White Bars

by David Dagley

  Juliet hesitated, looking at Fife and Soren, waddled over to her cardboard nest box. She lifted a corner with her beak. Seeds spilled out all over the floor of her cage.

  Dram’s grin grew in the moonlight. He looked at Juliet, turned to Fife who was standing quietly near Juliet’s cage, then at Soren, who was sitting silently watching and listening. Dram weighed out his future, “This could change my career. But, if any of us are caught, I alone will take the fall. I lose my position here on the floor, go back to the country and retire in a hay barn some place.” Dram smiled at the pile of seeds still spilling out from under the cardboard box in Juliet’s cage. While shaking a finger at the pile of seeds, “But that’s what I like. I could be happy in the country.”

  “Dram, the beauty of this is that once we quietly move the seeds to where you want them and you open Juliet’s cage door, you are no longer involved. All will be fine,” explained Fife.

  Dram moved to Juliet’s door latch. “Let’s do this quickly and keep the young myna out of this. He’ll surely be in the way.”

  “I’ll just stay right here,” offered Soren.

  “So it’s settled,” Fife sighed. “Juliet, please come out. Romeo will be waiting for us. If for whatever reason you wish to return to this place, I’ll bring you back. You have my word.”

  Juliet was still unsure and afraid, and asked, “Dram, we’ve known each other a long time. What do you think?”

  “Honestly, Juliet, if Romeo is out there and alive, go to him. Plus, with the three of you leaving, all three of whom do not trade much, you’ll be doing me a greater service by getting out of potentially profitable cages, for me.” Dram chuckled. “Only so many animals can trade here, you know. Make a go of the outside world. I enjoy it, and I think you will too.” Dram extended his arms straight up under the latch, and opened Juliet’s door. He held out his hand to Juliet’s wing, helping her out of her cage. Dram could only focus on the pile of seeds. He wrung his hands with nervous greed. “Right, shall we get started?”

  Throughout the night and into the early hours before dawn, loads of seeds were removed from Juliet’s cage and flown to Dram’s entryway. Dram took the seeds from inside the crack and stored them in a secret hiding spot.

  Soren watched as Juliet and Fife flew load after load to the back of the pet shop. Their wings fluttered softly in the stillness of morning. After awhile Soren fell asleep, and had a mind full of new dreams. In one dream, he flew low over a thick green jungle. Steam and mist rose up out into the morning light. Gibbon monkeys wailed in the trees surrounding him. He was flying fast when he entered a ball of mist forming over a great waterfall. The sun reflected off the mist, exploding into a blinding rainbow. Soren flew through the clouds and the ground fell away into a deeply forested gorge full of ponds and more waterfalls. Soren tucked his wings and arced into a seemingly endless dive, which took him into a beautiful new world.

  “That’s all the seeds, Dram. We even emptied Juliet’s feeder for you.”

  “Splendid. That’ll give Ms. Roberts something to think about: three empty cages with three empty feeders.” Dram brushed off his hands on his fur. “Well it has been a pleasure doing business with you three after all. Juliet, we’ll miss you. And say good-bye to the little one for me. I wish you all the best.” He looked at Fife and asked curiously, “By the way, Fife, what’s your real name?”

  “My name is Fife, the myna bird. The twins who took me home named me Reo; I use Reo when I’m in my disguise.”

  “So are you going to stick around for awhile outside, or get away from the pack rat soon?”

  “We will see. First, we have to meet up with Romeo.”

  “Good-bye, and thank you for your help,” whispered Juliet.

  “Yes, thank you.”

  Dram waved from the inside of the crack and disappeared in the blackness.

  Fife commented triumphantly, “That field mouse has a soft spot after all.”

  “Yeah, humans call it a belly,” replied Juliet.

  VII

  JULIET HOPPED OVER to Soren and whispered, “It’s almost light. Up you go; we have to get ready.”

  Soren opened his eyes slowly and looked around. “Where’s Dram?”

  “He’s been taken care of. I don’t think we should talk about it until we are safe outside,” suggested Fife.

  “One question, Fife,” said Juliet. “Where’s Romeo now?’

