In The End The Bird Flies

PART 1

The whole world had shut down and everyone was locked in their houses with no work to go to and no schools to attend. Just like everyone, an old lady who owned a small bakery in an old town was also without a choice had to stay at home. She had just regained all her regular customers after being away for a month due to a minor operation, but there was nothing that could be done. She had only some savings left to support herself and her 10-year-old granddaughter. 

One day her granddaughter was complaining about having to stay inside, "Memaw, I want to go out. I want to play with Ara in the park, please take me to the park memaw" 

"No, buttercup, we can't go outside. There is an evil virus out there that will harm us so we should stay inside safely"

"But... it's boring inside, I have nothing to do" the granddaughter complained.

"Ok, how about this, I will tell you a story, and after I do you should practice a few math sums. Ok?"

"A story..." the granddaughter thought for a while before she accepted her grandma's condition. "Ok, tell me a good story, only then I will solve the sums"

" Deal!" the old lady replied with a smile on her face.

"Deal!" the granddaughter moved closer to her grandma.

"Hmmm... let's begin then" the old lady started narrating the story " In a small park there was a tiny bird, she lived alone in a shabby nest, she didn't have any friends so no one helped her build her home. She was also not good at hunting and gathering food, and none of the other birds shared their food with her either, so she was hungry most of the days. 

One night while she was sitting in her nest a strong wind blew and her nest was completely ruined and she got hurt. She had starved for 3 days she didn't have the energy to move. She just sat where her nest had fallen and started crying. She cried so loudly that it woke the other birds in the park, they all came out of their nests to see what happened and they saw the little bird crying and her nest destroyed, but no one came forward to help her"

" Those birds are very rude memaw, the poor little bird, what will it do now?" the granddaughter sighed.

"Don't be disappointed. Let me continue." the old lady said and continued with the story " Just when all the birds groaned and started to return to their nests a blue bird came forward and approached the tiny bird. She comforted the tiny bird and suggested that the tiny bird should spend the night in her nest, the tiny bird hesitated in the beginning but she had no other choice so she agreed and went with the blue bird. The next morning the blue bird helped the tiny bird build a new nest, though it was small it was cozy and wasn't shabby like before. After that day the bluebird and the tiny bird became friends. The bluebird helped the tiny bird hunt for food, they flew around the park together. Finally, the tiny bird was happy and looked forward to spending time with the bluebird. But, one day something happened, something unfortunate happened"

"What happened, what happened memaw" the granddaughter eagerly asked.

"The tiny bird was caught and put into a cage"

"WHAT! why it finally had a friend, a new nest" the granddaughter roared.

"Oh! look at the time it's already 1 pm. Let's stop, for now, go solve those sums I am gonna go make us some lunch" the old lady said looking at the clock.

"Memaw, tell me what happens next, please" the granddaughter requested.

"No, I need to make us lunch, if you finish those sums by the time, I make lunch I will continue after we eat. Ok?" the old lady said.

"Ok, but promise me you will continue after lunch."

"If you finish those sums then yes, I will continue"

"Ok," the granddaughter got up and quickly went to finish solving the sums her grandma had assigned her.

The old lady smiled at her granddaughter and headed to the kitchen to make some lunch.

PART 2

The old lady and her granddaughter finished their lunch and now the old lady was checking the sums she had assigned her granddaughter.

"You need not check it memaw I am sure all the sums are correct," the granddaughter said confidently.

"You must take after me, you didn't even get a single sum wrong. Good job!" the old lady replied, looking at her granddaughter proudly. 

"So, now that we had lunch and I finished all the sums continue with the story. I can't wait to know what happens to the tiny bird." 

"Why are you so eager to listen to that story?"

"I feel sorry for the bird memaw, I just want her to have a happy ending"

" What if it doesn't end well? What if the bird will stay trapped in the cage forever"?

" Then I will for sure get to know that you are the worst storyteller ever, and will never listen to any of your stories"

The old lady looked at her granddaughter and thought how innocent and sweet she was. She was worried about a tiny bird in a story, she sure was lucky to have her. Though life was hard she could keep going because of her granddaughter.

"Now continue with the story, and memaw make sure you end it well ok" the granddaughter ordered. 

"Yes, ma'am I shall do as you say " the old lady laughed and continued with the story of the tiny bird. "So as I told you one day the bird was caught and put in a cage. She had no idea what was going on. As the cage was covered by a piece of black cloth, she couldn't see anything. Fear paralyzed her; she didn't know what to do. The darkness scared her. The fear of being trapped forever made her heart pound loudly. Then she realized getting scared won't help her. She tried screaming, she screamed at the top of her lungs. She screamed until her voice gave out. 

But, soon she was tired and her throat started to hurt. She tried to break the rods on the cage with her beak. She pecked the walls of the cage again and again. She used all her strength to break out, but nothing worked, she failed every time. She was too tired to try more. She sat down in the dark corner of the cage. And then suddenly the dark cloth starts to lift and bright light enters the dark cage. The tiny bird started screaming again hoping someone would hear her, but no one came to help her she then gave up and went back to the corner of the cage. Then she noticed something outside the cage, and for a second, she forgot about everything, she couldn't believe her eyes."

"What did she see, did she see the bluebird?" the granddaughter interrupted and asked impatiently.

"Why do you keep interrupting me? if you listen to the story then all your questions will be answered so, just listen to the story" the old lady replied to her impatient granddaughter.

"Ok ok, I am sorry. Now go on tell me what did she see outside the cage?

