“Mister, are you a Monk?”
“ Huh? I’m a sparrow.”
“Well, yeah, I know that, but you don’t have any feathers around the crown of your head and that’s the way monks look. I saw it on a church statue from my nest ”
“ The only monks I know are parrots and they have plenty of feathers on their heads. Green ones. I don’t have feathers because of an unfortunate accident involving a window in which my head was split open and my eye was all messed up.”
“Oh. Wow. Geez. That must have hurt. I’m really sorry about that. And your eye? I never would have known. And there are birds with green feathers???? I guess I don’t know much about what happens in the outside world. You see, I fell out of my nest when I was littler and I got rescued by a human. But I sure wish he had been able to put me back or in a safe place where my parents could find and feed me!”
"That’s pretty rough. These humans sometimes don't think about that. That species is very confused. But then again, your nest may have been way high up on a light pole.”
“ Yeah, humans. I mean one minute they are scooping you up and tearing you away from your family and the next minute they are giving you gourmet food and fresh water. But then, I guess they did a good thing by bringing you in?”
“ Yeah, but it’s taking my head so long to get better I’m afraid I won’t remember how things are done outside. And boy do I ever need a dust bath.”
“oh cool a dust bath sounds fun! I hope you get better fast and get to go back out there. I would like to go with you if that’s okay.”
“Totally. But hey little guy you’ve got to learn to fly first. When those tail feathers start growing in, it will all start to get easier.”
“I sure hope so Mr. Sparrow. The Rita Lady is helping Tamara fly by plucking out tattered feathers. Tamara says it really hurts but she can’t wait to see what the new ones will look like.”
“Ouch! I may have a bald spot on my head, but otherwise my plumage is perfect. See? (flutter, flutter, flutter) And, oh, call me Head Spa. “
“Okay. Thank you Mr. Head Spa. Um, my name is ‘Y-ahn’ but I think I need to reconsider that. Everyone says ‘I-on’. Anyway, I’m going to go back over to the other side of the cage to see if I can score some worms from the Apron Lady.”
“Good luck, I- Y-ahn!”
Video of Head Spa:
Having seen the video of Mr. Head Spa, I now more fully appreciate the monk reference. When I saw that sore looking head, I flashed on an actor (Charlton Heston?) as a cardinal in a four musketeers movie. He wore a small red cap in the same position as Mr. Spa's injured spot. Ouch...that looks so sore.
ReplyDeleteWorms...mmmmmmmm.
Mr. Spa is a bit of a miracle recovery. His scalp was exposed and had to be stitched together 2 times and his right eye was swollen shut. Now it looks like he will start a soft release next week! (soft release is staying in a cage w/food for a week by a bird feeder with a flock that comes regularly, then being able to come and go from the cage for a week for food/protection- then - if the release if successful - he'll join the flock and have no interest in the cage.)
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