The Pelican and the Minnow: A Love Story

“Single brown pelican looking for an aging yet lovable loser like me. Must have low standards. I can’t fly as well as I used to so get used to short distance trips. Don’t expect much in the way of conversation other than an occasional squawk or grunt. Mediocre procreation attempts guaranteed! All interested parties, avian or otherwise, inquire at the dam near the polluted river."

Yours truly until I give up,

-P.D. Pelican III

“Pete,” Penny Pelican said. “It’s not me. It’s you.”

Pete frowned as much as his beak would allow. “That seems backward. I thought you were trying to make me feel better about us breaking up. Again. Pen—”

But she was already gone. “Guess I’ll have to waddle back to the dam.”

Pete lived in a small nest very near the dirty dam. His nest was only dirty because of how dirty the dam was. His left wing was broken in two places, so he couldn’t fly very far or very fast. The fracture was his fault and also Piper’s. They were best friends before Penny.

Pete hoped Penny would have at least dropped him off at his nest after she broke up with him again. He didn’t feel the expanding hole in his heart because of how badly his wing throbbed. He waddled on the shore and looked up at the cloudless yellow-orange sky for any sign of her. She’s gone forever. Pete thought.

It was only mid-morning when Pete started the seven-mile journey, but dusk arrived and surrounded him sooner than anticipated. “Guess I’ll have to stop for the night.”

Pete was only good at a few things. One of those things was building nests. The other was helping his fellow animals. Nice, old Pete. Nice, old Pete, Pete thought as he put together his shelter for the night. Just then his stomach grumbled. “Guess I should eat, too. I’m going to need energy for the rest of the journey tomorrow.” Pete laughed in a sad way, realizing he probably wouldn’t be able to fly ever again. This was another thing he was good at, or used to be good at.

“What do I want tonight?” he said to himself as he approached the river. Pete just happened to be a great hunter as well.

He backed up a few steps then waddled quickly toward the shore remembering how great a flier he used to be before the broken wing. A few feet from the sand-water interface, Pete kicked up with his webbed feet and took flight. Pete cut through the water with his jaw wide open. A few seconds later, his gular pouch was full of squirmy little fish.

Back at his nest for the night, he spat out carp, shiners, mullets, and a single minnow. All the fish were dead except for one very lucky one. “Hm,” Pete said. “This has never happened before.” He waddled down to the river knowing what needed to be done.

The little minnow was flapping and squeaking in her high, soft voice. “Please help! Please help! Please help!” The fish started saying her prayers but then she got a face full of warm river water. She inhaled greedily and felt the life rush back into her. “Oh, thank you, sir! Thank you, sir!” she said.

She was alive, but the water Pete spat at her was going to run out eventually. Pete knew what needed to be done.

“You’re welcome. My name is Pete, by the way. What’s yours?”

“Minnie. Minnie Minnow.” she said in short, shallow breaths.

Pete cleared his throat. “You’re going to need to jump back in my mouth.”

“But you’re a pelican. And pelicans eat minnows, don’t they?”

“Most of them do, but I’m not most pelicans.” Pete waddled a few steps toward Minnie who was starting to feel lightheaded. The light was going out of her eyes. Death was coming for her.

“Guess you’re going to have to trust me, Minnie.” Now that he was right next to her, Pete looked much larger and loomed over the little fish. “Jump in.” Pete said.

He lowered his beak to the sand where she was flapping the last moments of her life away. Minnie rolled and rolled all the way into the darkness of Pete’s mouth. Pete ran toward the river knowing she didn’t have long. He dove into the water with his mouth open. Pete heard her high voice singing his praises and saying his name. He backstroked out of the river and shook his body to dry himself. The night air chilled his feathers, but he felt a warm pulse in his belly where something else was taking flight.

“Oh, Pete! Thank you so much.” she gushed. “You’re a real lifesaver!”

“You’re welcome. But you were only in that mess because of me. Because of how greedy I was.” Pete started waddling away and feeling even sadder than he had been at the start of the day.

“Pete?” Minnie said swimming toward the sand. Her head kept popping up out of the water so she could talk to him. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, Minnie. You go about your business, and I’ll go about mine. I have my fish to eat now. Hope none of them were your friends.”

“No friends here. Maybe except you. A few of the carp were pretty mean to me.” Minnie ducked her head into the river and took a long, deep breath. “I got separated from my group a few days ago. My mother and father are probably waiting for me at the dam.”

