said “Hello Daddy.” Off in the distance I saw this being in a cloak of crystal feathers and a helm…or mask. In an instant she was in front of me, the mask with it’s beak-like visor open revealing a beautiful woman’s face. Smiling, she took my hands and said “Welcome Marlon, Culley has told me so much about you, glad you paid attention enough to join us.”

Since that day Culley and I sit out in the yard, rain or shine for exactly 45 minutes with the Crow. My family teases me (good-naturedly) incessantly about Culley and me and our “Martha”, the name they gave the Crow. But with what we have learned, both our lives our exponentially better. Once a real type “A”, now I am mellow. I know the day I will die. I know the day Culley will pass and he knows it too. Me and Culley, we’ve both got a longer life than average and that’s cool. Plus from what we’ve taught our family they will be living far longer than most. So my family puts up with me and Culley…and Martha. Hard to say dear old Dad is crazy and send him away when his new hobby of day trading and investments has paid off all my their mortgages,

Our “Martha” has taught us that we might be a catalyst for change in the world. I guess Culley and I are OK with that, but with all I am learning and the places we go, Culley and me would be happy just as we are. Sitting in the yard, for 45 minutes, “meditating” and listening to a Crow.