The Tiny Tinier Tiniest Bird By Jonathan Berman

(A True Story)

One upon a time, there was a tiny tinier tiniest bird. Fairly typical when they're babies I suppose... but what was not typical was the morning when this tiny tinier tiniest bird was hopping around in fright in my kitchen. Worried the cat would find it, I jumped into action, but before I could do a thing, the birdy had snuck in through a hole in the bottom corner of our cabinetry and was gone... but not gone... but rather stuck, under our kitchen cabinets, and there was no way to get him out. I thought he'd die in there. I set out a little food at the corner and went to bed that night.

The following morning I was coming down the stairs, when what did my ears get met with but the chirpings of a tiny tinier tiniest birdy, bounding around the kitchen... when I approached it vanished like a ghost. Silence came over the room like a supernatural hand, that governs the third dimension... nothing moved, creaked, chirped or spoke... it was as though time itself had stfu for a second.

I pulled out the oven, and there, held against the corner like Tom Cruise from a thousand foot ledge, was the tiny tinier tiniest bird, afraid, afeared for its life... holding its tiny breath, whirling in terror...

I carefully scooped her up in my cat carrier, and out into the beautiful morning sun, where her family was chirping from the trees. I set her down on the grass, glowing golden and green, waving its arms, bidding the tiny tinier tiniest birdy back into the world. The tiny tinier tiniest birdy, my new little kindred spirit, looked up to the trees and called out... and several birds came down, and together they walked off together, no doubt to talk about last night's adventures! No one would believe her, and when I realized how close to death how certain I was she would not survive it, and how somehow, she was given another chance at life, I cried. And in great grace, and gratitude for being able to play some small part in this hope and wonder, I bowed my head to the tiny tinier tiniest bird who had given me the opportunity to do something good in my life.