Lost (continued)

     I go out looking for Bellatrix again this morning. There Isn't much area to look in. I've already heavily checked the most likely places and found resident kestrels everywhere else. Still, I bike around for a few hours with my trap, mouse, lure, and hawking bag. Tomorrow, I vow, I will bring extra jesses. She's probably lost her's by now. But she's no where to be seen, so I don't need them today.
     Finally, I don't know where else to look. I sit on the side of the street for ten minutes trying to decide where to go looking for her. I've checked everywhere, some places multiple times. I can't station myself somewhere and whistle for her; she's not that responsive. If I get her back, it will be because I happened to end up within 50 feet of her and she happened to be hungry. But I have four square miles - which she's not even guaranteed to be in. If I do happen to find her, she's probably wild enough now to ignore me completely.
     I suppose that's why I have the trap, though. Hopefully she won't mind watching me set it out.
     It all suddenly seems hopeless.
     So I bike in the opposite direction from where she's likely to be. Petrie's there in his field, hunting. I watch him, try to call him down to the lure - he was rather fantastic at chasing it. But he's been wild for months now so he pays no attention.
     Seagulls chase him off, but he comes back out a minute later. He hovers over the field, stoops, rises again. I watch him antagonize a magpie, trying to decide if he wants it dead or gone. He swings over to the power line in the property owner's long driveway and I speed my way to him. I try to lay out the Bal-Chatri below him, but he pays no attention. I go to move it closer to him, but he's having none of it and my next peak at his spot shows an empty wire.
     I put my trap back in the basket on my bike, then take a moment with the horse that lives in Petrie's field. He's a gorgeous black Clydesdale that's taken a liking to me. I've heard his name is Jack, but I've never spoken to his owners, so I'm not completely sure.
     I bike out of the driveway and back to the side of the road. Petrie is still hunting. I watch his stoops and almost walk out into the field to set my trap, but there is construction going on to the side of the field and they'd call the police on my trespassing.
     Petrie catches a mouse. He flies up to my stretch of power line to eat it. I set out my bal-chatri, but I know it's useless. Petrie spooks and flies off to an island of trees standing out in the flat acreage to finish his meal in peace.
     I sit with Jack for a while longer, but eventually I realize that it's 11:45 and I promised myself I'd be back home by noon to do my schoolwork. So I leave.

Lost

     I walk with Bellatrix to the park today for our training session, in hopes that she will learn to be responsive in places other than my backyard, even though I know there is a wild male kestrel that lives in the park. He doesn't normally have the guts to get close enough to cause problems so I ignore his presence (mistake 1). We start with a couple of flights to the fist on the creance so that I can see how responsive she is. She hesitates a bit, but I free fly her anyway (mistake 2). I tell myself that I'm doing so because she's more responsive to the lure than the glove, but really it's because free flying her is so exhilarating. She takes her spot in a nearby tree and I call her to the lure. I drag it a little, but the movement spooks her and she swoops over to a fence. 

     The wild male calls overhead and takes his spot in the tree. 

     I swing, then drop the lure again, whistling for Bellatrix. She comes quicker than I expected, but that is a very good thing. She bates with it immediately, and I completely understand why. I make in to her as soon as I can to ease her discomfort. She eats her reward, the back half of a mouse, while I tid-bit her occasionally. I trade her off and set her loose again, completely forgetting the wild male (mistake 3). 

     She swings up into the tree and is immediately taken after by the wild male. He takes the style of a gyrfalcon, repeated swooping passes from one direction then the other. Bellatrix screams at him and dives from the tree, making a low-altitude escape. But the wild male comes in and grabs her. She screeches and dashes over the rooftops; he lands on the nearest house to watch her leave. I mistake him for her and pause for a moment before chasing after my bird. She's quite some distance away now, but I see where she's going. 

     I sprint in the same direction, pausing in any open areas I can to throw the lure around a few times. A car pulls up to the edge of the empty lot I'm in and watches me. I try to decide if I should stay or go; they probably think I'm a nutcase (not an entirely false accusation). They pull away and I decide to go home and get the car. 

     Mom drives me around to a few different fields where she might have gone. I look for any stand of trees in the direction Bellatrix took that she may have hidden in. No luck, she won't be found. 

     I decide to go home. I have work to do and Bellatrix is not going to move in the circumstances. She's stressed, not super hungry, and possibly injured.

     I beat myself up for all the mistakes. She has no bells on because she chipped her beak biting them and I took them off. She has no transmitter on because I won't be getting it in the mail for another few weeks. She's not wed to the lure or even remotely fond of me. 

     I go out again on my bike later that day, when she will be hungrier. I check the most highly suspect areas. The locals are very accommodating and I'm allowed onto three promising properties. I check every tree, swinging the lure and laying the trap, but she it not there. I cross the rather large portion of land off my mental map. 

     Dad comes to collect me; we're going to my grandma's for dinner. 

     Bellatrix is staying out overnight.