A Girl and Her Bird

Wherever I am, it’s very warm. I’m comfortable, even though there is not a lot of space to move around. My eyes are shut. I can feel the walls of wherever I am, and can hear sounds outside. Curiosity lurches through me, and I press my head against the ceiling. I push.

Once, twice and again.
The air is cold now.
“Look! There’s one coming out of its shell,” I hear a high pitch voice say, but I don’t understand the words. Everything is still dark. I try to make a noise, but nothing comes out. I feel something next to me, and instinctively lung for it. “Ouch. It bit me.” I don’t know what the words mean, and I don’t care. I’m hungry, and I want food. Now.
“He’s so tiny. He’s the only boy, right?” There’s that voice again. I can’t see where the voice is coming from, but I stop and take notice.
“Yes. The rest are girls.”
“He’s my little boy.” The high pitch voice sounds loving, and I raise my head. Although I cannot see, I know that whoever the voice belongs to is smiling down on me.

I don’t know how much time has passed. My foot is throbbing, and something warm and sticky is coming out of it. My sisters and I are all huddled together, and I feel one of the girls chewing on my toe. They don’t seem to like me very much. I don’t like them either; I always get less food because they take it all.

Today feels different to me. I wake up from my post afternoon-nap-naptime, and I can see. I glance around, surprised. The walls are brown and the floor is covered with something white and thin. The beings whom I guess to be my sisters are all huddled together, trying to keep warm. A small container sits in the container, carrying something clear. I wonder what it is. I look down, and realize for the first time that I have toes; four on each foot. They are pale pink and scaly. Brown colored toenails poke out from the end of each toe, and I admire them, lifting one close to my face. I make a fist and lose my balance, falling onto the white floor. What a strange world.
I look up, and see a monster. They have short white fur hanging down, enormous blue orbs and a huge snout. They have a gaping hole with rows of sharp white things inside them. I open my beak (wow, I have a beak, too!) in warning, as if to tell the monster that if they come any closer, I will attack.
“Hi, little one. Did you have a nice nap?” I tilt my head at the words, confused. What was this strange language? Something big lands in front of me, and I look up at the monster. The hole beneath her snout is curled upwards, and I don’t know what this means. I poke the big thing in front of me, and the hole shoots upwards again. “Don’t be shy.”
Shy? What was shy? While I’m trying to figure out what the monster is trying to say to me, I am lifted by the big thing into the air.
“I have someone who wants to meet you,” the monster says. “This is your new mommy.” Mommy? I don’t know why, but I like this word. It sounds…comforting.
Suddenly, I am no longer riding on the big thing. I am riding on another thing, this time not as big. It’s warm. There’s a smaller monster, only she’s less scary. There are less lines and marks on this one, and her eyes are brown instead of blue. She has long dark fur instead of the other monster’s short dark fur. She has a snout too, and a hole below it, lined with small, square, white things. She holds me with both of her big things, and I look at her. She’s not scary at all. In fact, I kind of like her.
“Hi, buddy. I’m going to take you home with me today.” I have no idea what she says to me, but her voice is high pitched, and I like it.
“What are you going to name him?” The light haired monster asks. The little monster glances at the bigger monster next to her. I like the bigger monster too; she looks just like the little one.
“Chibi,” she answers. “His name is Chibi.”

The monster takes me to her home in a small container called a “cage”. The cage has white rods going up and down, and no way for me to get out. The monster tells me she’s my new mommy, and that she’s excited for me to come and live with her.
I live in a bigger cage than the one she carried me out in. I eat out of different colored food dishes, and play with toys. My new mommy got me something shiny, and there’s another bird in there. He lives in a cage, just like me. He has green feathers, with streaks of blue by his eyes, brown eyes, and long eyelashes. He’s very handsome. I try to talk to him, but he always tries to interrupt. I like to sleep next to him so he’s not lonely. Mommy tells me I’m a “silly boy” and that asks me what I’m saying to the “bird in the mirror”. I don’t know what she’s talking about; I don’t even know what a silly boy or a mirror is. I try asking the other bird about it, but he doesn’t know either.
Sometimes, mommy and the other monsters disappear for a while. They always carry large things called “backpacks”. I don’t know where they go, but I don’t like being alone. Sometimes I worry that they won’t come back. I try to distract myself with naps or with long talks with the other bird.
Mommy sometimes gives me other food besides the seeds. She gives me little round brown things called “potatoes”. I like those a lot. Mommy always makes sure to blow on them, making sure the little white wisps that rise into the air are all gone. I don’t know what they are, but they make my beak feel hot, and I don’t like it.
My favorite food is something called “chicken”. Mommy and the other monsters laugh at me when I eat it, and call me a funny word called a “cannonball”. I don’t like it when they laugh at me. It makes me sad.
Something I really, really love to do is to poop all over mommy. It’s so funny to see her react, and run off to wash it off. But really, where else am I supposed to go? I try going on the floor, she yells at me. I try on the big leather thing she sits on, she yells at me. I try to go on her clothes, and she sighs and gives me a look. I don’t know what she wants from me.
Another fun thing is to play with mommy’s fur. It’s so long, and fun to hide in. I sometimes go there when I’m sleepy. It’s always dark, and it’s warm. I like to rub my face against mommy’s neck, and it seems to make her happy. Her fur is also fun to chew on. I try to clean it for her sometimes. She gives me kisses, which I like. She always makes sure I feel loved.

As time goes on, mommy and the boy monster grow bigger. I think they’re turning into big monsters. Mommy still loves me, though, and tells me I’m her “favorite boy”. I don’t know what it means, but it has to be good because she always pets my head and gives me kisses.
Mommy leaves sometimes, and she doesn’t always come back. I know when I see a big black thing called a “suitcase”, she’s going to be gone for a while. I miss her so much, and sometimes I scream at the other monsters to go and get her for me. Where does she go? The bigger monster that looks like mommy tells me that she’s somewhere called “college”, and that I’m not allowed to go there. I want to go there; I need my mommy.

Mommy hasn’t visited me in a long time now. I’m always waiting for her, hoping I’ll see her run towards me or hear her call my name. The other monsters take care of me, but not like she did. I miss her. she may have forgotten about me, but I have definitely not forgotten about her.
The door opens. It’s her! But wait…she’s not alone. There are more monsters; a taller one who steals kisses from mommy, and a little one mommy carries in her arms. The little one looks at me, and I hop to the front of my cage to get a better look.
“Guess what, Chibi?” Mommy asks, opening the cage with one hand. I climb onto her finger. There’s something silvery and sparkly on it, and I want to chew on it. “You get to come to a brand new house and live with us!”

I don’t know what this means, but I climb up to mommy’s shoulder and give her cheek a kiss.