Taking flight

Sleek grey feathers, bright yellow beak and sharp black claws are just some of the features of the magnificent bird the skimmed the moonlit lake at nine every night. Even when you can't see this bird, you can hear this beautiful creature by the splash in the water and you can feel it by the tingle of rain drops on your face as the water splashes onto the shore of the lake where you sleep peacefully.

Ding Dong, my clock struck twelve.

"Where is the bird, it is well past nine?" I thought to myself snuggled in my sleeping bag, oblivious to the heavy object that lay on my feet keeping them nice and toasty. Ding Dong Ding Dong Ding said my annoying alarm clock waking me up for the second time that night. Then I realized that there is something rather heavy on the end of my sleeping bag. I sat up eager to see what it was and I saw. . .