The Mandela Catalogue

Bean

(art by me)

"what time is it?" I say, I had just woken up.
"2:45." Twig says.
Michael and Jackie were out driving with Max.
My illness has gotten slightly better, I can move more without passing out but I still have a limit.
Fox is still unconscious, he's been like that for a few days but we've been feeding him soup and giving him his daily water.
Bee was sleeping on his chest.
Jackie taught Twig how to make soup lol.
Feels like something is missing though.
OH SHIT! I get up and speed walk to my room.
I go over to the incubator to check on the egg.
Crow eggs take 18 days to hatch, and today is day 17.

I open the incubator and turn the egg.
"hey Twig, could you move the incubator in the living room for me so I can keep watch on the egg!?" I ask.
Twig walks in and picks up the incubator after unplugging it.
He puts it by the TV stand and I plug it in.
"you got a name for it yet?" Twig asks.
"I like naming things by trates or appearance. Like Pepper, she was named after black pepper or the spice." I say
"tourmaline, chalky, lucky, soot." Twig says.
"why lucky?" I ask
"cause you are lucky to have the egg, especially right after she died. It was like magic." it says.
"coffee, cocoa" I say.
"beans are black sometimes." Twig says.
"Bean!" I say.
"bean?" Twig says.
"bean." I say in a serious way.
"Bean it is then!" Twig says.

(shout out to my best friend who helped me name it!)
________________________

I check Foxes heartbeat just before I go to sleep, I kinda miss him.
I can't wait for the egg to hatch and have another baby bird to take care of.

I fall asleep on the sofa...

I wake up at around 3am.
I look over at Fox, his eyes were open.
I shoot up and he looks at me.
"Fox!" i say, sitting down next to him.
"h-hey." he says, shivering.
"you cold?" I say.
"y-yeah." he says.
"seems your too weak to move." I say.
I cover him with a blanket.
"I'm gonna have to move you on your side incase you start choking in the night. Your most likely to start coughing up blood if your on your back" I say.
I turn him over on his side gently.
"thank you." he says.
"no problem!" I say.
"can I sleep next to you?" I ask.
"sure." he says.
I lie next to him and fall asleep.

I wake up at 12pm.
I check the time and sit up.
"I haven't missed it have I!?" I ask, looking at the incubator.
"nope, not even budged." Michael says
"did you turn it when I was asleep?" I ask.
"Fox did." he says.
"that can't be right, he's too weak to move." I say.
"he tired himself out after tho so he fell asleep again." he says.
I loom at him, asleep.
Fox, you didn't need to do that.
I look over at Twig, he's... Asleep?
"he's tired too hah." he says.
"I gotta prepare, you got the egg food?" I ask.
"yeah." he says and hands me the bag.
"I can put the water in in the morning after it hatches." I say.
I make notes:
-crow needs to be fed at least every 10-20 minutes a day.
-daily checkups.
-lots of activities and attention.
-keep in warm box until time to feed.
-can/should be fed:
~baby food (chicken/fish/turkey)
~boiled/scrambled egg
~soaked puppy or cat food
~boiled chicken/liver/fish
~raw meat slowly introduce with age
~some green catarpillars or grasshoppers

(this is actually how you look after a baby crow and it took alot of looking up to make it legit.)

"hey do you reckon you can get this stuff for me at your shop?" I ask Michael, giving him a list of items.
"yep!" he says.
"come on Max, Jackie you coming?" he says.
"yep!" she says.
Bee runs too them and jumps onto Jackie's back.
"you wanna come too?" she says to Bee.
"See ya in an hour or so!" Michael yells.
"k!" I say.

I look over at Fox, he was looking at me.
"you good?" I ask.
He nods slightly.
"can you change my gauze please?" he asks.
"sure, you want me to run you a bath?" I ask.
"uh?" he says confused.
"how would i-?" he asks.
"I can help you! I bet you'd feel better being cleaner and not covered in blood for a bit." I say.
Fox's face goes red.
"o-OK" he says
"I'll put bubbles in!" I say going to run him a bath.

I come back to him trying to sit up.
I lift him up to a sitting position.
He starts to cough and I give him a bowl.
"you OK?" I ask.
"ye." he says putting the bowl down.
"ready?" I ask.
"wait what?" he asks.
I lift him up over my shoulder.
"what the-" he says.
I carry him to the bathroom and sit him on the toilet seat.
"now, you get undressed and try to get in the bath, then yell for me to come in and I'll supervise you so you don't slip and drown or whatever." I say, unwrapping the gauze around his body.
I walk out and shut the door.
I hope he can get in the bath by himself.
I stand for a few minutes before hearing, "you can come in now!".

I come in, closing the door behind me.
"hopefully I can count on Twig to turn the egg." I say.
"you really don't have to be in here" Fox says.
"I do, what if you fall in with your head underwater, if I wasn't here I wouldn't be able to save you. Plus I kinda need to pay you back from when you had to save me so." I say.
"that was different." Fox says.
"yeah yeah." I say.

___________________________

We were laying on the living room floor, Michael, Jackie, Max and Bee were back and both of them were asleep. Michael and Jackie were on the sofas while me and Fox lay next to each other on the floor.
It was midnight, I was watching the egg and Fox was asleep.
I see the egg move a bit,
I see a small crack.
I wake Fox.
"wha?" he says.
"it's hatching!" I say.
He starts to watch the egg too.
We watch as it slowly is being pecked open by a baby crow.
"It's sad how Pepper doesn't get to see this." I say.
Fox looks at me sadly.
"she's still with us though, in spirit." he says.
"I bet she gets all the walnuts up there." Michael says.
"I bet she misses you too." Jackie says.