A man and his chickadee family - George

A man and his chickadee family
©2008 George
Story starter was: “On the edge of the Beaver Pond, playful chickadees whiz by…”

The random pile of colourful covers, jackets, plastic parts stirs at one end. An old sneaker kicks at the hidden shopping cart sending one wheel spinning.

“Owhh! Shit! Damn toe!” comes from under the other end of the pile. A hand waves at the green and yellow sleeping bag that covers the head end of the cloth pile. The hand parts the pile, showing a fully haired head, eyes squinting in the morning light.

A chickadee whizzes by, playfully stopping near the cloth pile. The man slowly turns his head to look directly at the chickadee. It cocks its head at the man, hops twice, then zips into the air toward the rushes on the edge of Beaver Pond.

The man, disappointed, stares after the little bird. After a minute of waiting to see his only friend, the man sinks back down into his possessions.

Two chickadees whiz in from the path toward the man. One stops on a dime on a thin branch over the man, chickadee’ing at him like laughter. He smiles up at it. The other chickadee zips between them, pulling the laughing bird along to more adventures down the path.

The man sinks down again into his pile. He looks over to the sky showing above the pond. “Better get up. Might be late, heh heh.” He rolls over, grunts as he settles back into a more comfortable position, but hits his toe again, “Owhh! Shit! Damn toe!”