A Bird in the Hand

Monday, I was walking past my workplace building, picking up something for my boss, when I heard a loud thump above me. Glancing to my right, my eyes caught movement as a bird landed in the middle of Campbell Street with a splat. Traffic was nonexistent for the moment, so I made my way over to the poor bird. It looked dead. It's eyes were open and it was not moving. I thought it's neck was broken from hitting a window several stories up. The fall could have also killed it. As I reached for it, however, the bird fluttered about a foot away and landed on it's chest. I lunged and captured it as gently as I could.

The bird decided I was not causing it pain, so it ceased to struggle and sat calmly in my open palm. It was less than half the size of my open hand, so I could easily carry it and hide it with both hands, if need be. I took a close look at it. The iridescent feathers were dark blue around the head, becoming lighter blue down toward the tail. The bird is known as an Indigo Bunting.

I showed this bird off to the ladies, who were where I picked up what I was sent to get. I showed it off to an employee on my floor who was arriving late. The entire time, the bird sat comfortably and calmly in my open hand. Then I thought my office would enjoy seeing it. Only my boss and one other were in, so no pictures were taken (usually documented by a particular person who was at the dentist on Monday). I made sure to keep the bird secured, just in case it suddenly got flighty.

After a minute of showing off, I took the bird back downstairs and outside. It struggled a bit on the ride down the elevator, so I thought it had recovered from it's shock. Once outside, I removed my covering hand and it perched gently on one of my fingers, grasping it like a tree branch. It stood there for a minute, not minding me a bit. However, when I reached for it again with my empty hand, it startled (as only birds can do) and sprang off my finger and into the air. I watched it fly far away.

The End.

PS. I did take note of several coincidences. First, I just happened to be walking there at the right moment. Second, Campbell had been busy only a minute before the bird hit the road, but it was strangely devoid of cars afterward. Third, I was wearing a deep blue shirt. Surely the bird thought I was the mythical Indigo Bunting god, sent to save it from being squished. I imagine tales of me are being sung even now in Bunting lore.