Excerpt from Short Story Raven Voice

Excerpt from

Raven Voice

Anna Dobritt

Raven Voice

Shado is an unusual raven: he speaks like a human and communicates telepathically with his brethren and the human he bonds with. Here's the short story of his life, as told to his human companion, Ronne Donovan. 6278 Words.

Our feathers glowed and when the brightness matched, we flew through the bright archway and into the world of the living. When my sight cleared, I found myself on the shoulder of a woman who - I hate to say this - looked like death warmed over. She was skinny, pale under tanned skin and the dark circles beneath her gray eyes made her look like a raccoon. She had short black hair with a few traces of silver mixed in.

“What the bloody hell?” Those were the first words I heard her say. “Where did this bird come from?”

Caitlyn smiled. “Ronne Donovan, that is Shado, your raven.”

“I’m bonded to you, Ronne Donovan, a bond that goes beyond death itself.” My feathers glowed and the raven ring she wore on her right hand responded. I could feel her tremble, and said, “Maybe you should sit down.”

She nodded, and then stared at me, eyes wide. “He talks?”

“I can’t write, so talking it is.” Despite the first impression I had of her, I was beginning to like Ronne.

She sat in a recliner and I moved to her lap. “Lady Caitlyn, how do I take care of a bird? Do I feed it bird seed?”

Caitlyn sat on the sofa, Fiona remaining on her shoulder. “Please, call me Caitlyn. Taking care of Shado is easy. If you like, I’ll go to the store with you and show you what to buy. Ravens also eat things you and I do.”

“No peanut butter! Nasty stuff gets in your feathers and takes forever to preen out!” I will eat a lot of things, but after one experience with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, never again!

“All right. I won’t feed you any. I hope you don’t mind if I eat pbj sandwiches occasionally.” Ronne stroked the feathers on my back. She had a gentle touch.

“I like berries and melon. Pizza is good too,” I informed her. Pizza is one of my favorite things to eat, next to berries.

Ronne laughed an easy going sound. I couldn’t help thinking she and I would get along just fine.

Fiona and I stayed in a tree near the store while the two humans shopped. Following our human’s thoughts is unintentional and we try to give them their privacy. When Ronne and Caitlyn were discussing brands of dog food, I had to put in my two cents. Suffice to say Ronne didn’t like discovering I could speak mind-to-mind at that moment. *Dog food? Do I look or sound like a dog?* Caitlyn said Ronne dropped a four-pack of canned dog food on her foot when I ‘spoke’ to her.

Fiona chuckled when Caitlyn told her what happened. She pecked me on the head. “That wasn’t nice, Shado. Don’t forget, Ronne is new at this and startling her in that way was impolite.”

For the rest of their shopping excursion I kept silent. The look Ronne gave me in the car warned me she had more to say on the matter when we were alone.