  “He and I decided to meet at a big oak tree, across an old bridge and near a place where young people play a game with a ball and a stick,” explained Fife. “Romeo said he would be there every morning until we arrived.”

  Juliet began to cry, and broke into a high-pitched love song.

  Fife went to stop her, but it was too late, she had already woken up some of the other animals in the pet shop.

  “Juliet! You’re going to get us into trouble.”

  “I’m sorry. This is all just so much to take in.”

  “Everything will be fine.” assured Fife.

  The whispers in the other cages grew louder.

  Fife looked at Soren and decided, “Come on. Let’s all go near the front door and wait. Pay no attention to the others.”

  Juliet and Fife flew down to the front door. Soren stood at the edge of the shelf and looked down at the floor. It seemed very far to Soren, but he vaguely remembered his dream of flying over the edge of a waterfall. He opened his wings and leaned over the edge. His wings caught the air, and he began to descend. Soren landed on his chest and slid into a bag of kitty litter, piercing it with his beak. He withdrew his beak from the bag, “Sorry, I’m not very good at flying yet.”

  “Are you hurt?” asked Juliet.

  “No, just my pride,” replied Soren.

  Fife was curious. “How far do you think you can fly?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never really flown, remember?”

  Fife walked up to Soren. “Let me see your wings. Have they been clipped lately? Can you remember when Ms. Roberts cut off any of your feathers?”

  “I don’t recall her clipping my wings any time recently. Actually, I don’t remember anybody ever touching me recently. I mean, besides people sticking their fingers in my cage.”

  “Hey, jailbirds,” snarled a half-brown and half-white rat. “Come over here and let us out. Come on, right now. Hey, we can take you as far as Laos. Come on over here and we’ll talk about it.”

  A hamster yawned and spoke sleepily, “Wake us up when the door is open.”

  A snake from the Reptile Federation rasped, “Usss firssst.”

  All the animals were waking up. It was almost time for Ms. Roberts to come into the pet shop.

  A guinea pig put his front claws up his cage wall, stood on his hind legs and said, “Juliet, you have been an inspiration. Good luck on the outside.”

  “Can I go? Can I go?” asked a parrot under a night sheet cover.

  “Bye-bye,” blurted Paris the toad.

  The blue macaw parrot looked out the front window and caught sight of Ms. Roberts walking towards the pet shop from down the sidewalk. “Here she comes, she comes!” He took a deep breath, leaned forward and bellowed, “Battle stations!” The blue Macaw lunged forward, gripping his perch pole, and swung all the way around his perch back to a sitting position. He puffed up, standing as many feathers as possible on end.

  “Quickly, we need a plan,” exclaimed Juliet nervously.

  “Right. Soren and Juliet, there’s a road out there with big cars on it. The cars will hurt you if you let them touch you. Fly as high as you can across the road. There’s an empty dirt space behind the buildings across the street next to the town square. If we get separated, we will meet there. From there we will fly down to the creek together. Soren, you get in front,” directed Fife.

  All the animals were silent with anticipation as Ms. Roberts ap -proached. She passed the display window and turned towards the pet shop door. Cradling her purse on one arm, she peered in, looking for her keys. Not seeing them, she
began to move things around with her other hand, listening for that familiar jingle. She found her keys and pulled them out. Her nimble fingers separated the keys until she recognized the right one. As she reached for the key hole with the key, it missed awkwardly and fell to the ground. She bent down to pick up the key ring.

  “Good morning, Ms. Roberts,” said Mr. Tiltom as he walked passed her on the sidewalk.

  “Oh!” Surprised, Ms. Roberts sprang up and spun around, facing Mr. Tiltom. “You startled me,” she said nervously, then smiled and said, “Good morning to you, Mr. Tiltom.”

  “How are you today?”

  “I’m fine, thank you for asking.” Ms. Roberts turned towards the pet shop door. The key entered the bolt lock. The knob lock turned and the door popped. Ms. Roberts looked down the lane after Mr. Tiltom, admiring his taste in clothing. She pushed the door the rest of the way open and walked in.

  “Now! Go!” whistled Fife.

