The first time the vulture came to visit, Ella thought it a bit odd. The bird landed on the porch railing around 2pm and stayed there for about a half an hour, shoulders hunched and eyes half lidded. Ella snapped a photo of it on her phone, but it didn’t seem to notice, so she returned back to working on her laptop. When she looked up again, it was gone.

The next afternoon, the vulture came back, and landed on the railing in the very same spot again. “Very strange,” thought Ella to herself. “I wonder if it’s building a nest or something.”

After the third day, Ella googled, “why do vultures land near houses,” and learned that they generally traveled in packs and congregated around carrion. But this bird was alone, and only sat there for a few minutes before flying off every day.

Once a week had gone by of the vulture visiting every day, Ella decided to venture outside for a closer look, fully expecting the bird to startle and fly off. Instead, once Ella had gotten within about six feet of the vulture, it slowly turned its head towards her, blinked lazily, and said in an ancient voice, “It’s very rude to keep company waiting, you know.”