“Well, how about this, Minnie? I want to make it up to you. I’ll take you all the way to the dam. The only thing is I can’t fly very far or fast anymore on account of my broken wing. You might be better off swimming.” Pete said.

“That’s really nice of you to offer, Pete.” Minnie said warmly. She was beginning to trust him; friendship wasn’t too far behind. “The thing is I can swim all the way up river to the dam, but there are probably other pelicans who won’t be as kind to me as you were. So I’ll take you up on the offer.”

“You will?” Pete said astonished. Suddenly, he didn’t feel like being alone anymore. “That’s great. I won’t be a very good conversation partner since my gular pouch will be full of water. At least, you’ll be safe and warm. And I promise not to swallow you.”

Pete smiled at Minnie, but she submerged herself into the river without a farewell. Maybe she changed her mind, Pete thought. He sat down in his nest to rest. The night air chilled him again and stirred the contents of his belly. Pete felt cold, sick, and alone. He nibbled on a few of the dead fish. A minute later, just as he was going to close his eyes for the night, Minnie launched herself out of the water, nearly a foot above the dark, rippled surface. A cloud shifted to the west and a beam of moonlight splashed her face. Minnie smiled at him. “Good night, Pete. I’ll see you tomorrow morning!”

Pete fell asleep feeling happy. A rare occurrence in his simple, lonely life.

He woke up early the next morning and had breakfast before dawn. He had only eaten the carp for dinner and was surprised with how salty and bitter they tasted. After breakfast, Pete waddled his way down to the river. He stuck one webbed foot into the water then the other. Pete heard Minnie’s voice reverberate in the water as he finished grooming himself.

“Good morning, Pete!”

“Good morning, Minnie. Are you ready to go?”

“I think so.” she said hesitantly, but Pete’s smile was putting her at ease.

“Alright. I’m going to open my mouth wide. Let the water flow into my gular pouch first then swim in. I’ll fly a few hundred feet at a time depending on how much I can stand the pain, and open my mouth so you can take in the view. This used to be such a beautiful place until the mechaniks arrived. When I get tired or if the pain gets intense, I’ll land and waddle on the beach a bit. Hopefully, we make it to the dam by nightfall.”

“I trust you, Pete.” Minnie said.

“I’m glad someone does.”

Pete waddled back up the sandbar. After a running head start, he pushed up with his webbed feet and then they were flying. Pete flapped his right wing, then his left, and then his right wing twice more. He flew lopsided, but Minnie didn’t seem to mind. Each time Pete flapped his left wing, he felt a terrible pain course through his entire body. His feathers were tearing out of him at an alarming rate, but he thought this might be the final flight of his life so he shut his mind to the shedding. As promised, he opened his mouth so Minnie could poke her head out of the water to take in the views of the Hillsborough river lands. Pete couldn’t see her—he couldn’t see anything really—because tears were standing at the brim of his eyes, but he knew somehow that Minnie was smiling. After flying almost a thousand feet, Pete descended and landed on the shore.

“Are you doing okay, Pete?” Minnie said once he opened his mouth.

“Mmhmm,” Pete nodded and gasped for air.

The pain subsided a bit with every step he took. Pete tried to keep his mouth open so Minnie could speak her words of encouragement. The entire flight, a distance of about ten miles, took them the better part of the morning and the early part of the afternoon. The closer they came to the dam, the longer Pete was able to fly.

“I’ve never flown before, Pete. This is amazing!” Minnie yelled as he dove toward the river and grazed his beak along the rippled, indigo surface.

As the dam came into view, Pete spotted Piper and Penny in the last place he thought he’d ever see them—his nest.

“That’s my home!" he mumbled through a throat full of water.

“I didn’t quite catch that, Pete. Drop me into the river so I can hear you.”

Pete reverse-flapped his wings to slow himself then dunked his beak into the water. With his mouth open, Minnie was able to swim out of his gular pouch and into the river. Pete hovered just a few inches above the water so he could talk to Minnie.

“My best friend and ex-girlfriend are taking my nest apart!”

“Why would they do that, Pete?” Minnie asked. She had many questions, but only asked one.

“I can’t tell you now. I have to stop them!”

Pete hadn’t felt angry for some time. “PIPER! PENNY! STOP!” he bellowed.

