Tina’s Challenge
By Noble Collins
(Responding to a challenge from my sister to use the following in a short story:
A parakeet, a bottle of Jack Daniels, an oriental rug and
a Christmas card.)
Green and orange plumage lay scattered upon my ancient Tabriz
Unnoticeable at first among the still-bright dyes of old Iran
I had not yet lifted my feet to the Ottoman to settle in for a quiet reading of
the day’s mail.
Bills, of course, and advertisements
and that unexpected Christmas card
with the far-away postmark.
But my eyes wandered over the top of the envelope for a quick glance
around the room.
Something was not right,
and, in horror, I saw the tiny feathers.
Oh God! No!
I must have screamed,
and scattered the mail as I ran to the brass cage -
door ajar,
yesterday’s news-paper still intact on his floor.
But no parakeet
No “Peetey”
“Why?”
“How?”
“What?”
Startled words blurted from my mouth
as my brain had yet to comprehend,
and then, just as quickly,
I knew.
Anger began to compete with dread
as I walked to the kitchen
more certain with each step,
hollow with fearful anticipation.
I had made the ultimate mistake.
It was my fault as much as his
I knew his weakness, his addiction,
yet I had left the bottle of Jack Daniels on the counter
in plain view.
And there lay Felix,
slumped against the litter box -
a tiny feather clinging to his jaw -
uttering a small “burp”
unable, even, to “Meoww”
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2 comments:
Noble! What a bitter sweet story, but one to which I can relate. When I was 6, Dickie, my parakeet, lay lifeless in his cage on Christmas Day. My parents found a vet who would see him. As I sat alone on the back porch of the vet's home frightened and not wanting to hear the news I knew would come, my Mother appeared. She said the vet was going to give Dickie a shot of whiskey and he would either survive or he would die. Well, Dickie, survived, by God, and for years after, Dickie lived on the shots of whiskey that my mother slipped into his water every day. Now, tell me...was it the bird or Felix who first dipped into the Jack?
Alas, it was Felix, under the influence of his long term nemesis Jack Daniels who was the lone culprit. To this day, however, I don't know how he managed to open the cage door.
Thanks for writing.
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