As I have done on WW every year since 1998, when I posted this, I'd like to share my Christmas story once again. It's now been 21 years since the night of this story and it seems to take on a more mythical presence with each year that goes by. All the animal protagonists have long since gone to the Bridge, but their memories are as still fresh in my mind as if this happened yesterday. Please enjoy this story once again:
For this story, we have to turn the clock back to Christmas Eve, 1992. Do you know where you were? In Frederick, Maryland, Rusty had been adopted from the pound was becoming acquainted in his new home with the woman who would become my wife. It would still be three years before we would meet. In Olney, Maryland, Max slept blissfully in the master bedroom of his original family, unaware that a mere five weeks later, his life would change abruptly. Finally in Rockville, Maryland sat Rudy. He had only been with his master for one month. Rudy was four months and two days old on Christmas Eve 1992. I had only been in my condo for two and a half months.
On this particular Christmas Eve, bitter cold gripped the Washington area. Temperatures were only in the single digits. When you're Jewish, Christmas Eve really doesn't have much meaning, its just another night, except that everything is closed. Given the freezing cold temperatures I wisely chose to stay indoors and spend time with my new puppy.
The peace and quiet of the evening was broken up by a tapping on my sliding glass door window. Rudy and I went to investigate. A small bird was flying and pecking at the window. This bird could have fit entirely in the palm of my hand. It also lacked a tail feather, indicating the bird was very young, or that it had been in some kind of scrape. I tried to make it go away. First I pounded on the window. The bird became startled, but quickly flew back. I then went out onto my patio to try to scare the bird off. Unbelievably, the bird did not want to leave, even with me closing within inches of the bird. I went back inside, put on some gloves and went back to the patio. I was able to grab the bird and pick it up. The bird never tried to escape. I picked up the bird and hurled it off my patio. The bird flew back. I repeated the process again, and then again. This was some unusual bird!
I figured if the bird was not afraid of me, then maybe it would be afraid of Rudy. I then let Rudy out onto the patio. I believed Rudy would scare the bird. Rudy had other plans. He lunged at the bird, mouth open, as if this was to be his Christmas feast. Rudy was fast, fortunately the bird was a little bit faster. When the scuffle was over, the bird had gotten away, but not before Rudy got a mouthful of feathers. Cleary, this idea was not going to work.
It was time to call a professional. I called the local humane society. A volunteer picked up the phone. I explained my problem, that the bird was probably sick. The volunteer listened attentively, but told me there was nothing he could do, there was no game person on duty. He then suggested "Maybe you should let the bird in." I hadn't thought about that. I was intent on letting nature take its course, no matter how cruel. I couldn't stand the pecking, so I went out and grabbed the bird and brought it into the house.
Now, where to put this bird? The only choice was Rudy's kennel. Rudy had a look of consternation as this intruder was placed into his kennel. I also put in a piece of white bread, hoping the bird would eat it. This would have worked very well, except for the fact that the bird was small enough to fit through the holes in the kennel and fly out. The chase was on!!!
The bird flew throughout my condo. Then it disappeared. Where on earth could have it gone? I searched high and low. I then looked up on top of my cupboards. My cupboards had a false top. The actual top was two inches below the front. One climb up on the counter top and there was the bird on top of the cupboards. I put the bird back in the kennel. It escaped again, flying again to the top of the cupboards. Rudy this whole time tried giving chase to the bird. After catching it a second time, I put the bird in the kennel, but this time blocked the kennel in next to my couch on one side, my keyboard case on another, a saxophone case on the third side and a book in the front.
Clearly, this would not hold. Fortunately for me, a friend of mine from college had birds. I called her up. She had a spare cage I could use. She also had birdseed and spray for our new friend to eat. She arrived shortly after I called. We put the bird into a proper birdcage. It promptly devoured the seed in the cage. We then hung out for a while. The bird would not give me anymore trouble that night.
Christmas Day dawned bright and very cold. I had the bird in the cage. I then called the humane society. They told me to go ahead and bring the bird in. I covered the cage with a towel to protect the bird and drove over to the humane society. When I got there, the volunteer tried to reach into the cage to get the bird. The bird had become very animated and avoided the volunteer's hand. The volunteer suggested I go back home and try to release the bird. When I explained the bird's unusual behavior, the volunteer looked at me and said "Maybe it wanted to get warm".
I drove home with the bird and carried it into my house. I opened the patio door and set the cage on the railing. Rudy followed me out to the patio, curious about our visitor. I opened the cage. The bird hopped to the open door, paused for a second and took off, flying high up into the nearby trees. Rudy and I watched as the bird disappeared from view.
I am not a Christian, yet at that very moment, watching that bird fly up into the heavens, I think I truly understood the true meaning of Christmas.
To this day, no one has been able to give an adequate explanation of this bird's behavior on that Christmas Eve in 1992.
Great story I read it every year thank you.
Thanks for posting this again David. I re-read it every year and it always gives me a warm glow inside.
Thank you David.
Still as wonderful and spine-tingling as the first time I read this - I think in 2000.