EAST TEXAS — I think the last bird I saw in Texas was a starling.

The graduation ceremony was kind of a blur. A Red-tailed Hawk flew among the huge old pine trees while the speaker was talking, and mockingbirds and jays harassed it. It eventually settled on a horizontal limb near the top of a pine, silhouetted big and powerful against the sky.

At our farewell party, I heard a flock of Cedar Waxwings in the distance.

My sister and I didn’t leave until 6 p.m. I drove until somewhere north of Daingerfield and then gave her the wheel. I was deeply sad, and I was physically exhausted. As my eyes grew heavy, I looked out at the vibrant green world speeding past. Doves balanced their bulk on wires. Swallows whirled over the road. Dark shapes perched in dead trees by the water. A blackish bird hopped up on a highway sign.

I didn’t wake up till Oklahoma.

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