Wings of Protection
Nora opened her eyes, and the room came alive again.
The sound of rushing water from the tap, the smell of the lavender from the bouquet on the counter top, and the heavy weight of the cold steel knife in her hand threw Nora back to reality. How long had she had her eyes closed? How long had she drifted off to that place in her mind which, without warning, pulls her in and holds her down until she can’t breathe, only to release her at the last second?
A voice called out to her from another room, and Nora dropped the knife into the sink and shut the water off. She blinked to let the light back into her eyes. “Mama, come see!”
Nora followed the voice, and with the best smile she could muster, looked down at her daughter, Clara.
“In the bird cage. I think we caught one!”
Together they walked out into the fenced garden and admired the small bird in the gold wired cage that hung on the branch of their old oak tree. As they stared at the creature flapping its wings, Nora ran through her expansive knowledge of birds in her mind, trying to identify what she saw in front of her. It was small and shaped like a hummingbird, with a broad pink chest, a bright teal body, and wings that flapped faster than Nora could perceive. The beak was smooth and pointy. But the tail was long — longer than it’s entire body — and it swayed slowly and majestically under the bird, letting off sparkling silver dust with every movement it made. It twinkled brightly in the afternoon sun. Both Nora and her daughter shared the same eyes of wonder as they stared at the beautiful bird that they had managed to capture.
“What kind of bird is it?” Clara asked, peering into the cage, her mouth slightly agape.
Nora shook her head slightly. “I don’t know. I’ve never seen one quite like this before.”
Clara tilted her head like a curious puppy, and pulled out a disposable camera from her denim overall pockets. She took a picture of the bird, as she did with every bird that had landed in that cage before.
“Should we let it go now?” She asked, the innocence in her voice filled Nora’s heart with pride.
Nora hesitated, keeping her eyes locked on the bird. Something inside her tugged against the thought of letting this special creature out of her sight just yet. The wind shifted directions, and the strong gust blew the wind chimes in the backyard loudly. Nora turned to look at them. She had taken them home from her brother’s house after they had emptied it nearly two months ago. When they chimed, Nora thought of her little brother. The painful memories of his accident stabbed her in the stomach. The bird chirped quietly, pulling Nora’s attention back to it.
“You know what?” Nora started, swallowing hard and clearing her throat in an effort to fight back tears, “I think we should keep this one just a bit longer. I’ll check my encyclopedia and see if I can find out what species this is.”
Nora unhooked the cage from the oak tree and brought it into the house, setting it down on the kitchen table. Her daughter trailed behind her.
“Why don’t you bring it to Mr. Gibson’s? He knows a lot about strange birds, maybe he’s seen this one before,” Clara suggested.
Nora nodded in agreement, but her mind had already drifted to another place.
That night Nora placed the bird cage next to her bed. She stared into its beady eyes until her eyelids felt heavy in her skull, and she fell into a deep sleep. For the first time since the car crash, Nora didn’t dream of her brother.
Mr. Gibson’s Rescue Shelter was full of exotic animals that most people had never seen in their lives. No one knew where he found these animals, but they were grateful to see them in his shelter, instead of their own backyards. He took excellent care of the animals, and seemed to have endless knowledge about them.
Nora sat in her car outside of the shelter for several minutes before unbuckling her seatbelt. She looked over at the bird cage sitting in the passenger seat next to her. The bird stood perfectly still, looking up at her with those deep black eyes that seemed to want to tell her some secret about itself. The tail was still shimmering, swinging gracefully and letting off silver dust in its wake. Nora took a few more moments to collect herself, cradling the bird cage in both arms. Her stomach turned at the thought of crossing the street to get to the shelter on the other side. She watched the cars whiz by, replaying the memories of the crash in her head. Since the accident, Nora has felt as though danger was always lurking around the corner for her. After a few minutes, Nora put one foot in front of the other, and reached the entrance of the shelter.
“Hi Nora,” Mr Gibson said with a broad smile on his face, as Nora walked through the door. His eyes lit up when he saw what Nora was holding in her arms. “What did you bring me?”
Nora delicately placed the cage on countertop in front of Mr. Gibson. He placed a hand over his mouth and let out a gasp. Nora fought back the urge to roll her eyes at the dramatic display that Mr. Gibson always put on.
