Letting Willow Go

Purna S. Parankusham

One day, in the hot and sweaty summer of 2023 before 5th grade, my dad was cleaning up our front and backyard. We had a giant log lying in the middle of our lawn. Whenever we have a yard clean-up we throw the sticks and rocks that are just lying in the lawn into the clearing that leads into the forest. So, whenever we have bonfires that’s our go-to place. My dad threw that giant log into the forest…

“SQUAK!” The big log hit something alive on the head! As soon as my dad heard this, he picked the log up and rolled it down in a blink of a eye. He saw a baby robin. My dad looked at the poor baby robin with a terrified look on his face.

My mom, who was in the kitchen, saw all of  this and called me (Purna),my big brother and my big sister. We all came downstairs as fast as we could, all of us sprinting, we needed  to see what had happened! What happened to the bird? I wondered. We were all super scared that it may die. But, on the contrary, super happy to be able to help it survive.The happiest person  was my sister, so she ended up carrying the bird in her fluffy gloved hand while we tried to help him. (We named the robin Willow) 

First, we needed to get Willow out of the clearing. My dad used a snow shovel. It took us a lot of tries (He kept on jumping back, and flapping his wings vigorously,but sadly not flying.) But after what felt like a thousand tries, we finally got it. 

Then out of the blue, we heard a lot of chirping. We looked confused around us then up at the sky.There were 2 adult robins. The Mom and Dad robins found out. Now I realized that there was no way I was going to let Willow die. No way. Similar to humans, the Mother and Father came knowing that their baby bird was in trouble.  After we saw the parents we all got way more motivated to help the baby Willow. so my dad put it in my sister's gloved and fluffy hand. She was so happy when she held it, my dad positioned it so it did not scratch her. It did not move once in my sister's hand, meanwhile me and my brother were building the little Willow's nest then my sister had to take Willow out of her fluffy glove but when she put Willow down, He pooped. It was red and a little purple, so we assumed that it ate some of the blackberries that we were growing. My mom brought some water from the kitchen. Willow drank some of the water. 

By now, my brother and I were long done with building the comfy house where the bird would stay overnight. There were 3 layers of stuff that is comfy for birds. Lawn mesh at the top, sticks and twigs in the middle and grass and leaves  on the top. Willow was in a cage that had a small opening which only the small little Willow could get out of if he started to fly again. So we were sure he was 100% safe. Then my brother and I went to collect worms and bugs.

 “Ewwww,” I mumbled,nauseated and queasy. with the slimy worms in my hand. while my sister was keeping the bird safe in her hands and my dad was doing final touches to the nest. We were all trying to comfort the bird as much as possible. After we found all of our slimy worms and insects,we massaged the bird.

 “ It feels so different touching an actual bird.” I stated with a  grin curling around my face. “Especially a baby one” I added.

 He kept closing his eyes then opening them again suddenly while we massaged him so we thought that he was sleepy and put him in his homemade nest for the first time. The moment Willow touched the nest he closed his eyes and opened his beak. He seemed so relaxed we decided he could stay there for the night.

The Next Day

M O R N I N G

10:45 AM 

When I woke up the next morning after my shower, I went to check whether Willow was still there I had a feeling for some reason that I wanted him to still be there in the little nest that we made  for him but another part of me thought “Well if he left then he most likely got back to his parents and is happy and well” When I checked, my heart was racing.Was he there? If not, did he get home safely? Millions of questions raised in my head

Just then, I realized how much of a bond I had made with this baby Robin over only just one evening. I peered into the cage. I saw nothing but a brown feather I thought “Well, I can’t say I didn’t see that coming.” 

I knew that he was going to fly. We had hoped he would leave safely and we took care of him as much as possible. Then I thought “He’s probably in his comfy nest right now that not us, but his parents built”  I peered up at a tree and saw a nest not too high up although it was not the same one, it had a pregnant mother I smiled to myself thinking of how this baby was going to turn out. That day I learnt a  valuable lesson- Life can be unpredictable so expect the unexpected.Letting Willow go taught me this valuable lesson.