The ThaiCapsule Crow
The Death & Birth of the ThaiCapsule Crow.
How random is random? There are no accidents in a ThaiCapsule. Choices arise but they are offered.
“I’ve just seen a dead crow by the side of the road.”
“Get it!”
“I love that you’re the only person I know that would say that to me. I’ll come home first to get gloves. Be ready.”
Minutes later, Noi’s blue Honda tore up the rocky pathway towards the cottage. I’d been staying with her in Duchess County, Upstate New York for the summer.
As we drove to pick up the poor soul, we discussed and decided that we would have it stuffed.
“It’s gone, it was definitely here where I left my hat.”
We poked around in the long grass at the side of the road. I noticed a huge ginger tabby scuttling around further down the road.
“Cat!”
After shooing the cat away, we found the crow, luckily still intact. Snapping on the rubber gloves. I carefully placed it in a blue Ikea holdall.
We finally tracked down a taxidermist that could and would stuff it.
“How did it die?”
“We’re not sure, we found it by the side of the road but it doesn’t look like it was hit by a car.”
“When did you find it and where is it now?’
“Yesterday afternoon, it’s in the freezer.”
“With your food?”
“errr, yes”
“that should be Ok but don’t touch it because it could have West Nile disease and you don’t want to get that. You’ll need to get it cleared and a permit before I can take it from you. I’ll email you the details.”
After trudging through details of how to get it certified Noi looked at me.
“The red tape and cost is insane before we even speak to him about how much it will cost to have it stuffed and mounted. Maybe we should bury it.”
“Yes! And let’s give it a funeral but we should thaw it out first.”
The next morning, over our crucial coffee moment on the front porch, we discussed the details.
“Go choose something you have that’s a pair. I have a pair of Victorian cameos. And we’ll bury one with the crow and keep one.” I said
“And we can burn that Thai incense that they burn in the Issue store in Bangkok” Noi added.
“Let’s both find something to read and I’ll put a playlist together.”
“Great! I have an old bell, we can put that on a stick over the place we bury it, so we’ll always know where it is.”
Standing over the open grave with the dead crow in my hand I gazed at its lifeless black claws shimmering in the midday sun. I could see that Noi was fixated on them too, like me seeing them as offerings on an altar or fashioned into brooches. We locked eyes before tacitly agreeing that respect took precedence over everything in that moment. We laid the magnificent black bird with no name to rest in peace.
A few days later, during a skype call with my friend the Witch, she told me that because we had the thought but didn’t cut off the claws the crow could now walk in the spirit world and it would become our spirit guide.
It now flies on high on platforms with regular reports back from the ThaiCapsule.