“I can’t seem to identify this one. Clara really wants to add it to her collection, but we need a species name. Any idea what this could be?” A small part of her wanted Mr. Gibson to be just as stumped as she was. She wanted to preserve the magic and mystery this bird seemed to have.
Mr. Gibson stared long and hard at the little creature in the cage, rubbing his chin and making exaggerated thinking noises, as though he thought this would entertain Nora in some childish way.
“I’ve never seen one like this before. It’s a beautiful looking bird, however. Are you leaving it with me?” Nora could tell from his glimmering eyes that he hoped he could keep this bird to himself.
“No, actually,” She said, defensively. She pulled the cage closer to herself and felt her hands grip the gold bars a bit tighter. “My daughter really wants us to set it free. So we’ll be doing that.”
Mr. Gibson’s face fell into a droopy frown, his eyebrows following the downward turn of his face, and he let out the sound a child makes before they throw a tantrum. “Fair enough,” He eventually said, recomposing himself. “I’m sorry I couldn’t be more helpful.”
Nora smiled politely and left the shelter.
No one was home when Nora came back from Mr. Gibson’s. The house stood still, stoic and quiet as ever. Nora indulged in the silence, taking muted footsteps towards the kitchen to start on dinner. Her mood had lightened since the morning, and a burst of energy came over her. She decided to surprise Clara and bake her favourite chocolate cake. From across the kitchen, Nora spotted the cookbook she needed from the top shelf of the book case. She placed the bird cage on the kitchen counter by the window, walked over to the bookcase, and reached high on her tip toes to grab the book. With her fingertips barely seizing the spine of the book, she pulled it gently towards her. Something stuck to the cover of the book as she was trying to dislodge it from the shelf. Jam, Nora thought to herself, Clara got some jam on the cover last time. Nora tugged a bit harder, feeling her calves start to cramp from being on her tip toes too long, and used her other hand to brace herself on the bookcase. As she gave the book one final yank, the book next to it stayed stuck to the cover, and came toppling down along with it. In the seconds before the book could make impact with Nora’s head, a high pitched sound rang loudly into her ears. Nora reeled in shock, realizing that the sound was coming from the bird. It had its beak wide open, letting out a blood-curdling cry out into the kitchen, and filling the house.
Nora stood there as the air surrounding the falling book began to shift, and morph, and distort itself, until it created an iridescent barrier between herself and the object. She stared at the book, inches away from her face, as it hung motionless in the air, perfectly encapsulated in the translucent, pink-purple bubble. One second more, and it would have come crashing down on Nora. She reached out and grabbed it with her other hand. The cry from the bird stopped instantly, and the barrier disappeared. The silence was so sharp in Nora’s ears, it was almost painful.
She placed both books down on the kitchen table, and tried to catch her breath. She turned to face the bird, which was looking at her quizzically, those beady eyes locked onto hers. Maybe Nora was imagining it, but it seemed to have given a small nod of the head, as though it was acknowledging what it had done for her.
Nora let out a nervous chuckle, closed her eyes tightly so the darkness enveloped her, and let her heart rate come down.
Nora shut the door to the bedroom behind her and placed the cage at the foot of the bed. She paced the room and chewed on her lower lip until she tasted blood in her mouth. “What happened? How did you do that? That book should have smashed me in the face.” She said aloud, turning to face the bird. A small chirp left the bird’s beak, and it tilted its head from side to side, continuously flapping its wings and waving the long tail beneath it.
A knock at the door startled Nora. She spun around and saw Clara in the doorway of the bedroom. In all the commotion, Nora didn’t hear her come home.
“Did Mr. Gibson know what kind of bird it was?” She asked, holding her bird scrapbook in her hands, ready to add another entry into it.
Nora stared at her with wide eyes. Of course, she thought to herself, how am I going to explain this to Clara?
“No, he was stumped like us.” Nora paused, “But I think this is a very special bird, Clara.”
Clara’s eyes lit up. “Really? Special how?” She moved closer to the cage.
