The water was off so the office was closed by the time I stumbled into the building, drenched in sweat and panting heavily from my morning trek. It didn't make sense going all the way back home when I had to travel back up that side to collect Shakir from school so I figured I'd spend a couple of hours catching up on some work in the silent stillness. It seemed a brilliant idea until the hunger pangs started in my stomach. I made up my mind to leave and spend the day chilling by my mother.
Slowly, excitement built inside me at the prospect of having a day free of the kids, free of work and free of stress, to allow myself a much needed period of relaxation. As you can imagine, what was planned and what actually happened were two totally different things as s often the case. The first problem was that I had got so accustomed to the air-conditioning that I forgot about the beast in the form of the broiling sun that waited outside. My mother's house has no air-conditioning and even with a fan, one often gets the feeling of trying to sit by the fireplace trying to stay warm. Now, I'm not bashing my mom's house. My house is the absolute same thing, I kid you not. You could probably bake a chicken or a turkey on my bed during the day, its so hot. That being said, I cranked the fan up to the highest speed, stripped down to almost nothing and made myself a make-shift bed on the floor. I put the TV on and since I couldn't get the remote to cooperate, I was subjected to the nonsense that was showing on the channel that was on. That's when I realised that my mom's bird was on the floor of her cage, wedge between the water bottle and appeared not to be moving. Now, if you're tuning into this blog for the first time, you probably have no clue that I don't like birds, unless they happen to soaring in the distance on TV. I can admire them from on my couch, thank you very much. Anyway, the first thing that comes to mind is that the poor creature fell from her perch and is dead. I immediately started thinking how my mother's going to feel so bad, while simultaneously hoping she doesn't expect my help cleaning it up. I got up from my make-shift bed and peered at the creature, feeling so sorry for it and wondering if maybe there was something I could have done that might have saved it and then I realised that it was staring at me with the same intent scrutiny I was giving it. If I wasn't so squeamish, I would have killed it myself at this point. I all but had the damned bird's eulogy written and the creature wasn't even dead! Later, it occurred to me the poor creature is probably as listless and miserable in this blessed heat as I am and at my mother's suggestion, I turned the fan on her and forgot about her for the rest of the day.
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About AllisonAllison is mother to two active boys who challenge her on a day to day basis with their escapades. In her other life, Allison juggles a regular day job as a marketing executive in a health food organization. At night, when everyone is asleep, she dreams of being a fulltime writer and super hero. Archives
October 2016
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