A STORY ABOUT A BIRD IN A RIB CAGE

BY

DINARA ALIEVA

I dedicate this to my friend Minea. You are very close, even when you are far

away.

I also dedicate this to my friend Vincent. Thank you for the warmth you have

shared with me.

Dear reader,

This is a story about an ordinary girl who had no supernatural powers:

she couldn’t breathe fire, she couldn't shoot lasers from her eyes, and

she couldn't walk through walls. The author hasn’t provided her with a

name, so you can call her as you wish.

You can decide as well what color her hair and eyes were, how old she

was, and what games she played. All those details are of minor

significance. What is important is that nothing unusual ever happened to

this girl. Nothing! Until…

Once the girl felt sad and started to cry. She cried for a whole day, and

then another one, and yet another one, and couldn't stop. Weeks,

months and years passed by, but the flow of tears wouldn't cease. The

girl spent her days looking at the clouds floating by, and her heart was

filled with inexplicable sadness.

No musicians could make her forget her sorrow. No clowns could cheer

her up. The situation was desperate, and the girl decided to see a

doctor. He looked at her attentively, knit his brows together, set his

glasses straight – and couldn't make sense out of what he saw. To

establish a diagnosis, he decided to perform an X-ray.

The scan showed that there was a bird inside the girl's rib cage.

Scientists have no answer to the question of how the bird got there. One

morning the girl simply woke up with an uninvited guest in her body. The

emergence of a bird in one’s rib cage led to abundant lacrimation, loss of

appetite, and bad mood. Long term presence of the bird could lead to

death. Both for the patient and the bird.

It was decided to exterminate the bird as soon as possible.

The girl exerted every effort to become healthy again. She took her pills,

kept to a healthy diet and went to bed early. However medication proved

inefficient. Alternative treatments didn't help either, not to speak of

electric shock therapy.

Slowly but surely, the illness was progressing. The bird inside the girl’s

rib cage started to sing. To make it even worse, the girl’s skin grew itchy,

and she started to fledge. Her whole body was soon covered with small

fluffy feathers. Other kids wouldn’t play with the girl, so she had to spend

time on her own. She often perched on the top of a tall tree, watching

the sun move across the sky and listening to the bird singing inside her

chest.

The girl enjoyed listening to the bird’s songs. Soon she found out

that it mastered various vocal techniques and could perform both an

opera aria and a Tuvan folk song.

The girl and the bird became good friends. The girl didn’t cry as much as

before, for every time tears filled her eyes, the bird cheered her up with

a song.

In spite of the fact that the girl stopped crying, she still displayed

dangerous symptoms. The doctor saw no other solution to this than

exterminating the bird surgically. He explained to the girl that the surgery

was a risky one, and that she could easily lose her life. He assured her

however that if she survived, she, and everything else, would be normal

again. Once she plucked her feathers, she would even be able to find a

job and get married.

The girl did miss the normal life. She missed playing with other children,

and her plumage was itchy. But she didn’t want to hurt the bird, because

it was her friend.

"You are under a delusion, girl," the doctor insisted. "Your mind is

clouded, and your ability to think clearly is impaired. Don’t trust your

senses. The bird can’t be your friend, it is a pestilent pest that is sucking

the life out of you and thusly must be eliminated."

But the girl didn’t listen, for she knew the truth. She decided to on her

own pry open her rib cage and set the bird free. Opening the rib cage

was a dangerous undertaking, but she wasn’t afraid. She took a deep

breath and closed her eyes.

To her surprise, she found out that the rib cage wasn’t locked. She

opened the door and stepped in.

First she couldn’t see anything, it was so dark. After a while she noticed

a gleam of light in the distance. It was a tiny bonfire, and next to it sat a

little bird.

"Hi!" said the girl.

"Pz," answered the bird.

They spent a few minutes staring into the bonfire in awkward silence.

Finally, the girl dared to continue the conversation:

"So, you are the bird that lives inside my rib cage?"

"Pz," answered the bird.

"You are smaller than I expected," noted the girl.

"Pz," the bird seemed hurt. It fluffed up its feathers to show how big it

actually was.

"And much less intimidating than I imagined," continued the girl.

The bird didn't answer.

"How did you get inside?" asked the girl.

"Pz-pz-pz," answered the bird. "Pz-pz-pz, pz. Pz-pz-pz-pz-pz-pz.

Pz-pz-pz-pz. Pz."

"I see," the girl was touched by the story. "So it wasn't your fault."

"Pz," said the bird sadly.

"And all this time you have been trapped inside," said the girl. "You

spend all your days in the dark and cold."

"Pz," confirmed the bird. A big tear rolled down its cheek.

The girl felt sorry for the bird. She realized that it was a victim of

circumstance and meant no harm. She said:

"You’re free now, and you can fly wherever you want."

Then she added hastily:

"But if you ever need a shelter, you can always come back."

For she felt sad when she imagined that she would never see her friend

again. The bird gave her a warm hug.

That day the bird left. It did so, because birds can’t live happily in a cage.

The girl shed her feathers, and the doctor confirmed that she wasn’t sick

anymore.

However the story doesn't end here. The girl and her bird remained good

friends. The bird would often visit the girl, and sometimes it would take

her on a flight over the city. You can imagine for yourself, dear reader,

what they talked about as they sat on the roof of a tall building, watching

a beautiful sunset.

This story was not meant to teach you anything new about the world.

Probably there was no point in telling it at all. But if tomorrow you all of a

sudden get a ticklish feeling in your chest, don't panic. Now you know

what to do.