I would like to tell you a story.
This all took place in a little college town somewhere in New York, the kind of place that never really loses the strange, sleepy feeling that seems to follow students around like a cloud.
One Sunday, I woke up very early and decided to walk from campus to the grocery store. The grocery was mostly empty, just me and a handful of elderly people. We all shuffled around lethargically, handling fruit and nodding at each other in passing. Being a poor college student, I headed down the bargain aisle, where the dented soup cans and recently expired bakery items were sent to die.
Then the little bird fluttered down from one of the shelves and sat before me. He cocked his head to one side in that funny quizzical way birds do. We stared at each other until a woman with a squeaky basket pulled into the aisle from behind me. The bird flapped his wings and vanished back into one of the shelves.
“Oh!” said the woman. “Was that a bird?”
I turned and rushed to the front of the store. The bird was missing a great deal of feathers on one of his wings - he was probably hurt and seeking a safe place to hide. I couldn’t just leave him there.
“Can I help you?” asked a voice. I found a little person glaring up at me. She wore the grocery store’s uniform.
“There’s a bird over in the bargain aisle,” I told her. “I think it may be hurt.”
She nodded. “Alright then. Grab a bucket - we’ll try to catch it and call the animal hospital.”
And just like that, she snatched a bucket and took off. Fast as lightning. I had to wonder how many times she’d done this before.
We must have looked pretty strange - a goofy looking college girl in combat boots and oversized coat, and a little person wielding a bucket and a handful of bread. I think that once or twice some customers peeked into the aisle, but none dared to enter and ask just what the hell we were doing. We tried and tried to capture the little bird, but he kept jumping out, flying over our heads, and then hiding again.
“I’m going to call the animal hospital,” the grocery clerk told me. “They’re better equipped to handle this. You can go on home now. I’ll make sure he’s taken care of.”
I stepped out into the cold and began to make my way back to campus. Not home, which was elsewhere. The sun was shining. I wrapped my arms around myself and laughed. The day had barely begun - most people were probably just rolling out of bed. And I?
I had met the bird in the bargain aisle.
