Bird

Early this morning I was walking down the road to get papers. On the way I came upon the religious woman who normally stands in a particular spot with her Bible and crucifix, waiting for a private taxi to take her to the church at the Mount.

As I approached her and said "Good morning", my eye fell on a little bird in the drain before her. I bent down and looked at it to assess potential injuries before picking it up. I couldn't see anything amiss. Maybe its legs were damaged.

The religious woman (R.W.) said: "Oh gosh, you know I standing here so long and I ent even see dat bird dere?"

I moved my hand slowly toward the bird, asking it if it was okay. It was a small 'Big Eye Grief' and it was not moving. In fact it was frozen, its eyes wide, mouth slightly open, little body breathing heavily.

R.W.: Someting wrong.

Waiting until some cars had passed (in case the bird tried to scramble away from me and ended up under a tyre), I enclosed it in my hand, picked it up and asked it if it was hurt.

R.W.: Someting definitely wrong. A bird just doh let you pick it up so!

I agreed. The bird struggled a bit and then, to our amazement, flew out of my hands and onto the gate, where it perched.

R.W.: See if someting wrong with de right leg.

I moved closer to see. It looked normal. Nothing appeared to be physically wrong, yet the bird sat there, motionless, breathing hard. Maybe it was in shock. I approached it and touched it gently. It allowed me to. I wanted to at least move it to a place where it was further away from the road, so I lightly enclosed my hand around it and kept it there for a while. The bird also allowed me to do this, all the while looking at me from the side of its eye.

R.W.: But what is dis?! Nutting wrong wit dat bird! How it letting you hold it so?!

I then said to the bird: "Don't be afraid" and removed my hand.

It suddenly lifted its wings and strongly flew, disappearing into a tree some distance away.

R.W.: Buh eh-eh!