By: Summer Chu
Birdie’s life was fine. He was fine with his little life and his little family which consisted of his bird little sister and his human family of the two big humans and the two little humans. The little humans were the ones that would come to his little cage and play with him all the time. He was fine with the food they fed him and the toys that hung from the ceiling of his little cage. He was even fine with the unoriginal name that one of the little humans gave him when they first got him and his sister from the pet shop. He was fine and not exactly unhappy with his little life.
But Birdie didn’t think it was enough. He didn’t want to go through his life being just fine, he wanted to be happy. He wanted to get out of his little cage and the big house and fly, just fly outside, as far as he could go. He wanted to find his own food and feel the joy of getting it. He wanted to meet other little birds like him other than his sister. He wanted to do things that he just couldn’t do in the small, cramped space that was his little cage. He wanted to get out of his fine little life into a big happy one.
Birdie’s sister, also unoriginally named Birdia, didn’t share any of his opinions on the outside world. While Birdie wanted to soar high, high up in the sky, Birdia was genuinely happy flying low in their little cage, or not even flying at all. She liked resting and playing with the little humans and didn’t think of meeting other birds. She didn’t want to find her own seeds to eat and only wanted the easiness of the humans providing their food. So, Birdia was the only reason that Birdie hadn’t tried to escape before.
Now, on a beautiful summer day, Birdie was finally ready. He had tried to talk Birdia into it for months, and in the first few months it seemed like maybe she would be convinced, but after a while, she started ignoring him when he talked about it. Then started ignoring him completely. She had started pretending he didn’t exist at all and so, Birdie believed that if she really didn’t care about him anymore, it would just be better to leave her alone. That was why on a summer Sunday, Birdie began to form a plan.
It wasn’t a complicated plan in any way. Mind you, Birdie could have escaped every Sunday before that one, but on this Sunday, he was ready. The humans brought Birdie and Birdia out to play in the sun every Sunday before they went to church. So, as the little humans opened Birdie’s cage and the big humans opened the house door, Birdie zoomed out, faster than any of the humans could catch him, faster than he had ever flown before. He went straight out the door, into the beautiful, beautiful blue sky, as far as the eye could see. He flew up and up, higher than the big humans could reach, and felt his feathers ruffled by the breeze. Distantly, he could see a stretch of woodland and it felt like a magnetic pull, he wanted to go so badly. He knew he could meet other birds there and find seeds to eat and finally, finally feel completely and utterly happy. Birdie took off and didn’t look back.