A BIRD IN A CAGE
@StoryPage
One day, when I was a young bird, my life completely changed. I do not know how long ago it was, but I still remember flying through the sky looking down at the green forest below.
All of a sudden, while I was looking for food, everything went black.
I crashed into something soft and was unable to move. I struggled to get loose, but I was not able to get free. I was put into a box. The walls were very hard, and I did not have much room to move. I hit the walls with my wings and yelled for help. After a while, since no one came to help me, I just gave up.
Inside the box, I found some water and food to eat. I do not know how long I was in the box.
Suddenly, the box opened and a bright light blinded me. I dropped to the ground. I felt the warmth of the sun on my back. It took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the light. When I was able to see, I looked around. I was FREE!
I stretched my wings and waved them against the air. It felt so good to flap my wings and walk around. I must have been in that box for a long time because my wings were very weak.
I began to explore. This place was so different. The ground was hard. It was not green. It was brown. Above me, I could not see any trees.
As I looked around, I saw birds everywhere. I had no idea what kind of birds they were. I had never seen any of these birds before. There were blue birds, yellow birds, green birds and red birds, and they were all looking at me!
I flew around looking for a place to land so I could relax. Something was over the top of where I was, so I was unable to escape.
I flew in circles looking for a place to rest and then I saw a small hole in a black box. I landed on the branch outside. When I put my head inside the hole, something bit me.
I said, “Ouch!” and then I jumped back.
When I tried to go inside again, the same thing happened.
A black bird popped out.
She yelled at me, “Leave me alone, can’t you see I’m trying to take care of my family! They’re taking a nap. Leave us alone!”
I decided this was not a safe place, so I flew to the other side where I tried to hide in a corner. I found a place to land, but I was hanging upside down from the covering.
Finally, I saw a place where I could rest.
A big yellow bird flew over and sat next to me.
“Hello, my name is Tiki, what is your name?” asked the bird.
“Uh… Uh… um… I don’t know, I don’t think I have a name,” I replied.
The other birds began to laugh.
“You don’t have a name? Ha ha ha, now that’s new!” said one of the larger birds laughing so hard he could hardly speak.
An older bird flew over and sat on my other side. He looked at me from beak to tail.
“I think we’ll call him Newbie,” he stated to the others. They all laughed. Then he flew away.
I thought to myself, “Hm…. Newbie, sounds OK to me.”
So, from that day on, my name was Newbie.
I found out they called this place a zoo. It is a place where many animals live so humans can come to laugh and stare at them.
I like the children. They are fun. They like to come to our house and giggle.
They threw food at us. I found if I flew from one end of the cage to the other, the people would go “ooh” and “ah”.
Sometimes, it would rain for many days. I hated it when it rained.
In the forest, I could hide under a tree to keep dry, but in this place, when it rained I got all wet. There was no place to hide from the rain.
After the rain stopped, the sun would come out. It was so bright and hot it dried my feathers quickly, but then I was uncomfortable from the heat, because I did not have any shade.
I do not know how long I had been in the zoo, when one day, I decided to stay on the ground to look for food. Suddenly, the gate to our home opened. A human came inside, and I knew what this meant! Every time a human came inside, one of my friends disappeared. I jumped up to fly away, but I was caught. I knew this feeling. Once again I was trapped.
I found myself in a dark place and could not move. “What now?” I thought to myself.
The box moved up and down. I tried to keep from hitting the sides of the box, but I bounced up and down like a toy.
Finally the bouncing stopped. Then it got very quiet. I waited to see what would happen next.
Suddenly there was a bright light.
As I was gently dropped to the ground, I rolled over and got onto my feet. I spread my wings and flapped them to get rid of the stiffness. I looked around. I was in a very different place, and I was alone. I was in a very small cage. I looked up and saw a place to sit, so I jumped up to get a better view.
Just then, there was a face in front of me. It was one of those small humans. I did not have enough room to fly away, so I just sat there and stared back at him. I do not know how long this lasted. Then I heard a strange noise.
“Hay - low, Hay – low, Hay – low, Hay – low”, the small child said over and over again. I had nothing better to do, so I sat there and watched the small person who was making the strange noise.
This went on for many days. He kept coming to the cage and making that strange noise, “Hay - low, Hay – low, Hay – low, Hay – low”.
He would say it over and over and over again. Finally, I got mad. I did not want to hear that sound anymore so I yelled, “Hay – low!”
The small child stopped making the noise. He began to laugh at me. He was just like the kids at the zoo. Then he gave me some food.
The next day he came back. He started making that noise again, “Hay - low, Hay – low, Hay – low, Hay – low”.
I got fed up with the noise. Once again I blurted out, “Hay – low!”
He stopped.
I found out if I said, “Hay – low” he would stop.
Then he would give me some food. This became our game. Then he started making other noises. Just like before, I found out that if I repeated the noise he would give me a treat. I liked the treats, so I learned many new words. The small human and I became good friends.
THE END
thanks for reading this story