“The Dawn Dove”

It was by pure luck that I captured the most important photograph in my country’s history.

It was just after dawn on the twenty-sixth of January, and I was setting up my equipment on the edge on the cliff at Killiman’s Lake. The wind nipped at my nose, but I didn’t care. If I were successful, I would be the first person ever to snap a picture of the Dawn Dove.

Now, it hadn’t escaped my notice that I was alone. I had no idea what to think of this; after all, if my information had been correct and there was, in fact, a Dawn Dove nesting near this lake, then the area should’ve been swarming with my fellow photographers. The Dawn Dove had been at the top of the Most Wanted list for decades now, ever since the first supposed sighting in the forties.

Of course, it was possible that the Dawn Dove had since gone extinct. Very few sightings had occurred since then, with over half of them being proven to be made-up tales to draw tourists to the otherwise-dull Killiman’s Lake.

I didn’t necessarily trust my source of information, but, having nowhere else to be and nothing else to do, I was willing to visit the lake and wait.

And so I waited. I sat, nearly completely still, for hours. I did manage to get a few photos of other, more common animals, but no Dawn Dove.

It was almost nightfall when I decided to pack up and head home. After all, it was named the Dawn Dove, not the Night Dove.

And that’s when it happened. The subtle trembling on the surface of the lake. The rumbling of water being pushed aside. The roar of an engine.

I clutched my heart and nearly dropped my camera at the sight. But my tightened grip on my precious camera is what saved me, for my finger was already positioned on the shutter button.

It was when I had returned home, heart still pounding and breath ragged, that I sat down to make sense of what I had seen. If not for my miraculous photograph, I would have believed that my mind had deceived me after a long day of sitting.

But no, it was true. I successfully captured the first and only photograph of the legendary Dawn Dove, which was not a bird at all, but a submarine.