Pat

they saw him coming

not that he hid it

who is anybody if they wear a lie out and let it be their informant

his co-workers read him like a book

they said they found a fledgling that had fallen from its nest

they brought it inside put it in a box but since it made too much noise they took it back outside

Because it made too much noise you outed it onto the strip mall where traffic rolls just past our front door

Yeah

Because customers were complaining

No it made too much noise

Our inane PA radio make too much noiseWhere

a co-worker pointed through the plateglass window at a small decorative tree growing in a square of dirt surrounded by a concrete walk                                                                          

What are you going to do

Bring its little ass back inside and take it home tonight Good thing Im early to workhuh

Yeah

he went outside to find the little beggar but it wasnt where his co-worker said

he could hear a chirping above him

he assumed it was the outed chicks sibling

listening carefully under the hum of tire rubber of passing vehicles he could hear its calls answered by a muted cheep  though nowhere near his co-worker said

. . . over by the tree

Exposed

You said it was a fledgling it cant fly what the hell was the sense in putting it near the damn tree

AhI guess  we werent thinking

I think you quit thinking when you put it outside because it made too much noiseFor Christssake

he found it cowering in a drainage slot in a cement partition that divided and hid their shopping carts from the sidewalk and view

he picked the little beggar up and took it back inside the store placing it in a white cardboard Lambrusco box

he covered the bottom with a paper towel(birds shit like no other) and despite folding its flaps down as it was originally packed to minimise the noisy chick it was also apparently a skillful ventriloquist its cry sounded at once inside the box and overhead crying in the rafters

customers coming up to the counter rolled their eyes looking up perhaps to catch the birds flutter

No he said Quite the talent huh Its behind me in the Lambrusco box

one customer replied They still make Lambrusco

he laughed Apparently so

when the evening traffic slowed he told his co-workers he was going across the parking lot to Petco for mealworms

the chick wouldnt take a mealworm or half a mealworm either end

he caulked that up to its being overstimulated 

before he arrived at work a co-worker called Wildlife Rescue

the volunteer she spoke with refused to rescue the chick

they recommended it be fed worms or moist cat food

Feed cat food to cat food sounds bizarre he said What kind of cat food How do we save the little mongrel from developing a taste for fowl and becoming a bird cannibal Theres lots and lots of canned chicken turkey flavours

And it aint no seagull either

she said When I asked again the volunteer drily repeated Soft cat food Wild birds scourge at garbage bins for Godssakes

For Godssakes

Can you believe that

Not wild birds around my place he said

 

at the grocers he opted for a liver pate  not any catfud(as he was accustoming to teasing)

before leaving work his co-worker asked if he had a name for the bird

A name

       I think Ill hold off on a name until I get em airbourne a christening of sorts

You gotta have a name

Okay a name  You were one of those who found itDammit Its not an It . . What the hell  A sheim a shehe I like sheim Sounds Jewish 

I think given its androgynous  

I like Pat

Pat  SNLs

Yeah dont you think

I dont know sheims sex  Done  In your honor

he was no nonsense when he pulled up his sleeves and dove in on what others may have considered hopeless many customers sighed deigned their heads sympathetically Lots a luck with that and him thinking What the hell You help when theres a need Why would anyone think beyond this here and now and accept their effort may fail

he didnt

it never crossed his mind why would he think that why would he allow any thought of defeat or any fetter to restrain his effort

circumstances presented themselves

cards were dealt  

Pat and he played the hand and he was all-in(although its easy to be all-in when you arent the one suffering in distress or at odds)

he saw day by day incrementally maybe a week and a half maybe two Pat clambering in the box indoors growing stronger Pat was a fighter(animals are fighters not fragile like human beings) beginning to flutter slapping the hell out of the cardboard walls with unfurled wings then going outofdoors to release sheim

why would he see it any other way not in his makeup not in his character or ethic

his co-workers saw that

his co-workers saw him coming

his error  --  forever  --  was to see in others an extension a reflection of himself a carnival mirror funhouse warped

when his co-workers saw a bar set high they didnt want to extend the effort  --  they excelled at following orders tripped over themselves  incorporeally  accepting as readily his bar placed too high as their subjugation by off-somewhere-else Corporate   and their oppression

  

he helped Pat eat fashioning a feeding tube from a cutdown Bic Cristal pen used a Q-tip as a plunger

he fed Pat the pate and cutup mealworms

after they danced a couple of times coordinated their efforts Pat went after the pen tube voraciously  selfishly

sheim jawed the tube clamped it in its bill while he plunged the feed into Pats throat with a Q-tip

Pat in those moments seemed to grow sheims presence magnified

the next morning Pat scrambled ably across the carton bottom wingbeats thumping its side

Pat called when hungry

it evolved into nearly every two and a half hours like clockwork

and when satiated Pat went still  and quiet

a Buddha digesting

he thought they hit a nice stride despite being thrown together

the second evening

after nine oclock

his housecat began clawing(like fingernails at a chalkboard) the side of the refrigerator where he placed Pats box atop

Let Pat roost indie Whachaup to he asked

indie trilled in his throat  never once regarding him or taking his eyes down from looking up

he didnt think much of it at the time other than indie may disturb Pat

it seemed later that indie was the only earthling aware that Pats soul passed

prior mornings Pat cheeped for breakfast not long after eight

this morning at eightthirty she still hadnt broke her silence

he took the Lambrusco box down and looked into it a bit before nine

Pat lay dead 

sheims beak pointed into a corner sprawled out on sheims belly  sheims long ridiculously long legs and big feet stretched out behind

he was shocked

as tears crept into his eyes rage entered his neck and shoulders and arms he shook violently

it never occurred to him

it never occurred to him

until it slapped him in the face with cold reality

reeling him

but it was always like that

a lesson he steadfastly refused to learn

2323,  Monday,  18  7. 16

1414,  Day-between-Two-Ts,  20  7. 16