He spread his wings as far as he could which was quite wide. The waning afternoon sun was blocked out by Pete’s giant wingspan. Penny cried out in terror and flew away. Pete landed only a few feet away from Piper who continued pulling branches and straw out of his nest. He remembered Piper was the reason his wing broke in the first place. A deep red rage filled Pete, but Minnie’s voice pulled him back from the edge momentarily.

“Pete, please stop! Leave that mean pelican alone!”

Pete backed away from Piper at first but then charged toward him with his wings at their full span and his beak extended to a sharp point, sharp as the tip of a spear. The red rage filled Pete’s kind blue eyes again. He pushed off the sand with his webbed feet and flew and hovered 40 feet in the air then launched himself like a missile. Truly filled Piper and he squawked. He couldn’t waddle fast enough and both his wings were broken so he couldn’t fly anymore. Pete was ready to kill his former best friend, his brother. At the last second, Pete veered left, his beak narrowly missing PIper’s sagging throat.

“Fish are food, Pete. Not friends. You’re weak. And worst of all, you’re a bad pelican. That’s why Penny chose me. If I ever see you or your friend around here again, I’ll eat her right in front of you.” Piper puffed out his chest like he was victorious and waddled off slowly into the forest.

Pete thought of his father who died only a few years ago. He remembered the day he and Piper met—the day stayed in his mind as a good memory. On that day his father, Peter Pelican II, adopted Piper. His parents were killed in the First Flood. Father would be disappointed in the pelicans he raised, Pete thought. He soared 60 feet into the air to cool himself off then glided back to the sand-water interface where Minnie was waiting for him.

“I’m glad you didn’t hurt that pelican, Pete. You’re not mean or hurtful. I just know it.” Minnie said.

Minnie was wrong, but they couldn’t talk about the past because something terrible was happening to the valley around them. The human mekaniks had shut down the dam. This was a similar prelude to the First Flood all those years ago. Pete remembered that day because he had gained a brother. He also remembered the day Piper betrayed him, the day Piper broke his left wing. In retaliation, Pete broke both of Piper’s wings. He thought Penny would choose him if Piper wasn’t able to fly, but he was wrong. Penny chose Piper anyway.

“I think your parents were able to swim through before the humans closed the dam. We’ll have to fly over.”

Pete scooped Minnie into his mouth with very little water and he flew fast and hard toward the crescent moon hanging in the purple-yellow sky. The pain in his left wing was resurrected and humming a nasty tune all throughout his bones. The pain brought tears to his eyes. Pete was also crying because he knew he would never seen Piper or Penny ever again. He landed on top of the dam and looked over the edge. A mekanik tried to scare Pete off, but he stayed perched on the cement. Pete opened his mouth so Minnie could talk to him.

“What do we do now, Pete?” she said.

“I don’t know,” Pete mumbled. “I’ve never flown this high and I’ve never seen the other side of the dam either. What if your parents aren’t there, Minnie? I don’t think I’ll be able to fly us back over again.”

“That’s alright.”

“It is?”

“Yes,” Minnie said thoughtfully. “I’ll stay with you, Pete.”

He nodded and flew down to the riverbank below. The air on this side of the river was fresh and renewing, and the water rushing past them was bright and blue. Pete dropped her into the river and landed on the shore. Minnie swam circles joyfully and spat water at Pete playfully. The droplets landed in front of his webbed feet. She smiled, but he didn’t.

“I don’t think you want to stay with me, Minnie. I’m a bad pelican.”

“Oh, Pete, of course you aren’t.”

“Minnie, you don’t know anything about me. I was very bad. I was a terrible and ruthless hunter. Me and Piper killed many pelicans when I could still fly. We ate all the fish in the river. We fought over Penny. Piper broke my wing, and I broke both of his. I’ve eaten many minnows in my time. I should have eaten you.”

Minnie dunked her head into the water in frustration. “You don’t mean that! You’re lying!” she screamed.

“You’re right. I have been lying to you. But one thing that’s been true this entire time is that I love you, Minnie. I shouldn’t love you, but I do. You’re my food. I shouldn’t feel this way.”

“I don’t need you, Pete. I lied to you, too! I only needed your help to get to the dam. I could never love you because yesterday you tried to eat me! Because you’re a damn, dirty pelican who lives in a dirty river. Don't ever talk to me again, Pete!”

