What does a Bird sound
like?
By J.Price
Centuries ago mankind was forced to leave Earth because a few self appointed leaders were focused on controlling the people of the planet. War, greed and lust for power eventually devastated their homeland.
Those who fled Earth left in fleets of self-sufficient ships and rarely landed on planets. They missed Earth.
Eventually the planet healed from the ravages of the past. Now, a few hundred people, followed by many more, headed back to earth. They were going home.
Ok, all that other stuff is mere prologue. Although the world had sadly changed and people left it, this story is about my wonderful Granny.
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“Mom, I can’t find my invisible friend,” Cee Cee giggles. She is a bright imaginative girl with an insatiable curiosity. Her mom claims she is a handful. Everyone loves the eleven year old and her constant questions. She helps everyone. She brings cheer and spreads happiness with her youthful exuberance.
Her mom, Destiny, raised to assume great responsibility, answers her daughter with a grin, “You are a silly girl.” Then pats Cee Cee’s cheek and turns back to work.
Destiny is called the electronic ‘genie’ by her shipmates and is responsible for keeping the technical equipment in working order. She also keeps close check on Cee Cee. Days are busy.
On group night many get together to share drawings, journals, jokes, writings and stories they have written. Cee Cee likes to create impromptu dances and act in mini-plays during these gatherings.
“Mom, do you like this picture I drew?” asks Cee Cee, who also loves to draw. The wall size screen provides ample space for artwork. She bounces in front of it, full of energy. She calls her AI (Artificial Intelligence) dog, Charger, to join her. He runs to her side and sits down.
Her mom looks carefully at her daughters creation and says. “This one is abstract art at its finest, Cee Cee. You mixed new colors. How bright and clever of you.”
“No, I didn’t. These are from my studies of the forest. I tried to duplicate them exactly as I saw them on the screen.”
“Oh, I see now.” Her mom blushes a little at not recognizing what Cee Cee attempted to draw. She spends far too long sitting at her workspace and realizes the need to spend more time with Cee Cee.
“I love that we are moving to a real place, Mom. It is an adventure. Besides,” She adds drama to her voice as she says, “I truly adore escapades,” she just discovered this word and is happy to try it out. “When will we get there?”
“Soon now. Did you eat lunch?”
“Yes, but it was awful. I am icky-sick of veggies.” She sticks her tongue out for effect. “ I can’t wait to eat new tasty foods.” She skips around her mom, arms extended, laughing.
”Mom, what does a bird sound like?”
“Well, it depends on the size, type, breed, and where they live. Some have feathers that are bright colors, and many are camouflaged in natural settings and hard to see. There is a wide variety. Wait until you see them. Some have sweet tweeting sounds that are quite musical while others are loud enough to scare you to death.” Her mom stretches her hands out wiggling her fingers toward Cee Cee adding a loud screech noise for effect. Cee Cee jumps back, giggling.
Her mother smiles at her. “Do you want to study them now and listen to the sound bytes we have?”
“Can we listen to the birds that live at our new home? Please?”
“Okay, lets look at what we have here. Come sit down next to me. We have captured many images with sounds. Remember, this program is old and some of these species might be extinct. Do you know what that means?”
“It means they stand out among all others?”
“No, Sweetheart, you are thinking of ‘distinct’. ‘Extinct’ means they all have died out. You will never see one, except on this viewer.”
“Oh.” That makes her sad.
Cee Cee cuddles up against her mom and looks at the wall of changing pictures that include birdcalls, as her mom described. There are hundreds of birds. Cee Cee begins to form a picture in her head of what they look like and sound like, now she wants to know what they feel like. “Will we be able to touch them when we see them, Mom?”
“I think not, Cee Cee. Most don’t let people get near them. Some tiny ones can be pets. You may touch them if we are lucky. Maybe we’ll have chickens that you can hold. Do you remember that description? They were the birds that walk on the ground, lay edible eggs, and make a ‘cheep cheep’ sound and the rooster has that big morning wake up call.”
“Oh, I love that one. I can’t wait. Show me more, Mom.”
A buzzer interrupts them. “It’s time to get off my lap now Cee Cee. We have arrived at our new home. You have time to take a quick look out the porthole.” Her mom becomes a blur of activity at her post.
Cee Cee stands on tippy toes and peeks out the small round window. “Oh, Mom, it’s beautiful. I see green and blue sparkles I think are water. There are white ice cream topped mountains. I have seen pictures and remember them. Are the squiggly lines vivers?”
“They are rivers, Cee Cee.”
“Oh, thanks. I see white cotton puff clouds. I have pictures of them in my favorite stories.”
“It’s time to get into the chair next to me and buckle in.”
