Love Nest

I’ve been having some pretty rough months lately. Once Wednesday, I woke up, and I told myself “ I cant bare to go to work today”. I took an emergency leave; it was an emergency of the self. I woke Charlene up at 10am, grumpiness and all; she joined me for a smoke. We planned out a nice day out, shopping, movie and alcohol.. how soul healing is that? It couldn’t have gotten better.

Before our movie, we had our “Charlene-Kathy” ritual which comes in handy for shit filled days and fun and laughter. One Mango-strawberry margarita for Kathy and one lime margarita for Charlene please!!! Not any margarita, it’s got to be Chili’s top shelf margarita. We had our usual 3 for all, and enjoyed the sour taste of godly nectar on our tongues.

In the midst of all that, I got a call from Leon. “Hunnie, where are you?? I have a surprise for you!!”. OUUU….how exciting!!! A surprise for me, its almost valentines day, and I remember pointing out a beautiful piece of lingerie that we saw online….maybe it arrived early I thought. Leon arrived within a few minutes. EMPTY HANDED. “Where’s the surprise hunnie?”. He reached in his pocket (it couldn’t have been my lingerie, darn), and brought out a little ugly sparrow. Charlene and I were so excited, we immediately rushed to name the little one. Charlene settled with Casper, I settled with Poncho. Currently named: Happy Feet @ Casper @ Poncho. The three of us hurried up to the pet shop, and picked out some bird feed.

Poncho’s first trip to the city was to the cinema. We heard the little tweet chirping away throughout the movie, but there was nothing much we could do. After the movie, we picked up a free sauce trey and a drink mixer from McDonalds’ and hurried down to the bathroom. Since I had the long nails, I pried its mouth open, and Charlene shoved some bird feed down its throat. Pretty scary, I was afraid that I might tear its little beak and Charlene was afraid of choking the little thing. But all was fine.

We took it home, and I attempted feeding time again. This time, Poncho looked excited when it saw its signature McDonalds’ free mixer feeder. As soon as I placed it near its mouth, it gobbled the entire tip. I couldn’t believe the amount that little thing can eat, and I think Poncho has the most efficient bowel system in the world!!! At first we were pretty skeptical that the bird would survive, but judging from the appetite, this little one had a long way to go in life. Charlene and I had our fair share of trying to save birds, it’s quite a tough job and it’s almost impossible for a birdie to survive without its mother.

It’s been two weeks now, and the plan was to wait for Poncho to be big enough to be let go. It’s been two weeks of waking up in the middle of the night to feed it, two weeks of taking it to work, two weeks of travelling with it in the cab and LRT, and two weeks of teaching it how to fly. I have to admit, the ugly tweet has grown on me. I cant imagine not having it around.

I have an ethical dilemma, I don’t believe in keeping birds, coz it’s just not right. Secretly deep down inside, I’m hoping that when I set Poncho free, it would love me enough to not go. Poncho still feeds from the mixer, it hasn’t learned how to peck, which is quite worrying. At the same time, it’s starting to learn how to fly, and I think it’s about time I get it a bigger home- a cage. But when I get a cage, will I ever be able to let it go? If I let it go, will it ever be able to fend for itself?

Sigh, its funny how a little sparrow can brighten your life so much, it was the best Valentine’s gift, better than any lingerie piece.