The Story of Tiberius

Chapter 28

By the time their second spring rolled around a few months later, some changes began to occur in the two hawks' lives.

For starters, both hawks had reached that one moment in their lives when they transitioned from rowdy teenagers to mature adults. The period of time between that was just one confusing picture. To be specific, there's only one word... emotions. Rosa was affected worse by this. One moment she would be ready to attack something and then the next she would be as happy as a lark. She sometimes would be crying or laughing for no reason whatsoever. It freaked both Tiberius and Alfred out. Speaking of which, Tiberius would often have the strange urge to shred something with his talons. Luckily, Alfred had thought ahead and gotten him a scratching post. The hawk sometimes would even take his talons out on a ball of yarn. Meanwhile, both hawks' had gained a very large appetite. When they had first come to live with Alfred, they had been small for their age. Now Rosa was average size while Tiberius was considered big for his species. The last major change that signified that they were now adults was their tails. Once a shade of brown, they now were shades of red.

Another change in the hawks' lives was being outside. On one visit to the clinic, their personal vet Dr. Laura Green had noted that the pair would soon need to stretch their wings out more. The apartment had been a nice start for them but they needed more room to exercise. Plus, they might soon show their predatory instincts. Just four days after that vet appointment proved that Laura had been correct. There had been a pigeon out on the fire escape and Tiberius had seen it. Unable to see glass, the hawk had tried going for it but smashed his head against the window hard. He ended up getting ten stitches on his forehead for his troubles. After that probably let Alfred make his decision of what to do with the pair.

The small family of three was now on the rooftop of the apartment building they lived at. Gazing at the bright blue skies above their heads, Tiberius and Rosa looked up at Alfred with curiosity in their eyes. "Go on, I'll be right here when you two return. Don't talk to strangers and get back here," the old man told them, taking a seat at the bench that was up there. The siblings turned towards each other. Smiling, Tiberius cried, "Race ya to the Empire State Building!" Without another word, he took off. Following her big brother, Rosa shouted, "Not fair! Wait up!"