To join in the share a story month, I give you the following. I hope you enjoy it.

The Road to Bird and the Whale

Bird sat at the window watching passersby walk up and down the road, to and from the quay. She set her days by the fishing boats departure, arrival, and absence. Secretly she enjoyed departure and absence best for arrival meant she was required to work in a frenzy of activity, while her father’s large frame diminished their home into a miniature version. His height, breadth, and bellowing voice filled the little cottage making Bird and it feel diminutive in the space.  When he departed, with washed clothes folded, and pressed, Bird felt her small home sigh with relief, as though his presence strained its very walls.

                With no boats in sight, Bird climbed off the window seat and made her way downstairs. After making note of provisions, she grabbed a basket, put on a coat, and opened the front door. The air was salty and fresh with a breeze coming directly from the sea.

                Bird’s long dark hair billowed around her head until she wound it around her fingers into a coil and tucked it under her collar. Several women pushing pushchairs passed her as she descended the hill into the village center. She had no wish to marry and bear children, but she did dream of traveling to exotic lands someday. When that someday would come, she did not know. Her father never talked to her about dreams, her mother’s absence, or life away from their small coastal community.

                Bird pushed the butcher shop door open.

                “Good day, Bird, how are you?”

                Well thank you, Mr McKlusky.  May, I have a pound of beef and one of your fine steak and kidney pies.”             

                Bird watched the butcher select lean pieces of beef before packaging them for her. He turned to the cool cabinet behind him and placed a pie in a small box. Bird paid for her purchases, thanked Mr McKlusky again before leaving the shop and walked back up the road.

                “How can such a tiny thing be that whale of a man’s daughter, Cedric? It just doesn’t make sense to me.”

                McKlusky turned to his wife, who stood at the door to the rear of the shop.

                “Again, I have no idea, my dear, you ask every time she comes in, but as I’ve said we never saw her mother maybe she was small.”

                His wife crinkled up her nose.

                “The poor woman, I could never bear the weight of such a man and if Bird’s mother was as tiny as she is - it was a blessing her daughter was small too.”

                Mr McKlusky laughed and gave his wife a peck on the cheek. The tinkling of the bell over the door interrupted their conversation. The butcher turned to welcome a new customer, while his wife returned to the rear of the shop and resumed her preparation of chicken pies.

                With the pie warming in the oven and a few vegetables gently boiling, Bird retrieved her secret box from under the loose floorboard. She opened the lid, excitement filling her chest. Inside were pictures, cut or torn out of travel brochures. Bird sat and took each one out - looking at the sandy beaches, the ancient castles, the lush forests and savannas populated with fantastic wild animals. These were the views she longed to see out of her bedroom window, not the road curling its way from the port up to the lighthouse.

                After her supper she put the box of treasures back in place and returned to her room’s window seat. She liked to watch the comings and goings of the villagers - all of whom she knew one way or another. Old school friends, honorary aunts and uncles, neighbors and shopkeepers - but the view was unchanging, dull, unexciting, and far too familiar. Bird wished she could escape.

                The following morning as the sun rose making the port’s water flame like gold, she awoke to thudding at the front door. Hastily grabbing her gown, she ran down the stairs, afraid as all fishermen families were at unexpected callers. Boats lost at sea and men drowned, was a black foreboding forever present that hung over the village like a spectre.

                “Bird, are you there? Come quick.”

                She opened the door expecting to see one of her father’s fishermen friends standing there with sad eyes and bad news. Instead, Colm stood with a smile on his face. Bird’s fear gave way to puzzlement.

                “What is it Colm, is it my father’s boat lost?”

                “Oh no, oh Bird, I’m so sorry I didn’t think. No, it’s not your father, I’m here about. You have to come quickly and see.”

                “I need to dress, Colm I can’t go out like this.”

                Colm looked down toward the quay his impatience obvious.

                “Well, hurry up!”

                He stood on the stoop tapping his feet until Bird appeared dressed and pulled a warm jacket from the coat hook. With Colm, pulling her down the road by her hand Bird had no opportunity to ask what was going on. She did however see a large schooner in the quay. It’s masts like long straight fingers pointing to the sky. She had never seen such a beautiful ship before and the sight of it had her running even faster.

                At the quayside, a crowd of villagers chattered and walked back and forth to examine the magnificent ship. Colm stopped and gasping for breath managed to say one word - “Mother”. Bird looked at him confused why was he saying mother when the ships name was clearly painted on the prow - Destiny. The crowd parted in front of her and a small woman dressed in a navy uniform approached her, so similar in looks to Bird that she had no doubt.

                “Bird?”

                She answered swaying slightly.

                “Mother?”

                The crowd cheered, but all Bird could focus on was the women in front of her.

                “Oh my darling, I’ve found you at long last. Come here.”

                Bird walked into her mothers embrace, a soft warm embrace not the hard bear hug of her father. Tears fell unbidden as she stuttered.

                “How, where, why?”

                “It is a long story, Bird but I have time to tell it to you now. Come up to see my ship.”

                “Your ship?”

                Bird’s mind tried to comprehend what her mother was saying. Her mother here, she owned a huge schooner, she was holding her mother. With a gentle hand, she was guided to the gangplank up onto the deck where her mother sat her on a bench.

                “Bird, the truth is I was scared when I became pregnant with you, afraid my life would be diminished not because of you but because I would be forever stuck in one place, no longer able to wander the oceans. I loved your father, but he did not understand my need to travel. I was a coward; I admit and just left like a thief in the night. Several years later, I returned hoping to see you but your father had taken you away without telling anyone where you went. I have visited port after port, country after country trying to find you. Will you forgive me?”

                She listened to her mother’s story, understood her need to be free, and realized her own wanting to travel was the same.

                “Mother, I have dreamed of traveling the world since I was a little girl, I even have a secret box full of images of places I want to go to.”

                “Why is it secret, Bird?”

                “Because father always got angry when I asked to go somewhere or when I showed him the pictures. Now, I understand why - it reminded him of you.”

                “Now you are older you could join me, Bird, if you want to? I take people on voyages across the oceans. I’ve seen more countries than you can imagine.”

                “It would be a dream come true but I would not leave before saying goodbye to father and you have to promise I can visit him - I love him and he has looked after me all these years alone.”

                Her mother nodded her head, ashamed of her own departure.

                “If he will let me say sorry, I would like to do that too - it is an easy promise to keep Bird.”

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