Love's First Flight

A silent bluebird, wings molded to his porcelain body, clings to a synthetic perch atop the storeroom shelf. His feathers, which had been meticulously sculpted by hand, had long lost their luster. Layer upon layer of dust dulls a vibrant blue, which had once mirrored his natural brethren. Every night he sleeps under a blanket of cobwebs; every day he watches the customers admire and fondle the other antiques within his forest. But they never pay much notice to a bird riddled with filth.

Early one morning, just as the sun was peeking through the drapes of the storeroom window, an elderly woman enters the shop. At that very moment, a thin strip of sunlight strikes the bluebird’s prismatic glass eye casting its glare onto the woman’s blouse. The fleck on her clothing draws her to the source of the gleam. Then, delighted by the discovery, she takes the figure in her hands. Carefully pulling away the cobwebs, she wipes the dust from his body with her kerchief. She quickly establishes his unmistakable charm. Decisively, she purchases the little gem with plans to place him atop her kitchen table.

Meanwhile, within another shop, many miles from the first, another bluebird statuette struggles to remain upright. Her feet, disfigured from having been broken and glued together countless times, barely support her fragile body. Her wings are splayed and cracked in places. They bear the telltale signs of having spent years atop a crowded shelf, often being dropped or inappropriately handled by callous shoppers. Her otherwise finely crafted details had gone unappreciated resulting in her being placed upon the clearance rack alongside other unwanted trinkets.

An enthusiast of ceramic figures and baubles of the like enters the shop with hopes of finding something unique. After rummaging through shelves of antiques and finding nothing to his avail, he reluctantly looks to the exit. But before making his leave, he notices a curious blue shape protruding off of a rack marked CLEARANCE. He pulls the shape from the rack and finds that it’s the tail attached to a bedraggled bluebird statuette. Through careful study, he finds that she is a rather rare and beautiful specimen regardless of a few breaks and fractures. He purchases her as a gift for his mother who lives far away in another country.

Sun pours in from an open window and sparkles against the silver curls of the elderly woman seated at her kitchen table. She sips her tea in perfect leisure, pleased with her handsome new centerpiece. The polished plumage of the bluebird figurine reflects light in every direction, which adds a new sense of warmth to an already cozy atmosphere. The woman’s moment of tranquility is cut short by a loud tapping at the door.

The visitor is her son, who she hadn’t seen in months. Her old eyes fill with a childlike mirth as he presents to her the angelic little bird. In her excitement, she motions him to the kitchen where she places it facing the other atop the table. The match could not have been more perfect: posing side by side their ceramic faces looked almost happy. The mother and son share an embrace. Then she turns to brew more tea as he takes a seat in the salon. The woman leaves the window widely agape as the two figurines rest silently upon the table.

One bluebird statuette, once alone and forgotten by time; the other imperfect: chipped in places with badly mangled feet remain completely immersed in the light of the sun. All cracks and signs of age vanish as they emerge from their petrified state. Both birds become fully fleshed and brilliantly hued. They stretch their wings and tendons to full extent while looking to the open window. Finally, they take wing to freedom as a single blue entity. Startled by the sound of fluttering, a bewildered woman whirls around to see that her table is bare. She scrambles to her window. Poking her head out, she can only hear the faint melody of a love song echoing through the trees.