From “Bestiary”

My mother sends me a black-and-white photograph of   her and my father, circa 1968, posing with two Indian men. “Who are those Indian guys?” I ask her on the phone. “I don’t know,” she says. The next obvious question: “Then why did you send me this photo?” But I don’t ask it. One of those strange Indian men is pointing up toward the sky. Above them, a bird shaped like a question mark.