Chap­ter 10 of If These Wings Could Fly opens with Leighton find­ing her­self sur­round­ed by a grow­ing num­ber of crows in Auburn, a town where these birds seem to mul­ti­ply dai­ly. Their pres­ence, unset­tling to most, adds a pecu­liar yet cap­ti­vat­ing ele­ment to Leighton’s life. While the crows become a source of irri­ta­tion for the local towns­peo­ple, Leighton finds an odd sense of com­fort in their num­bers. The birds, with their omi­nous pres­ence, reflect the emo­tion­al com­plex­i­ties of her own life and the trans­for­ma­tions hap­pen­ing with­in her town. Leighton begins to observe how these crows, much like the shifts in Auburn, seem to qui­et­ly grow, impos­ing them­selves on the land­scape and the every­day rou­tine. Their increase serves as a reminder of how cer­tain things—like grief, change, and loss—are unavoid­able and dif­fi­cult to ignore, much like the crows them­selves. As she watch­es them, Leighton feels a sense of recog­ni­tion, as if their pres­ence mir­rors her own strug­gles and unspo­ken anx­i­eties.

The chap­ter also delves into Leighton’s rela­tion­ship with her grand­moth­er, Nana, who now lives in an assist­ed liv­ing facil­i­ty in Lin­coln. Leighton often vis­its Nana, but her trips are shroud­ed in secre­cy, as she lies to her moth­er about where she’s going, fur­ther com­pli­cat­ing the already strained fam­i­ly dynam­ics. These vis­its to Nana’s apart­ment are marked by moments of inti­ma­cy and sad­ness. Nana, despite her declin­ing health, still car­ries with her a sharp mem­o­ry and wis­dom, but the under­ly­ing ten­sion between them remains pal­pa­ble. Their con­ver­sa­tions, while filled with warmth and con­nec­tion, are also laced with the unspo­ken grief that has over­tak­en their fam­i­ly since Grand­pa’s death. The loss of her grand­fa­ther brought about a shift not only in Nana’s health but also in the entire fam­i­ly struc­ture, as grief and unre­solved issues con­tin­ue to shape their inter­ac­tions. Leighton finds her­self in the posi­tion of sup­port­ing Nana, but she also strug­gles with the emo­tion­al weight of the fam­i­ly frac­tures that seem to deep­en with each vis­it. These vis­its, though com­fort­ing, under­score the fact that noth­ing remains unchanged, and each pass­ing day brings with it new chal­lenges that they must face togeth­er.

While car­ing for Nana, Leighton reflects on the famil­iar­i­ty of the apartment—the smells, the rou­tines, and the mem­o­ries that fill the space. Even as they dis­cuss their shared strug­gles, there is a sense of solace in the ordi­nary acts of care and love that still exist between them. Despite the heavy con­ver­sa­tions about their fam­i­ly’s dif­fi­cul­ties, there is com­fort in the rit­u­als they main­tain togeth­er. Yet, as the chap­ter pro­gress­es, Leighton’s thoughts begin to drift back to her own dreams and uncer­tain­ties about the future. When she returns to Auburn, hop­ing for a sign of reas­sur­ance from her late Grand­pa, she is instead met by the crows, whose con­stant pres­ence seems to mir­ror the unre­solved tur­moil with­in her. The birds, who dom­i­nate the sky and fill the air with their calls, become a metaphor for the emo­tion­al weight she car­ries. Their pres­ence, as omi­nous as it is, rep­re­sents the haunt­ing nature of Leighton’s inner strug­gles and her inabil­i­ty to escape the grief, fear, and uncer­tain­ty that have become a part of her real­i­ty.

The crows in the chap­ter serve as a pow­er­ful sym­bol of Leighton’s emo­tion­al state—unsettling, con­stant, and inescapable. As she con­tem­plates her own life, the pres­ence of the birds height­ens her aware­ness of the unre­solved issues with­in her fam­i­ly and her per­son­al life. Their increas­ing num­bers remind her that, much like the nat­ur­al world, change is inevitable and can­not be con­trolled or avoid­ed. These birds, seem­ing­ly insignif­i­cant to oth­ers, are a con­stant reminder to Leighton that the fears and emo­tion­al chal­lenges she faces will not sim­ply dis­ap­pear. Instead, they will remain with her, loom­ing over her, much like the crows that fill the town. This chap­ter por­trays Leighton’s emo­tion­al jour­ney with remark­able depth, as it inter­twines her exter­nal sur­round­ings with her inter­nal strug­gles, paint­ing a vivid pic­ture of a young per­son try­ing to nav­i­gate the com­plex­i­ties of loss, fam­i­ly, and per­son­al growth amidst the con­stant pres­ence of things they can­not con­trol.