4 The Blue Wings The sound of trumpeting came from behind the reeds Krrroo krrroo krrroo Jadran turned and waved at Mom and Murad who were strolling to the lake arm in arm Yasmin trudged along behind them doing her best not to see any cranes at all She’d wrapped her scarf high over her face right up to her glasses I can already hear them shouted Jadran That counts too doesn’t it Mom Mom and Murad gave a thumbs up both at the same time And that made them both laugh also at exactly the same moment Murad and his daughter had only just moved into our apartment last week And it hadn’t exactly gone smoothly It had taken forever before Jadran would say a word to Murad The night of the move he had barricaded barricaded the front door with a dresser The only thing that eventually saved the situation was the promise that he could sleep in my room from now on on two mattresses mattresses pushed close together Jadran ran clumsily toward the sound of the cranes his chin sticking out and his big hands dangling beside his body Josh make sure he doesn’t go too far Mom screamed above the wind He’s not allowed near the marsh
The Blue Wings 5 I sprinted after him Jadran was sixteen and could lift me up in the air with one arm But even though he was almost five years older than me he was my little brother as far as Mom was concerned We squelched our way over to a bed of reeds Jadran squawking along with the cranes With every step his feet sank deeper into the mud Krrroo krrroo krrroo We saw the huge birds among the reeds pecking for food There were dozens of them with their long legs and their bushy tail feathers They had patches of red on their heads and their black and white necks jerked back and forth There they are shrieked Jadran way too loud He threw his arms in the air and made a leap toward the birds The cold water splashed and soon he was up to his calves in the sludge Shut up Giant I whispered but it was already too late They’d spotted us The crane alarm went off Kaa kroo ee Kaa kroo ee The birds turned to stone heads forward high on their toes Only their beaks still moved making that eerie cry You scared them I hissed
6 The Blue Wings But I didn’t do anything did I Jadran plowed on through the reeds Don’t be scared my friends I’m coming to see you Jadran stop there Mom called from the shore That basically meant Stop him Josh I slid my sleeves over my hands so I wouldn’t cut myself on the sharp leaves My brother thrashed wildly with his arms and crushed the reeds under his feet The cranes spread their wings and cried louder and louder Kaa kroo ee Kaa kroo ee Just wait Giant I shouted Jadran cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled I’m not going to hurt you I never hurt anyone And then all at once they took off It was pandemonium a thundercloud of feathers The cranes bumped into one another skimmed past the pine trees and flapped away as fast as they could Startled Jadran took a step back and sank knee deep into the mud Stay calm I said soothingly Take a deep breath Mom and Murad hurried toward us along the lake path Yasmin had grabbed her phone and started filming every thing just for fun
The Blue Wings 7 They have to stay here shouted Jadran Never mind I said They’ll be back soon Jadran splashed the water with the palms of his hands They’re flying away aren’t they In the winter they live in Spain that’s what you said The duckweed duckweed sloshed up onto his butt The cranes gathered and glided in two low lines across the water You could hear the swish of their feathers as they flapped their wings I took Jadran’s hand and dragged him out of the slurping mud before his boots got completely stuck Look they want to say goodbye I said steering Jadran back to solid ground Cranes make letters in the sky did you know that Jadran shook his head But he still looked back at the birds which were flying higher and higher U he shouted So they can talk to each other all the way from Finland to the Mediterranean Sea I said Jadran nodded and started pointing here and there And look that wobbly line over there that’s an S I led Jadran to the wooden jetty which was packed with boats in the summertime Yasmin was standing on the edge filming herself with the flying cranes
