I am back in the main university hall. I am safe. Everything is ok. I am not sure what just happened - except that I was saved from something terrible. I don’t know who saved me and how, but somehow a bunch of pigeons were involved. I swear those pigeons helped me to safety.
I draw in some deep breaths to calm myself- I haven’t run so hard since I was in the 500m dash in high school. I am panting and sweat drips off my forehead and onto my laptop- running that hard, in the late morning heat and sun was no fun. But the cool air-conditioning of the university hall is calming me further. As soon as I get these words out, I will go find my prof and the other students, and pretend nothing has happened, I can’t make a fuss now. I just need to put it down, so I know what just happened, really did happen. I swear it’s not just the jetlag lulling me into having a mid-day nightmare. I saw those men, and I was saved from them.
Ok, I will tell everything from the start.
It is my first time in the US, and my first time presenting at a proper academic conference. Naturally, I was super-excited, sending a constant stream of pictures to my proud family back home- my real I home I mean, not where I am studying in Canada as an international student. We arrived here two days ago from Canada, my prof and the lucky few grad students funded to go on this important conference and present our initial findings.
However, after a full day in the air-conditioned university halls of the conference, and another early morning round of furious networking, shaking hands and presentations and so many names, combined with the jetlag which seemed to be just hitting me, I felt the need to take a break, and decided to explore this warm sunny town on my own, at least just for a bit. I get on well enough with my fellow-students, don’t get me wrong, but at the end of the day, it is a very competitive and even hostile environment as we all chase our prof’s favor and limited funds and positions, and it’s nice to get away from each other.
It must have been around 10am that I left my companions on campus, and started walking along the unfamiliar streets, taking in the varied and delightful sights and sounds. I knew of course how important the conference was, and how privileged I was to be there, but really, I promised myself I would only be gone for twenty minutes, just a quick stroll to reset.
About five minutes of walking, I became aware I was in a very different neighbourhood than the elegant tree-lined campus I had just left.
I went in a corner shop and bought a traditional style of local pastry, wanting to experience something other than the catered plastic conference food. In the shop, something about the way I was looked at, the downward avoidant sweep of the cashier’s eyes, and the turn of the back of other customers made me feel quite conscious of my accent and skin colour, although it wasn’t anything I hadn’t already experienced in Canada. Nothing I could put my finger on. I paid politely, went out and sat on a streetside bench to enjoy my snack before finding my way back to the campus and rejoining my group.
I leaned back on the bench, stretched out my legs, and let the sun warm my face. It reminded me of my home country- in fact although I had been here for only one full day, and most of that at the conference and the hotel, I felt more comfortable in this sun-soaked US town than I ever had in the chilly Canadian city where I now went to grad school.
There was a grassy patch before the bench, and group of pigeons were pecking and bickering about. The scene calmed me, and forgetting about the weird vibes in the shop, I broke off some pastry, crumbled it and scattered it before them.
The pigeons pecked at crumbs hungrily, and then looked at me, expecting more.
I took out my phone, and tried to figure out where I was and my route back to campus, just to be on the safe side as I hadn’t gone far and I was pretty sure I could find my way back. I saw with frustration I had lost my signal and an unfamiliar network appeared in the corner of my screen. I pulled up maps but nothing seemed to happen.
One of the pigeons hopped forward. I looked at it curiously and then feeling something more was expected of me, broke off a larger piece of the pastry and offered it to the pigeon.
The pigeon came closer, and at the same time my phone dinged with a text message from an unknown number. I glanced down at my screen.
“You are a foreigner. They don’t like strangers here. Go.”
I was so startled I dropped the pastry which broke into pieces. The pigeons all rushed forward and soon there was a small feathery grey sea of pigeons at my feet, surrounding the bench.
Ding!
“Leave. Now.”
I looked up. The street was suddenly very quiet and empty. The corner shop was closed.
I looked one way, and then the other.
I saw two bulky man-like beasts walking upright down the street, coming straight towards me. I screwed up my eyes, trying to figure out what they were- their heads looked odd, much too big for their bodies and not like human heads. As they stepped closer, I realised they were wearing masks- a reindeer and a pig. The reindeer’s antlers reached up, pointing high towards the sky, and the sun shone on their animal faces. Hanging off the shoulder of the pig-man was a length of coiled rope.
My phone dinged again but I didn’t look at it.
I got up and started running in the opposite direction.
I knew the men broke into a run too.
The pigeons also rose with a great flapping.
I didn’t know where I was going, just running to get away from the masked men.
The pigeons swirled around me, opening up and forming a sort of path as I was running. Without realising it at first, I was following the path of the pigeons.
There were more pigeons that I ever knew existed in the world. All before me and around me were grey flapping wings, and yet not a single feather touched me, they just opened up a path through which I was running, running fast, hearing yells behind me but not daring to stop. One instant I glanced back, and saw the antlers rising above the sea of pigeon, the sun glinting on them, and I was prompted to run even faster.
I felt I had been running with a mass of pigeons for hours but it must have been barely five minutes that the pigeons dispersed, my vision cleared and I realised I am at the floor of the great marble steps leading into the university main hall. I looked back, and saw only a few back-packed students, hunched over the phones. No sign of the masked men. A few pigeons dotted the steps.
Slowly, panting and doubled over, I go up the steps and enter the hall.