The Falcon's Plunge

“You know what? I quit.”

“You’re not serious, are you?”

“Dead serious. I was already considering leaving the job and going back to school, and your stupid punishment gave me the opportunity to decide on the spot.”

“But we have rules. No drinking during working hours. Our owner saw you having a beer with your lunch. We have to give you a three-day suspension. It’s company rules and we don’t have a choice.”

“Maybe so, but it’s a stupid rule. It’s not like I was getting drunk on the job. I had one beer.”

“Listen, I want you to reconsider. You know that we value you. If you stay, I’ll make you the assistant manager. You’ll have a pay-raise, of course. You’ve been here three years now and you’ve moved up considerably since you started. I’ve always appreciated your hard work, your punctuality, and your positive attitude. I still remember the first time you came to me a problem, and I told you, 'Handle it.' You did. And you’ve always handled every problem since without even coming to me for help. You really are an asset to us.”

“Just for you, I’ll consider it. I’ll let you know my answer in three days.”

With these words, Alex walked out without saying goodbye or even looking behind him, still steaming from what he considered an affront to his honor coming from his friend Steve, the manager of Venus Distribution. Driving back home in his Delta 88, he put an 8-track tape in the car stereo and turned it up full blast. The 4 6” speakers blasted out Little Feat, Feats Don’t Fail Me Now. "Catch it to me gently feets don't fail me now”. It was a half hour’s drive back home from Eden Prairie to the Mini Apple, but decided not to go back home. He just drove, not headed any place in particular.

As he drove, his mind went through the events of the last four years. He’d started studying Studio Arts at San José City college in the fall of ’77, and he’d shacked up with Mary Anne, a pretty red-haired girl. Near the end of the school year she’d thought that he wanted to marry, but he had no intention of doing so, he was only 18! In the summer of ’78 he’d hitchhiked across the country to visit friends in Chicago and then to Minneapolis, where his older brother lived. Out of cash, he decided to work for a week at Manpower and earn $100 before heading back to California. His first job was a stockman at Venus Distribution, a large warehouse that supplied a chain of waterbed stores. He worked for a week there, and on Friday, Steve, the warehouse manager, had come up to him and said “We like the way you work. How about a full-time job?” And so he left behind his plans to go back to school and started working. After 3 months he’d been promoted to head stockman, after a year up to Assistant Shipping and Receiving Clerk, and a year later he was the new Shipping and Receiving Clerk. His pay had gone up regularly, he had a nice car, a nice apartment, and a $300 ready-reserve on his bank account. Lately he’d been thinking about going back to school. All his life he’d dreamed of being a painter, and he hadn’t touched a paintbrush since leaving San José. What should he do now? Steve’s offer was tempting. Still, he didn’t feel satisfied. Money wasn’t everything. What about his dream? Perhaps it was only a pipe-dream? He was lost and didn’t quite know what to do. On one hand, it seemed like this 3-day dismissal without pay was pushing him to leave, and his first reaction had been to do just that. On the other hand, he hadn’t imagined that Steve would offer him a promotion if he stayed.

Before he knew it, he’d arrived at the Mille Lacs Reservation. A place he’d never been before. He followed the shoreline of the lake westward until he fell upon a hotel, and decided to spend the night there. Maybe he’d be able to make a decision. After checking in, he called his brother to tell him the news and let him know that he wouldn’t be coming home that evening. Then he went out for a walk. It was late May and the weather was nice.

While walking along the shoreline he looked up and saw a peregrine falcon hovering far above. He didn’t have to wait long before he saw the plunge, rocketing towards some unsuspecting prey, and then the flight back into the blue with a blue jay in its talons. Alex wasn’t a believer in destiny, and thought that the blue jay’s demise was only a matter of chance. The songbird had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time (or the right place at the right time from the peregrine’s perspective). He himself had been at the right place at the right time when he’d been hired, and at the wrong place at the wrong time when he’d been seen drinking on company time. From another perspective, perhaps that beer with his lunch had in fact been the right place at the right time and had pushed him to take the step that he’d been too indecisive to take. That was it. His decision was taken.

The next day he went straight to the University of Minnesota Minneapolis campus and enrolled for the fall, with Studio Arts as his major. At the end of his 3-day dismissal he gave his formal resignation. He wasn’t required to give prior notice, so he never returned to his job. During his three year break from school he had learned many things that would help him through life, especially thinking on his feet to come up with practical solutions to difficulties. Now it was time to follow his dream and paint. He noticed that his work experience had made his painting bolder. He was no longer the diffident youth he had been at 18. Many years later he came to the conclusion that destiny does indeed exist, and that even the falcon had played its part in his.