Where Your Wings Are

The seagull by Norah McGuinness 

Tara Lemieux: “As the story is told, one day there was a seagull playing out in the yard at San Quentin. It had been raining, and the young bird was deriving much pleasure from paddling about in the puddle. The inmates watched as he stretched his wings gleefully, turning his face towards the sun and shook off the remnants of the fallen rain.

“Just then, an inmate picked up a stone and took aim at the bird. Jarvis immediately blocked the man, which escalated the man’s aggression and caused an argument to ensue.

“I mean, who the heck did Jarvis think he was? And why did he care so much about some blankety-blank bird?

“The others circled around the two men, just waiting for a fight.”

“’Why’d you do that?’ the inmate challenged.

“To which Jarvis so eloquently replied, ‘I did that because that bird’s got my wings.’”