Tag: Birds

The first stop. Cindy had two of Zoë’s pictures hanging on her bedroom wall — and a name that would lead to the next chapter. This is how these things begin: at a funeral, with a borrowed frame.

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I saw Cindy at a funeral for a mutual friend. She knew my parents when they first immigrated to California from England and had worked with my dad for decades. After telling her about my journey to find Zoë’s pictures, I learned she had a couple in her possession. Cindy was nice enough to let me borrow them for a few weeks and get them scanned.

I always liked Cindy. She was a tall confident woman who got to her station in life by being direct and assertive. In the early ’80s, Cindy commissioned my mom to draw a picture of birds with the specific request that it include grasshoppers and spiders. She paid $500 for the Three Parakeets. Cindy would describe how pained Zoë was to take any money from her.

A few months after the Three Parakeets was finished, Cindy received a gift from Zoë in the mail. It was a drawing of a bobcat with a note that said:

For Cindy a kindred spirit
With lots of love from Zoë x….

While Cindy told me this story, she got close to the Three Parakeets hanging on her bedroom wall and touched one side of the frame. I sensed that Cindy had a lot to say about that time of her life – a lot to say about a version of Zoë that she hadn’t thought about for a long time. I wanted to know, I wanted to be there. In this place that she was remembering about herself, about Zoë. But I felt out of place, and I didn’t want to pry. I thought I was just there to pick up a picture.

Still looking at the hanging spiders in the picture, she told me about her ex-husband Jack who she knew to have four of Zoë’s pictures. I could tell Cindy had, and would always love Jack. Even as she described him as an anti-social and incredibly difficult person, I got the sense that Cindy loved that part about him, and that she cared for him. She softly went on to highlight just what a strong relationship Zoë and Jack shared around their mutual love for birds.

As seen in the book

The Art

Cindy’s ex-husband. A self-described recluse. A man who handed over four of Zoë’s pictures and told Luke he was the only person on Earth who should have them — forty-five seconds into their first conversation.

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Cindy had warned me that Jack was a little eccentric and a bit of a recluse. And I got that sense during our phone conversation. Before the introductions were done he interrupted me to explain that he would not be able to see me in person but he’d arrange for me to pick up his four pictures from Cindy. He told me that I was the only person on this planet who should have them and it was non-negotiable.

This was forty-five seconds into my relationship with Jack and I again wondered if I was intruding. But he calmed my concerns when I asked him about birds. He excitedly told me how he and Zoë had hiked for days to help a condor’s nest from falling off a tree. He even more emphatically recounted their numerous bird watching adventures in far away places. It’s easy to see these themes in the pictures he gave me. I felt honored that he and Zoë shared their memories with me.

I thought of Cindy outlining the Three Parakeets with her finger, and I wondered if there was more to the connection Zoë and Jack shared — more than just birds.

As seen in the book

The Art