Private Property

Happy Birthday Miss D!

A mixed flock of cardinals and blue jays were lounging about on their favorite oak tree, soaking up the sun and happily chirping away, when their morning revelries were broken by a pair of loud voices.

Frightened by the prospect of human contact, they all zoomed to the top of the tree, where their respective leaders of the flocks were relaxing and chilling. With hundreds of their brethren chirping and flapping madly, it took them quite a few minutes to figure out just what all the hubbub was about. Once they did, the two leaders gave one long piercing chirp to quiet them down, stretched their wings and went off to investigate.

"Charles?"
"Yes milady?"
"Tell me again why we're walking through this icky forest?" asked Dee, who was trying her very best not to touch anything beyond what was absolutely necessary.
"Certainly milady. You wanted to spend some time at the beach and you wanted as much privacy as you could possibly get."
"Okay. But how is tramping through this icky forest got anything to do with it?"
"Everything milady. This beach is located in the heart of the valley, which has been mostly untouched by human hands. And the owners of this beach are very particular as to who can swim and relax there."

Dee smiled at the thought of being one of the chosen few who wold be allowed to swim and relax there. Still, she was very puzzled as to why they were hiking there, instead of driving or flying.
"Charles?"
"Yes milady?"
"How come we aren't driving or flying there?"
"Because milady, it's only accessible on foot."
"Oh."

It only took the blue jay and cardinal a couple of minutes to arrive on the scene. Once they did, the blue jay power dived for a closer look, while the cardinal maintained a sentry outpost on a nearby tree. Unfortunately for the blue jay, his depth perception was a little off, so by the time he decided to pull up, he plowed straight into a pile of leaves.

Out of the corner of her eye, Dee saw a pile of leaves exploded into the air. Curious, she stopped for a moment to take a look. Peering inside, she thought she saw a little bird writhing around in pain. Taking a deep breath, she stuck her hand in, searched for a few seconds and pulled out a bird.

"Charles?"
"Yes milady?"
"What kind of bird is this?"
Charles stopped where he was and turned around to see what Dee was holding.
"Blue jay, milady."
Dee shrugged and placed the blue jay on top of her panama hat, before running after Charles.

The cardinal waited for a few more minutes to make sure that the blue jay was out of danger, then took off to fetch both flocks. By the time he reappeared with them, Dee and Charles were exiting the forest and stepping onto the beach.

Dee took a couple of tentative steps and almost by magic, felt all of her worries and troubles melt away. No more dealing with the unruly peons who didn't appreciate her talents. No more mindless pseudo responsibilities designed to make her feel important. Most importantly though, no more whiny, needy relatives to clog up her days and gum up her nights.

Inhaling the fresh mixed scent of wild flowers, daisies, daffodils, tiger lilies and mountain laurel, Dee felt her spirit take flight towards the mountain tops. Opening her eyes, she took a good look at her surroundings and simply fell in love.

She welcomed the cool breeze blowing off the lake with open arms as she sat down on the blanket that Charles had thoughtfully laid out for her before taking his leave. Digging her feet into the sand, she leaned back and let the natural warmth of the sand gently rock her to sleep.

The cardinal had the flock take up a few strategic positions within a quarter mile radius of where Dee was napping, before casually flying towards Dee. When he was about a couple of feet away, he began circling around her head so as to check on the condition of his friend.

So as not to wake Dee up from her nap, the cardinal dropped an acorn on top of his friend to get his attention. The blue jay poked his head up and flung the acorn back at the cardinal, who batted it away with his beak. Stretching his wings, the blue jay carefully hopped off the hat and waved the cardinal over.

They spent the next couple of minutes chirping in hushed tones, trying to decide on what to do next. Finally, after coming to a mutual understanding, the cardinal took flight while the blue jay hung ten on her shoulders. A couple of minutes later, the sky turned a mixed shade of cherry red and baby blue as the two huge flocks cane flying in for the big showdown.

The blue jay waited until the cardinal came to a rest on Dee's right breast, before joining him on the left. Once they were both properly situated, they began singing. Softly at first, they soon increased in volume until they became just loud enough to finally wake Dee up from her nap.

Dee was experiencing a restful sleep which included a few pleasant dreams when the choral sound of birds chirping gently penetrated her subconscious. Stretching, she opened her eyes and was pleasantly surprised to see two birds sitting on her chest joyfully singing. Looking around, she was even more surprised to see a large circle of birds, numbering about three rows deep, joining the two that were on her chest happily singing to the heavens.

Dee held out her hands and the two birds that were on her chest stepped onto them. Bringing them up to her face, they proceeded to snuggle up to her cheeks and sang ever so lightly in her ears. Dee felt so moved by the bird's singing that she began to cry. Not hard, but very, very softly, almost like when the morning dew drips from the branches to the ground.

The birds sang one final chorus, kissed her lightly on the cheek, and took flight. They were quickly followed by the rest of the flock and soon the sky was again engulfed in shades of cherry red and baby blue. Then, as abruptly as they arrived on the scene, they disappeared the same way, and Dee was soon left with a small seed of sadness in her soul.

With the sound of the bird's happy song still lingering in the air, Dee drifted back to sleep. But no sooner than she drifted off, she felt a hard poke in her side. Opening her eyes, she was very surprised to see her youngest daughter standing at the foot of the bed, holding a breakfast tray.
Rubbing her eyes, she sat up and asked, "What's this?"
"Happy birthday mommy! I made breakfast for you."
"Why thank you sweetie!"
"You're welcome."

Dee watched as her youngest daughter gave her a kiss and skipped happily out of the room. As she began to eat her breakfast of slightly burnt toast, warm cereal and cold coffee, she couldn't help but wonder if last night was all a dream, or did it really happen.

"Nah." she said to herself. Just then, she felt something sharp sticking into her. Reaching under her shirt, she pulled out, much to her surprise, a red feather.
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(c) 2009 by GBMJr. All rights reserved.