“Something’s not right,” said Jesse.

Abigail had the same feeling.  She felt a restlessness, a need to move.

“Where the heck is everyone, anyway?”  She continued.

David was picking apart a speckled trout, oblivious to the conversation.  Abby turned to look at him.  She noticed he was getting fat.

“Maybe he’s smarter than we think,” she thought.

“It’s Zugunruhe, said Jesse.

Zugunruhe is a German compound word consisting of Zug (move, migration) and Unruhe (anxiety, restlessness).  In ethology it describes anxious behavior in migratory birds during the normal migration period.

“We’d better get a move on,”continued Jesse

“Move on to where?” rejoined Abby.

“I don’t know,”  Jesse retorted. “But I do know we have to start flying south.”

David looked up from his fish. He has gotten conspicuously overweight over the past 4 weeks.  He looked at his brother and girlfriend and could see that they were having a serious conversation.  Serious conversations are not part of David’s forte. David went back to his fish; he never leaves a meal incompletely consumed.

“In defense of David,” said the Doctor.  “Look at his neck feathers.  See how they are still light brown. This may simply be a case of delayed maturation.”

“Fly south and stay overland as much as possible,” contemplated Jesse.  “Trust your instincts.”

Abigail immediately knew he was correct.

David interrupted.

“The fishing is good here,” said he.  “And besides, Zugunruhe doesn’t apply to us. Were not German.”

Jesse and Abigail simply ignored David.  They knew he would come with them when the time came and the time is near, very near.