A Boy and a Sparrow

In the Summer of South Creek Woods Village, there was a cheerful and curious young boy named Pablo. Pablo's fascination and love for nature is what drives him to explore and embrace the wonders nature. His village made a great impact on his fascination because South Creek Woods is a village surrounded by woods near a lake and at its north and south are the main road exits. And of course, nearby lies the Southern Creek which is connected to a river that splits into two, one provides a way for small boats and canoes to the lake where various activities are done such as fishing, camping and water sports. The other one is a shallower river that leads to the next neighboring village.

And with all the natural sceneries and a vast variety of flora and fauna around the village. Young Pablo is not a stranger of his home's wonders. During his younger years, him and his family used to go on a picnic at the lake. Sometimes, they'll even charter a boat at the river docks to fish further at the lake. But those things don't happen anymore because Pablo's dad had to go to the military after the company he was working for as an assistant manager, got bought by another corporation because they needed the space for their factory. His mom also needed to look after her tailoring shop that they acquired a year ago. Pablo has felt loneliness ever since. Although he had met a lot of kids at school, he was particularly the shyest amongst his peers. But he is seen as a "genius" in his class.

Pablo misses those. times when he and his parents went out for an adventure at the woods. To relieve the loneliness that he feels, He usually goes out to the woods with a journal-like book that he refers to as his "Almanac of Adventure" and a camera that they used to take photos with at their "adventures" with his family back then. What Pablo loves the most is the adventure of finding new discoveries by searching for animals and plants that are not yet listed in his Almanac and every time he finds one, he takes a picture of it and observes then writes down on his almanac about the appearance, behavior and location of the plant or animal. Once that is done, He pastes the picture on the top-left corner of the page. He does his adventures as soon as his mother left for her shop and then goes home before she arrives at their house.

Pablo also has a map that he sketched and calls this as his "Adventure map". In his map, he drew a simple village at the center which is his home, South Creek Village. Then, the vast woodland at the west is labeled as the "The Grove", this is where Pablo frequently goes. At the south of the Grove is where the River Docks and the South Creek are located. Other parts of the Grove the Pablo named are the "Old Gardens", this place was once a garden built by an old man but now teems with overgrowth and all sorts of insects especially butterflies and dragonflies. Their is also the "Shadow Woods" where Pablo does not visit often because of snakes and spiders that reside in its shadowy canopies of tall trees. Some notable places are the "Shallow River" that leads to the next village and "The Lake" which is at the eastern part of Pablo's Village.

Pablo feels a great amount of joy every time he gets to visit the Grove and reliving those past years that he and his family used to do. Although it still feels incomplete but for Pablo, this is good enough. But little did young Pablo know that will change.

One after as Pablo joyfully journeys around the Grove, He heard a faint chirping of a sparrow. At first he didn't mind and continued walking but he heard it again and this time, it was much louder. Pablo wouldn't have stopped if it wasn't for the reason that it came from the ground. He immediately got curious and also, he always wanted to get a close picture of bird because most of the time, birds fly away before he could even sneak up to them and take a close up photo. So he started searching where the sound came from. The chirp became louder and louder as he searches until he found the sparrow resting beside a root of a tree. Pablo was surprised that the bird wasn't scared and flew away even though he is near it. He prepared his camera and approached the bird slowly. And when he was close enough, he took a picture close up for the first time, but to his surprise, the flash of the camera should have scared the bird away, but it didn't. He then touched the bird and it stayed still. Pablo thinks that the bird must be injured because it can't be a baby since it looks like a full-grown sparrow. So he carried and checked if there are any signs of bleeding but there was none. "Poor bird, you must have broke your wings, I just can't leave you out here" Pablo said. So he took the sparrow with him and went home early.

At his room, Pablo kept the flightless sparrow in a basket with fabrics as a cushion. He was determined to take good care of the bird but he does not really know many things about birds so he spent the night browsing through the internet about how to properly take care and feed a sparrow. It took him hours of research and writing down notes which includes "not stressing out the bird", "do not overfeed" and etc.

The next morning, Pablo’s first plan is to provide food for the sparrow so he opened his Almanac and search for the Earthworms which are easily found in damp and moist dirt according to his Almanac. So he brought a small shovel and the sparrow in the basket with him onward to the Grove. He searched for worms near the creek where the water is moist and damp and it only took him a few tires to find some. He only took those worms with the appropriate size that can safely be fed to the bird. Then gave a few water to the bird afterwards via dropper. While feeding the bird, Pablo said “Don’t worry buddy, I will take care of you so that you can fly and be with your family and friends.. Wait, I think I should call you Buddy!, yeah buddy it sounds so nice and fitting!”

While going around the Grove with the sparrow. Pablo slowly felt an emotional attachment toward the bird. It felt like he finally had someone with him again going out for adventure. They travelled to different parts of the Grove in search of new discoveries. And as they went from place to place, He took a lot of pictures with each other and wrote what are the things that happened on their adventure. He was having so much fun because he finally felt that he had a family member exploring with him again. At one point, they ventured toward the unexplored area near the “Shadow Woods”. Pablo was surprised to see industrial materials and machinery at the northern part. The site also had a tarpaulin that includes the name and logo of the same corporation that bought the company where his father used to work. “Sorry we can’t go near there buddy, Mom said construction areas are dangerous. I think they are going to build another factory in this area. It is sad to see those tall trees get cut down.” Pablo told his friend sparrow. He then added that location to his map and called it “Forbidden Site”.

A few days later while Pablo and the Sparrow was walking through the canopies if the Grove. Pablo was so happy as he started to sing his “Adventure song”. Buddy suddenly flew a few feet away. Pablo was surprised and happy that his friend is able to fly. But a rush of sadness and realization quickly sweep away that positive emotion, a sad realization that if the Sparrow can finally fly away, He will be alone again on his adventures. Pablo quickly went near to the bird and gently place it back inside the basket. But after a few walks, the sparrow flew again and this time it was much further. Pablo felt a deafening silence as his mind clouds of the thoughts that this might be the last days that he will have a company. He again walked toward the sparrow but this time, the sparrow flew above and perched on a tree branch. Pablo’s tears started to roll from his eyes as he finally realizes that his buddy will finally go. In a cry for desperation, Pablo pleaded to the bird to comeback as if it can understand his words. “Buddy please don’t go away! We had so much fun together. Please buddy at least just one more day!”, Pablo cried as he burst into tears. But no matter how much he pleaded, the sparrow is a sparrow, it cannot understand what Pablo was telling it and is only concerned about it’s survival which requires it to be able to fly. After a short while, Pablo finally sees the good thing that has happened in which, he gave the bird a second chance to live. “You know buddy, I was my choice to take care of you and it is my responsibility to be able to let go. I’m happy that you are well my friend. At least we had some photos and I wrote our story in my Almanac so I will never forget our adventures together” Pablo said with tears still rolling from his eyes as he prepares his camera for one last picture of buddy. Then, with a perfect view of the camera, Pablo took a photo and the flash of the camera startled the Sparrow and flew away.

Pablo looked at the his friend finally flying high above the sky while telling himself, “Fly free buddy, I’ll be always here if you come back.”

- The end -

Author’s Note:

 Hi ReadCash Fams :D , I hope you liked the story. I know I’m not that good and there might be mistakes I did with this one but I’m trying to improve my writing skills. Feel free to share what are your thoughts on the story and how it should’ve went based on your perspective :). Always be awesome!

                                                  - Xyrxyl