The next morning, Pete was so distraught he planned on killing himself. He wrote a message for Minnie in the dirt using his beak which was sharp as the tip of a pen. With one final effort, he flew back up to the top of the dam in stages, resting where he could, and then perched on the cement. Pete looked over the edge with his soft, blue eyes and thought hitting the ground at terminal velocity beak-first would be a suitable way to end his life. Before he could leap, he heard a small, high voice from a hundred feet below.

“PETE!” Minnie yelled at the top of her tiny gills. “Please don’t kill yourself. You’re my hero! Please forgive me because I forgive you. Because that’s what best friends do.”

In the many months that passed, Pete didn’t see Minnie. He assumed she found her parents and moved on with them further down the river with the rest of their school.

This side of the dam was beautiful. The fast moving water was white-washed and dark blue, and there wasn’t any garbage or plastic bags in the river. Pete built a new nest because he was good at building nests now. He used to be a great hunter and flier. He used to be best at destroying nests and eating all the fish in the river. Losing his wing changed him for the better. Losing his wing was why he met Minnie.

Almost a year after Minnie left, Dr. Pelican paid Pete a visit. The old bird grew up with his father and the pair had been best friends. Dr. Pelican was never much of a talker, but today he was especially silent. He tiled his beak in the direction of Pete’s nest where he normally gave Pete his yearly checkups. Pete told the doctor he didn’t need to inspect his wing because he didn’t need it anymore. A high voice emanated from Dr. Pelican’s throat—a voice Pete was very familiar with.

“Minnie?” he said.

“The jig is up, doc. Let me out.” she said. Her voice was muffled inside Dr. Pelican’s gular pouch, but Pete knew it was her.

Dr. Pelican flew to the sand-water interface and deposited Minnie into the river.

“Talk to her later,” he said. “Let me fix you first.”

Dr. Pelican gave Pete a twig to bite on and he set the bone back in place with his beak. Within hours, Pete was soaring through the sky like he used to ten years ago.

Pete talked to Minnie once Dr. Pelican had flown away. Minnie had watched him fly. She told Pete it was a beautiful sight to see. Pete was just like his father now. Nice, old Pete. Nice, old Pete. Pete’s father had also been a doctor. He cared for all the animals in the forest, not just the pelicans. He had even been friends with a carp, but Pete’s father didn’t fall in love with that fish.

After a few days together, Minnie and Pete forgot the reasons they were mad at each other. They forgave each other because that’s what best friends do.

“I like it here.” she said to Pete.

“My father was a doctor and a poet. He had a way with words I won’t ever have.” Pete smiled thinking of him. “The view of the mountain is beautiful. He loved that craggy, old pile of rocks—it’s where he taught me to fly. The water on this side of the dam is clear and blue. And there aren’t any pelicans here who want to eat you.”

“No, Pete. I like it here because of you. I want to be with you and inside your gular pouch.”

In the year she was gone, Minnie found her parents. They were alive and well, but something felt missing in her life. She thought about the pelican who probably should have eaten her, but instead he helped her find a paradise.

Many years passed. Minnie and Pete loved each other and flew many miles together, but they always returned to the dam. They stayed together even as the human mekaniks returned and started building a power plant. The river on this side of the dam eventually turned brown and dirty just like the other side had been. Pete grew old and gray. He stopped flying and he could barely waddle anymore, but he always made the effort to roll himself down to the water to kiss Minnie good night.

One morning, Dr. Pelican returned. He couldn’t rouse Pete from inside their nest which was the finest he had ever seen. Pete and Minnie’s home was the size of eight shoe boxes put together. There were cans full of river water inside.

Ravi the Raven flew in from the east to help Dr. Pelican bury Pete. Ravi pulled one of the cans out of the nest and put it on the riverbank so Minnie could watch them. She gave a beautiful eulogy, most of it in Pelican and some of it spoken in Minnow which Ravi and Dr. Pelican didn’t understand. Minnie and Pete were together for almost a decade; Pete would have known exactly what she was saying.

A year after Pete died, the river started to dry up. Dr. Pelican returned a final time. He asked Minnie if she wanted him to bring her to another river where the fish were many and the water was plentiful.

“No thanks, doc.” she said nearly gasping. Her gills were drying up and her breaths came short and labored. “I could never leave Pete. I want to be with him forever.”