four birds and a dog. i realized in the house, they could never co-exist. let me explain.
my brother gifted me with 4 birds he bought in a sidewalk while he was on his way to tacloban. that was a payment for his one night stay in my house. i used to have this kind when i was growing up. they were not rare nor endangered. these were easily caught.
but this time around, i could no longer afford to see these birds being tied in a makeshift branch, hang in your door, and watch them wanting to fly only to be pulled back by the short string tied in their legs. so i decided to buy this net eventhough the budget was not enough. for the whole night, the kids and i were planning, designing, arranging this would-be house for these birds. we wanted it wrap around the guava tree, and formed a bigger cage where they could fly around. the problem was, the net was too small to form a bigger space. after many attempts to put up the net unsuccessfully, we decided to sleep.
first thing in the morning, we went back to our yard thinking hard how to design the house. we were pressured by the fact that one bird already flew away, tie was cut off, and another one was about to die. we were also pressured upon watching those birds now jampacked in one small laundry box, as i had untied them a night before.
while we were imagining how it would look like, one kid saw this dog house which was no longer a house to my dog since he is now sleeping inside the house. we made use of this and cover it with the net. wow, we had just built a cleverly designed house for our birds. before the inauguration, one bird died. only two were left to stay in this house. so we set them in, they flew, moved here and there, albeit the space was still very small for them. at least there were real guava branches inside their house, just in case they wanted to make some kind of branches hopping.
and so they were now inside. we gleefully watched them as they moved, flew and hopped.
here came my dog, looking bewildered, asking perhaps what happened to his house. i tried to explain to him (hehehe) that temporarily that would be occupied by the birds. he seemed to understand. he really seemed to.
one second we turned our back, went inside our house, my dog, without a sound, scratched the net open, and lo and behold, set the birds free. finally. for good.
would i be angry? for a moment yes, that's why the dog ended being caged. would i be disappointed? after all the efforts, that was what we got. but it was freedom for the birds. maybe what happened was for the good of it all. one bird came back, landed on our window, and flew away never to see him again.
it was really for the good of it all. we did our part, the dog did his, and the birds awaited moment came.
after all, we can still enjoy the net. it ended well.
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