Ria dyed my hair, dying it for the first time ever!, and she told me she wanted to pierce her ear. going to pierce her ear. It’s the outer part. If your ear were a highway, it’d be the part where you’d slow down because the visibility is bad and the road is curving. Let’s go with that. I just colored my hair for the first time evs and Ria had never dyed hair either, so naturally I said: I’ll pierce your ear!

I elected liquid courage, because I am terrified of needles but this is the summer for trying new things! and mountains! I had a weird pineapple vodka shot and I think white wine because it was there. Weird combination. Also I recognize that drinking to assist in a task that scares you bastardizes your bravery. Recognized, acknowledged. We went to the store and picked up the loop: Alaska Ink. It’s my favorite business sign in town because it actually looks legit. It’s unmistakeable because it’s right on Tongass and I pass it when I’m mall bound.

As we are walking in to Alaska Ink, eagles are flocking like crazy just behind the shop. Ria is Ms. Nature and I am not but I’m excited about Flocking Eagles and so we wander over to the water. There are so many eagles that it’s ridiculous to even try to appreciate them all. They are sitting in little groups, they remind me of the buzzards who sit together in Jungle Book. But I know comparing eagles to buzzards is like UNPATRIOTIC and RUDE.

A local walking down the ramp below us hears our cooing. She asks “Are you all tourists?”

“We say no, we live here” We are proud not to be tourists but we are ahhing and oohing at nature like we’ve never been outside before.

She says “Well here is a feather, would you like it?” and she proffers an eagles feather. She says “It’s illegal to keep an eagle feather in your possession, but I usually give them to the visitors if I see one.”

She was very casual, just happy to give one away on her way to her next errand. I remember she was really casual: wearing a hoodie and keeping a low profile.

I so appreciated this lady. I was nearly touched. Ria declined the feather, I think she said she already had one or maybe she just wasn’t excited at the prospect. Ria used to live in Yellowstone so, she’s seen many an eagle feather.

I was refreshed that she was nice to instead of brushing us off as dumb tourists (like I like to do). It’s so easy to do that here. Of course the locals get tired of all the visitors. They avoid downtown and complain about all the foot traffic. Hell, I do the same thing. I just can’t avoid downtown because it’s my jahb.

I put the eagle feather on my wall, perched behind a picture of Barbra Streisand. It took me back to the House of Love in Seattle, my tragic inception to independence. Michaela had an eagle feather from her cross-country bike trip hitched to her wall. She told me, apologetically, that it was illegal to keep in her possession. But she had it. It’s the first time I’d ever heard that. Michaela’s key lime green room. That was 7 years ago now.

But what moved me more than having the feather was watching the eagle pile-up by the canneries.

They must look at us the way I look at the Asian tourists, taking pictures of myself holding a sign to the Misty Fjords, a freaking piece of plastic, and think: “Those girls are taking our pictures and we are just trying to eat.. And they are keeping our feather? Um, that’s like literally trash.”

I suppose if we hadn’t left the house to buy the piercing kit (which still hasn’t been used because I chickened out/the needle wasn’t the right size for the loop we bought), we would have missed the Eagle Show.