Every now and then I catch sight of something that captures the rural character of Whidbey Island and reminds me of what I love about this place. Maybe the gray winter days pushes me to notice one thing that is enchanting in spite of the weather.
Yesterday, the charming moment was delivered by the turkeys running amok on Bayview Road.
It’s not unusual to see turkeys on this road. About a year ago, a group of them appeared. I have no idea who owns the gang of turkeys on Bayview Road. The turkeys stand together most afternoons at one specific corner. If they could smoke cigarettes, I think they would. They mostly look like ruffians waiting to beat up anything that dares to cross their path.
These turkeys are feisty. Perhaps when things become boring and there is nothing for them to chase off their corner, they turn to the passing cars, and suddenly it is game on.
The turkeys commandeer the road and pick fights with passing cars.
Yesterday I was driving down the road and came to halt behind a line of cars. This is unusual on the rural roads of Whidbey. We don’t have traffic jams or cars sitting in a line. I looked up ahead and, indeed, there was some brouhaha at Turkey Corner. A woman came running out in the road with the turkeys hot on her heels.
The woman was circling a truck. All I could think was what has possessed this woman to leave her truck and run with the turkeys.
There was no one in the big blue truck. The woman made a quick turn on her toes, surprising the turkeys and all of us gawkers, and made a dash for the truck. Once she was safely inside, I expected her to floor it. But no, she reached in the back of the pickup and pulled something through the window. Oh my gosh, I thought, she has a shotgun.
She kicked her door open, jumped to the pavement and aimed her weapon at the turkeys. She was pointing … a rake.
The turkeys looked bewildered at first, stunned, staring at her, and then they decided they were having none of this.
They puffed up and went running at the armed-with-a-rake lunatic. These gobblers are mad. One lunged to peck the lunatic with a rake.
Then a guy in a little white car, an innocent bystander like myself, jumped out of his car to perhaps make this more of a fair fight. Ten turkeys against one lunatic. Now it was 10 turkeys against two lunatics. Loony No. 2 must have been watching too many nature shows. He flared out his arms and was literally flapping in the street amid the turkeys.
That seemed to do the trick. Even the turkeys were baffled by this display. They retreated to their corner. The lunatics returned to their vehicles, and those of us in the 20 cars watching the melee were free to go.
How lucky I am to live in a place where life can unfold like this. It was like watching a still-life painting suddenly come alive.
Sarri Gilman is a freelance writer living on Whidbey Island and director of Leadership Snohomish County. Her column on living with meaning and purpose runs every other Tuesday in The Herald. She is a therapist, a wife and a mother, and has founded two nonprofit organizations to serve homeless children. You can e-mail her at features@heraldnet.com.
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