Another Day, Another Destiny

[Ashley Andrew Stephens]

Destination. The little car icon on the GPS passed over the dot indicating Blue Ridge Riding Academy. The little blue bird sitting on Drew's shoulder looked at the GPS and said, "Arrivederci!" It was a fun little trick that made everyone in the car smile. Teaching the budgie to say goodbye to the GPS took a couple months of training, but it was well worth it. The car pulled into an empty parking space near the main office building.

"We'll wait out here while you check in. This school was your decision, so we won't help you."

The tall boy nodded and pushed open the passenger side door. He could feel Sininen getting ready to jump off and put his hand over the bird's back.

"You're coming with my, little guy."

He took a deep breath outside of the main door before forging ahead. No one knew him here. He was just Drew Stephens, not Ashley, and most certainly not Battery. He hated that nickname and half wished he could have been Andrew Christopher. Alternating current had an awesome history and Nikola Tesla was the best. Of course the credit for discovering magnetic induction had to go to Michael Faraday even though Hippolyte Pixii built the first AC generator. At least Pixii was the guy's last name and not his first. And Hippolyte was technically a girl's name too from Greek mythology. And a genus of a shrimp.

The office was easy to locate at least. He wouldn't need to ask directions for that. Drew felt Sininen shift a little bit on his shoulder when they walked. He bit his lip and walked over to the desk trying to look less nervous than he felt. Sininen's presence definitely made it easier. True to his training, the little budgie spoke up when he saw the person behind the desk. "Hello! How are you?" Drew swallowed hard before speaking bracing himself for the worst reaction.

"Hi, I'm Ashley Stephens."

After years in the public school system, Drew was used to teachers seeing his name and expecting a girl. No amount of begging would persuade his parents to let him change his name to Andrew Stephens. They said that Ashley was a good name meaning 'ash meadow' and he should be proud to share a name with The Lord Ashley and Ashley Wilkes.

[Jennifer Hart]

Once she had refilled her cup of coffee, and doctored it with just the right amount of creamer, Jennifer walked up the hallway to the main office. After letting Fitz go on his break, Jennifer sat down at the man's desk and set to work where he'd left off, seeing no reason to sit idle when she could be doing things.

Ss she heard a car pull up in the parking lot, Jen set away her papers and pulled up the school's database, watching as a boy with a bird on his shoulder walked in, smiling at the blue creature, “Hello there, little bird. Aren't you a polite one?” She turned her to the attention to the boy, “It's a pleasure to meet you, Ashley, and your companion. Did you have a good journey?”

While she was making small talk, she had typed in the boy's name and had pulled out a map of the campus and a highlighter, “So, you'll be living in the Red Ribbon House, here, in room M05. Since we don't have a record of you bringing a horse,” she turned to check the screen again, but her words were confirmed, “You will need to go speak to Ms. Carr, the barn manager of the White Oak Barn, which is here.” After having circled the locations on the map, Jen capped the highlighter and then pulled out the boy's room key and a list of phone numbers, which she handed across along with the map, “Do you have any questions that I can answer for you?”

[Ashley Andrew Stephens]

Drew was always happy to see his bird talk appropriately. Teaching Sininen new words and phrases was an ongoing process, and the little bird loved hearing people speak. Sometimes he said the wrong things, but most people were impressed by his command of language. Sininen definitely knew his own name and liked talking to himself in his cage. "I am Sininen!" Dog owners had to introduce their dogs, but Drew never introduced his bird. Sininen could introduce himself perfectly well. The boy smiled a little, but it was mostly out of pride for his bird. His bird never tried to fly off, though it wouldn't have made much difference now. Sininen's wings were clipped as a safety measure so Drew could find or create a safe space for flying. Not everyone had a dedicated flight room for birds.

"Yes, thank you. And likewise."

There was construction on I-65, but Drew decided not to mention that. If she asked about the traffic, then he could tell her about construction, but otherwise he would be flouting the Maxim of Quantity. He watched her highlight the two buildings and nodded in understanding. It was unlikely Sininen would be allowed in the barns, and the bird needed rest. Of course, he could ask the barn manager if it was alright to bring his budgie to the barn with him. He took the sheets of paper and his key being careful not to jostle his bird too much. Even though he didn't have any questions, Drew waited a moment to see if Sininen had anything to say. "Negative bee plus or minus square root bee squared minus four ay see over two ay!"

It was one of Sininen's favorite things to say and also the first long phrase he learned. Drew quickly found out that teaching his bird formulas helped him to learn them as well. Most budgies could learn how to say their names, call themselves a pretty bird, and greet people. Not every bird learned the quadratic formula. Maybe the grammar wasn't perfect, but Drew had to admit, getting the bird to say that much took a huge amount of effort. Of course, the bird wasn't being forced to perform, and Drew couldn't imagine ever turning his pet into a circus animal.

"Not at the moment. Again, thank you."

Sininen chirped softly, and Drew could see that his pet was getting tired. The drive took a few hours, and Sininen was out of his cage the entire time. He turned to leave, giving the map in his hands another careful study to commit it all the memory. With his free hand, he gave the bird a couple gentle strokes on the back.