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Magic Is Where It Finds You by Robert Thomas
A cemetery may seem like an odd place to prefer for summer walks, but ... We were on our back from grocery shopping and thought we would
go for Near the entrance, what used to be a marshy brackish creek area had been transformed into an artificial pond about 50 feet wide and 100 feet long. A boardwalk around one side makes a good vantage place to stare into the water watching tiny fish, tadpoles, insects, and the odd turtle. At one end a small footbridge leads to a tiny island that preserves a huge old willow tree. At one side of the island, a dense mat of water lilies showed off their beautiful flowers. Strolling across the bridge to the island we saw a girl sitting under the tree reading a book. We turned away not wanting to disturb her, but a movement caught our eye. A bird was walking around on the ground close to her. Very close - it must be a pet to be that close. Intrigued by someone bringing a pet bird like this we moved a little closer and saw that it was a cockatiel. The girl looked up and we smiled and commented on how beautiful her bird was. "Oh, it's not mine." she said, and explained that she had seen it walking around the boardwalk when she arrived an hour or so ago, and that it had flown over and stayed close to her ever since. We agreed that it bust have escaped from someone's house and was now lost. Thinking it may be hungry, we decided to go back to the car and get some bread or something. Coming back a few minutes later we saw that the cockatiel has flown back over to the boardwalk was now walking towards the far end where another couple is sitting quietly. We followed the bird and, as it approached the other couple they looked over and gasped at the sight of the beautiful little creature coming towards them. The bird was hungry - as soon as we tossed some crumbled bread it's way it hopped over and started eating. The other couple commented on how beautiful our bird was. So, we sat down next to them and explained that it wasn't ours, and we had no idea where it came from. As we talked the little bird would trot around us, sometimes eating,
sometimes just looking at us. They were nice people, the kind of
nice you They were at the cemetery that day to visit the grave of their son, a son who had died only a month ago, a son that had died far too young, a son they loved and missed very much. As she spoke softly about him, her tears were never far, and her husband was very quiet. To me it seemed that he was torn between comforting her and just leaving her be. Who can tell what is the right thing to do? And all the while, the little bird kept her attention. As it moved she would watch, and if it hopped or fluttered, a tiny smile would flash on her face. The man too seemed quite moved by this experience. As I watched and listened to them it was quite poignant. Two gentle people, in the grip of a terrible loss, and this little bird giving them tiny moments of joy. And then they told us their son had been a pilot, and his greatest joy in life had been flying. Looking into each other's eyes they seemed to silently agree with each other's thoughts that somehow, maybe, in some small way, this bird was more than just a bird ...? They smiled at each other. It was magic. We felt it. Then we started talking about what to do with the bird. We all doubted a tamed bird would survive long in the wild, and they thought we should take it. It should be no surprise that we insisted they take it, and they finally agreed. The man knew a family a few blocks away, and he had seen a small birdcage in their garage so he went off to get it. The three of us talked some more. When the cage arrived I gently picked up the bird and placed it in the cage. The lady was quite simply entranced. We said our good-byes and we went our separate ways. When we got home we quietly put the groceries away. Then we stopped |
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© 2004-2005 True Life Stories |
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