So, I'm sitting in bed, 8 pm, reading my favourite book Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda and suddenly there's a ground-shuddering thud from outside. I jump out of my bed, and because my parents are out with my sister I run to the laundry and yank the door open. There under the now-spinning clothesline, is a little blob of Royal Blue. Pulling on my thongs and trying not to take my eyes off the blob I dash outside. The blob starts moving. Just barely, but still moving. I slow to a walk and the blob comes into focus. I can see now that there are feathers on this little animal. It shifts again and I see a flash of yellow. A bird? Macaw? It still seems so young, though. I kneel down beside the macaw and gently place my hand on its body. It's breathing, thankfully and it's warm, which is a good sign. Then, the bird lifts it head slowly to me and I can see it's full complexion of its face. I realise now, it's a Hyacinth Macaw. It's chest rising and falling peacefully, the macaw opens its beak and shuts it. It's hurt. "Don't worry, it'll be ok." I murmur to the little bird. Being as quiet as possible so I don't spook it, I run into my room to get a towel to wrap the bird up in and as I'm about to go back outside I hear a little squawk from my window. I scramble over boxes and discarded clothes to get to the window and when I do, I peek to the yard and I see that the macaw has sat up and is staring at me with an inquisitive look on its face. I chuckle to myself and go back outside. The little bird is staring after me from the window and whips it's head to me when I walk out the door. It cocks its head when it beholds the towel I have slung over my shoulder. "For you." I say. The bird bobs just once, as if it's happy I brought a towel for it. I smile and kneel down beside it. "May I?" I say holding out the towel to the bird so it can decide if I'm trustworthy enough. It looks up at me with inquisitive eyes and takes a cautious step into my outstretched towel. It looks at me and I nod my head, encouraging it enough to fully step into the towel. It huddles into the warmth of it as I wrap the towel around the bird. I scoop it up into my arms and cuddle it to my chest, feeling the warmth of it's feathers on my neck. I carefully stand up and walk inside with the bird nestled into my chest. I walk into my room and place it, as carefully as I can, onto my bed. It gives out a slightly confused little squawk so I say, "It's ok little guy, you're safe. Now, let's see what's up with you." I take out my phone and pull up Google. I search 'how to tell if a macaw is hurt', because, you know, I've never owned or even looked after a bird, let alone a MACAW. First thing that comes up is a YouTube video called "Caring for a Hyacinth Macaw". Just my luck, eh? I watch the video three times over, finally discovering my macaw is a male and then hurry to the kitchen to get some fruit for the Macaw. It's going to get annoying just calling it "the macaw" and "the bird". I think. I should probably make up a name for him. I grab an apple, pear and a handful of Brazil Nuts and rush back to my room where the Macaw is happily pecking at the towel I left him in. After watching the video, it seems like he's not hurt, just had a tumble out of the sky. But I don't know what a Hyacinth Macaw would be doing in Australia. I sit down next to the bird and spread out the food on the bed in front of him. He instantly goes for the nuts, cracking open the shell and eating the meat inside. He finishes the nuts and looks between the two fruits, trying to decide on what to try first. He decides on the apple and takes a cautious bite. He finished his bite of apple and sits there, contemplating that taste. He eventually cocks his head and turns to the pear. He takes a bite of that too. He finished it and instantly seems to perk up. He dives for the pear and devours it in a few large bites, leaving a small bit of the core.He looks up at me and nudges the pear core towards me. "You want more, little guy?" He lets out a confirming squawk, so I get up and take a few more pears from the fruit bowl. I bring them back to him and he eagerly takes another bite. I gather up the discarded nut shells and unwanted apple and chuck them in the bin in my room. I look back at him and think, He sure loves pears... Hang on... Pears... That's a perfect name!! "Hey bud, how would you feel about having a name?" I ask him. He bobs his head eagerly in reply. 'Ok, how about 'Pears'?" He gives an excited squawk and bounces on the bed, flapping his enormous wings."Alright then Pears, welcome to the family." I say, gently scratching his head. I quickly check my phone clock. It says 10:07. Wow, time really flies, huh? Pears nudges my hand and it startles me enough that I jump up off the bed. "'Sup bud?" He squawks at me and nestles down into the bunched up blankets. "Tired huh? Me too, bud. Let's find somewhere for you to sleep." He walks over next to my pillow and contently waits while I dig around for a few towels to make into a comfy little artificial nest for him. I walk back to the bed with a few old towels over my arm and get to work on making a little nest for Pears. I finish, and the nest's a little shabby but Pears seems to like it since he immediately nestles into it and closes his eyes, giving me space to change. I slip on my summer PJ's and climb into bed next to Pears. "G'night little guy." I whisper, turning off my reading light. He gives a quiet squawk, and the sleepiness starts to creep in...
