The Day She Set Her Bird Free (First Posted Mar. 23, 2011)

The Day She Set Her Bird Free

The day she placed the bird cage outside and propped open its door was a perfect late winter, almost spring, day.  The air was fresh and there was warmth in the thin rays of the sun.  The sky was blue and voices of school children enjoying a holiday could be heard in the distance.  The small, white bird took only a few short minutes to sense its opportunity and take flight. 

First it landed in a nearby bush but it soon ventured further and landed high up in a spruce tree where it sparkled against the dark needles like a small jewel.  She watched it for a long time – feeling her heart being moved by happiness and sorrow – and then she drove to the woods and went for a long walk.

While walking midst the quickening trees and hearing her feet crunch on the granular snow covering the paths crisscrossing the forest floor she thought of her bird.  She imagined it feeling both very alive and very apprehensive of the vast, natural world it was finally part of.  She hoped it would have a good, clean death.

While walking near a newly thawed stream of icy cold water she noticed an inquisitive group of chickadees in a small tree nearby.  She held out her gloved hand and first one, then a second, of these little wild birds landed on her finger looking for birdseed cupped in her palm.  She took the trust and goodwill of the chickadees as a sign.

When she woke up that morning and observed that her bird was still expelling a mucus like substance beneath its tail and still huddling in a corner of its enclosure she did not know she was going to do what she did later that day.  She did not know she was going to give it the opportunity to experience, if only for a few hours, what it felt like to fly as far as it wanted to; as far as it could.