Cee Cee scoots into the chair and gets settled safely. Their craft shakes and vibrates. “Mom, are we safe?”
“Yes, shaking like this is expected. Everything is just fine. We will land and be at our new home soon. You remember my telling you about Earth? There have not been people living on the planet for a long time, as far as we know, until a dozen years back. Several hundred of our people came to prepare a place for all of us. We are fortunate. You will like the people who are waiting for us to land at our new home.”
She feels a small jolt and hears the engines wind down. They head toward the door opening and realize they are not accustomed to the increased gravity. Everybody looks funny. They all grab the railing with both hands as they head toward the door on rubber legs.
“Mom, look at all of us. We have jiggle jelly legs.” Cee Cee looks up at her mother with a big grin.
“We have been in the ship so long our muscles are not strong enough for this. We will walk around easily, very soon, I promise. ” She and Cee Cee hold onto the railing as they descend the ramp.
They Look outside, beyond the open door and see several people on horse drawn carts coming toward them. Cee Cee sees people with wide smiles waving at them. She feels welcome. The friendly people help them onto the carts for a ride back to the village and are told they will walk fine in a few days.
Destiny whispers into Cee Cee’s ear, “See, I told you so.”
“I know, mom.” Cee Cee isn’t paying close attention to her mom. She listens instead to the clop clop sound of hooves against the ground. She watches their pounding feet and the swish of the horsetails for a moment. She loves what she sees.
Cee Cee smiles at the sounds surrounding her. She tries to identify them and can’t because they are new to her ears. She recognizes only a few. People’s voices are familiar. She listens for more and becomes stumped.
She hears her mom sigh and realizes how important it is to be back on Earth. Her mom has never lost hope on coming back here. It is a dream come true. All her life she has listened to her mom talk about going home where they belong with an ache in her voice. She is happy for her mom and excited for this new adventure.
Cee Cee looks down at the ground and sees dirty dirt and genuine grass. She has studied hard to learn about her new enviornment. She wants to touch everything. It is better when I feel the touch of things, she thinks to herself. She can smell the mossy earth mix with floral and evergreen fragrances in the air. She looks up into the big blue sky, different than what she has known all her life. She is used to seeing the sky through portholes. The tiny windows always show her dark space with wisps of bright white dots where planets and stars shine and meteors speed across the vast sky. She has never seen anything like this pale powder blue color. It is like a big upside down bowl that covers the entire view above ground level.
Her eyes travel across the grassy field and look beyond at the variety of trees. There are dozens, tall, short, broad, deep green, light yellow green and undergrowth too. She knows some are fresh looking all year long while others lose their foliage. She notes the variety of leaf shapes that will be fun to draw. Wow. She wants to hold them all. Her nose tickles with the new mixture of smells. A sudden breeze washes over her and she realizes it is a feeling never felt before. It makes her happy. She likes the way the grass seems to dance. There are flowers of orange, red, and yellow, white, pink to lavender. She can’t see any more from where she sits on the cart, which is carrying her and many others with bouncing and jarring across a large meadow. This definitely is not a smooth ride.
They come into a community that has earthen huts. Activity flourishes in the open center where people are gathered to greet them. As they ride, she laughs at how her shipmates are pointing at the scenery, and can tell they are talking excitedly about the changes around them.
Her mom begins to introduce her to people. How will I ever remember all their names. She tries to memorize at least a few.
“Hi Adamson, it is good to see you again.” Then turning to his wife, her mom says, “Evelyn, it has been a long time. You are looking good. This is my daughter Cee Cee. She is eleven. We have two hundred fifty three people on this cruise and many more following. Will we be alright with so many now?”
Adamson answers, “Yes, we are ready for all of you. This is a beautiful abundant place. The flora gives food, spices, herbs and medicine while the wildlife is all around us. You will see bears, deer, small and large animals. Some are passive and act friendly, while others are dangerous. We will teach you what to be prepared for when out and away from your home area. We are healthy with few problems. We have not seen any other human life yet.”
“We took images as we circled around the planet. We will study them later against the ones you took when you arrived.” Mom says.
“That sounds good. It will be interesting to see the changes twelve years make. Also, we may find areas to visit that show promise of human population.” Adamson is smiling at the possibilities before them.
There is a beautiful sound emitting from a nearby tree. “Look, Cee Cee, and listen. That is the sound of a robin, the bird with the red breast.” Her mom is pointing to a nearby tree.
She is thrilled at her very first real bird sound. It will always be her favorite bird, she decides.
Within a few hours the sun began to set. “Mom, why is it getting dark? I am scared. Where did the sun go?”
“The Earth rotates, Cee Cee. Remember the photos of the universe we study? It appears different in person, doesn’t it?”
