(photo by Daniel Peterson from Urban Honking)So, going back to work the other day, after lunch, I pulled up to a red light. I see a big, black bird lying in the middle of the road. I can't help but look at the bird. I'm wondering how a bird gets hit by a car. Or are birds too quick for that? Did it get shocked by the power lines and just fall? Straight down? I don't know how these things happen. So I look down at this poor bird and I see it lying on it's back. Legs up in the air. It's not dead. It's head and eyes moving back and forth, just wondering how it got itself in this horrible mess. Not making any sounds, it's body not moving. Just it's head and eyes, looking up at the sky. But it's alive! The red light seemed so long. I had an eternity to decide that I would at least move the bird to a better place. If it did get hit by a car, or whatever, I was going to try and make things more comfortable. I got out and picked up the silent bird. Tucking it's wings to it's body. We stared at each other, silently, as I walked to the side of the road. I laid it down behind a telephone pole in the long grass and weeds and said goodbye. I was nine minutes late getting back from lunch, just like the day before, and the day before that.
I went back the next day. The bird was gone.
