The Conservationists: Chapter 2
After a brief introduction, Alma signaled the technician to roll the footage. Alma had edited the presentation herself, and was quite pleased with the result, not least the, in her mind audacious, choice of letting Mahler’s progressive tonality accompany the visual imagery.
The view was from inside a vehicle traveling an empty road through a dreary landscape. Dirty snow covers the low ground on both sides of the road. Now and then the bare, black branches of trees appear against a backdrop of an overcast sky, the color of milk gone bad. In the distance the stacks of a nuclear power plant stand out against the horizon. In spite of vehicle’s progress the scene is almost static.
Suddenly there is movement in the right side of the screen. First it’s just a blurry shadow, then in an instant the owl becomes visible. At the same time, almost imperceptibly, the speed of the recording changes from normal to slow motion.
The underside of the wings are white with black bars. Viewed in slow motion the air seems almost syrupy as the wings move and flex as the owl gains altitude. It clasps the limp body of a mouse in its talons, its brown fur matching the owl’s speckled feathers.
The music reaches a crescendo when the owl gets caught by the turbulence in front of the windshield. The wings pump and flap in vain against the irresistible force of the vortex. In the split moment before the impact the owl lets go of the mouse and wields its talons defiantly against the threat rushing toward it. The bird looks straight at the viewer with eyes like large glass marbles.
The impact is an impressionist explosion of feathers and red. As the motion slows down even further, little red drops soar like balloons before bursting into bloom when they touch the windshield. The mangled body of the owl majestically glides down to the right and out of sight.
Presentation resuming normal projection speed, the vehicle slows before pulling over and stopping on the shoulder.