It was to be a good day
Several weeks overamping with work
Trains of thought lost while straining to multitask
Reading books, articles, posts
Losing them all in a rushing flood of perceived critical things that must be done
Important only to me
I took a day to play some tennis
Score 4 to 5
A hard serve that I return down the line for a winner
The opponent says, “The Bird.”
I’m lost.
He repeats, “I hit the bird”
I look down the court near the net and see a small grey lump on my side of the court. I approach, and find a small sparrow. It is lying on its side with one wing extended and the other immobile. It breaths faintly, I can see the small beak, closing ever so slightly, but it is moving. I reached down to touch it, and then pulled back, thinking if I touched it, and my scent bonded with it, it might not be able to return to the gaggle. Taking a piece of cardboard I was able to place it on my racket. I moved toward the pro shop to get a small box in which to place it, noting all the while that it was trying to breath. As I passed players of the next court, they noted it for the first time. One asked, “What happened?” I replied, ‘My friend hit it with his big serve. I think he stunned it.”
With the bird on my racket, taking care not to touch it, we went into the pro shop where we found a small box, into which we placed it. I noticed the bird was breathing more strongly, but one wing still seemed immobile. The second wing fluttered a tad and stopped. A small crowd gathered. Jokes flooded as comments on the power of my friend’s ace, became the catalyst for jokes. The pro shop attendant talked to the sparrow, tried to coax it to life, and commented on what might happen if it was simply place on the ground. There was a fear it might be killed by dogs or other critters.
A fluttering sound in the shop caught our attention. The bird broke free from the box, and flew to the ceiling where it rested atop the florescent lamp. There it remained for a few minutes as we all watched, applauded and commented. Minutes later, it flew out the door, and settled in a tree. We applauded again and watched as it became lost among the branches and leaves. There was such joy among us all. The gleam on the face of the pro shop attendant as she looked up with tears in her eyes. OK! So it got to me too!
This could be a very good new year. I did not give one thought to my critical tasks for the rest of the day. What a gift, that bird. So small, and yet so . . .