  Soren hopped out through the open doorway, followed by Juliet and Fife. Fife and Juliet took one hop and flew out from under the awning.

  The animals in their cages went into a screaming frenzy. Water in the aquariums boiled with churning fish, rats screeched and bounced off their walls, birds flapped their wings and pierced the air with shrills. Small boxes and bottles shook off the shelves, crashing on the ground. The pet shop erupted. Water started spilling out of some of the aquariums, the hamsters threw their cedar shavings, which rained like confetti, and the turtles did splashing belly-flops, jumping off the edges of their pools. A white mouse ran onto a wheel and ran. A younger white mouse ran in, climbed on the other mouse’s back and screamed at the top of his lungs. The puppies started barking and jumping up on their walls to see what was going on. The phone rang.

  Ms. Roberts was horrified by the sights and the sounds in her pet shop. She saw the three birds as they swiftly hopped out the front door. “Hey!” She dropped her purse in the doorway, leaving the keys in the door lock, and turned in pursuit.

  Fife pulled a U-turn and flew into Ms. Roberts’ face, while Juliet flew high enough to clear the cars crossing in front of her.

  Ms. Roberts reached out to grab Soren, who was hopping quickly towards the street.

  “Fly! Fly Soren!” screamed Fife. He flapped his wings just out of reach, squawking and diving at Ms. Roberts’ head. Fife broke into his English words and said, “Polly want a cracker? Not!”

  Ms. Roberts looked around, stunned to see who was speaking to her. She kept her hands above her head to protect herself as she followed Soren.

  Fife circled above Ms. Roberts’ head, pecking at her and grabbing her hair in his talons.

  Ms. Roberts waved her arms blindly, still chasing Soren. “Get away.”

  Mr. Tiltom sat on a bench down the street, drinking coffee and watching in confused amazement. He was too far away to be of any help.

  Soren saw Ms. Roberts closing in on him.

  Ms. Roberts lunged for the young myna bird.

  “Fly!” yelled Fife.

  Soren jumped off the sidewalk and onto the edge of the street, under a parked car.

  Ms. Roberts scrambled on to her knees to look under the car.

  The car began to back out into the street, with Soren hopping along below. The car went forward, leaving Soren in the middle of the road.

  Again Ms. Roberts came after him, while Fife continued to dive-bomb her head and scream, “Soren, fly! Get out of the road! Watch out for the cars! Fly, Soren! Fly!”

  A truck rumbled down the road, heading right for Soren. The truck driver honked at Ms. Roberts.

  Ms. Roberts came to an abrupt halt at the edge of the street and waved her arms at the driver.

  The driver didn’t slow down.

  Ms. Roberts backed up and pointed at the little bird in the middle of the road.

  The driver ignored her and laid on his deafening air horn.

  Soren took flight, higher and higher, across the road, screaming with a thrill never before experienced. Flying. He beat his wings and howled in fear and excitement at the same time.

  Fife flew in front of Ms. Roberts and said mimicked, “Thank you.”

  In shock, Ms. Roberts exclaimed, “Oh my.” She didn’t know what to do or what to make of what had just happened.

  Fife followed Soren over the road towards the town square, and they veered to the left around a building.

  Juliet swooped down from above. “That was too close. Are you both all right?”

  “Yeah. Did you see that big noisy thing? It was huge!” said Soren excitedly.

  “Fly straight to the creek below those redwood branches. Can you make it?” asked Fife.

  “I’m flying!” screamed Soren.

  The three birds flew out of the bright sunlight and into the shade of a small redwood grove bordering a creek.

  From deep in the shadows came the pack rat’s commanding voice. “Now!”

  Fife, Juliet, and Soren were temporarily blinded by the change from sunlight to darkness as they flew under the canopy of thick green limbs. Crows flew in from all around. Their calls were riotous. Fife could feel talons grabbing at his feathers. Juliet screamed a piercing shrill. Fife bumped into Soren, herding him into the creek culvert pipe, all the while picking up speed. Juliet moved safely below the two myna birds until they entered the culvert pipe. It was dark except for the light coming from the other end. The walls of the pipe were ribbed with moss, and age-old spiderwebs spread across their path.