"She saw the ocean," the old lady said. The doorbell rang. 

"Ughh..., who is it memaw? we are not supposed to meet anyone, right?" asked the granddaughter.

" It's the groceries I ordered they would have left it out let's go get it, sanitize it, and organize it"

"But what about the story?" asked the granddaughter.

"I'll continue after we are done with our work. Now come on let's go" replied the old lady.

The granddaughter sighed and got up to help her grandma. They both brought the groceries in and started cleaning and sanitizing it.

                      

PART 3

The granddaughter was getting restless, she wanted to know how the story ends. 

"Memaw comes on, just finish the story, we finished putting away the groceries, now just come and continue the story" the granddaughter cried

"Ok ok, you want me to continue the story, right?" the old lady asked

" Yes, please" the granddaughter replied.

"Ok," the old lady continued the story 

"When the cloth was lifted the little bird couldn't believe her eyes, she saw the ocean. She always heard from a few birds about how beautiful the ocean was and how amazing it felt to fly above it. She always wished to once see the ocean and fly above it. But now that the ocean was so close to her, she was mad, and couldn't understand why everything was so unfair."

"Of course, it was unfair, she was so close to the ocean but she couldn't even touch it" the granddaughter wailed.

"Yes, very unfair. Not being able to fly and being trapped in a cage while on the ocean made her very angry. But after some time, she realized it was of no use there was obviously nothing she could do. Even though she couldn't fly across the ocean, she was thankful that she got to see the ocean." "She gradually accepts her fate and tries to see the beauty around her even if, it was through the walls of the cage that trapped her" the old lady concluded 

"That's it, that's the end?" the granddaughter asked.

"Yeah, that's the end"

"Memaw why did you end it like that, the tiny bird isn't freed"

"Buttercup, being freed and living happily ever after is not always a happy ending. Not everything can be a fairy tale. Sometimes accepting your fate and your life can lead you to a happier life too. "

"But that's a compromise, that's not fair" the granddaughter argued

"Don't worry about it too much. I am tired, I am gonna go sleep you also go get some sleep"

"But... memaw"

"Go sleep, you will forget all about it in the morning"

"Ok, goodnight memaw"

"Goodnight buttercup"

The granddaughter obeyed her grandmother and went to sleep but she couldn't stop thinking about the tiny bird. Even though it was just a story she couldn't accept the fact that the bird compromised her happiness and also her freedom. Lost in the thoughts of the tiny bird she slowly fell asleep.

 PART 4

The old lady entered the living room and saw crayons and drawing sheets scattered everywhere on the floor. She followed the trace of the crayons and found her granddaughter in a corner scribbling something on a drawing sheet.

"What are you doing in this corner, hiding like a thief," the old lady asked. 

The sudden appearance of her grandmother scared the little girl.

" Ahhh" she gasped "Memaw! you scared me. When did you come here?"

"Just now, I followed the mess you have made and found you"

"I will clean it up, don't worry. Is lunch ready? I am hungry"

"No, not yet."

"OK, call me when it's ready, ok memaw"

"Ok, but I asked you something"

"What?"

"What are you doing?"

"It's a surprise, I will show you later"

"Ok, lunch will be in 10 minutes you clean all this and only then you are going to get lunch"

"Ok," the granddaughter sighed. And started cleaning. The old lady returned to the kitchen and finished cooking lunch.

After lunch, the old lady was sitting and reading a book. Her granddaughter approached her with a drawing sheet and gave it to her. The old lady looked at the drawing and saw something she wasn't expecting.

It was a drawing of an island surrounded by the blue ocean and on the island was a cage with its door open and in the sky was a tiny bird and with that tiny bird were a lot of other birds and all of them were flying in the sky.

"What is this buttercup?" the old lady asked.

"It's the ending to the tiny bird's story" the granddaughter replied proudly.

"Oh, is it. Would you like to tell me how it escaped?"

"Yeah! I was waiting for you to ask me to." She said eagerly

"Ok go on tell me how the bird is flying above the ocean"

"So, the cloth was lifted and the bird saw the ocean and was disappointed and sad. Soon the boat she was kept on arrived at an island and someone freed the tiny bird on that island and with her, a lot of other birds were also freed. Spending time with the bluebird had made her comfortable with other birds too. So, she became friends with the other birds that were freed on the island and she flew above the huge ocean. Like this, she got a lot of friends and also her dream came true and she lived on that island and flew above the ocean anytime she wanted." She concluded and looked at her grandmother's face and smiled brightly "See, this is how you end a story, stories should always end well, memaw."

"Why?" 

"Because that makes me want a happily ever after too"

"I am sorry buttercup" tears were about to come into the old lady's eyes.

"Why?"

"I am sorry I left the tiny bird trapped in the cage," the old lady said, she was extremely touched by her granddaughter. 

"It's ok memaw, are you crying?"

"No, why would I cry?" the old lady said, clearing her throat "Now, do you want to bake some cake?"

"Yes! But why suddenly cake?"

"So that your memaw doesn't forget how to bake, when everything is back to normal, I am going to bake the tastiest goodies and have lots and lots of customers at our store. Now come on, let's go do some baking." 

"Yay! I will do the icing"

Both of them got up and headed to the kitchen.

"No, you will eat all of it"

"I won't, I promise. Please memaw let me do it, please, pretty please"

" Ya Ya ok."

The kitchen was soon filled with their laughter and the fragrance of baking. And the old lady wished that her little buttercup would fly above the ocean just like the tiny bird.