Astrid book 1 teaser
The vista
slowly changed from urban to countryside; towns and villages giving way to
fields and rolling hills. She looked out at the landscape as it passed by,
fascinated as she always was with the hedgerows that flashed past but the trees
in the distance seeming to be moving with the car. Ahead in the road, some
magpies were pecking at a piece of roadkill and waiting until the very last
moment before flying away. She turned to look out of the rear screen to see
them return to the flattened carcass as soon as they had passed. Off to one
side a bird of prey was hovering five or so meters above the ground, gently
moving its wings to stay motionless in the air while it scanned the ground
below for its next meal. Suddenly it dropped down, then took off again with a
rodent in its beak.
They passed a farm where cows were being loaded
into a truck, and she just managed to catch the word ‘Abattoir’ on the side of
the vehicle. Sheep were grazing in a nearby field unaware that the truck would
soon come for them. She thought about all the wild creatures, all living their
lives oblivious to the human world and precious few of them having the luxury
of dying of old age peacefully in their sleep. Everything dying so that
something else can live, from flies caught in spider’s webs, mice being pounced
on by cats, young deer being taken by larger predators, all the way up through
the food chain.
“Everything gets killed,” she said quietly to
herself.
“What?” said Bernie.
She snapped out of her daydream. “I was just
thinking about the animals, big or small, cute or ugly, young or old, they all
get killed and become food for something else. We are so lucky; nothing eats us
and when our time comes we get medical aid to make the passing as comfortable
as possible.”
“That’s a bit deep for this time in the morning,”
chuckled Bernie.
“Well it just made me realise that we only get one
shot at life, so we have to make the most of it.”
“That is so very true, our lives can change so
quickly, one minute you are just getting on with the minutia of your life and
all the things that seem so important but are not really, then it’s all gone in
the twinkling of an eye,” he said, frowning slightly.
“Now who’s being deep,” she laughed.
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