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