***
I wake up to Pears, lovingly brushing his beak against my neck. "Morning bud." I say scratching his head. I roll over to look at my alarm clock. 9:35 am. Damn, didn't know I could sleep that long in one day. I get up out of bed and stretch, Pears' copying me and stretching too. He ruffles his feathers and stretches his wings out. "You wanna go out for a fly?" I ask him. He squawks and bobs his head eagerly. "Alright, let's go grab some brekkie, then we'll head out." Pears bobs his head once then flies up to my shoulder, perching there on the walk to the kitchen. I collect a few pears for him and make up a bowl of Weetbix for me. He devours the pears and waits patiently for me to finish my cereal. When I'm done, I put the bowl and spoon in the sink and the pear cores in the bin. I pack a small bag with a towel, some pears and snacks for me and get dressed. I chuck on some shorts and a midriff top and slip on my thongs and head out the door with Pears again perched on my shoulder. I send a quick text to my Mum to let her know where I am and set off down the street to the local soccer grounds. There's no game today, so the grounds should be free to use as a flying rink, or something like that. When we get there, there's no one there, so hopefully no awkward questions. "Let's go bud!!" I call and he jumps onto my outstretched wrist and I start running which is pretty hard with a 1.5kg Macaw on your arm. We get to the middle of the field and Pears launches himself off my arm into the clear blue sky. He looks so majestic flying above me like this. I have always dreamed of flying in the sky, soaring through the clouds, and seeing Pears flying gracefully up there makes me feel so happy. We're there for a few hours, with Pears flying about and the little picnic we had on the grass. Some kids start to come into the grounds so we decide to go back home. On the walk home, Pears flies around my head with other smaller birds and seems to be having a blast. When we get home, Pears is curled up on my shoulder, dozing gently. I unlock the door and creep inside. Mum and Dad are still sleeping, so I creep into my room and close the door behind me.
***
Over the next few weeks, Pears and I do almost everything together. I take him to school, letting him fly about during my classes, I take him with me when I go out with family and sometimes he'll even stand still and let me draw him at home. It's a pretty solid relationship. But today is the day he gets a proper home. I've been talking to my friend who's a pretty good builder and he says he can help me to build him a really big pen for Pears in the forest near my house. I had this really cool idea to train him to unlock a latch so he can let himself in and out so I've started showing him how to do that too. Today my friend is coming over to help me build the pen for Pears and we're going to plant a few baby trees in my yard to accommodate Pears when he comes over. I'm going to put out a few chairs under a beach umbrella with a little table with some bird seed on so we can hang out in the yard. When my friend gets here, we get to work on planting the trees in my yard. Pears even helps too! When we're done, we walk over to the forest to build the pen for Pears. In the pen's structure, I add a nice big door with the latch that I've been training Pears with on so he can open it for himself but still be safe from predators. We finish building the pen (It's really big, like, 50 acres) and my friend goes home. I plant a few little flowers here and there and I leave Pears to explore his new home while I go home and have a shower (It's getting late.). When I finish I go to Pears' pen. When I get there, he's seemed to have made a new friend. He's chirping to a little green tree frog he's found. When I approach, the frog jumps away and Pears squawks at me for scaring his friend away. "He'll be back." I say to him and he flaps over and perches on my shoulder. I sit down on a fallen log and chat to him. He squawks back at me in answer when I ask him a question (Like he'll answer) and cocks his head to the side when he's listening to me. The weeks go past and our bond grows stronger than ever. Pears grows up to be a beautiful, strong Macaw and soon I am going to take him to a Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre to meet some more Macaws friends, maybe find him a girlfriend. Or boyfriend, you never know. He's grown up so much since I first saw him in my yard and so much has come from it. I love him to death. My Hyacinth buddy.
A / N. Ahhh, I'm so sorry I'm terrible at ending stories and it's especially hard when I daydreamed this up and then didn't finish the daydream, just, ahhh it's so hard. Also I'll try to update Fly Free soon, but I've got a bit of writers' block on that one. K, love you all!!
- PanCake <3
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Dizzy Daydreams
Short Story"Dizzy Daydreams" is a series of short stories that are fueled from daydreams I think of at night. Most of them are my own dreams and wishes, if not all. The main character of all the stories is "Fawn" who is, in a way, me in my daydreams. Each stor...
