I was an African or cinereous vulture out of my element, hungry, and ill equipped to capture prey in the environment in which I and my mate found ourselves. We were desperate.

A bus came by; I knew that my human mother was on board. I got on to ask for her help, although it was difficult to explain the problem. Suddenly, it occurred to me that I was a vulture on a bus full of humans and that no one had noticed. There was something magical about it, as though time were frozen for all but me and my human mother.