Swift

fictionspawn Aak,

Swift.jpg

She was looking out over the edge of the nest. She would soon fly. She had been looking over this edge all her life, waiting for her mother and father stop by with food. But now a new time was emerging, she could feel until the tip of her feathers. She was dreaming of the stars, to sleep thousands of meters up in the air, to hunt insects between the houses in the evening.

Her parents had been away for a long time now.  She could see the little insects in the air in front of her. She could catch them, she knew it. She moved carefully up on the edge. Her big wings on each side. She left the edge. Fell towards the grown, testing her wings. She didn’t get it right. The heat from the sun was beyond anything she’d imagined. She got his wings out, moved forward, but didn’t get height. She hit ground.

She wasn’t really hurt, but knew she was in trouble. She was out of her element, like a fish out of water. She was a creature of air. Now she was stuck to the ground. Her short legs and big wings made it difficult to move around. They were not meant to get her up from nothing, they were meant to keep her in the air. She was stuck.

She jumped clumsily around. Feet in shoes stepping around her. She jumped towards the wall where it seemed a bit safer, but still people were stepping close. A dog came running. A human was calling it. The dog saw her, started hitting her with its paw. The human grabbed the dog and pulled it away.

There was a hole in the wall. It was similar to the spot where her nest had been. Safety. She ran towards it in small jumps. She was almost there. Two eyes stared at her from the darkness. Two yellow eyes with a vertical line in the centre.

Look, a bird!

Hands were grabbing at her. She tried to get away, but they picked her up.

There were two of them, and they were communicating with strange sounds. They carried her away. Into a door. Up stairs. In another door and out on a balcony. She could see the ground far below. Height. Afternoon wind blowing through her feathers. Other birds flying by at high speed. The human was holding her high in the air. It opened its fingers. She closed his eyes for a moment. Took a deep breath. Opened them. Jumped. She fell outside of the fence. Opened her wings. They filled with air underneath. Slowed down her fall, made her go forwards. A wall. She was going to crash. She leaned to one side, and her direction followed, flying down the street and up in the air to join her fellow swifts in an air born life.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swift

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_intelligence

Perspective

Published by fictionspawn Aak

Norwegian trilingual writer and illustrator. Contact information in my Gallery.

31 Comments

  1. My daughters and I saw a baby bird on the ground once. It looked hurt and helpless, so we took it home and made a little bed for it. I called the veterinarian to ask how to take care of it, and she said to put the bird back where I found it because the mother was teaching it to fly. We did, and as we walked off I saw its mother swoop down from a tree to come to the baby’s rescue. It was amazing. But I felt terrible because we had worried that mother bird.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. The problem with the swifts is that they are incapable of getting off the ground with no height to jump out from. Their long wings are made for gliding, and they sleep, eat and do everything exept mate in the air, and I guess they mate on rooftops and such. When they’re on ground they need to get to some place to fly out from. On the street they are in big trouble. This one is based on a true story 😉

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. I wonder how any bird learns to fly from the ground. I can’t imagine the pain of a mother bird when she pushes her baby out of the nest and watches it fall. There’s a metaphor in there somewhere.

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply

  4. You set up a lot of suspense and I’m glad she finally got away. There seemed to be a few sentences however, that referred to “She” and them “him” or “his”. You might want to edit those.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. You know when you’re a kid and someone asks what kind of animal you would be if you could? I said a bird. When older, I have said “heaven” (euphemistically speaking) won’t seem like heaven if I can’t swim in the ocean (not as an animal, so to speak, but as myself — but sort of like an animal). It’s been a while since I’ve thought of that; I think I meant without worrying about breathing.

        Like

        Reply

  7. I like how all of your stories, no matter now short they are, begins with such great suspense to lead up to the climax. Great job!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  13. It’s based on a true story 😉 I like how all of your stories, no matter now short they are, begins with such great suspense to lead up to the climax.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment