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john rah's world report short story feature
black birds written by john rah
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<start black birds by john rah>
black birds
The roar of the jet engines shook me from my restless sleep. I sat up to look out the window at them taking off. They were always taking off. They never went anywhere. They just take off, roar around the stratosphere, shatter a few windows on the way back, refuel and do it again. There's always a smell of death in the air from the burning fuel.
It was just this morning that I realized I didn't like them. Like a nice box of cigarettes, like a nice shiny car, like a nice colour TV, like a nice box of beer, like a nicely rapped chocolate sugar bar, like most of the nicely presented garbage, inhumanity to man and death, those pretty planes with their nice big engines and their nice supersonic speeds....
"Honey."
"Yes, Love."
"Are you brooding again?"
"I'm sorry. I thought you were still sleeping."
"How can I sleep while you stare out the window and look most miserable?"
"I should look at you; you are most beautiful."
"Thank you, Sweetness. What's the noise?"
"The planes."
"No, the other noise."
"Lucindy preparing breakfast."
"She doesn't normally make that much noise."
"Maybe she wants a raise."
"You just gave her one and she hadn't even asked."
"I'll go check."
I left the bedroom to follow the noise.
"What the hell!"
"What is it?"
Black birds were flapping about and pecking at my new teak table I had just received as a gift form the president.
"Hey!"
They all stopped to look at me for a second, then continued frantically knocking things off the table onto the floor.
"I hate everything," I said and sat down on the stairs.
My wife phoned the police. I wondered if they could arrest birds for illegal entry and wilful damage. I knew they could arrest most anyone they pleased because that was their job.
I noticed that I felt very tired and wondered if the stress I had lately was taking more out of me than I suspected. Though we had a very nice house, that was a present form the president, I missed the country side or even the bare ocean. What I wouldn't give for a quiet
home, not any size, next to the ocean. No neighbours. At least none with jets.
"Police! Open up!"
My wife went to open the door but they had already shot the lock and handle off and kicked the door down. Lucindy never locks it when she comes in the morning so I wondered why they
hadn't tried using the handle.
Four of them ran over my wife, past the stairs where I was stationed and toward the flapping black wings. Many shots rang out before the screeching stopped and all was quiet, except for the roar of the planes.
The cops ran around the house looking for more birds. I went to the kitchen to get a glass of orange juice and survey the damages. The furniture, dishes, pictures and walls were destroyed. That didn't bother me so much. None of it was really mine. It could all be easily replaced. I'd just have to mention it to someone and there would be a crew...
"Doctor."
"Yes, son."
I think we got them all."
I looked at all the feathers and blood about the room thinking it quite strange that only minutes before, there had been live birds in my dining room. There was one more on the balcony staring at me. It was a little unnerving.
"You were very thorough," I said. "Yes, Sir," he said and saluted. "If you have any more trouble, you call us."
"Thank you."
They all bid me have a good day and left out the front door, past my wife who was still on the floor. She was all red.
"You shot my wife."
"Sorry, Sir. We'll radio an ambulance."
One good thing about living on a military base was that help was never far away.
I sat on the front porch and tried to think. Mathematical, theoretical problems were all I could picture. I wondered if it bothered me that our breakfast had been so drastically disturbed.
The ambulance raced up to the front and skidded to a halt. I imagined they'd come and pick me up but when they stopped to look at me, one of them noticed the front door and looked in. "It's his wife. In here!"
They quickly put her on a stretcher and bounced her to the ambulance. They shut the doors then looked at me.
"You can come with us, Doc."
"I'm fine."
"To be with your wife."
"Oh."
I walked to the ambulance and got in.
"I don't want to die," she was saying.
"No one does, Dear."
I found a feather in my house coat and ran it over my wife's nose. A very pretty nose. All of my wife was pretty. She was a present as well. I'm sure she wasn't told to marry me, but she was sent to my room when I was in Washington to talk to the president to discuss the long term effects of the project. I tried to explain to him about mutation and reproduction no matter how sexless the little things were made. But he gave me an unlimited budget to work on finding something that would eat the first crew.
My wife sneezed.
"Bless you," I said.
It seemed I had been dreaming for days when the ambulance arrived at the hospital.
"I don't want to die."
"That's what we're here," I reassured her.
She was quickly wheeled away. I tried to follow but they were too fast. I decided to wait in the lounge area.
Today was the day, I thought. While in the western world all was a state loosely classified as normal, the enemies of democracy would be fighting an enemy they couldn't see. It still bothered me that there was no way to isolate the effect to humans. I was sure if I had had more time, I could have refined it to that purpose. But there was no time.
"There's never enough time to do all the things you want to do," I said.
There was an old woman looking at me. I hadn't realized she was there and wondered if my speaking had offended her.
"It would be a sad life if there was," she said.
I reflected on her reply until I couldn't bear the thought of myself. I needed to stop thinking.
"Maybe you are right," I said.
I got up and wandered the corridors until I chanced upon the cafeteria. I picked up a tray and slid it along the steel rails. Nothing seemed to be behind the Plexiglass. Everything was plastic or cardboard. I chose one that was labelled chocolate milk.
'Hot Food,' a sign read.
"Fries," I said to the sign.
Someone handed me a paper plate full of warm and greasy fries. I put them on my tray, selected a green Jell-O and a piece of lemon yellow pie.
When I got to the cashier to pay, I learned I had no money. I was still in my robe.
"I forgot my wallet. Can I sign the bill and pay it later?"
The cashier looked at me for a minute. I told her my name and she phone somebody.
She hung up the phone, wrote something on the receipt and put it in the cash.
I took that as a cue to sit and eat my things.
As I sucked the green Jell-O through my teeth, I made calculations. I drew out formulas with my feather.
A black bird crashed against the window. The old man at the next table stared at me and nodded his head. Since the fries were unbearably greasy, I decided I would throw them at the old man's nodding head. Before I could, he stopped his nodding, pulled out a gun and put it to his head.
"No!" I shouted.
He hid the gun in his lap and looked away while everyone in the room looked at me.
The bird crashed into the window again.
The old man looked at me again and grinned, showing all his unhealthy teeth.
The silence was unnerving. I decided to find out what happened to my wife.
After many inquires, I found her room. she had just been brought out of surgery.
"She'll be fine," a nurse said.
"Thank God," I said.
I sat by her bed and looked at her peaceful face. She was very beautiful.
"She will need to sleep for a while, you should go home and come back later."
"Okay."
I kissed my wife and walked to the front door. There was a black bird trapped in the vestibule, flapping frantically.
It was soon shot by two army personal. On my way out, they explained to me that the birds were such a nuisance. Though the trees had been sprayed against them for a fifty mile radius, they kept coming. They posed a problem for the jet engines.
I stood out front of the hospital and wondered what to do. I could have someone drive me home but I didn't want to be there before it was cleaned up.
A young officer was talking to me as I stared at the street. She knew who I was. She had congratulated me on our great success. I apparently had done a great thing for our nation. Somehow, it didn't make me feel any better.
"Can I drive you home, Doctor?"
"I can't go home."
She took me by the arm and lead me to her car. She opened the door for me and guided me in. "I'll take you to my place, you can relax there until you decide what you want to do." They always took care of me.
We drove a long time before we came to the ocean. She had a house overlooking the breaking waves. It was strange to hear waves licking the shore. There was no sound of jets.
She sat me in a large comfortable chair on the large wood deck. she placed a whisky in my hand and I heard her say she was going to change and be back soon. I wanted to change. But somehow, as I watched a pair of black birds sitting on the railing in front of me, staring at me with black eyes, I didn't think I could.
<end black birds by john rah>
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