— Ira nodded, “Yeah, I understand,” he said to Finn. He knew where the other was coming from. With his own line of work and as much as he enjoys meteorology, ultimately, astronomy remains and still is his first love. “And hey, better to spend money on new hobbies instead of, you know, gambling. Right?” Giving Finn a thumb up, he listened carefully. “Oh, I daresay cricket is much better than baseball,” he contributed with a chuckle, “okay, but what counts as interpretive dance? Is it similar to that one ballet dancer that performed to Hozier’s Take Me To Church?” He remembered seeing a music video of it. “I… enjoy night time walks and stargazing,” Ira added, smiling, “I read and collect too many books and records. I play a few stringed instruments: lead guitar, violin, and recently picked up Chinese zither. Do you play, Finn? Or sing?”
When Finn mentioned a few birds, he couldn’t help but look around as though he might spot some. Stepping closer to his new friend, Ira nodded, eyes on the book in Finn’s hand. “Now that’s handy and cool. May i?” He asked, borrowing the birding book. “I’d love to see this one,” and showed the picture to Finn. It was a piping plover. “Oh, not this time of the year,” he added, shaking his head. “Which birds do you think we’ve got a good chance of seeing?”
finn held his binoculars up to his eyes, looking to the branches of trees to see if anything was out already. it was unlikely they’d see anything this early into the trail, but it was worth taking a look. it also took his mind off of new york and the time he’d spent there through the summer. “i guess some would argue gambling is a hobby,” he put the binoculars down, and let them dangle around his neck again. “but it’s not my kind of hobby. it’s got too many cheats, or too much chance involved. i’m good with some old-fashioned hobbies like this, or i might even get into stamp collecting.”
finn lit up at the praise ira had given cricket. “i thought no one else in this tiny town had any clue what cricket was! who’s your favorite team? i mean, if you pay attention to the teams... it’s just nice that someone else knows it exists,” he fiddled with the string that the binoculars were attached to. “but, the interpretive dance hobby is hard to explain... there’s a dance studio on main street, and i’ve started taking a few classes there. most of the songs are instrumental and we tell a story through our dances. but, i wish we used hozier’s songs,” finn had seen hozier on tour in 2018, and now most of his playlists had at least two of the artist’s songs. “stargazing? with a telescope and everything, or just with a keen eye?” he asked, looking towards the sky like he might see stars there even in the daytime. “i’ve always collected books and records! what kind of genres are you interested?” finn’s record player had recently broken after years of playing it. “i used to play the guitar, but i only picked it up for a few years. i learned ‘hotel california’ and ‘are you gonna go my way’, and that’s what stuck. but, i know a lot about the history of the zither - or the guzheng. i once toured archaeological sites that were a part of the tang dynasty court, and i saw a guzheng that had lasted for centuries!”
finn handed over the book with no hesitation, pulling out a second pamphlet of the specific trail birds from his pocket. he glanced at the page of the book ira had shown off. “oh, it’s disappointing that it’s a spring bird. that one’s very cute, though. i like birds that are small and round,” he smiled. “this time of year, we’ll probably catch a glimpse of a rose-breasted grosbeak or a yellow rumped warbler,” he guessed. “but, we also might not catch anything. that’s the beauty of bird-watching.”
