Roxy and the Crows

Crows are smart and funny.  They are also very social beasts, and they take care of each other.  I heard a story from a driver who witnessed this event, about a group of crows in the street, clearly distressed, who flapped and cawed, beseeching the driver of the car not to proceed until they had moved an injured crow to the side of the road.

For a project for an illustration class, I did this picture for an as yet unwritten story about our next door neighbor Roxy who is about seven years old, and St. Benedict's Prep School in Newark, NJ, and an injured crow.  Benedictines are great; I am a Benedictine oblate myself.  They have a serene way of understanding that good things take time and practice.  This school is a modern miracle, an educational oasis in the middle of downtown Newark.  And Roxy is so full of energy that it was hard to picture her sitting still, though she is an animal lover, and so I am pretty sure she could do it if a crow's well-being was at stake.

Here is Roxy in a more characteristic pose, twirling in joy.