The hum of the airplane engine vibrates the floor beneath my feet. The fog of white noise from the same fills my ears. I strain over the passenger sitting next to me, trying to look out the window and am able to catch only a glimpse of the green land below. From this height, the landmass is an alligator head submerged in the blue-blue sea. The large man in the window seat shifts and his massive body blocks the tiny portlike window of the plane.

The bird’s face came to me in a dream, although I didn’t tell anyone that when I booked my trip.

The first time I dreamed its face, that’s all I saw. The head of this blue bird with this fancy crown of feathers pluming out. Almost like a peacock’s fan but smaller and sticking out in every direction, like electrical wires, or a crown. Like wiry roots on a plant that’s been pulled from its dirt. The bird’s face had this yellow beak that pointed at me in the dream, and those red eyes, with pupils like arrowheads, shining like pomegranate seeds in its silky blue face. When I awoke, I rolled over to ask Roger what kind of bird it was. It had felt so real. But of course, Roger wasn’t there anymore.