  A black mass of thrashing crows crashed into the entrance of the pipe. Some fell into the water in a heap, clogging the way for others to give chase.

  The pack rat watched in anger and yelled to the birds still in the air, “Go to the other end! Get them at the other end! Go! Go! Go!”

  Cars stopped as a thick flow of crows crossed over the road like a stream of screaming locusts.

  Fife raced along after Soren and Juliet, and told them, “Stay close to the water and in the underbrush. Stay on the creek and fly as fast as you can until I tell you different!”

  Soren flew faster as the three birds exploded out of the tunnel and back into the light. Fife flew up next to Soren, and Juliet moved below the two myna birds for protection again. They were halfway across the pond before the stellar blue jays and scrub jays attacked and descended upon them. Over the road came the crows in hot pursuit. A stellar blue jay with a blue-black crown dove at Soren. As the blue jay exposed its talons above Soren’s back, Fife rolled up and caught the jay by its legs. The two rolled over Soren and Fife let go as the blue jay caught a wing in the creek water and splashed down with a scream. Fife raced along to keep pace as Soren bolted through the underbrush at the edge of the creek, with Juliet following him easily.

  The pack rat stood in the pipe at the edge, silently watching the three birds escape into the world.

  Fife caught up to Soren, “The blue jays won’t put up much of a chase and the crows can’t enter the underbrush and maneuver at this speed, so they’ll just give up soon.”

  Soren quickly glanced over his shoulder and saw no birds behind them. The crows were high above and turning off in various directions.

  They flew on, weaving through the branches draped over the creek for awhile.

  No more birds were attacking.

  Fife flew out over the middle of the creek to survey their position. “Let’s glide onto the bank near the next pipe entrance. Not many birds will follow us this far, I don’t think, And this time, Soren, glide into your landing so you don’t crash.”

  Soren coasted across the creek and began to slow down. He back flapped and dropped gracefully to the ground. “Wow! That was great! The crows! The blue jays! Did you see that? I landed perfectly! Wow!” Soren exclaimed, very excited. He hopped back and forth, flapping his wings and fanning his tail.

  “Soren!” Fife scolded loudly. Fife took a deep breath to calm down and explained, “You are now free, but not out of danger. The dangers are going to be different. That large thing in the
road outside the pet shop was a truck. Trucks are even more dangerous than cars. You are lucky things went so well. Sometimes they won’t! And there are going to be times that you may wish you never left the security of your white bars and cage, but I discourage any move in that direction. The crows and blue jays will tear you apart. I have to go get something. Stay here, and if anything comes towards you, head into the pipe and don’t come out until I return. The other birds won’t follow you too far into the pipe but the rats will, so be alert. I’ll be right back. Juliet, congratulations, you are free. Could you please watch Soren while I’m gone? I won’t be long.” Fife took flight and flew off across a nearby road and up over the trees.

  Soren was still excited. He looked over to Juliet, “That was a close one, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes. Too close. Fife did a good job protecting us, particularly you with that blue jay almost grabbing your back.”

  “What blue jay?”

  Juliet chirped, “Fife grabbed one out of the sky and dropped him in the creek. We would hate to have something happen to you so soon.”

  Soren took a deep breath. “I have the jitters. That truck scared me. Then flying. Wow!”

  Juliet spoke slowly. “It seems so strange.” She looked up at the sky for predators. “I’ve been in a cage all my life, like you, only longer, living most of my life in an area too small to fly in. Then today, from the pet shop to here, I feel like I’ve flown through a thousand cages. It’s very exciting, and at the same time frightening. To leave all we know, our security, to be out here, to live in the shadows of uncertainty.” Juliet began to hum a sad blues tune.

  Soren tried to console her. “Well, just remember what Romeo used to say about being out here.”

  Juliet stopped humming and looked at Soren.

  “He told me that you can only live one day at a time, because you never know what’s going to happen. One sunrise to one sunset and how do you want to live it?” said Soren.

  Juliet nodded. “He’s probably right. With Romeo to help me and Fife to help you, the outside world will grow on us as we grow in it.”