Family
crushed
When I was around 10 years old, I found a little bird, fallen from it's nest high in the trees. I still don't know if it had been attempting to fly a little bit too early or if it had simply had the misfortune of dancing a little too close to the edge of it's home. What I do know is that I found it and insisted we save it.
Now my uncle, who fortunately for me had some training with pigeons, would do anything for me. Even help me nurse a miserable looking chick, so we did. I tried feeding it breadcrumbs like all the cartoons (no worms, I'm afraid) but he taught me that it was still too young to feed unassisted and showed me the way to do it. With patience and care, one grain of rice at a time followed by a gentle massage of the bird's throat to help it swallow.
He was looking better you know? My little birdie. Making remarkable progress everyday. So I believed it when I came back from school one day and was told that he had flown away.
I was happy.
Today I got back home from my last Call early in the morning and right there on my driveway was a baby bird, fluttering around trying to move. I instantly went back all those years ago.
This one seemed smaller and more frail. I noticed that it's eyes weren't even completely open yet but it was very determined. It would take a few steps and then breathe heavily and then again and again. My heart strings were pulled right off. I wanted to save it.
I got inside the house and told my mum about it...
Mother:Aww.. Poor thing.Me:I know. I want to save it.Mother:I doubt you can. They usually die when they're that little. Without their mother's warmth and protection they just fade away no matter how much you try.Me:But Uncle and I did it before.Mother:Sweetheart, he didn't make it.Me:But I was told...Mother:You were young..Me:He didn't make it?Mother:...Me:But I.. but...Mother:...Me:I could have gone without knowing.
Because now I am not only crushed about the bird I thought I'd saved, but also the uncle who had been unable to break his niece's heart by telling her the truth.
Losing you is what I imagine losing a parent feels like. I miss you SO MUCH Kaku! I thought you should know that.
Losing you is what I imagine losing a parent feels like. I miss you SO MUCH Kaku! I thought you should know that.
- J.
0 comments: