THE SOUND MADE BY THE BIRDS

By Ben Greenman

from forthcoming collection, as yet untitled

A perplexity of etymology is the phrase “Shill Tack,” applied to the peculiar aerial slant of the birds which have for years populated the skies over Mason. It is clear that in part the movement is so called after the sailing maneuver, and that just as boats turn bows into the wind, birds orient beaks similarly, thus permitting progress in their desired direction. But the “Shill” remains. Some believe that it is a corruption of “shrill,” from the sound made by the birds, while others look to toponymy, noting that the town’s original name was Mason’s Hill, and that the “’s Hill,” effaced from maps over time, may have been carried for safety into this avian expression. Indeed, it does not appear anywhere else in the Bluff Region, and neighboring counties use entirely different term: “Skylean” in Arbis County, “Cut Loop” in Pyrone County, and simply “7” (for the way the motion imitates the shape of the number) in Blackstrap County. As Marcus Jurevicius, the oldest man in Mason at 101 and the self-appointed folklorist of the Eight Towns, recently tripped over the edge of his jacuzzi and fell four stories from his balcony into the fast-flowing Bedboard River, where he broke his neck and subsequently drowned, there is no ultimate authority to refer to.