The Sparrows Return
We're back! Are you?
The parrot, Hiraman, sat dolefully upon a branch of the mango tree. It was pouring with rain, and he was wetter than a hen in a duck pond. “What’s with this weather?” he grumbled. “Raining when it shouldn’t, dry when it should rain.”
The barbet poked his head out of his warm, dry hole in the trunk of the tree. “Come in out of the wet with me,” he invited. “This rain will be over soon. It’s not like old times when it went on for days.”
“Why have those sparrows not returned yet?” fretted the parrot, ignoring the barbet’s offer and peering at the overcast sky.
“They know their way home, they’ll be back soon enough,” reassured the woodpecker cheerfully.
Just then the babblers set up a huge commotion. “They’re back, they’re back, they’re back!” they shouted all together. And sure enough, there they were, the whole flock, hurtling through the wind and rain to the old mango tree.
“We have so much to tell you all,” chirped the sparrows as they wiggled and waggled and shook the raindrops off.
“Keep that water to yourself,” muttered Hiraman grumpily, sidling away from the wet sparrows, though secretly relieved to see his friends return safe and sound.
The barbet stuck his head out again. “Did you meet the Great Cloud Bird? What did he say? Did he have any solutions for the crazy weather? Or suggestions for us?” he asked hopefully.
“Well, we did meet the Cloud Bird…” said one of the sparrows.
“And?” prompted the other birds eagerly.
“All he said was go forth and find out.”
“Find out what?” asked Hiraman, exasperated.
“We weren’t sure at first,” said another sparrow, “but as we journeyed home, we began to understand what he might have meant.”
“We saw such exciting things,” chirped a young one. “Roof gardens, solar lighting, electric cars, rain-water harvesting, grey-water recycling…!”
“Garbage traps at the mouths of rivers, and ocean traps to catch the plastic,” chimed in another young sparrow.
“Some people are even rebuilding coral reefs,” said another with an excited wiggle of her tail.
“We even saw some making fashionable new clothes out of old ones,” said an old sparrow. “They were almost as pretty as our feathers and there were long lines of people wanting them.”
“Even children are helping by planting wildflowers for the bees, and putting out water for birds and wild animals in the summer months,” said the first sparrow.
“Maybe your tribe won’t become extinct after all, Hiraman,” said the optimistic woodpecker with a vigorous tap-tap-tap on the tree.
“Too little, too late!” grumbled the parrot. “The icecaps are still melting, the mountains collapsing, the rivers drying up. There are wildfires and floods everywhere, storms and cyclones and hurricanes.”
“From what we saw, it seems more and more people are coming together to look for solutions,” reassured the sparrows.
“Look, it’s stopped raining, just as I said,” declared the barbet suddenly, hopping out of his hole.
“Cheer up, Hiraman,” said the woodpecker. “It’s not all bleak. We won’t give up without a fight. Meanwhile, our friends are back safe and sound.”
“Tell us more, tell us more, tell us more!” chanted the babblers.
“Yes, yes,” said the sparrows, “but first we must eat, we haven’t eaten all morning and we’re starving!”
“Ooh! Look at all the juicy worms! Nothing like home food!” chirped a young one, and the entire flock swooped down for a well-earned meal.
Story copyright © Shaiontoni Bose and Rohini Chowdhury 2023.
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