Pointdexter: A Swooning Over Stan-fiction

Chapter Forty-Eight: Birds and Anomalies

"Okay, buddy," Alice murmured, her eyes focused on the massive Brown Pelican ruffling his wing at her. "We're gonna take this nice and slow-"

She held her coat in front of her, bracing it like a shield as she took a step toward the giant bird. It squawked at her, and he would have been intimidated if one of its wings wasn't hanging limp at its side. Alice took another step closer to the almost four-foot-long bird, her movements careful and slow.

"I'm just gonna cover your eyes a little bit, buddy," She told the bird, never taking her eyes off it. "Then we're going to check out that wing, okay?"

The bird, while still wary, snapped its bill together, its head tilting as if mulling over her words. It took a step back, but it didn't seem like it was about the fly away, not that it could.

Alice didn't take her eyes off the bird, but she could hear Ford stifling a chuckle behind her. Her nose wrinkled, but she managed to wipe it from her face. Taking another step forward, Alice launched into action. She swung her coat over the bird, taking a long step and wrapping her hands around its head, keeping its head still as the bird's good wing flared.

"Ford! Sedation!" She called out, feeling the wing beat against her back and the angry snapping of the pelican's beak.

Ford snapped into action, dashing forward and bracing a small syringe, kneeling next to her.

"Got it," He replied, his calm demeanor contrasting the chaos. "Hold it still a moment longer, Dove."

Alice rolled her eyes, holding the bird as steady as she could manage. Her hand slipped from the bird's head, her other holding the coat tight around his head as she gestured to the bird's wide foot.

"There's an artery there," She grumbled as the wing hit her back again. "Inject there and he should go down."

Ford nodded, his eyes focused as he found the artery with surprising accuracy. With a swing, almost practiced motion, he thrust the needle into the bird's foot and depressed the syringe. Within moments, the pelican's movement began to slow, its flailing and snapping becoming less and less as the sedation took effect.

"There we go big guy," Alice soothed the bird, carefully lowering its head to the deck and keeping the coat over his eyes. She leaned back on her knees, letting out a breath and shaking her head. "Brown Pelican, can't be much older than three or four."

"Impressive knowledge, as always," Ford commented, kneeling next to her. "You can tell the age just by observing it?"

"Juveniles look similar to adults," Alice explained, gently removing the coat from the pelican's head and tossing it behind her. "See how he's all brown with a grey bill?"

"Right, I see it," Ford said, studying the bird and leaning forward. "And the adults? How do they differ."

"As this one gets older, he'll develop a white neck and yellowish wash on his head," Alice elaborated, smiling and shifting the bird on its stomach. "Then when he reaches breeding age he'll get whiter and red will develop on his pouch."

"Fascinating," Ford responded, his eyes tracing the bird. "You truly have a passion for this field."

Alice smiled, carefully extending the bird's wings over the deck. Her fingers traced the bones along the wing that had been limp, and while she wasn't a veterinarian, she'd taken care of some of the small finches that crashed into her windows.

"About a six-foot wing span," She muttered to herself, reaching into her back pocket and withdrawing her notes. "No indication of bone damage, he must have startled himself when he crashed into the cockpit."