Flight of Fancy

Flight of Fancy

We were once the Sparrows, a pair of ordinary birds engrossed in our daily rituals of courtship dances, nest upkeep, and caring for our young. Our tranquil existence took an unexpected turn when you all of a sudden, declared yourself a penguin, adopting a comical waddle, craving fish suppers, and insisting on us being addressed as Mr and Mrs P.

"Darling, what on earth has gotten into you?" I asked one day as I watched you flop around in your strange gait-a -go.

"I just feel like I belong with them," you replied with a determined look in your eyes.

"Them? Who are 'them' exactly?"

"Penguins! Don't you see? They're my true family!" You exclaimed, flapping your wings in an excited manner. Your family tree seemed to be a breeding ground for avian identity crises; there was that eccentric uncle convinced he was a peacock trying to woo the peahens, and some distant relative who believed he was part duck until the other ducklings chased him off.

"But we're Sparrows," I reminded you gently.

"Exactly! And it's time for us to embrace our inner penguins and go on an adventure to Antarctica!" You declared, pecking at my feathers in that annoying way of yours.

"That's quite a drastic change. Maybe we should think about this more before we make any life-altering decisions," I suggested.

But you were determined to embrace your new identity as a penguin. Anyway, the neighbours were all a-flutter with tweets and whispers about your absurd transformation. Flipping madness, that’s what it was!

I tried my best to persuade you to return to me as my beloved little sparrow. But to no avail. I knew I had reached breaking point. And so I flapped my wings and soared to the exotic land of New Guinea. Gasps and murmurs of surprise greeted my story. But the colourful parrots welcomed me with loud screeches of approval. Sometimes one must fly alone to find where one truly belongs.

From that moment on, I traded my boring diet of earthworms for juicy fruits, and there, among the vibrant parrots and lush rainforest, I found my true home. That’s how I left my penguin partner for a flashy bird-of-paradise.

Mary Anne Mc Enery