“Yes.” She is relieved to hear her mom’s description. She remembers studying about it. “To actually see it is scary. I don’t like it.”
“You will get used to it, believe me.”
“O.K.” She stands still to watch the colors of sunset darken her view. Shadows form across the horizon and the stars come alive above her head.
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Cee Cee’s mom surprises her with a real dog that becomes her inseparable companion. “Come here Herfur.” A brown and white hairy dog with tail wagging runs to her side, sits down and looks expectantly at her, ready for attention and praise. It is a ‘girl’ dog that has a lot of fur. She thought her name choice is most suitable. They are together most of the time. She is warm every night because Herfur sleeps next to her. The dog dreams too, because when she lays down asleep, her legs run and she makes funny noises. Cee Cee laughs and that wakes the dog up every time.
Cee Cee realizes her life has changed and she explodes with wonder at the new things around her that begin with each new dawn. She studies and explores.
She loves the foods the women and men cook and learns about recipes enriched with the herbs she brings back from the woods. Wild onions and garlic are her favorite addition to most meals. She is good at finding them. Herfur finds truffles with her nose. At first they looked awful but she took them to Magic. She is always happy to have them and creates fine dinners using them. The head cook’s actual name is Maggie, but she nicknamed her Magic ’because she makes food taste wonderful. “Cee Cee, You must stop bringing me any fungi other than truffles. You know those. You will poison all of us with your other mushroom choices, girl. Every one of them is bad. I don’t dare use any, my dear hunter friend.” “OK, I promise.” Cee Cee figures she will never learn how to find the good ones and gives up. One of her friends is excellent at finding them. She decides to leave it to her.
She meets many kids her age and they all get along. They share stories and she finds playing balls is a new exciting game for her. She relishes having space to practice all these wonderful new games. It is much better than the way she had lived aboard the ship. She can now run, jump, twirl about, bounce balls; the possibilities have no end with all the space around her.
There are twelve kids near her age. Every one has different interests and shares them at night around the big table at food time. She loves it all,
It doesn’t take long to make friends with those in the community. She is learning short cuts and tricks to continue being frugal and multi-use items. She reconstructed her dog ‘Charger’ into a combination helper, recorder. It now carries items, as she needs help and records sounds she wants to remember.
With her faithful frisky living dog by her side, she walks through the dense forest. She touches and smells the flowers found on her explorations and hunting trips. There are exciting shapes, bells that don’t ring, dancers that don’t dance, horns that don’t toot. She sits for hours imagining a full display of action, sight and sound that complete the vision before her. She hears the music in her mind and conducts a symphony of joy that fills her heart and soul.
The birds captivate her. There are small ones with high pitch’s sounds who talk back and forth to one another. Some morning birds wake her to tunes of glory. At night, owls beckon her attention with one repeating question. Well, she said to herself, WHO knows the answer? Among tweets, peeps, whistles, clicks, ticks, warbles, she feels at home.
Months later, leaving a very pregnant Herfur in the watchful care of her mom, Cee Cee leaves for a day out in the forest and expects to see puppies when she returns. Her mom told her the dog was ‘due’ and acting odd, a good sign.
Within an hour, she held a basket of berries newly collected and stands next to a clear creek. Her eyes search through the rushing water to watch fish. The teachers of the village train her to fend for herself by hunting, fishing, and show her how to detect edible foods. She loves exploring the out of doors and feels at home and safe.
She hears a branch snap nearby. Good, maybe a deer? Her head carefully moves toward the sound and she smoothly reaches for her bow and arrows. To her amazement there stands a boy.
He is taller than her by a couple of inches; she figures he is maybe over five feet five inches tall from her glance toward him. He looks a tiny bit older too, maybe fourteen. She knows she will find out. He is dressed different than her with what appears to be a hand woven rough weaved cloth. He also carries a bow and arrows. She stands facing him. His smile displays a friendly non-threatening expression. They move closer, introduce each other, then sit side by side on the river bank and exchange stories of their lives, becoming familiar with the differences and similarities. He talks with enthusiasm and makes his stories interesting because he is animated, using his hands and facial expressions. He makes her laugh and enjoy their conversation.
Her home community is shocked to find surrounding families live nearby after all these years. They meet and friendships develop. Often groups gather and engage in relaxing activities, sharing foods and hand made items. They dance to the music of the musicians from each community.
Life on earth is good once more.
And one day while out in the forest, suddenly she hears her favorite sound, that of the beautiful robin while sitting with the teenager that would someday become my grandfather.
J. Price, E-mail Or send to judyaprice@gmail.com in your e-mail.
2012 © Used with Permission of the author.
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