Black bird

Posted by SgtPepper | Posted in | Posted on Thursday, June 19, 2008

The wind was great, it blew in their faces, fresh as the calm after the storm. The Sun was up and bright, there was not a single cloud in the sky, the trees rocked with the cool breeze, the leaves danced in swirls, and the grass was greener than ever.

They had just parked the car in the middle of the way as they came out of that old Malibu, with bags and baskets, smiling and laughing, Todd and Henry Owen were just to sit under some tree when they noticed a bee hive, quiet deathly for young Todd, so they moved to the next big oak.

"It is sunnier than ever dad! Look, there aren't even clouds in the sky! Are you sure it doesn't needs fixing?" asked the toddler

"Of course not, it's perfect the way it is, in fact it is better this way, and you have never seen this kind of Sun because we don't come to California that often" said Henry, looking at the beautiful sky

Then they proceeded to set the basket, put the tablecloth, and take out the sloppy sandwiches Henry had prepared five minutes before leaving, and took out some sort of odd mixture that according to Mrs.Owen was chocolate pudding. Then they just laid there, watching the sky and feeling the mountain breeze in their faces.

"Did you brought your kite, Mr.Todd?" asked the grown up

"Yup, i put some stickers on it, so the clouds could check' em out, but I guess only the sun will see them" said Todd, looking at the cloudless sky

And so he took out his red kite, filled with plasters of shiny stickers, and for some weird reason, the kite didn't seem to fly.

"It's broken! How will I fix it?" said the irritated kid

"Well, maybe taking off some of those sticky thingies could help, just maybe..." said the father, looking at the blankly at the horizon.

"I don't think so, but I might as well try it" said the child as he took off every dinosaur, fish, Pegasus and car off the kite.

Then, as if Henry had made some sort of magic spell, the kite flew just by taking off a little few ounces of the kite. So father and son stood looking at the kite, with the same expression of blankness, as if what they were looking was light years of distance from that silly red kite. Then after a two hours, twenty-three minutes and approximately twenty-seven seconds, someone got bored and the kite was put away.

"Will mum and Gix come here too?" asked Todd as he took a bite at the mustard and double jam

"No, I think they don't come to California to enjoy the Sun, more like the shopping I believe" said thoughtfully as he threw away a triple tomato that had made its way to the basket.

"Well, what do you want to do now Toddster?"asked the father a few moments later, quiet worried that the child would ask anything with running, he hated running.

"What about climbing that tree over there?" said the blond kid, pointing at a distant enormous laurel.

"I guess we could..." sighed Henry

After a couple of minutes of packing everything on the basket again, and walking to the great tree, they were there, contemplating that huge old tree. Their amazement was interrupted with a tweet that came from low. At first they thought it was some bird in the tree, but after a few minutes of listening the desperate tweet Todd found the source, it was a bird, not the kind aunt Georgina had in a cage, but this one was black and big.

"Why is he not in the sky daddy?" asked the boy

"I would say it is because he is not flying, but I'm just guessing there" said the sympathetic parent

And as expected, the boy didn't understood a thing and he approached the bird, careful not to scare it away, it looked like he was really nervous and had a twisted wing. Todd walked towards it when Henry interrupted him

"Hey, wait, those can hurt you, you ever know when it will just stand up and peck your eye out" said the concerned adult

"What?" muttered the frightened kid

"Meh, forget it, grab the bird, probably it could use some help, be careful though" said the father as he approached as well

Then with a klutzy move, the seven year old leaned towards the bird who now tweeted furiously and as it could moved away of the kid, in the second try Todd just made the black bird angry, as it started to groan angrily. Then Henry stepped in and took Todd a little farther from the bird. Then himself leaned carefully and stealthily as only he knew how to and grabbed the bird.

"Look, the bird has a broken wing I believe" said Henry, in a sarcastic obvious tone he knew Todd wouldn't get

"I know! Perhaps that is why he wasn't flying right dad?" hypothesized the eager child

"Right..., I think we should do something about him, erm... probably massage the wing?" said Todd's father, almost to himself

"Can I touch it?" asked the enthusiastic kid

"I'm not sure, eh... what harm can it do?" answered the father, trying to think what would Lauren say about it

Then Henry leaned a little so Todd could touch the bird, and with some dorky touches, the boy startled the bird and both got scared, the second try went better with this affair, because he was gentler and softly touched the black bird.

"Do you want to hold it?" asked the father, seeing the bright on the eyes of his son

"Sure!" answered instantaneously

So, carefully, not letting the bird move, he put it at the level of the boy's spread arms and carefully placed it and with a gently swift, he took away his arms, leaving the bird completely in the arms of the little one. It was quiet a magical moment, at least for Henry, he knew he would remember it until the last of his breaths, that or until a newer memory took its place.

"I think I should say something..." said Henry

"Huh?" asked the confused child

"Yea, I mean, in this meaningful moments parents tell their kids something wise they'll remember their whole lives, I just can't come up with something..." confessed his father

"Well, they always talk about telling the truth to the grownups in the TV" said the kid, still confused

"Urm, right, I guess, that we should take care of the bird because it symbolizes our freedom you see? It was fallen and wing broken, as when we feel... imprisoned, or that we can't make a choice, yea this stuff is good" he paused, giving some sort of order to the lecture that was to come "and, we need to take a while to heal it, to get back in its way, we can't make it hurry too much or it will be hurt again, and we can't take too long or it won't take it's course again, do you understand what I'm saying?" asked the epiphanized parent

"I guess, yea" said Todd, understanding more than he gave himself credit for

"Well, and so you shall let it free when you think he is better, and just then will it fly again with the might and elegance it did, back into the skies of blue and winds of cool, o yea, and tell the truth always to your mother and me" said the satisfied parent

"I will" said Todd, answering to both questions, or perhaps just one, or who knows, maybe none

So they stood there, under the great laurel, contemplating the mountains and the descending Sun, all in peace, all in calm, just the right moment and Todd extended his arms, letting the bird fall at first, then it swung its wings and took off, slowly, silently, announcing the twilight.

"Todd.." said his father

"Yes?"

"Well, when I was little, we didn't have as much games as you do now, we had fun with sticks and stones and it was wonderful. The point is that one day, I was tired of the old long stick and I asked my father for a toy, and instead of yelling at me, he for once, looked at me and gave me a speech about how his first toy had been a set of marvels. To be honest, i didn't put much attention to him as I bet you are doing right now, but I appreciated when he gave me his old set of marvels, and i played with them and was very happy. " then he paused "Of course i was terrible at it, so I kind of lost them playing and my father got angry at me, put i kept one, a red one" he said, pulling out a red ball from his pocket

"Wow" said Todd, looking at the antique red ball in front of him

"I kept it all this years, to remember one of the only kind acts i remember my sober father doing, and now I want to pass it on to you in this day that I think was kind of special" said now sensible Henry

"Thanks dad!" yelled the excited boy, throwing himself at his dad, hugging him tightly

Then the boy took the marvel and but it in his pocket, where it would be for many many years, always near where his nervous hand could hold it, holding to the memory of that day.



By I'm the penguin

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