Nora stepped out and placed herself between Clara and the bird cage. She crouched down to meet her daughter eye to eye. “I…” Nora started, but didn’t know how to continue. She just looked at Clara’s beaming eyes, her own beginning to well up with tears. “I… don’t know but I think maybe I should keep it with me here a bit longer until I can figure it out.” The words fell out of her mouth with a shaky breath.
Clara nodded slightly. “But then we should go to the bird watching park and set it free, right?”
Nora stood up and ushered Clara out of her bedroom. “Yes, definitely. As soon as I figure out what species this, we’ll let it go free at the park.” She said, as she gently nudged Clara out of the bedroom. Nora leaned against the closed door and let out a sob. She hated lying to her daughter.
Clara was getting impatient with her mother. She really wanted to see the bird go free, she felt it was cruel to keep such a beautiful creature locked up in a small cage. But Nora continued to make excuses. She never left the bird out of her sight, and she never let Clara get within a few feet of the cage.
To make matters worse, Nora took the bird everywhere. She would clutch the gold bars of the cage so tightly her knuckles turned white and her fingers would go numb. Clara was embarrassed to leave the house with her mother, begging her to leave the bird behind. But Nora couldn’t; it kept her safe.
On the evening before they were supposed to go on their yearly road trip to visit Nora’s parents, Clara asked if they could go to the bird watching park and simply take a walk.
“Please?” She pleaded with Nora, “Before we have to sit in a car for eight hours it would be so nice to take a long walk.”
“Sure,” Nora reluctantly agreed. She grabbed her jacket, her boots, and her bird, and the three of them walked to the park.
The evening was crisp. The sun was beginning to set, colouring the sky with cotton candy pink and lilac purple tones. Clara had her bird book and her binoculars with her, and her polaroid camera shoved in the pocket of her denim overalls.
“I see you’ve found my wings of protection,” A low voice hummed from behind Clara and Nora. Both of them spun around and saw a man dressed in a black suit with coat tails, and a top hat. He had a small yellow bird perched on his shoulder. It had the same long tail as the one in Nora’s cage, and it also shimmered with silver dust at every move.
Nora and Clara exchanged a confused look. “Your what?” Nora asked in a small voice.
The man pointed a long, thin finger to the bird cage that Nora had set down at her feet. “My bird. That one in particular I call my wings of protection.” He pointed his bony finger at the bird resting on his shoulder, “This one is my wings of reflection. She shows you your true path in life.” He tickled her yellow belly, and the bird let out a pleasant chirp. “The one you have in that cage there offers protection, she keeps you out of harm’s way. I lost her about two weeks ago. Thank you for finding her, but I must insist on taking her back now.”
He stepped closer to Nora and Clara. Nora scooped the bird cage up from the ground and hugged it to her body.
“You must not have taken good care of her, for her to have flown off.” Nora argued, standing a bit taller. “I think I should keep her. She’s been very happy with me.” She looked down at the bird and forced a smile.
“Mom, you can’t keep her. It belongs to someone else.” Clara whispered to her mother.
“Indeed,” The man began, nodding his head slowly. He clasped his hands behind his back. His coat tails blew gently in the wind, mimicking the sway of the bird’s tail. “The little girl is right. Unfortunately, you do not understand these birds. They need to be used for their abilities in a proper manner. It is not for just anyone to have.”
Nora didn’t budge. She couldn’t. She was frozen in fear of what danger would await her if she let the bird go. Clara’s small hand tugged on Nora’s jacket.
“Mom, we don’t need the bird. We don’t need protection from anything. This bird could help someone else who really needs it.” She looked up at her mother. She could tell her mother was afraid.
Nora looked into her daughter’s eyes and her heart sank deep into her chest. She felt like a coward. All at once, Nora became aware of how she had been acting, and how her own fears would be passed down to Clara if she kept the bird. The fog lifted from Nora’s mind. She placed the bird cage gently on the ground, and took a few steps back. Without saying anything, she took Clara’s hand and turned her back on the bird. She heard the man unlock the cage, and sigh with relief.
Clara squeezed her mother’s hand tightly, and Nora felt a warm sensation flood through her body.
She was safe.
Really charming story! I love the idea of the little birds as guardian entitles of a sort, with one showing you your path through life and the other offering protection.