Tuesday, June 24, 2008

A short story


The bird had white feathers and a red beak. She was tapping on the window and peaking inside. Maybe she was hungry…


The kid closed the book and sighed. She felt lonely, and somehow scared. But she didn’t dare to leave this room. At least this was her own room, and she knew every inch of it, even in the dark. Although she was never sure about under the bed, no matter how many times she checked it during the day. In the evenings, everything could be different. Specially now that nobody was home, except for her little brother, who was leaning on her and listening to the story she was reading to him, his cheeks still wet from his tears. She was the one who was supposed to take care of him. So despite all her fears, as soon as he started to cry, she tried not to think about her own fears, calmed him down, turned on a candle (Her parents told her it was dangerous to play with the match and the candle but what could she do? The power had gone off, and her brother was scared.) and offered to read him from the book that he liked the most, to distract him from the fact that he was hungry and he missed his parents…Now she was hungry too, and on top of them all, she was worried. What if they’ve had an accident? They used to be home usually by this hour. She looked at her brother. He was asleep still leaning on her, with a couple of tears on his cheeks…She thought to herself, “Maybe I’d better get back to the story, at least I won’t notice the dark that much.” Then, she heard a sound, the squeak of braking, and a car engine being turned off. She had a sigh of relief and awakened her brother: “Hey lazy, wake up, they are here!”…


The audio book stopped. “What went wrong?” The girl thought to herself, “I just changed the batteries this morning! Oh damn! I want to know what happens next. Now I have to wait until we arrive, which is still 3 hours away.” She saw the flight attendant approaching them with a smile. Her growling stomach confirmed “OK! About time!” Then she turned around to wake up her husband who was sitting beside her, “Now where is he?!” She turned back and checked the end of the plane. The washroom light was off. She looked at the front, no sign of anybody standing. “Where is he?!!” She thought half worried, half angry “I hope this is not just my hallucination and I won’t wake up to my miserable life before this.” It had happened so many times in the old days. She used to dream about a calm, happy, independent, efficient, adventurous life with whom she loved, and she used to wake up to a world of bad choices and terrible consequences. Now she had started to panic, scared to make the slightest move “I don’t want to wake up again.” But she looked more carefully, she could swear that the flight attendant, the pleasant smell of food, her motion sickness and hunger, and the CD player with the audio book in her hands were real.
“Hey, go back to your own seat, will you? I was having a bad headache and I went to get a cup of tea. Good thing the food is here too. What do you want this time? Oh boy! You look so pale, did you take your pill? Please tell me you don’t want to throw up on me, please, please!!!” She started to laugh as her husband fastened up his seatbelt while speaking. “Thank god it was not a dream.” She thought to herself. The flight attendant with the smile was now at their row, "Chicken or fish, ma'am?"...


The old lady looked at her watch and changed the channel. She could watch the encore of “Read and write stories” on Thursday again. On the other hand, the kids would be here any minute, and then she had to change the channel, no other choices! They were coming to watch the soccer match all together, with god knows how many of their friends. She took a look outside the window where her husband was running in the neighborhood, still in good shape even in his seventies. She waved at him, who waved back, made a silly face and passed their driveway. She smiled and closed the window; it was getting a little colder and windy. She checked the table “OK! Enough sunflower seeds, pop-corns, and chips and salsa.” Then she remembered “…and my dessert is in the fridge, I hope they like this new recipe.” She went to the kitchen, turned down the kettle which was happily whistling and boiling, and put a bunch of fresh mint leaves in a dozen glasses. “Healthier choices for our own friends, and whoever gets stomachache with all that junk food out there!” She giggled to herself. She went back to the living room and checked herself in the mirror, “Maybe some fresh lip-gloss”…and then, she heard a soft sound of tapping. She looked back at the window, there was a bird sitting outside.
The bird had white feathers and a red beak. She was tapping on the window and peaking inside. Maybe she was hungry…

8 comments:

Esfand` said...

Oh... good writings... hmmmm... made me travel in time, through places and moments...

so I found you? ...I did see your blog some months back, but its only now that this question came to my mind.... if you are the alchemist I am supposed to find? ...tell me, what about my fatima? About my dreams? About reality....

=)

Nava said...

Hi Esfand,
Thanks for your notice and comment.
The truth is, the alchemist in me is Santiago himself (or Nava herself, but you know what I mean). But who knows? Maybe we are all Santiago and Alchemist at the same time. The dreams? I am still chasing them. The reality? I'm trying to observe and patternize it. Fatima? ... Sorry, that one, you have to figure out for yourself. But after all, this is a journey for all of us, although different for each.
Good luck in your personal legend...

Mommy Homeopath: said...

Hi Nava,
Your short story made me think...of how we use our own persona in the stories that we write- or we tell to our kids...

and on the other note (I am sure you read "One" By Richard Bach)...just a glimpse of the reality that I do believe in: all three do exist exactly at the same time - the girl, the woman and the old lady...all in the parallel universe. After all Time is just a make belief of the fourth dimension for human sakes....and in that note: what an interesting link is that little bird

And I also agree that we are both Santiago and Alchemist at the same time....the search never stops...the road to find and live our personal legend will never come to an end…

Look forward to another post / story

Nava said...

Hi MH!
"One" is actually one of my favorite books, from one of my favorite writers. I should have a specific post on that some day, as I owe lots of my beliefs to that book...

Mommy Homeopath: said...

Hi Nava,

Well on that note, something that can be related to both of your short stories from Richard Bach (and if my memory serves me right, it is from his "Illusions"):

"If you will practice being fictional for a while, you will understand that fictional characters are sometimes more real than people with bodies and heartbeats."

I will for sure look forward to a post about "One" and your "perception" from it...

Anonymous said...

Wow Nava Jan;
What nice words! I'm found of such stories, as I myself tend to relate my words in the context of a story...
Thank you for letting me know about your blog.
Keep writing!
I'll be back soon!

Be happy.

jarvenpa said...

Great story, I am glad I wandered here to read it.

Esfand` said...

Thanks Nava, I will agree we all are Santiago/Nava and the Alchemist too at the same time ..... and yeah, may be I have to figure about Fatima my self :D which is again another manifestation of my dreams .... but I am not as sure as you are if I am chashing them or not... n reality, well the more I try to grasp it and the more I know about it, the further distant I find my self from it ... reality is a tricky thing to grasp on, its like trying to grasp air amidst a tornado, or a cool breeze, or like trying to hold on to the water while swimming up a stream. ~

Waiting for another great story from you!

Enjoy wandering through the deserts of life, occasionaly hitting upon oases of happiness n joy!