And we still wondered what the bird had to say. It looked at us, each of us, with a quick jerk of its head as if dumbfounded that we missed the point. Hard as he tried, Oluwagbotemi could not discern the bird’s message. He stared at the winged creature, hoping something magically, something meaningful, might seep into his consciousness, but it never did. He simply didn’t know enough. He was only eighteen rains. No one his age back home possessed such power. It would’ve come much later, if he’d sought it at all. Knowing himself, he probably wouldn’t have. Such knowledge hadn’t captured his imagination back then. He’d wanted to marry and have lots of children. Nothing else mattered. Perhaps if he’d valued what animal speakers knew, they would’ve taught him things in his youth. Those things might’ve been enough now to help him interpret the bird’s presence. But he’d ignored such mysticism. Now, try as he might, his spirit could elicit no clarity.